A dad can’t find a bakery to make a birthday cake that can accommodate his daughter’s allergy-related needs. Two freelancers realize they need a way to organize all of their client contracts and can’t find software that adequately handles their use case. Necessity is often hailed as the mother of innovation – but not all ideas come from necessity. Unfortunately, in our experience, often media coverage of the ideas that powered amazing businesses and projects often stops at a very superficial level. The founders noticed a need and boom – idea. Often the ideation process has a much longer, more complex story and so we’ve asked some entrepreneurs and creatives we admire to go into detail about their ideation stories.

Lara Clear

Family Portrait was born from a shared belief that a pet is more than just a companion, they are the soul of the home. They are family. The project sparked when Julie began sharing film photography of her own cat on Instagram; the response was immediate and undeniable, with followers captivated by her ability to translate a pet’s unique essence through a lens. Read More>>

Heather Frank

The idea for Collective Purpose Philanthropy wasn’t born out of a desire to start a business. It came from a moment of realization that I couldn’t unsee. I had spent years working along side hundreds of nonprofits, helping lead major fundraising efforts and working at a level where strategy, structure, and discipline drove real results. Read More>>

Diamone Ricketts

When i was graduating fromcollege in 2018, my entire class was given an assignment/project to create a brand. This was a requirement for graduation and i was so lost. I was using all my knowledge,niches, and business tools to research steps to build a brand. Despite my disability and fun events, i would spend each day trying to perfect this project. Read More>>

Ashley Greer

I came up with the idea for MetaFleurs News, a news organization for creatives at the crossroads of culture x politics x power because as a florist for over two decades I was struggling to have my intelligence and world observations be taken seriously. Read More>>

Lauren Salonek

From a young age, I knew I wanted to be a writer (even if ‘copywriter’ wasn’t in my vocabulary yet). It started with writing and illustrating stories in composition notebooks, then ‘selling’ them to my family through a little shop in my bedroom. I continued writing in middle school through ‘dear diary’ entries. Read More>>

Remy Uhler

December 8th, 2023, is when the first seed was planted for Bloom A New You. That night, I lost my beloved dog, Olivia. Just hours earlier, I had been holding her, hoping the medication would help. Instead, everything shifted, and I found myself at the vet, realizing I wouldn’t be bringing her home. Read More>>

Deon Hargrove

During the pandemic, like a lot of people, I started investing. And almost immediately, I ran into a problem: everything felt either too risky, too confusing, or too untrustworthy. Read More>>

Monicqwa Wright-Smith

I came up with the idea for Legacy of Light Mentoring because of my years as an educator. For over ten years, I’ve been in classrooms, hallways, and after-school spaces, and I started noticing a pattern—teen girls, especially, sometimes don’t have someone in their lives they can really turn to. Read More>>

Irene O’Neill, CSJ, EdD

The idea for Sisters Rising Worldwide, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, began in 2016 when I was in conversation with yet one more person who said, “If I knew where the Sisters were, I would fund them.” I believed I knew where Sisters were living and serving around the globe, and I believed that each Sister knew the root causes of the poverty around them. Read More>>

Carrie Dawn/Author

TALES FROM WIGGLEBERRY Your magical adventure awaits! One day I was taking a walk in Marina del Rey and I came across this unique looking garden. They were desert like plants. They appeared to be twisting, and turning. I also noticed that they had pink and purple buds that looked like a little berries. I felt a little tickle in my brain. Read More>>

Ethan Harris

To be honest, our journey into entrepreneurship wasn’t something my wife, Rissa, and I initially planned. When we first married, we were both focused on our respective careers and hadn’t yet aspired to start a business. BeRe Stewardship was born not from an ambition to be founders, but as a direct response to a profound need within our community. Read More>>

benito quijada

I started as a cinematographer professionally in 2018 when I was living in Guadalajara, then back in hometown Hermosillo back in 2021 I started working for a production company as Director of Photography and colorist, I started developing my skills for those areas and in 2022 I met my current associate to my production company and wife Magdalena Ceja and in 2023 we created Trece Co. Read More>>

Ruby Conard

I’ve always loved the art of gifting, but during a holiday shopping trip, I felt frustrated by what I was seeing. Everything felt like a compromise—either the packaging was boring or the products were useless fillers. I kept thinking, ‘Where is the soul in this?’ That’s when the vision for Giving Tree became clear. I wanted to eliminate the fluff and replace it with quality. Read More>>

Sharrel Abel

What started me into photography hmm, well I started doing modeling to prove a point to my niece and daughters that no matter your age, your size, or the way you see yourself you can become a model. Modeling boosted my self confidence, it taught me a lot about my body and how I saw myself which I knew I needed to be better at. Read More>>

Sanarr McLaughlin

By 2019, I had been working in digital marketing for years, both in-house and through freelancing and consulting, and I kept seeing the same pattern: chaos, burnout, and inefficiency across the board. Teams were overwhelmed, tools were underutilized or misused, and marketing efforts often felt disconnected from actual business goals. It wasn’t just frustrating to watch, it was unsustainable. Read More>>

Kristy Walker

The idea for Walker Homestead really started on a day-drinking outing in Sonoma County, in our third winery in for the day, we thought ‘wouldn’t it be fun, if we could create this back home in Iowa?’ After a 40-year career in healthcare IT, I told my husband that I started life on a farm, and I wanted to end up on a farm. Read More>>

Sophie Singer

I came up with the idea for my gluten-free granola during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spending so much time at home. I started becoming more mindful in the kitchen experimenting with baking. That’s when I decide to try making homemade gluten-free granola. I shared it with my family first and they loved it- they encouraged me to sell it once I started offering it to customers. Read More>>

Carina Campos

My travel business was born from recognizing the untapped potential of Valle de Guadalupe—its wine, culinary scene, and design-driven experiences—and realizing there was no clear bridge connecting travelers to the region. What stood out to me early on wasn’t just how special Valle was, but how difficult it was—and still is—to access. Read More>>

Breneé Thornton

In 2019, I found myself in a place I had outgrown. I was working a corporate job in procurement, sitting in a cubicle with a headset on all day, knowing deep down that I was not aligned with where I was supposed to be. Every day, I kept telling myself, “I need something more.” The week before Christmas, that decision was made for me. Read More>>

Quintece Hill

Studio Q Design UX didn’t start as a business idea—it started as a pattern I couldn’t ignore. For over two decades, I was deep in the world of high-end interiors—designing, building, managing complex projects, and being trusted with big visions and even bigger budgets. From the outside, it looked seamless. Behind the scenes, it was anything but. Read More>>

Toriann Ray

How i came up with TRAVI is by simply just wanting easier travel. Out of all the trips I’ve taken i have always packed so heavy without realizing the havoc it was causing on my comfort as i navigate through different spaces. Read More>>

Adah Kruszlinski

I started my business as a college student building websites and managing social media for small businesses. It was mostly family friends and a few internships here and there, and it was the golden age of social media management where you just had to be on Instagram and be young to be hired to run social media. Read More>>

Vondajai Walker

Mo Matcha came out of a very real season in my life where I’m figuring out my next move. I’m currently a teacher, and I’m grateful for it, but I know it’s not my forever. Read More>>

BARRINGTON MARSON

Honestly, the idea for my creative services business did not hit me all at once. It was something that grew over time, through a mix of passion, life experiences, and really paying attention to what was missing around me. I have always been into storytelling. Even before I ever called myself a filmmaker, I was the type of person who saw life in scenes. Read More>>

Tom Guilfoyle

I have always had a passion for writing since I was 11 and wrote my first horror story. However, I never thought I could turn that into a career until I was in my last year of college and thinking about what university to head to. During this time, my passion for comics had grown from loving them to wanting to create them. Read More>>

Dr. Saecilia Jackson

The idea for Edudiva was born from a deeply personal place—my own journey as an educator, entrepreneur, and advocate for youth empowerment. Over the years, I noticed a recurring challenge: many young people, especially in underrepresented communities, were not receiving the kind of education and mentorship that truly prepares them for success in both life and business. Read More>>

Tania Schettini

The idea for my business began with a very personal and emotional moment in my life. Read More>>

Rachel Bartch

I found myself unexpectedly becoming a single mother while pregnant with my second child, living in a single room with my two-year-old at my mom’s house. This situation forced me to get creative with organizing our limited space on a tight budget. Read More>>

Tiffany Bekx

Lunar Quill Revelries didn’t start as a business idea. It started as a feeling I couldn’t shake. For most of my life, I’ve been someone who loved stories deeply. Books, fantasy worlds, dressing up, stepping into something magical. It always lit something up in me. Read More>>

Robert Foster

About twelve years ago, I was running my own e-commerce businesses. I wasn’t a developer back then, but I simply couldn’t afford to pay someone to fix everything that broke. Out of necessity, I started teaching myself to code, and that ended up being the foundation for everything I do now. Read More>>

Sam Medlock

The idea for my creative services business didn’t come from a boardroom or a business plan. It came from twenty years of dirt, busted hands, and knowing this sport better than I know anything else. I’m Sam Medlock, born in Iola, Texas, a 19-year veteran of bull riding and an American bucking bull rancher. Read More>>

Paloma Chavez

Lo- Terapia has been a project that I have been working on for two years, two years ago I was finishing up my last year of my MSW program at Smith College and I was completing my practicum hours at a CBO that offers mental health services to the Latinx community. Read More>>

Fatima Oliver

Rooted in Women’s Wellness came from a season in my life that really shifted my perspective. At the time, I had a one-year-old and a two-month-old when I was suddenly rushed to the ER and ended up in the ICU. Read More>>

Taunesha (Ms Nesha B) Bassett

I didn’t come up with this idea sitting down trying to create a business. It really came out of how I was living. At the time, I was working a six-figure job. The job itself was fine. It wasn’t stressful or toxic. It was just… safe. Read More>>

Jordyn Sheriff

As a speech-language pathologist working with military families in both the school setting and private practice, I kept hearing the same questions every time a family moved. Parents were trying to understand how the IEP process worked in a new state. They were navigating referrals and authorizations through TRICARE during a PCS. They were being placed on new waitlists. Read More>>

Donisha D. Law

I started my business during one of the most uncertain times in the world, COVID-19. At the time, I was working my regular job, just going through my normal routine. One day, while listening to music on YouTube at work, an ad came on about becoming a loan signing agent and making money as a notary. Something about it caught my attention. Read More>>

Marta Morawska

I’ve always been fascinated by people’s inner architecture — the part you only notice when you really care. The way someone thinks, feels, or operates under pressure reveals more than any credential, yet most systems flatten that into stiff categories that miss the dynamics underneath. That gap—between how complex people truly are and how simplistically they’re understood—was impossible to ignore. Read More>>