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.

Cecilia Wichmann | Entrepreneur

I was actually talking to a coworker who had an idea of opening a cigar, coffee and beer bar. I don’t smoke cigar, I don’t drink coffee and I am allergic to beer so I told him I wouldn’t be his best customer. But my brain thought “I drink tea and there is no high quality tea company around here” and that’s how my research about it started. Read more>>

Kelsey Karper | Factory Obscura Co-Founder & Director of Logistical Creativity

When we founded Factory Obscura in 2017, it came as a result of a conversation among a group of friends. This conversation (hypothetical at the time) was first about imagining what it would look like to build a playground for adults. As the conversation continued, and engaged more people, the idea became more real and got much bigger! Read more>>

LaShonda Jennings | Broker, Owner of The Empire Realty Group

I wanted financial and time freedom from the corporate world. Initially I didn’t know where to begin my journey but once I started researching and learning about the real estate world of buying/selling real estate, I knew this was what I was meant to do. I thought about all the events, important moments in time I was missing out on with my children and knew I had to do something different. Read more>>