After college, Eliza Blank longed for a greener life — the concrete jungle wasn’t cutting it. She went to the basement (yes, basement) of Home Depot to look for plants and thought, There must be a better way. She developed her idea for The Sill in a pre-Instagram era, and she’s pretty much responsible for turning you into a plant parent. But it wasn’t all easy growth — her co-founder left after a few months, leaving Eliza to make her plant dreams happen on her own. Spoiler alert: She did it.

thesill.com

@thesill

Burnt out after 10 years of running her private chef business and ready to move to Malibu to open a restaurant, Jill Donenfeld met Tiana Tenet — and decided to take her business in a totally new direction: Bigger. Melanie talked to them about redefining their business, growing the team, getting important feedback and how they’ve helped one another — and the Culinistas brand— grow in new and unexpected ways.

theculinistas.com

@theculinistas

Renata Black studied under one of the preeminent microfinance scholars. While living in India, she realized the power of small sums of money. She rejected the idea of underwear as a sex symbol and flipped it on its head, turning it into an empowering tool for women to help women every day. Her subscription service — co-founded with Sofia Vergara — supplies women with new underwear so they can make a difference every time they get dressed.

@joinEBY

join-eby.com

Since 2011, Bark & Co has been cranking out quirky toys and treats for dogs all over America. When a product recall almost jeopardizes everything, the Bark team came together to make good on their promise to make dogs happy. Co-founder & COO Carly Strife tells all.

bark.co

@barkbox

With a factory mishap, direct-to-consumer shoe company Margaux discovers the ingredient it didn’t know it was missing. Co-founder Alexa Buckley tells all.

margauxny.com

@margauxny

Worn is a Brooklyn-based agency that started as a DC-based magazine. A government grant, cold email and lot of hustle later, it’s a booming, mission-driven business helping brands like Bumble, Let’s Move (yeah, Michelle Obama) and Andie(!) grow and reach new audiences. Nicole Corbett and Carolyn Rush have grown Worn to 14 people through a contagious blend of adventurousness, positivity and resilience — because agency life isn’t easy, and you have to deal with rejection every damn day.