We asked the community what factors they felt were responsible for their success and we’ve highlighted some of those responses below.

Dionne Holley | MUA/ Holistic Medical Aesthetician/Aesthetic Instructor

Authenticity! My brand is ME and that’s what I want my clients, potential clients and the WORLD to invest in! It shouldn’t take “altering” your personality to gain an audience/crowd to buy into you. Be your true self so that those investing are getting their monies worth! It’s only right! Read more>>

Tiana Heath | Media Host & Producer

The most important factor behind my success is the consistency. I’ve been in the media industry since 2012 so this year makes a decade. A decade of content, hard work, ups, and downs. Also, the confidence that you have, needs to be instilled within in you. Confidence and motivation is what you need in order to be successful and the cherry on top is the consistency. Read more>>

Ann Briggs | Digital Illustrator

AB Digital Studio started out as a passion project and has continued to be fueled by my passion for creating and expanding my artistic reach. I feel my brand is successful because my love for what I create is visible to my audience. I am able to be personal with my clients as I work with them on projects. We have conversations that feel comfortable, and not strictly business. I don’t want my brand to feel stuffy or as if I am creating only to pass the time or make money – I create because I love what I do and who I am creating for. Many of my clients are repeat customers, and I truly feel it is because we have a connection that is beyond just and artist and client. Read more>>

Alexis Shaw | Principal Business Consultant & Brand Strategist

Staying the course. Success takes time, takes patience and takes dedication. Most people do not achieve success overnight, so you have to be patient and focused enough to stay in it for the long run. Success is a marathon, you have to continuously grow and expand to keep up, too many treat it like a regular race creating burnout. Read more>>

Jasmine Kincheloe | Professional Photographer

As a small business owner, marketing your brand and yourself is a very important aspect to growing your business into being a successful endeavor. For my business my brand is Self Love and Friendship. I work with many women who are interested in doing boudoir shoots but don’t have the confidence to do so… until they come to me. I push self love and my number one job is to make my clients comfortable and to remind them of exactly how perfect they are! Because of how I conduct myself with my clients as this larger than life, hot mess express, call me anytime if you need to scream and cry, invite me to Christmas dinner photographer; Read more>>

Andarrio Johnson | Chef/Entrepreneur

Prayer, faith, and believing in God. Gotta acknowledge him first. Then comes determination and dedication to my craft. Never giving up on my dream. Read more>>

Kasaundra Bryant | CEO of KreativBrain Studios, Creative Strategist, Recording Artist & Prophet

The important factor behind the success of my brand is perseverance. No matter what adversities I face, I don’t quit even if I have every right to. On this journey I’ve experienced many disappointments and transitions but I never quit. Making the choice to count it all joy when my faith is tested leads me to evolve, elevate and emerge every time. With God as my source I can’t loose and so I preserver. Another factor to the success of my brand is Holy Spirit, he is my plug. The success of my brand is because of Holy Spirit’s guidance. My encouragement to anyone building is to not waste another year building where you don’t belong, be integral and like Nemo, “just keep swimming”. The success of any brand is guaranteed when the choice is made to Evolve, Elevate and Emerge no matter what. Cheers to the future! Read more>>

Asha Cannon | Owner and Baker

2LC Bakery has been a business that is driven by quality, nurturing of relationships with customers and providing more than just cakes. We tend to know when the babies are born, are invited to events, support the dreams of our clients and so much more! The success factor is that we are geared towards longevity of a clientele relationship! To be honest clients word of mouth has been the best form of advertising for our business! To us, its not just another sale we are trying to pursue or to get somebody to just order from us one time! Custom orders cost money so we want that order to be a memorable one and make the customer feel that they got their money’s worth! Read more>>

Joshua Smith | Photographer

Remaining dedicated to imorvement in all areas and staying passioniate about the quality of my work. No matter what happens in the process of building my brand, peaks and slumps, I remain dedicated to proper planning, enjoying my work and sharpening my skills. During this process others noticed my development and wanted to continue to work with me and build relationships.  This began to happen often as I stayed focussed and stayed creative in the work I presented. Read more>>

Sean Mack | Professional Photographer & 360 video/photo booth owner

The most important factor behind the success of my brand would be my ability to connect with my clients on a more trusting level. Making sure who I am working with is comfortable is one of the main goals I want to achieve once I am hired. Having a reputation for making someone feel at home and at ease is something I pride myself in. Starting a business is always stressful and you never know how others will take it in. I believe that my business has been successful because of the quality of my work and how fast and efficient I am getting my work done. In the photography world, I understand that the clients want their images back as soon as possible because they are anxious but on top of that, they want to be able to share those images with friends and family sooner rather than later. Read more>>

Dr. Michael Ho, DC | Chiropractor & Powerlifter

My father Dr.Jeffrey Ho has been a Chiropractor for 35 years now. I grew up being a pretty active kid, playing tons of basketball as well as getting into powerlifting and weight-lifting later on in life. I as any kid used to get injured all of the time. My greatest asset during these unfortunate events was my dad. We had a chiropractic table in our house. I used to come home frustrated, mad, and discouraged from getting injured. I clearly remember asking my dad if he can help me. That chiropractic table is where a ton of healing and recovery happened by the use of natural chiropractic care. Read more>>

Derek Rhodes | Founder & Executive Director

Our success comes from the genuine way we engage with the young men in our program and in our community. We take a bottom-up approach which allows our scholars the opportunity to reciprocate their experiences in the program and in turn help us motivate the next generation of scholars. Read more>>

DeVone Stanfield | CEO & Co-Founder of SMCG, IT project manager, Electrical Design Engineer, and Customer Service guru

When I was a child, I watched my mom navigate between 3 jobs supporting our home, and my Grandmother, a high school graduate, become one of the major labor leaders in my city and beyond. One thing they had in common, relentless hard work. They did whatever they had to do, to ensure we had what we needed, and made no quarrel or excuse along the way.. Read more>>

Jasmin Williams | Entrepreneur

The most important factor behind my success would have to be the ability to, believe in myself. For so long, I struggled with believing in myself, believing that I could become successful, believing I was equipped. My idea to start my business sat in my mind for years before I decided to just ” go for it” and it ended up being the best decision of my life. When you believe in yourself, when you believe in your brand, it shows. It’s true when they say ” love your brand and it will love you back”. Read more>>