A Trip to Nairobi Inspired This One-of-a-Kind Company Traveling can spark unexpected businesses. Cherae Robinson started hers by partying in Nairobi.

I majored in biology in college and thought I'd become a doctor. But I also wanted to travel. So as a way to do both, I spent years with international humanitarian organizations. The work was satisfying, but the social life was challenging: My colleagues would go back to their hotel at night -- in part because they were almost all older than me, but also because they were fearful of the potentially unsafe, unfamiliar cities we were in. I didn't want to be this far from home and not experience a place fully, so I often went out. And I discovered amazing things.

From a rooftop party at an advertising agency to road-tripping across the country for a DJ set, I was exposed to a side of Africa I'd never seen before. These were cosmopolitan movers and shakers, but distinctly African. In 2011, I met up with a photographer in Johannesburg; through her lens, I met entertainers, artists and other influencers. A year later, I connected with a sorority sister in Nairobi, Kenya, who was working on MTV's African youth culture series Shuga. The show's producer, fashion designer and filmmaker took me out to restaurants and nightclubs, and I had the time of my life.

That's when the lightbulb went off. People weren't exposed to this Africa, and I wanted to connect visitors to it -- not just by talking about these amazing things, but by directing people to them.