Starting and growing a business is hard, but often deciding to start the business in the first place is even harder. We asked some successful entrepreneurs from around the community to open up to us about how they thought about starting a business.

Dana Mortada | Founder & Creative Director

After years in publishing and brand consulting, the idea of starting my own business had been brewing for seven years. In 2020, inspired by motherhood, I decided to turn that idea into reality. Dāl the label is more than a business; it’s a reflection of my journey and values. With a focus on responsibility, the brand offers affordable, high-quality products that blend elegance and comfort for women, especially mothers. It’s a commitment to making quality accessible. In summary, dāl is my entrepreneurial venture, driven by a vision to provide women with affordable, responsible, and stylish options, rooted in my years of industry experience and newfound perspective through motherhood. Read more>>

Ethan Estess | Artist and marine scientist

To be honest, I was sick of working for narcissistic scientists and decided I wanted to do my own thing. I figured I’d have to work way harder being self-employed, but at least I’d only have to deal with my own insecurities and mood swings- not somebody else’s! I also knew deep down that I needed to pursue a career as an artist and that I was sacrificing that passion to purse a fun but predictable career as a marine biologist. Read more>>

Stephanie Slagle | Book Editor & Author

I wanted the flexibility of being able to work from home as little or as much as I desired, knowing that I also planned to be a stay-at-home mom for my future children. I have always loved books–reading them, writing them, and editing them–so becoming a freelance editor felt like the natural step to take. I had gained a lot of experience in the publishing industry as an author of three books, a critique partner for my writer friends, and also as an intern for literary agents. I took this experience and slowly built up a client list, and thus started my own business that has now been thriving for over seven years. And I am pleased to say it has proven to offer the flexibility I hoped for, now that I am working from home while being a SAHM to my six-month-old son. Read more>>

Kim Carson | Founder & CEO

The thought process behind starting my own business was driven by my mission to create opportunities for those excludd from innovation for reasons beyond their control. In my 20 year career both that spanned start-up to academia to big tech, I’ve been luck to have the opportunity to carve out my own unique roles and continuously push boundaries. I’ve known most of my career that I needed to carve out my own space. in industry itself and that meant I had to shift my own perspective from “why me” to “why not me.” Given my background in AI and education and with the proliferation of AI across all industries this year was finally the time. My organization is built to empower historically excluded communities and inspire us all to learn, explore and build communities that leverage emergent technology to uplift our collective humanity. Read more>>

Justine Almaraz | Intuitive Fine Artist + Tattoo Artist + Creative Entrepreneurial Educator

I’ve had an entrepreneurial spirit from the get go. From hustling my coloring book pages from the back seat of my moms car to starting my own face painting company at age 7 I’ve been obsessed with finding new ways to sell my art and creative skills. I don’t even remember a time when I wasn’t trying to sell my art. I wasn’t encouraged to sell things, it was just something that I believe was inside me, an intuitive calling that has never let up, it just grows louder and stronger and now has guided me to my deep soul’s purpose in helping others find this passion, courage and confidence in art as well. My business has now evolved into a solid tree with many creative branches. I make large custom oil paintings for my collectors, I make intuitive soul-inspired tattoos that flow with the body and drip with sacred intention and meaning and now I teach my processes, systems and business skills to new creatives online and in-person. Read more>>

Dorothy Tannahill-Moran | Certified Sound Therapist

While I’m a Sound Healer, what I offer is unique and fairly uncommon. As a result of the pandemic, offering services such as sound therapy online became more of a possibility because people were seeking services remotely. This set up the perfect environment for me to launch an online Sound Therapy business using the targeted frequencies for a variety of offerings to a membership. By offering Sound Healing online, it allows me a level of creativity still using my specialized Tibetan singing bowl recordings and layering various enhancements like various brainwave binanaural beats, nature sounds, all layered in with my frequency recordings. These recordings address issues people have such as stress, pain, fear, and sleep which the frequencies can address with the recordings. Read more>>