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.

Breonna Gildon Wright | Lead Minister

Seven simple words : ‘God, use me to help empower women.’ When I first started Empower Her Ministries, I was in a space where I finally felt confident to share my journey. My desire was to use the only two things that I believed could not only help me to connect with women, but to also impact women. Those two things are my voice and my words. Read more>>

Derron | Entrepreneur, Audio Engineer, and Executive Producer

I started Black Visual Entertainment because of my passion for music, audio, and media. I’ve also always enjoyed helping people. So I thought to myself, what better way to indulge in all those things then to create a business around it. It felt natural to me, given the fact that I have been a self-starter since I was a child. Read more>>

Kenya Jasso | Cook

My name is Kenya Jasso , I make custom strawberries and also make desserts for people to buy I enjoy making this kind of stuff it really brings joy to me when I do it because it’s something that I love .  Read more>>

Nazareth Zurita | Licensed Massage Practitioner & Instructor

In 2016 I started working for a mobile company doing at home massage. Company had cut our pay in 2017 and in 2018 I noticed that they didn’t properly screen clients. Although an app is convenient and strategic, it wasn’t enough to stop some clients from soliciting undesirable request upon my arrival. Read more>>

Madison Batman | Owner & Creator

I knew I wanted to start a business before I knew what I wanted to sell. It was May of 2020, I had just graduated college with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a focus in Applied Behavior Analysis, and landed my first office job working as a temp. I would pass the days by listening to various podcasts while I worked, jotting down notes of the many things I learned. Read more>>

Michelle Whittaker | Professional Organizer

Prior to the pandemic, I was in the corporate world. Once work came to a halt, we were at home and I wasn’t going into the office, I began rethinking what I wanted my work life to look like. I had co-owned a business before, but I had never started my own business, and after some time to think about where I wanted to go with that, I started thinking about the skills I had and what I really truly enjoyed doing. Read more>>

Kelsye Jarmon | Resilient Body & Co Owner

Resilient is an all natural 100% handmade skincare line. My main goal in starting my business was wanting to create an all natural skincare line that offered our skin and body the proper nutrition it needs. I wanted to embrace the natural elements that we have in life by bringing each product together to create something better, something natural, something Resilient. Read more>>

Ngozi Okoye | Home baker/market vendor

It was totally a leap of faith to start it up during COVID-19 lockdown. Before then, I had been doing a bit of in-house baking for my family and the neighborhood, until a friend invited me to come join the Firewheel farmers market back in 2020. Read more>>