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.

Tamila Minovarova

My success is rooted in my passion for creativity and my eagerness to step outside of my comfort zone. A once shy and reserved girl turned into a confident woman, who’s free in self expression in front of the camera and in social settings- who can motivate and inspire others. I constantly push myself to challenge old limits; in this way I am able to step into my most authentic self. As a model and content creator, I strive to bring my true self into everything I do, which allows me to connect with my community and continuously grow all aspects of my life. Read More>>

Elaine Graeser

I love candles! I got tired of spending good money on candles from big box stores that were full of chemicals, fake scents and really didn’t burn well. I started looking into to DIY candle making on-line and found a community of home candle makers that shared my desire for clean, creative, quality candles. I made my first candles just to have around the house and share with a few friends. I received nothing but positive feedback and took a shot at making enough as Christmas gifts for family and friends. Read More>>

Jared Schwartz

The idea was an evolution of a deep love I had for pizza. We started our business during the early days of COVID, a time filled with uncertainty—especially after I was laid off from my job. A good friend lent me some kitchen equipment to pass the time while I searched for work. One night, while experimenting with dinner ideas, I made a batch of dough—only to realize I had made way too much.

Not wanting it to go to waste, I called around to friends to see if anyone wanted some extra dough to make their own pizzas at home. A few said yes, so we drove around and dropped it off. After a few nights of this, word spread. Soon, we started making our own sauce and packaging cheese and pepperoni to include in the “kits.” Read More>>

Kali & Montana

Through our podcast, we created a community that we call our besTEA’s. This community is a place where all are welcome and loved. We encourage people to be themselves, speak their minds, and find new friendships. We have developed many life long bonds with people all over the world that truly provide enrichment to our daily lives. When we first began this podcast journey, doing interviews with creators of all kinds was just a seed of a thought that we weren’t entirely sure we could achieve. Now we have a wide variety of people we network with. This results in us being able to promote the hard work that is put into planning book based events, cosplays, and even all the dedication it takes to be an author. Read More>>

Daniel Steigman

We live in a rural area, in the high desert, in Arizona. There are 12,000 people in our town and a few towns surround us in the Verde Valley. Our town, chose to remain a small town, not allowing many businesses of size come in. Instead, these businesses went to a much more business centered community 17 miles away. This situation has left our town in a state where we are unable to purchase many things, forcing us to travel to other areas or use online stores for many of the things we purchase. When we came to our town, you couldn’t buy a decent spool of thread or many of the other items needed for sewing, quilting, embroidery. However, there was and is a large community of sewers in our area that were under served and left with few choices to meet their crafting desires. Read More>>

Ryan Clausen

Practical gore effects in films. From the super cheesy to the hyper realistic, it’s all magic to me. Equal parts slight of hand and puzzle building. One moment, everything in the scene is normal, the characters are intact and more or less OK, the next, something horrible happens. A character’s insides are on the outside. Somewhere between those moments, something is secretly added to the scene without the audience knowing. A squib or a prosthetic or wires or tubes under patches of fake flesh. Maybe an actor has been swapped out for a dummy rigged up to do who knows what. There are technicians just out of frame, waiting for their cue. All of it has to be so carefully planned and choreographed. Read More>>

Jane Spicer

The two most important factors behind my success are honesty and tenacity. My Mum (Daphne, our company’s namesake) taught me the importance of both. It is so important to be honest with each other, our customers and our employees. Without it bit by bit, day by day one’s credibility will erode and nothing, no deal or sale is worth it. Read More>>

Samantha Rico Manzanedo

The most important key factors of my success with owning a coffee business is having the drive and willpower to keep moving towards a goal. Putting in the hard work especially on days when you’re exhausted, having resilience when there are setbacks, having confidence in your work but also having passion for what you’re doing. I believe what you put out into the world is what you get back. So when I am able to as a small business we try to give back to our community whether that’s sponsoring events in our town, helping the animal shelter with treats and food, and also sponsoring youth sports teams. It’s also important to have a great support system from friends, family, and the community. That’s what helps a business succeeds. Read More>>