Ideas aren’t everything, execution matters greatly, but starting often requires an idea and so we asked folks to think back and tell us the story of how they came up with the idea for their businesses. We’ve highlighted some of our favorite stories below.

Daria Shevhenko | CEO&Founder of “The House Of Ukraine”

Well, I have been working in the fashion industry since I remember myself. While traveling for modeling contracts to Beijing, Bangkok, Paris, Istanbul, New Delhi, New York and other exiting places – I was able to collect the knowledge and expertise in the fashion industry. Today I live and work in New York City, and that is exactly where I was when Russia started its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. I am Ukrainian myself, born and raised in the beauty and vitality of Ukrainian nature, nurtured by the culture of kind, inventive, inspirational Ukrainians, my heart was slowly breaking into peaces here, not knowing how can I make an impact. Read more>>

Tashawn Barber | photographer

Well, growing up I have always had different visions and ideas that I always wanted to create. From ways of how I wanted a picture to be taken, to what I think could be the best outfit for a video or photoshoot. But as a kid I couldn’t really think of them as anything but just random thoughts. Until, I got to high school, was really when I picked up on photography and started learning from there. And from there was when I just thought, I could really make something of this! Build a career out of capturing moments and having memories of stuff you could have forever. Read more>>

Wyatt Wudyka | Vacation Rental Consultant

For years we worked for different property owners. Managings 8 homes and 20 units at a single time. Whenever the owner hit a road bump it seemed as if there were no resources to help. No one would educate us so we can do it on our own. Only companies who would take flat rate fees for completing the job. We had to learn on our own and become scrappy to solve problems to save money. Eventually we ran into every issue you could imagine and ended up with a strong knowledge of hospitality specifically in miami. Read more>>