Your Entrepreneurial Journey Could Inspire the Next Generation
Every business has a story. We want HCC students to help tell yours!
Houston City College is inviting local business owners, founders, entrepreneurs, and side-hustlers to participate in the Culture is Currency National HSI STEAM Innovation Challenge by sharing their entrepreneurial journey with a team of HCC students.
Powered by California State University and a national network of HSI Innovation Hubs, including Houston City College, this grant-funded initiative brings together entrepreneurship, culture, technology, STEAM, and digital storytelling to connect students with the real people building businesses and creating opportunities in their communities.
Share the Story Behind Your Business
Selected entrepreneurs will be interviewed by a team of 2–5 HCC students who want to learn about the person and story behind the business—not just the final product.
Students may explore questions such as:
- What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
- How did you turn your idea, passion, or side hustle into a business?
- How did you navigate financial decisions and limited resources along the way?
- What challenges or setbacks have you faced, and how did you overcome them?
- How have you adapted, innovated, or grown your business?
- How have your culture, family, identity, or community influenced your entrepreneurial journey?
- What do you wish you had known when you first started?
- What advice would you give to a student considering entrepreneurship?
In partnership with Apple, HCC students will receive training and use iPads, iPhones, and Apple creative applications to transform these conversations into engaging podcasts and digital video stories highlighting entrepreneurship in the Houston community.
Why Participate?
By sharing your story, you can help students understand what entrepreneurship really looks like—the ideas, risks, lessons, sacrifices, pivots, successes, and perseverance that happen behind the scenes.
Your participation can help:
Inspire future entrepreneurs. Your experiences may give an HCC student the confidence to pursue an idea of their own.
Give back through mentorship. Sometimes one conversation with an entrepreneur can change how a student sees their future.
Amplify Houston’s entrepreneurial stories. Help us capture and celebrate the diverse people, cultures, ideas, and businesses contributing to our community.
Show students the reality of entrepreneurship. Success stories matter, but so do the challenges and lessons learned along the way. We want students to hear about the authentic journey.
You Don't Need a "Perfect" Success Story
We are looking for real entrepreneurial journeys.
Whether you operate an established company, family business, startup, nonprofit venture, creative enterprise, consulting practice, food business, technology company, or growing side hustle here in Houston, your experience has something valuable to teach.
Your story could be the story that inspires an HCC student to start theirs!
Interested in Being Featured?
Your story has value—and so does your time! Join us as a participating entrepreneur, inspire HCC students, and help showcase the diverse stories that make Houston’s entrepreneurial community unique. Participating entrepreneurs will receive a stipend in appreciation of their time and contribution.