It takes a lot more than an idea to build a business, but there can’t be a business without the idea. So we asked folks who’ve built wonderful businesses to tell us about how they came up with the idea in the first place.

Casey Specht | The Tasty Babe | Digital Marketer & Food Influencer

The Tasty Babe was created when I first moved back to San Diego from New York and needed to channel my boredom into something creative. I have always loved food, cooking, beer, and travel so this was a natural direction to go in. While I have spent the last 8+ years working in marketing in the hospitality and tech spaces this was a chance for me to use my skills on my own project. Over the years, I curated The Tasty Babe to be a collection of food, beer, and travel moments that I have enjoyed in San Diego and across the country. This of course has changed drastically since the pandemic began as I have not dined at a restaurant or traveled since March. Due to the pandemic I have also been out of work since April as the hospitality industry has been affected in a way that is almost beyond belief. For almost the last year, my content has pivoted to cooking with a side of takeout. Read more>>

Haily Zaki | Publicist & Founder of the LA Design Festival

I took a meandering path but eventually found my way from international relations to public relations. When the last big recession hit back in 2008 and the boutique PR firm where I was working was about to be acquired, I decided to strike out on my own. I had no idea how to run a business, but I wanted to have fun with it. Since I was also freelance writing at the time and kept my two worlds or identities quite separate, calling my agency Secret Agent seemed very appropriate. Over time, I enjoyed the irony of our name. I love that we get to work with such diverse creative talent and we get to help our clients tell their stories. There’s such power in communication and we enjoy playing the role of storytellers. Read more>>

Annie Legault | Textil Artist

It was a major surprise! My company was born from a final university project, so nothing was premeditated. I presented the textile installation after my Concordia BFA, in a boutique window in Old Montreal. A few days later, I imagine seeing the visual impact, the media contacted me to do a televised interview in my studio. At that time, I was working full time in a whole different field, and I created the pieces in the evening after work, for my little loft where I lived. After the interview request I immediately called my friend and I have (lol) reconfigured the loft so that it looks more like an artist workshop in one evening for TV! Haha And from there it all started more seriously …. and I moved;). Read more>>

Morgan Stuart | Creator of Defense Club

After my time as a student-athlete at the University of Washington, I couldn’t help but feel that I had stepped on campus unprepared for that was to come. I had had the best coaching, I had come from a supportive family, but I had never failed before and it hit me hard. Defense Club was created for kids growing up in sport who want to learn strategies in the mental game before they might need it the most. For me, not being able to train my self-talk or to be aware of the stories I was telling myself was detrimental to, not only my performance, but to my mental health as well. I came up with the idea for my business after feeling the effects of making myself my own worst enemy on the field. Read more>>

Nia Carrillo | Holistic Nutritionist & Spiritual Wellness Practitioner

My business idea came to fruition from my very own journey. I experienced a lot of childhood trauma that resulted in my use of food as a comfort. It was a comfort that caused me to struggled with my weight and confidence and it took me on a road of dieting and mistreating my body for nearly a decade. I was so tangled in diet culture and it was the practice of intuitive eating and journey of spiritual healing that allowed me to finally live healthy, happy, and free. Read more>>

Leeya Wilson | Allergy Friendly Baker

When we found out about my sons multiple food allergies I was heart broken. My entire world changed, and our diet changed drastically. We could not eat anything we used to, and missed out on a lot. My eyes were opened to the struggle of food allergies, and I wanted to help the 1 in 13 people who have to go through this daily battle get to enjoy delicious treats they don’t normally get to. Read more>>