Our city is home to so many incredible businesses and so we asked the founders how they came up with the ideas for their businesses and have shared their responses below.

Amira Ahmadi | Small Business Owner & Energy Healing Practitioner

Aura Luna Collective started because I felt like there was a niche that needed to be filled in the small business market. People like to support small businesses but it’s not always accessible and you don’t want to always have to place orders from different sites (especially with how high shipping prices are). I knew a lot of wonderful small businesses and the idea of having their products in one place to make it more accessible was what really pushed me to make this business a reality. Knowing you are supporting multiple small businesses at one time is truly a wonderful feeling. Read more>>

Ben Malament | Co-founder & Drummer of The California Honeydrops

A decade ago in Oakland, CA. The band came together between me as a percussionist and Lech Wierzynkski, a songwriter, guitarist, and trumpeter. We started busking in the Oakland subway stations and very quickly our holistic sound, which embraces several American musical forms such as soul, jazz, and blues began to take shape. It was an instinctive coming together of playing styles that shaped the group into what is The California Honeydrops today. Each member of the band is a virtuoso in their own rite — Yanos “Johnny Bones” Lustig on saxophone, Lorenzo Loera on keyboards/guitar, Beaumont Beaullieu on drums, Miles Blackwell on bass, and we’re regularly accompanied by Oliver Tuttle on trombone, Leon Cotter on saxophone/clarinet, and Miles Lyons on trombone/sousaphone — navigating through a vast repertoire of original songs and timeless classics every night. Read more>>

Alyssa Kapnik Samuel | Photographer

I started my business about 14 years ago, but it’s only in the last 7 years or so that I’m really doing the kind of work I really love. Coming into this phase of my career, and finding a niche I really feel at home in and love dearly, correlates really closely to the birth of my son, who’s now almost 8. My specialty is photographing moms bonding with their babies. But that wasn’t always the case. Until about 8 years ago, I had been doing any and all photography work. Weddings, engagements, dating profile photographs, bar mitzvahs and graduation parties, personal branding. I couldn’t quite figure out what I was working toward. My work didn’t feel like art, and it didn’t really feel like it had a big heart. It was just work. Read more>>

Elijah Ray | Co-fouder

It’s quite ironic how Bridge The Gap started, as we never anticipated it would go this far. I, Elijah Ray (Eli), approached Jacob, Gabby, and Tamara with the idea of hosting a pop-up shop. After some conversations, we quickly realized that Bridge The Gap could be much more. We recognized a void in the community and felt it would be a disservice to offer this support, insight, and camaraderie only once a year. Read more>>

Kristina Trogdon | Apparel Designer/Product Developer & Fabric/Quilt Designer

I think there is a perception that quilting is only for “old ladies,” or that it is only for those into cottage core. But because my background is fashion and apparel, I feel like there is away to bridge this gap of ugly quilting into the realm of bohemian and beautiful handmade home decor. Quilting is so much fun and very therapeutic, but is overlooked because there is a lot of wild and tacky fabrics sewn into wild quilt designs. My ultimate goal for Quilt Verve is to bring fashion to quilting. I use my knowledge of fashion and try to blend that into more modern and unique quilt designs. Read more>>

Katherine Dines | Songwriter, Performer and Teaching Artist.

The idea came from writing country and pop songs then getting steered into a completely different direction when a publisher asked if I could write for children. The phrase “Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta” is part of a much longer phrase that has been passed down through my family for 8 generations. That short phrase became the title of my 1st children’s song, the first album, and is now trademarked. The original phrase was probably a “field holler” – a pre-telephone phrase used to call to persons far away. “Kick-ta-bill-icky-all-uh-guh-lock-sta-hunk-ta-bunk-ta-boo– yoooo-hoooo!” Read more>>