Ideas aren’t everything, execution matters greatly, but starting often requires an idea and so we asked folks to think back and tell us the story of how they came up with the idea for their businesses. We’ve highlighted some of our favorite stories below.

Derrell Ealim | Freelance Artist/Animator

I came up with idea Sketchnificent animation because I wanted to create unique animations and share my story and wild thoughts through animation . Read more>>

William George | Event Promoter & Social Media Influencer

At a young age, I dove into the discography of legendary Electronic Dance Music artists such as Skrillex, Zeds Dead, Bassnectar, Deadmau5 and more. I would watch YouTube videos of live concerts hosted by these artists almost religiously, wishing I was old enough to attend these crazy events. Once I got to high school, I started experimenting with social media platforms, trying to find the right niche that would make me go viral. In my mind, I thought I could grow these social media accounts and maybe sell them for an easy profit. Little did I know, one of these accounts would take off and become very useful for my concert obsession. The creation of WubVidz started off as an outlet for me to post videos that I recorded at concerts. My tweets quickly began to skyrocket after artists like Excision, Zedd, and Marshmello would repost my videos. Read more>>

Tiffane Nicol | Founder & Dean of Style Mobb University

The ideal to open a beauty school came from several years of me owning and operating salons. I founded over the years, new professionals were finishing hair school with only basic text book knowledge. Once I hired new beauty professionals, I was obligated to train them on “Salon Reality”, current techniques and the salon business. I founded myself developing beauty bosses and I felt in-love with the ideal of training the next generation of Beauty Boss Professionals. Now my passion for the beauty business pushed my vision from a traditional beauty school to a University of Professional Students. This allowed me to birth Style Mobb University (SMU)… the world’s 1st cultural driven HBCU Beauty school. Read more>>

Abrein Crawford | Health and Wellness Influencer

I wanted to spread the message of health and wellness by being an example. Read more>>

Samie Burnett | Model and Entrepreneur

The idea actually came from being let go from an agency that I was with. I went to the casting call, got the call back and was super excited. The year that I spent with them everything that was told was going to happen never happened. I was told I had to stand out to them, grow my own following (basically had to grab their attention) I was frustrated because I didn’t understand. I was taking great photos, working with local designers and boutiques yet I was still not good enough. I think it was August or September of 2019 the idea came to me. I was talking with my photographer and I told him I wanted to create a modeling agency that helps everyone. Read more>>

Luke Gibson | Entrepreneur

I have always been fascinated by anything pertaining to photography. I learned how to take screenshots from my Ipod Touch, my first device without a camera. Once I learned to screen shot, I started editing random photos from safari, something I really enjoyed. I then had an Ipad with a camera and I just went all out. I had a few editing apps and took so many photos on it, and my love for photography grew from there. In 2015, my mom passed away from cancer, and I used photography as an outlet for self-expression and sharing my perspective on the world. I was contacted on Instagram by one of my high school classmates asking if I could do a photo shoot for him, I said “sure”, I think I charged him about $25 for the session. In the end, he loved the photos, as did other people on my Instagram account, and I turned my passion into a business. Read more>>