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.

Angela Collie | CEO & Certified Public Accountant

My thought process for starting my own business centered around helping businesses keep and grow the money they earn, by providing cash management and tax planning solutions. Read more>>

Gina Dacosta | Creative Maker

It kind of found me in a way. I have always be the creative kind and I say more creative than artistic. Always figuring out how to put things together to make whatever it is I’m looking for but can not find. coming up with things in my head and then figuring out how to make it. I grew up with a creative Mom who was always crafting something or making something herself to save money. As an adult I started to do the same. Then when COVID came along and the world shut down it became more. As we were crafting through the days to help keep my youngest daughter entertained our supplies began to dwindle. Read more>>

Mike Stevens | Photographer

I’ve been working towards starting my own business for around the last five years. For various reasons, every idea and attempt at making that idea work fell through. Sometimes it was the idea itself, and other times it was either me or someone else that kept the idea from going anywhere. There’s no blame in that statement, it’s simply how things went. When the pandemic shut almost everything down I told myself, not knowing how long it would actually be, that I was going to come out of the other side of the pandemic having learned a new skill or having improved myself in some way. Read more>>

Sarah Claire Smith | Trauma Therapist & Coach & Curious Human Smith | Trauma Therapist & Coach

The idea of owning my own business and starting my own private practice has always been a dream. I had worked at several treatment/recovery facilities and this was an invaluable education for me as a therapist (and as a human) but the idea of setting my own schedule, creating my own culture, and treating clients that fit my niche and passion was very enticing. After working in addiction treatment for several years and experiencing the limits in those environments and burnout that is inevitable, I made the leap. Read more>>

Patrice J White | Chief Dynamic Transformation Coach at the Dynamic Lifestyle. Personal, Weightloss & Body Sculpting Trainer. Mental Health Advocate

The thought process came from my own journey – the path of becoming the best version of myself. After giving birth to my daughter I struggled with losing weight and confidence issue because of my weight for the 1st 12 years of her life. In 2015 after doing most of the yoyo diets that exist and mainly focusing on a number on the scale, I took a different approach to weightloss. This approach of no longer being scale driven but now goal focus not only led to me moving from 210lbs to 135lbs but also led to the birth of The Dynamic Lifestyle and me becoming a personal trainer. Read more>>

Emily + Megan Rinehardt + Rogerson | Emily Rinehardt & Megan Rogerson | Co-Founders of Salvage Apparel Co.

We are best friends and alumni of Kent State University’s Fashion School. We are passionate about sustainable fashion and wanted to find a way to prevent clothes from entering landfill. There is no doubt that the textile waste created by the fashion industry is drastically contributing to climate change. We started our small business as a way extend the life cycle of secondhand clothing through sustainable redesign and resale, ultimately helping reduce textile waste. Our goal is to banish the stigma that secondhand clothing is lower quality & less fashionable. Read more>>

Stephanie Verrier Martinez | Certified Wedding Planner & Officiant

When I started my own business, I considered a few things… First, how could I help people? I started this business as an officiant who wanted to give couples an affordable option to get married their way. Why? When my husband and I got married, we wanted an affordable option but couldn’t find any. We were married at the courthouse with just our son and one witness. Read more>>

Charline Fulbright | Hairstylist/owne

My thought process for opening my Salon & Spa, was to help others feel great about themselves both inside and outside. I feel when we look good, we feel good. Read more>>

Kelly Kowall | Certified Grief Support Provider, Life & Business Coach and Fire-walking Instructor

Upon finding out that there was not much support out there for our American Heroes and their families, I was asked the question: “What are you going to do about it?” That really hit home as it became abundantly clear that if I didn’t step up to the plate and do something who else would and how long would it take until someone did? How many more had to die before someone stepped up and at least tried to make a positive difference? Read more>>

Tyler Anderson | Real Estate Agent

Vision – Passion – Motivation – Risk-taking – Curiosity -Creativity. – Confidence Read more>>

Antonio Espinal | CEO/Co-Founder

One of the toughest things about building your own brand is getting your name out there and being patient throughout the whole process. Read more>>

Gustavo Briceno | Creative Director | Photo and Video

I have always been creatively inclined and I’ve always pursued a career following my passions. As kid my first passion was music, so I chased a career as an audio engineer to work in the music industry. This opened up a door for me to work in TV and Film industry doing audio and sound design, so I worked in the post production industry for the over 15 years. Unfortunately it is an industry that is mostly non existent in Miami, you would really need to move to a place like LA in order to grow, and having a wife and two daughters, a move to LA never seemed right. I still managed to do very well here in Miami and worked in a lot of high profile projects and managed to keep busy. However I was feeling like there was no longer any room to grow in this market. Read more>>

Lina Krasnorutskaya | Kids sport psychologist

I am in the industry of high performance sport for almost 35 years. I was a professional tennis player myself at the highest level, so I know what is needed in the industry. That’s why I am working with young athletes as a psychologist. Read more>>

Irem Balaban | Entrepreneur

I had one simple thought and that was how much I loved jewelry and I knew other women did too Read more>>

Yadeline Lara | Owner / Luxury Picnic Planner

I have always wanted to own my own business and work for myself. Up until 2020, I hadn’t found my passion. SWFL Lovely Picnics started as a way for my husband and I to celebrate our anniversary during the pandemic. Since everything was closed and travelling was limited, I began searching for fun things to do. I came across the “luxury picnic” idea on social media and wanted to create my own version of what I had seen. I asked my husband to build a low picnic table for us. Read more>>

Sanford Rabin | Skate Shop Owner

I’ve always wanted to be my own boss and grow a business for myself. Read more>>

Diamond / Gabrielle Hadley / St. Amour | Fashion Brand Owners (Three19)

So, our name Three19 derives from I and my business partner Gaby being sorority sisters! We joined our organization on March 19th along with our other four sisters. We are all different in every way, including body types. We all at one point in life have struggled with finding clothing that accommodates us, which is a problem face worldwide and when we went into starting our fashion brand, we had the mindset of helping women like us find clothing that you are proud to wear and a brand you seek for inclusivity. Read more>>

Cecilia Antelo Franco | Small business owner & Photographer

I always been good doing creative stuff since I was a kid, when I was in high school I used to selll necklaces, bracelets and I used to do embroidery or also I used to do the homework to my classmates, so the idea of having my own business was always in my mind. Read more>>

Lauren Golden | Speaker, Author and Coach

I accidentally started a business, because I had a huge problem in my life. About 7 years ago, I was an overwhelmed mom of 2 working full-time outside the home. I resented my husband because he was pursuing his passions and I was the “stable” one with the consistent paycheck and health insurance. I loved working, but having a job wasn’t allowing me to show up as the mom or wife I wanted to be. I first started freelancing as a social media manager as a way to bring in more money to support my family, but within a year I had matched my salary. Read more>>

Ivan Torres ( Van-T) | Hip-hop artist & Culture manager

At first all I wanted to do was hip-hop music, rap, produce beats, have my home studio. I did, but I needed more money. So hip hop gave me the opportunity to do rap workshops for youth and children and to be a cultural manager in the state system (Ministry of Culture). Read more>>

John Green | DJ

It started off as me always having a passion for music. Music is my life. We would throw these crazy house parties and needed a Dj and that would be me. I went from working the Aux to using my computer interface with no turntables to finally purchasing a set of tables. One day a good friend of mine approached me with a great opportunity to do a few gigs out the country and I haven’t looked back since. Read more>>

Justin Banks-Walker | Artist, Tattooist, & Streetwear brand

Honestly I was scared.. I was worried if I would be good enough, I didn’t really know what I was doing or have any guidance. I asked myself daily how would I be able to generate enough income to survive when every dollar is solely dependent on me and what I choose to do that day. At the same time I was at the crossroad in my life where I was tired of working for people and having to always follow rules, couldn’t get days off, horrible schedules, I was over it. I’m a firm believer that change only comes once your truly tired and fed up sometimes, I had a serious conversation with myself. Read more>>

Kattia Jimenez | I’m a dental assistant

Well I have a lot of thoughts for example I will be succeed ? People will be like my product? But I keep trying no matter what Read more>>

Sara Swan | Owner The Swan’s House””

My husband and I started The Swan’s House back in 2018. I had quit my job in fashion after our son was born and Arthur had sold his company down in Brooklyn. We were both ready to start something new and we wanted to do it together. I had wanted to open a store since I was a kid, so Arthur said “Let’s do it!”. We started off small, with an etsy store and instagram and soon we began to blow up. The demand was overwhelming so we made our business plan and started looking for a brick and mortar space. We found the perfect spot in the heart of Tarrytown, where we live, and got to work on doing a full renovation of the space. Read more>>

Sabrina Bree” Zellis | Concious Business Guide for Wellpreneurs + Yoga Instructor”

I have always been a fempreneur. It started when I was a child and took it upon myself to sell my Barbie collection for $350. I knew that I wanted to work for myself in some capacity but just wasn’t sure what that would look like yet. So I went the traditional route, you know college to the corporate job. I enjoyed what I did and was the youngest in my field BUT there was no passion there. I found yoga + meditation from the stress of that job and realized that was my happy place. I had experienced that notion before when I was in college and took a pilates class for my extracurricular credit. Read more>>

Louis B. Middleton | Musician & Entertainer

I’ve tried working other jobs, taking positions, working for other people and organizations. Ultimately, I’ve always come back to being a musician and working for myself. Let’s be honest, I’ve always been a musician but it wasn’t until more recently I made a decision to truly dedicate myself to my own business. The last position I took at a company inspired me to rethink what I was doing with my life; that I should give being a full time musician another shot. I’m grateful I did. Read more>>

Mackenzie DeVito | Founder : Plant Based Food Company

Just get plant based food to the people for the planet Read more>>

Andre Soul” Williams & Lyneise Rachelle n.a | Host & Co-Host of The Wake Up Miami Morning Show”

Resilience is the most important factor behind being successful. It’s about staying committed to vision and being faithful in the capabilities that we have. Read more>>

Marina Nedic | Owner and Managing Director

The first company (I.E.M.) was founded in Italy in 1999. It was (and still is) based in Verona, Italy, It was created with the aim of helping Italian companies market their products on international markets.. Since Verona is the city of Romeo and Juliet (but also surrounded by numerous vineyards) the company specialized in the promotion of food and wine, initially towards Asian markets. Then in 2003 we started working on the US market and saw the huge potential, thus we opened the US business in Miami in 2007. Read more>>

Cara D’Adamo | Artist & Entrepreneur

I started Faith Over Fear Studio & Productions as a way to help younger actors getting started in the entertainment business. Read more>>

İLYAS MUTLU | Technician

I just wanted to embark on a new adventure. My wife has been very supportive in this regard and now I am here, I have a small business and I make the figures of the movie characters I love. Read more>>