One trip to Big Bend convinced an Austin agency founder to dismiss her real-estate roster and make persuasion serve the public. The same instinct later sent her into an archive, where more than 50 neglected voices were waiting.

A bus ride in Peru gave Andrew Vrbas an idea. A borrowed crockpot made it tangible. The more interesting work came later: turning a college experiment into a national brand without reducing purpose to a slogan.