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.

Corrin DeBono | Mobile Bartender

I started my own business after working behind a bar for 13 years. I absolutely love the act of bartending and providing a service. Although I was tired of missing out on my children’s sports activities and important events in their lives. So I created a business that I could make my own schedule and hire staff if need be. My business took off and I truly believe it’s the best decision I could have made. Read more>>

Justin Kent | Golf Performance Coach

The process for me was the vision of making a membership based lesson program. Everyone does lessons by the hour and it can get expensive. I wanted a more economical model, but also want to see golfers make better gains in their overall game faster. This membership model gives golfers the opportunity to come everyday of the month and work on what we are building instead of weekly. Read more>>

Robin Glicksman | Dr. Robin Glicksman

We opened BB Beauty Lounge in Tucson, Arizona in 2018, during the height of the pandemic. My partner and I, at the time, were running an integrated healthcare medical clinic and operating the first COVID-19 drive-up testing tent. For all of us, the pandemic brought to light a lot of things, from awareness, self-care opportunities, new hobbies, DIY projects, loneliness, stress, just an overall period of adjustment. Read more>>

Doug Klemann | Fire Fighter

As a Fire Fighter for 21 years, I wanted to be able to provide the community with a valuable service and an opportunity to provide jobs…as well as a positive place to work, while also securing my livelihood beyond the fire department. Read more>>

Rachel D’Acquisto | Owner | Brewer of Ray Ray’s Sonoran Spirit Tea

The seed grew from working for other businesses. I would daydream and ask myself questions. Can I do this? Can I learn what I don’t know? Do I have good ideas? Do I want to be a leader? It took me a few years to answer yes, but when I did, my goals began to take shape. As a bartender I had a signature cocktail. People loved it, it had to be made in big batches just to keep up with demand. Read more>>

Avani Reed | Custom Sticker Manufacturer & Owner of Mythic Printz

My thought process behind starting my own business actually goes way back to when I was homeless as a teenager. I always had the idea of doing something, ANYTHING- and I knew that I wanted to be my own boss. As a workaholic, I live for my work, but I now also live for my three children. Read more>>

Jo Jones | Founder/Executive Director

I own my own Real Estate Company in Arizona. That being said this “business”, Jacob’s Hope is a non-profit that I started in memory of my son Jacob Jones. Read more>>

Rob Phelan | CFEI, Personal Finance Teacher, Business Owner, and Children’s Book Author

I started my first “business” when I was a kid, where I collected bottles and cans from neighbors to exchange for nickels and dimes at the local bottle bank. It was born out of a desire to buy something and not having the money to do it. My parents, instead of giving me the money or saying no, gave the option of earning what I needed through my own enterprise. Read more>>

Selena Wolff | Dental Assistant & Tucson South Wiki-licious owner

My thought process when even considering the idea of starting my own business was “no you’re crazy.” Mom of 3 that already works full time as a dental assistant and has already started school to pursue something bigger and better. My hypeman (husband) sort of encouraged me to start this journey took many months to get me on board. Read more>>

Zaida Nunez | Chef & Business Owner

Starting my own business came extremely natural to me. In 2020 during the pandemic lockdown I began to share all the meals I cooked at home on my personal Instagram page. I did it for fun and used it as a distraction from everything that was going on at the time. Read more>>

Erika Rojas | Graphic Designer/ Marketing Consultant

The start of my business was unexpected, I never thought I would become an entrepreneur, I did not feel capable of running a business. However, a friend encouraged me to do it, and in 2004 I registered my business ER GRAPHIC SOLUTIONS Read more>>

Don Bates | Chief Litter Gitter

Freedom to pursue ideas on my terms. I was a Senior Executive with a great company that was very entrepreneurial in many ways but several ideas that I had developed did not fit what they offered. I wanted to be able to move at the speed of my initiative and personal goals. Read more>>

Chris Dunham | The Real Estate Guy™

Was just kind of thrown into the Real Estate Industry. Wrapped up a few years in college, didn’t want to go into Journalism as planned, due to low financial reward. We were purchasing a home, was pushing my wife towards it, she opted not to, so I jumped in, feet first, without looking. Read more>>

Valerie Whitman | Realtor, RE/MAX Alliance Group

One of the main reasons for starting my business was that I wanted to have more control over my days. I wanted to be able to drop off and pick up my children to and from school every day, and not have to rely on daycare. I felt like I was missing out on seeing them grow up. Read more>>

Katie Byrnes | Founder, Jayebird Golf

I grew up playing every sport I could, but golf was always my favorite. I’ve known from my first tee time that women’s golf apparel was lacking, and even worse, it was keeping women from stepping onto the green! I wanted pieces that would fit course dress codes while allowing me to play and look my best. Read more>>

Heike Kuzminski | Artist & Illustrator

I have always been interested in art and design. Drawing and painting has been a hobby of mine ever since I was a child. After graduation, I pursued a degree in Applied Design and worked as an Interior designer for about 8 years. Read more>>

Dannow Schlax | Owner Operator & Captain

It started a few years ago when I was bartending. Seeing that I hold my real estate license, I was trying to figure out unique ways to show clients how Lake Life could be in a new lake house. I thought showing them the houses from the water with a cocktail is a fun way to do so. From there it evolved into making it available to the public. Read more>>

Sara Gaddy | Co-founder of desert mvmt

In starting desert mvmt, my co founder, Alex Loda, and I wanted to create a space where all people feel welcomed, empowered and inspired. We honed in our focus on what we loved about fitness, specifically low-impact high-intensity workouts, and what we wanted our voice to be within the Phoenix community. Read more>>

Shannon Holt | Social Media Manager & Web Designer

Starting Creative Waves was about being able to indulge in our creative sides by building something of our own while helping others to build their own businesses. We have similar backgrounds – Erika in Marketing, Promotion, and Graphic Design, myself in Communications, Social Media, and Web Design. It was the perfect combination that allowed us to start Creative Waves and build a business around creativity and helping others. Read more>>

Cysen Ai | Artist

When I worked as an tattoo artist in the beginning, I tried my best to learn and to improve my skills. I felt like that was my only priority. I used to stay late and work extra hours (sometimes for free) to get my job done properly. Read more>>

Neda & Mona Charmezz | Owners & Food Stylist

Cooking, hosting, and creating beautiful cuisine is part of our culture and heritage, and one of the key elements of our upbringing, we both grew up in different parts of the world (Neda in Canada, Mona in Dubai), with similar passions, so when we met, we clicked on so many levels. Read more>>

Becka Gottschalk | Permanent Makeup Artist & Beauty Service Provider

I’ve always held a 9 to 5 job for majority of my work life. I’ve had a few side hustles here and there but it wasn’t until a few months ago that I decided to venture out and have an actual business of my own. One of the biggest factors in starting my business was to be able have freedom of time and making my own schedule. Working for someone else made me feel like I was missing out on a lot of my daughter’s life/milestones and made me feel as if someone else was having to raise her in her first few years of life. This is when I knew I had to make a change. Read more>>

Andrew Aziz | Recruiting and Talent Acquisition

My thought process behind starting my own business was simple. My industry is talent acquisition and recruiting, when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit that was the first department to be let go. From there a thought occurred in my mind on how the dynamic of recruiters and companies can change. Read more>>

Latasha Burger | Spiritual Coach and Empathic/Intuitive Tarot Reader

I was tired of working for others, so I took a leap of faith and started my business. I wanted to create generational wealth for my family, but I couldn’t do that while helping make it for someone else’s family. Also, I was becoming aligned with my purpose during that time, so I felt called to make a change. I must say it was the scariest yet most rewarding thing that I’ve done. I’m nowhere near where I want to be yet. However, my peace of mind every day is worth the sacrifice. Read more>>

Michael Latona II | CEO of Latona Lifestyle

“No risk, no reward”, is what my Grandmother used to say in the Latona household. For almost 3 decades, I would talk about my aspirations with my Grandma. However, I couldn’t ever find the right time to commit and take action. During 2020, when the coronavirus made it’s way through the United Status and I saw the impact that it made on our economy. It really opened my eyes on focusing on my future and building generational wealth. Read more>>

Greg Garcia | Podcasting & Digital Media Marketing

Generation Mars Media was started as a hobby, which was born out of a love for broadcasting in general. I started Generation Mars Podcast in 2020 when I was forced by my school site to teach online. Read more>>

Laurie Peters | Makinguphavasu Makeup Artist

Moving back home to Lake Havasu from Los Angeles Ca was a big step in my career, I really wanted to be closer to family and friends but still continue to educate and help people feel their best. I decided I really wanted to focus on Bridal Makeup. I put myself out there did tons of makeup, took tons of pictures, met with new vendors and the rest is history. Read more>>

Mersally Avendano | Dance Instructor & Founder of Mersy G. Dance Company

The thought process behind my business was simplified once i got the idea of my business having a traditional dance studio model out of my head. After many years of teaching, I dreamed of opening a dance studio with big mirrors, and beautiful shiny wood floors. Where students could come learn anything from ballet to salsa! Read more>>

Jessica Thomas | Chief Delegation Officer & Virtual Assistant Instructor

While working in corporate back in 2014, one of the things I observed was how stressed out and overwhelmed many people were. Myself included. I witnessed and sometimes experienced the 60+ hour work weeks, demanding deadlines, and exhausting office politics. Read more>>

Sierra Erickson | Photographer

I’ve had a strong passion and interest in photography for nearly my entire life, but after the birth of my son in 2018 I quickly realized I needed to make a shift in my career path that would allow me to be home with him and have the flexibility to create my own schedule. Read more>>

Kris Vijay | Doctor

In January 1977, my father had just come back home from Harkisondas Hospital ( Now Reliance Hospital ) in Bombay, India, after being discharged from congestive heart failure. He was treated by one of the finest cardiologist at the time, Dr. J. K Mehta. Read more>>

Kristina Holliday | Boutique Owner & Mama

Honestly, I just wanted to succeed in life, and do something for myself, something I built all on my own. I come from a family of workers, in sales, My grandparents opened there own garage shop and quickly became big and everyone in the Pennslyvania state new of us. I guess you could say I’ve always been driven, I always loved accessories, im a true woman in that department. Read more>>

Jasmine Williams | Bakery owner & Baker

I’ve been cooking in the hospitality industry since i was 18 years old. I’ve worked in many environments from fine dining to huge stadiums. I got to a spot in my career where i just wanted to try something new! I hadn’t really done much baking and decided to start learning at home on my down time. Read more>>

Ethan Hoover | Co-Owner at Hoover Collective

Blair and I, being brothers that are 13 months apart, always shared similar interests in the creative world. Whether it be photography, videography, design, etc. As we both continued to hone in our craft and figure out what we’re best at and what roles we enjoy operating in the most, we realized how well our giftings could compliment each other. Read more>>

Franz Tudor | Biotech meets Booze

We came up with an idea that was new and highly innovative compared to any product offerings in the market. We also felt the attributes delivered by our product addressed key unmet needs amongst consumers. Unless your product is highly differentiated from the existing market players and address unmeet consumer needs in the market it will be a battle small companies wont win due to limited resources vs larger established companies. Read more>>