We reached out to some of our favorite entrepreneurs and asked them to think back and tell us about how they decided to start a business. Check out their responses below.

Corinna Rosella | Milk Thistle Apothecary & Gallery Owner

As of 2023, I’m going into my 6th year as a small business owner- before that I worked primarily in the non-profit sector in social work and health education positions with high risk populations. In 2017 I completed my masters degree in Applied Anthropology, and I felt like after so many years working with marginalized people trying to help them find access to resources within a system really built on exclusion, Read more>>

Jonathan Herrera | CEO of Leela Skin

I really wanted to celebrate my indigenous heritage, all my knowledge of skincare, and passion for native Mexican plants. The land and sea provide such a diversity of powerful ingredients that can be used cosmetically. As a brand, Leela Skin is all about achieving your best skin with native Mexican ingredients. Read more>>

Melissa Vance | Founder/CEO

The main reason I decided to start this business in California because we wanted to move to California with our family. We are Canadian and had spent a year in California, but had to move back to Canada during COVID. After hearing of a close friend being diagnosed with terminal cancer, we decided life was too short & agreed we wanted to the opportunity to live the life of our dreams. Read more>>

Scott Rashid | Director of the Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute

I was receiving several injured birds to rehabilitate, but no one would donate to help defray the costs of rehabilitating the birds that they brought to me because I was not a nonprofit and they could not get a tax deduction. Also noticed that many bird species were declining, and I wanted to help some of them by building and placing nest structures for them. For this I needed building materials and money to get to and from the location where the nest structures were. Read more>>

Christina Wilson | Chef/Owner, The Pleasure Principle Supperclub & Dining Events

Well, I started this dining events while living abroad in Barcelona. I was there attending grad school and during my time there, I would get homesick and nostalgic for food from back home. I grew up in Chicago, where we always had access to really any kind of food we wanted. My family is Caribbean and Southern so those are the styles of food we grew up with. Read more>>

Claire Sabin | Photographer & Graphic Designer

Starting my own business was never something I thought I was capable of, I thought that it was only for people who had something to fall back on. And then, during the pandemic, I realized that all of my free time could be turned into something constructive. It was during this time that I began taking my hobbies more seriously and started to actually educate myself on what it would take to live the life I wanted. I started off taking photos of people I knew while I was working at a restaurant in Long Beach, and connecting with other photographers. Read more>>

Reena Vokoun | Founder and CEO of Passion Fit, TEDx Speaker, Author, Certified Consumer and Corporate Wellness Expert and Digital Marketer

I started my own business and launched my company, Passion Fit, after about 16-17 years of working in digital marketing, sales and business development roles in corporate America for Fortune 500 companies such as Google, Yahoo, Reebok and GE. I’ve always had a passion for health and wellness, and I knew I eventually wanted to incorporate this line of work into my career to help others. Read more>>

Adolfo Valentino Vergara | Architectural Designer

During my school years I was very free in all my designs and ideas. Once I started working for a firm I felt I was limited to drawing plans that someone else designed and doing repetitive tasks that were very boring. I did not go through 5 years of architecture school to end up doing that! I was just sitting there 9 – 5 with zero creativity. Although working for these firms helped me learn certain aspects of the architecture business, I was not enjoying it. Read more>>

Kimberli Davino-Wilson | Lead Generation Specialist

My thought process behind starting my own business was “oh crap, what the heck am I getting myself into?” Like anyone starting out, I had no idea what I was doing, what I truly even wanted to do and if I could even make it happen. But regardless of being scared and unsure, deep down I knew it was something I wanted so badly. Something I wanted to prove to myself that I could do. Growing up, I wasn’t the best student. Read more>>

Jenna Hammond | Children’s Book Author & Yoga Teacher

I’ve always wanted to be an author. When I had my first son and transitioned to freelance writing and editing from a full-time editorial career, I soaked up as much information as possible about book publishing, particularly children’s books. I began crafting manuscripts and networked with anyone in the industry. Freelancing provided income. But working on books gave me the creative sustenance that I craved. Read more>>

Dr. Masica Jordan Alston | BIWOC Entrepeneur

I filed for Bankruptcy in 2010 and thought that later that year when I finished my doctorate degree that my life would immediately change and that the financial drought I was experiencing would end, but it did not. During that same time, I was assigned to be the POA for my father who I watched struggle with addiction over my lifetime. I would get calls from the ER in the middle of the night stating that my father was at this one or that one and I would show up. Read more>>

Danny Deraney | CEO/Founder of Deraney Public Relations

I wanted to create an atmosphere to work with clients that not only bring me joy, but also have the ability to choose who I want to work with and make me happy. It was important to me to focus on my own happiness. If you are not happy with what you do, then you should probably not be doing it. I love my job. Read more>>