Many books on startups and business talk about how there are right and wrong reasons for starting a business. So, we asked a handful of successful founders about their reasons and the thought-process behind starting their business.

Lisa Myers | Artist

I worked 30 years in a very competitive sales environment for a company in the Washington DC area. The constant stress of quotas, Federal Acquisition Regulations, and the competition internally and externally to always be in the top had me pretty much burned out. When I retired in early 2019, my mothers’ health was declining so we moved her from VA to our home here in Leland, NC. Read more>>

Daryl “DJ” Riley | Entrepreneur

My fashion tech business, Tendaji, initially started as a senior engineering design project while my now co-founders, Stanton Ridley, Jordan Walls, and I were attending Hampton University. Not only did we believe that we could receive an “A” for the course, but we also felt this idea could have a societal impact. In April 2020, we submitted our project to the Forbes-sponsored pitch competition, “The Future Is iCON.” We received word that we had won the “Future of Fashion” section on June 24, 2020, consequently our founding date. Read more>>

William Fulton | Chief Visionary of The Jugo Bar

I consider myself the Chief Visionary of The Jugo Bar and I am a Winston-Salem native. As a younger man, I spent years traveling the world along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea including Casablanca, Morocco to the South of France, where I settled for a time in the wine country. I credit these experiences with intensifying my interest in flavor profiles, many of which are infused in my line of juices, waters, and 43 varieties of handcrafted beverages, bottled under the brand The Jugo Bar name (Jugo Spanish for Juice) Bar brand made In Downtown Winston-Salem, NC. Read more>>