We were fortunate to catch up with some brilliant artists, creatives and entrepreneurs from throughout the Houston area and they share the wisdom with us below.

Doug Renfro | Salsa Creator & 3rd Generation Family Businessperson

My first job out of college was in the financial planning and analysis department of the late Ross Perot’s company, so I have a spreadsheet for everything in my life! As I get older, I’m definitely focusing more on building up assets and paying down debt. We’ve been fortunate to pay for our three children’s college experiences plus two weddings in full now. Read more>> 

Jasmine Holmes | Founder of DFW Black Moms Walking

I am a mother to 4 girls and 1 boy. The most important thing I’ve done as a parent was go to therapy. I come from an environment where I wasn’t taught how to communicate in a healthy manner and no one ever talked about therapy but we knew many folks with illnesses including my mother. My father could’ve been bi polar but we will just have to go with he was a Gemini because he was never diagnosed as far as I know. Read more>>

Carlisha Harper

The best decision I ever made was to surround myself with people who believed in me more than I believed in myself. Sometimes, God gives others visions that can inspire and motivate you to stay on track. Trusting and relying on a supportive, trustworthy community can open doors that change your life. Finding relief in a community during tough times can provide not only encouragement but also fresh perspectives and the strength to persevere. Read more>>

Dubem Onwumere | Model, Creative Director

You know risk is actually funny thing to think of when it comes to wanting to do your own thing or just work period. Risk for me can either be with time, money, relationships, etc. I compartmentalize risk into different factors, just trying to make sure that it makes sense. For instance, if I were wanting to do a certain job, how much time or resources is going to take to complete it? Read more>>

Kristen Ridout

Risk taking is so important. It helps you grow as a person and business. I worked on my own within my business for a year. I realized I needed to take the risk of hiring someone to help me alongside projects and grow with me. It was a risk I was nervous about at first. I am thankful I did because I have an amazing team of women. Read more>>

Sky Singleton | Tattoo Artist

The most important factor behind my brand are two things. Providing a way for my son and family, and giving back to the community that supports me. I feel as a small business owner we need to understand that people choose to shop with us over commercial businesses because we are outed in the community. So the smallest gesture and our duty is to give back. Read more>> 

CRESHAE Dominique | A Goal Digger & SheEO

What makes me happy? The first word that comes to mind is unity. If you know me, you know that I love bringing people together. That could be in the capacity of a business event, a birthday party, a church conference or just kickbacks at my home. It’s something that warms my heart, just being with family and friends; even when I meet new people. Read more>>

Prabhu Ragunathan | Guitarist & Producer

Perseverance matters the most to me. As an artist, I feel that practicing mental fortitude is one of the key elements to pursuing a career in music, just as much as passion and talent. Bluntly speaking, adulthood is exhausting. There are days where I am completely uninspired to pick up the guitar, whether it’s due to some anxiety-inducing event that I ruminate about, or negative internal dialogue and self-doubt. Read more>>

Deborah Colleen Rose | Spiritual Coach, Entertainer & Investigator

My value for business is asking myself how do I provide a positive value for my clients. I provide them with information from all of my services.
As an investigator, I provide them with facts so they can make better decisions in regards to a situation legally. Read more>>

Lani Rangel | Licensed Lash Artist

One of the first things you will see when people begin promoting joint the lash/beauty industry as a whole is the “luxury, lavish lifestyle” which isn’t a reality for 85% of the people in this line of work. Most of us are regular people who had an idea and ran with it, of course remaining grateful and humble for our clients and income we do have coming in we have to end this idea that becoming a lash tech automatically equates to traveling every other month, luxury bags, and stacks of money your first year in. Read more>>

Alexander Pelayo

While being a Business Owner seems like having all the lights and glamour around you at all times. It’s definitely not that. Having a Business means.
You are the the Marketing team / General manager / Janitor / and finance team / photographer … while still being able to handle clientele. Read more>>

Brianna Ortiz | Artist

Trying to balance a fulltime job in the corporate world and making time to paint can be difficult. Prior to my current job position I had more time to participate in art shows, paint and create content for social media. Now, the scale has become unbalanced the more I grew in my job and art is now part time where I find myself painting only once or twice a week. Read more>>