After walking away from a corporate career at Meta with no plan and everything to lose, Eric Levine rebuilt from the ground up—first launching a personal diving app, then discovering a passion for leveraging AI to solve strategic business prob…
After years of watching leaders struggle to balance compliance with culture, Deya Booker launched Bloom & Beacon HR to help small business owners and nonprofit leaders create workplaces where people and purpose thrive. Her turning point came whe…
After years of driving success for major companies—only to be rewarded with layoffs and burnout—Chris Pearcey knew it was time to build something of his own. With decisio media, he's tackling streaming fatigue head-on, helping viewers st…
When Jane Alexander stood in her kitchen wiping up Cheerios, she didn’t expect it to be the moment her startup journey would begin. But that quiet decision sparked the birth of Emma Advisor, an AI-powered college admissions platform helping ov…
After years in the corporate grind building someone else’s vision, Mike Conway decided it was time to create something of his own—something with purpose. That vision became Arcodo, a platform designed to support the often chaotic, multid…
Benjamin Shapiro made the bold leap from tenured professor to tech founder, driven by a desire to see his research become real-world innovation. As the CEO of Lumenuity, he’s transforming the future of imaging with Light Unfolding® technol…
Troy Fine turned a wake-up call into a launchpad. After years of entrepreneurial ambition, it was a moment of personal loss that propelled him to trade hesitation for action. Now, as the founder of a cybersecurity compliance firm, he empowers busine…
Eshan Chordia’s entrepreneurial path has been anything but linear—but it’s exactly that journey that shaped the founder he is today. From a failed startup to leading AI innovation for non-technical users, Eshan now builds tools tha…
After months of disheartening job interviews and soul-searching in a San Francisco hotel room, Rebecca Dhrimaj chose purpose over predictability—and never looked back. As co-founder of The Empathy Collective, she now helps organizations lead c…
When DevRaj Patel couldn’t find a drink that truly reflected his cultural roots, he decided to build one. Blending Ayurvedic inspiration with modern mixology, he launched Jivati—a premium Indian-inspired RTD cocktail brand rooted in iden…
Andrea Marquardt Finck’s entrepreneurial path was shaped by profound personal loss, resilience, and a determination to give people back their most valuable resource—time. As a multipreneur leading businesses like Lightsome and Home Watch…
From lab research in New York to launching a platform uniting musicians worldwide, Alan Hegron’s path is proof that transferable skills can spark entrepreneurial breakthroughs. What started as a scientist spotting the struggles of friends and …
After the NBA lockout, Wesley Horne turned a local coaching opportunity into a national movement by launching TruRep—a revolutionary AI-powered basketball training platform. From training Charleston kids in broken systems to creating a patente…
After building and selling her own pet business, climbing the corporate ladder, and earning an EMBA, Claire Pickens realized her true calling wasn’t in boardrooms—it was beside entrepreneurs. In this Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlig…
After trading his Army uniform for the high-stakes world of residential lending, Zach Farkas discovered a passion for entrepreneurship rooted in autonomy and impact. A former top VA lender in the country, Zach turned a major personal setback into th…
After two decades as a high-impact executive, Jess Lane found herself laid off from a unicorn tech company she helped build—a moment that catalyzed her entrepreneurial awakening. Rather than return to the grind, she chose to rewrite the script…
After building and selling a successful business, Justin Wilhelms took a leap into his true calling—helping overwhelmed business owners regain control. In this edition of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight, Justin shares how he evolve…
After discovering the transformative power of leadership coaching, Kelly Kienzle took a bold leap from working within corporate frameworks to forging her own path. Through one-on-one and team coaching, she empowers mission-driven leaders to reclaim …
Garrett Paul went from feeling professionally adrift to co-founding a fast-growing accounting firm with childhood friend and CPA, Matt Jones. While Matt leads on the technical front, Garrett drives client relationships, business development, and str…
After being laid off, Tomas Franc chose not to job hunt—he chose to build. With a background in SaaS and a long-standing passion for fixing knowledge gaps in fast-moving teams, Tomas launched NextKS: an AI-powered Slack-native platform that tu…
After trading the grind of underpaid academia for the thrill of entrepreneurship, Kristin Clark found her calling by helping others share their stories. As the founder of Elite Content Creation, a boutique ghostwriting and hybrid publishing agency, …
After years of working under someone else's banner, Angel Ortiz made a bold leap during a business presentation—unveiling ZITRO Construction Services LLC to a room full of peers. What followed was a journey fueled by deep family inspiration, u…
After being laid off shortly after maternity leave, Cody Gillund transformed uncertainty into clarity—and clarity into a business. As the founder of Grounded Growth Studio, she partners with early- and growth-stage tech leaders to realign mark…
Brittney Hannah didn’t just learn AI—she transformed how others engage with it. Through her company, The Sainth, she’s helping mission-driven teams move from curiosity to confident implementation, bridging the gap between strategy,…