Starting a business is a commitment and requires dedication, resources and sacrifice. We asked some of the rising stars in our community how they thought through the idea of starting their own businesses.

Shannon Cotten | Owner/Photographer at Tall Cotten Photography

This is a special one for me. Before being a photographer, I worked in an insurance office. I loved my job and I loved the ladies that I worked with. Photography was my side hustle, doing it on the weekends and occasional week days. Photography was my passion. I knew that this is what I wanted to do forever. I spent a lot of time in prayer, asking God to show me some signs of when to take this full time and tell my boss to stop giving me a pay check every week without fail. I was shown lots of signs, but I just was too scared. Read more>>

Britney Renbarger | Owner of PinkTag Boutique

I was pregnant with my second daughter and wanted to switch careers. I decided to stay home with my daughter and launch PinkTag.com! My husband built my website and it was off from there! Read more>>

Alexandria Mitchell | Fashion Designer & Entrepreneur

I have wanted to become one of the world’s top designers since I was 12 years old, when I created the name KatLiMartElle, based off my mother and grandmothers’ names. A name meant to stand next to the likes of Versace, Valentino and Chanel. For all these years, the thing that has kept me motivated has been my love for the craft. I love fashion, I love design, fit, art, patternmaking, style, I just really have a love for it. Read more>>

On-Click Closet | Digital Fashion House

With enough exposure to understand various fashion practices, including handicrafts and sustainable fashion, I realised the pace of this practices isn’t keeping up with the creative pace of the next generation. That’s when I realised how powerful fashion tech and virtual fashion could be. The limitless self-expression inspired me by the endless horizon of creative possibilities, bringing life to all unexplored thoughts and fantasies. Read more>>

Ray Solomon | Security Systems Specialist

When I decided to go into the locksmith and security industry I had a tunnel vision like mindset to achieve success. I’ll be honest, at the time I did not have any type of roadmap to how I would achieve that. However, through trial and error over the last several years I have realized that I can define success as the ability to utilize my full potential in building a company that I’m proud of. Read more>>

Debbie & Chad Hudspeth | Owners, Adventure Creek Ranch

Photography was a big part of my childhood, and it followed me to adulthood. At about age 7, I picked up an old camera out of curiosity, clicked the shutter button, and was fascinated with the flash. I took horrible photos, since I didn’t know what I was doing. I was happy and didn’t care until my mom showed me how to use the camera. It was a film camera. After some time of practicing, I became my family’s photographer. Read more>>

Colton McKey | Entrepreneur | Founder | CEO

From day 1 after graduating college I had always wanted to own my own business, but just got sucked into the comforts of “Corporate America”. Comforts meaning a predicable salary, great benefits, paid time off, stock options and bonuses, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I value the experiences during my 10 year career in Operations/Manufacturing, but looking back I wish I had taken the leap into entrepreneurship sooner. Read more>>

Brittani Youman | International Award-Winning Recording Artist and Entrepreneur

Deciding to pursue entrepreneurship was a process riddled by fear and doubt in the initial stages. In 2020, I was a recent laid-off “corporate star” as some would say, however my popularity was not enough to save my position. Having the understanding that I was expendable highlighted the apparent reality that entrepreneurship was the only way that I would be able to create my own security. My safety net was removed, and I was free-falling to my new life and destiny. I finally made the decision to commit to changing my life and the lives of others through the information and access that I would gain along my journey. Read more>>

Debbie & Chad Hudspeth | Owners, Adventure Creek Ranch

We love living in the country and are blessed to have a beautiful piece of land. We really enjoy sharing it with others and seeing their reactions, especially to something new for them like an encounter with an armadillo or raccoon. We thought starting a vacation rental business using unique themed properties would be a blast for us and especially for our customers. Read more>>

Troy Alley III | Investment Consultant

The process behind starting my business stemmed from my passion to help clients invest and grow generational wealth in various communities. The challenges that come with starting a business are quite well known, however like with most entrepreneurs when you see an issue, you strive to make things better. I’ve been very fortunate to have incredible mentors and colleagues that were open to share advice and criticism that assisted in encouraging me to take the first step. Most importantly, I was able to quickly understand and accept that failure is possible, but it doesn’t define the success you can ultimately achieve with a venture. Read more>>

Jonathan Swearingin | Real Estate Advisor

I started my own business to grow. Service industries have always interested me because they’re not about products, but about people! In high school, I worked at the local movie theatre. As a college student, I worked at a local coffee shop. My passion for the service industry quickly became apparent! As a real estate assistant, I started at the front desk. Through this course, I acquired so many skills related to professionalism and business. My first lesson in the real estate market was to learn about the internal aspects of transactions. Once I spoke the language of real estate I could confidently serve those in my market. Read more>>

Christopher Hunter | Motivational Speaker & Activist

I wanted to be able to start speaking long term and help others achieve success through my words. With that I began my speaking business. Read more>>

Carla Robertson and Arthur Porter n/a | Co- Founder, Dallas Designing Dreams

Our mission is to nurture the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of individuals with “Dreams or Broken Dreams” and provide them with new inspirations and opportunities for their innovative ideas and products. As a master leather craftsman and master seamstress, we knew we could have an impact on our community by teaching others our craft, what we knew about business, and to inspire others creatives to share their knowledge to help others. This will impact our community and our legacy. Read more>>

Julie Stephanie Zamudio Ruiz | Financial Advisor & Credit Specialist

My thought process behind starting my own business “I CAN DO IT”. From the age of 18-25 I was making another persons business millions while I was on a salary pay. At the time that was enough for me to survive off of so I never complained. I was raised to appreciate what I had. Soon COVID-19 made me make a HUGE leap of faith in my life. Starting my own business has been a journey that has taught me patience, kindness, happiness, and even financial freedom. I would do it all over again if I had to. Read more>>

Monique Segovia | Owner of The Brown Thumb

i’ve always wanted to start my own business. I went to college and got my bachelors in marketing, because I figured this is something that I will always use no matter what. Then I took the safe route and worked in corporate for about 5 to 7 years. My mind was always on starting my own business so behind the scenes… My very last two years in corporate… I worked on my brand. I knew I was going to do it but just like a lot of people I was scared to take that risk. Read more>>

Guerrero Family | G4 Hats

Having independence, being able to represent our States in Mexico and Texas. Read more>>

John Parra | Artist/Illustrator/Author

In art school l knew I wanted to be a freelance illustrator and run my own business. In some ways I was inspired by my own father who had his own landscape and construction company, whom I worked for growing up. I remember him telling me; how great it was to be your own boss, that it is hard work, but when you get to do something you love and get to be creative; you feel proud. Read more>>

Sam Zien | Sam the Cooking Guy is an everyday guy – me (I have 15 Emmys… just thought I would drop that one in) – who has found a way to make cooking casually understandable. With no fancy equipment and by speaking English instead of ‘chef-speak,’ I’m sort of the everyman of cooking. I cook with my kids, dogs – just like we all do. There’s no fois gras… no white truffle oil, no ‘Peruvian mountain-raised squab in sesame-lime-soy marinade stuffed with braised forest turnips and wild enoki mushrooms in a hand pressed plum and raspberry glaze’. I’m just a regular guy, using regular words showing how to cook easy, great food… Food that’s ‘big in taste and small in effort’. It’s a handful of ingredients and a few steps – that’s it. This is a cooking show “for the rest of us,” I like to say.

I needed a job. I quit a real job to start a travel show on TV but before I got a chance to do anything, 9/11 happened…and as we know, that day changed a lot of things for a lot of people including me because in the days following 9/11, nobody was buying a travel show especially from somebody who had never been on TV and barely traveled. So, I sat at home, was watching TV and came across a really horrible cooking segment. The chef was probably much better than I could ever be but he was making butternut squash soup as complicated as humanly possible. Read more>>

Ro Neesha Norice | Spiritual business owner

bracelets, and did hair whenever I was given the opportunity. Even though I didn’t bring those things along on my journey, it allowed me to always do what I loved and to use the gifts God had granted me. After graduating from high school, I started making body butter and scrubs for family and friends. Although it was something that I was always interested in, at the time, it wasn’t something that I took seriously and I didn’t see myself creating products long-term. After getting into a terrible car accident, Read more>>

Dr. Shira A. Ackerman | CEO & Co-Founder of Creating Young Minds

My husband, Mathis, and I had been working with a young man in Washington State that needed to attend a Prep School to obtain an additional credit towards his NCAA Eligibility to play college basketball. We did not have much experience with Prep Schools, so we sent him to one in the Dallas, Texas, area, because another young man my husband had worked with previously attend it years prior. After a short period of time, we noticed things were not running as we thought they should, so my husband brought a few other young men from Washington State with him and they moved into the Prep School. Read more>>

Mary Rowley | artist

My thought process behind starting a business was probably like a lot of other stories, it started during Covid. I’ve always done some kind of art or DIY projects on the side, either around the house or for others, but during Covid a friend of mine suggested that I start painting on furniture and it took off from there. Read more>>

A.C. Williams | Professional Network Marketer, Mentor, Author, Entrepreneur

Initially, my thought process of starting my own business centered around me clearly understanding what was my ultimate goal and purpose and then finding a business that would fit. The ultimate goal was to create a business, that provided financial and time freedom, which could then align with my purpose; beginning a family legacy of passing financial wealth & personal development mindset to my next generation. Read more>>

Alesha Lofton | Your Adjuster Homegirl

God has blessed me with some awesome gifts and talents that are changing lives! I lead by example and with integrity. I am a valuable resource to many as I inspire and motivate minorities to be successful. When most people won’t share their knowledge and expertise with others due to their own selfish ways and/or afraid of competition, I am not built like that! I knew that I had what it takes to start my own business and show others how to do the same, especially the black and brown community. Read more>>

Adam Epps | Business Procurement and (uncertified) Strategic Management Consultant

My business started as a way to offer services to individuals and a businesses that give them both exponential value by means of my expertise and experience. Basically I wanted to help people be profitable or operationally successful by implementing certain strategies or relying on my experience to help them through problems their having while simultaneously being intuitive to problems that may arise. Read more>>

Paige Swanson | Paige Swanson | MA, LPC-A, RYT

I’ve always been an artist and an entrepreneur. I’ve spent hours alone in my bedroom toiling away at I derive a lot of satisfaction from building things from the ground up and working and toiling with my hands. Inquisitive and introspective, I was a professional artist and dancer before I built Sauna. Read more>>

Samuel Snow | Black belt & Founder of Roll The World

The vision for this brand came from the Holy Spirit. Building this brand to be something that was not only versatile and distinct- but mainly whatever He wanted it to be- the mission here was hearing from my Most High Father as best possible, with an open heart, and to obey and go where He leads me Read more>>

Jennifer Scott, PhD, MPH, CHES, CSE | Public health practitioner, academician and certified sexuality educator

Sexual health is a taboo topic, particularly when you want to provide education to adolescents and emerging adults. I wanted to create a space where I could have candid conversations with parents and youth, while providing education in a fun and entertaining manner. Read more>>

Bhavna Gupta | Business Owner & Family Party Planner

It’s in my blood! I come from a business background. My paternal Grandma’s side were into food catering businesses and my father was into our family business of manufacturing & export, based out of Chennai, a city in the southern part of India. I joined his company right after I completed my graduate degree. I got first-hand experience in the ways & rules of doing a business and saw how so many people were impacted by the decision making of the Management. I then realized that this is something that I would want to do as well. Read more>>

Jade Figueroa | Yoni steam practitioner/Hyaluron tech

Hello and first and foremost I would like to say starting a business Isn’t easy. I wanted to do something for me and my family. I just thought to myself what am I good at and what do I love Doing the most. I wanted to do Something that would help us and elevate us for my families future. I am a peoples person and I know I can make people feel great so I got into beauty. That is When I started to do hyaluronic fillers and Yoni steams. Yoni steam is not very common in Dallas! I wanted to change that. Read more>>

Luiz Goi | Sustainability specialist and ESG

First of all, starting to develop education in a simple and practical way came through my experience where I could understand the difference in opportunities that high-income people had and I, who came from the periphery, studying in public schools and always needing to combine work and education. The idea was to be able to offer education in an easy way, so that everyone could access content and with that, get more chances to compete in the market. Read more>>

Klyne Smith | Education Consultant

I incorporated YourNextSteps-US in January 2022, after 30 years of helping students prepare for college and obtain jobs both during and after college. My vision started while he was still in college; where I realized there were far too many people from his community and extended community who remained unclear on both what is required and how to apply for college. This pattern continued until I started realizing that attending university proved only one step of the process, finding one’s passion and motivation was equally important. This lead me to focusing on “meeting students where they are”, particularly in ability, life experiences, and maturity; and the concept of college consulting shifted. Read more>>