Resilience is often the x-factor that differentiates between mild and wild success. The stories of most of the wildly successful folks in our community have exhibit an extreme degree of resilience and we’ve come to believe that if our goal is to help our community achieve great outcomes we have to help build resources and knowledge around how one can become more resilient.

Amber Royer

I think all of us go through hard times, and you can either let those challenges tear you down, or you can learn from them. I think I’ve been able to do that throughout my life, despite suffering personal loss and disappointment. You learn that no matter how bad things seem, you CAN get through them, and that days will come where there’s hope and even joy. I have had issues with anxiety for most of my adult life, and learning to cope with that has helped give me techniques for coping with emotional crisis moments — especially those that come from setbacks. Read more>>

Salathia Graham

My resilience definitely comes from my Mother. Even now, at 71 years old, I have to remind her to slow down and take some time to relax. She’s always been the hardest working person I’ve ever known and the most influential person in my life. She taught me that it is absolutely okay to fail but quitting means death. Read more>>

Ania Tarnowska

I will have to travel back in time for this, as I guess my resilience comes from the passion for music making, and also from the way I was raised. I’ve always been very driven and charged, especially in the areas where I could thrive. When I was growing up, I never was able to fully concentrate on things that I didn’t love. But music, it always felt like reward, like something I was meant to do. Read more>>

Matthew Shelley

By the time I started 8th grade I had lived in 4 states. Being the new kid so often forced me to become adaptable and continually learn new cultural norms. Restarting from scratch so often not only socially but academically forced me to push myself ahead at each new beginning and I continued to excel in sports and school. From this, my resilience was constantly challenged and instead of retreating into isolation, i pushed myself into discomfort and landed on my feet. That ability to adapt and adjust has served me so well into my adult life. Read more>>

April Collins

I supposed I get my resilience from my mom. No matter what happened in her life, she would laugh about it and made it seem less of a bother. She would just keep trucking along with a smile on her face. Others outside the family would think she was a push over. That’s one thing she was not. I strive to be like that.  Read more>>

Maria Villafabe

My resilience comes from my trust in the Lord and knowing that my story as well as my desire to help others conquer their past imprints at least one person. Having overcome a domestic abuse relationship, suicidal thoughts and other sensitive topics is my pain that birthed my purpose. The journey through it built my resilience. I grew up a knowing God, so I always knew he was on my side no matter what I been through, he protected me. Read more>>

Amanda Heisman

Well, the thing I know about the human body and the human spirit, is that we ALL are resilient – by nature. Resilience is part of our design. Think about the recovery of a bone break or childbirth – the body is naturally always seeking to heal itself, and it knows how to come back into harmony to function well. The human spirit is similar to this body resilience; I have seen it time again with my clients, friends, family, and myself. Read more>>

Susan Hayden

Growing up in Encino in the 1970s, I knew, early on, I was a misfit and couldn’t find a place to belong. In 4th grade, a small group of outsiders banded together in what we called the “ball room” – the shed that stored our school’s sports equipment. It was there, among the baseballs and bats, the jump ropes and broken swings, that we could breathe, laugh, escape. I found great relief in the company of others who didn’t fit in.  Read more>>

Luis Chacon

“I draw my resilience from the incredible journey and sacrifices of my parents. Both of them moved from Mexico to the United States at a young age, seeking better opportunities and a brighter future. Witnessing their courage, hard work, and unwavering determination has instilled in me a profound sense of resilience. Their ability to overcome challenges, build a life from the ground up serves as a constant source of inspiration for me.  Read more>>

Dr. Shandra Davis

For me, the start of resiliency came from my faith. I became saved at the age of nine and after that it felt like my world started falling apart. I realized that a female cousin and I were being sexually abused by an older male cousin. Then my paternal grandmother died. Then my maternal grandmother had a debilitating stroke. Two days before my 12th birthday my father died. Within a year we moved to a new area and I transferred to a new school.  Read more>>

Ambreia Turner

I became a mother at a young age. I was 17, a senior in high school and there were people who tried to convince me that having a baby would keep me from reaching my dreams and having a college education or even being successful. There were only a few people in my corner that were lifting me up. Every time I looked in the mirror and with every kick, I had to grow stronger and speak life into myself.. I didn’t make excuses for why something couldn’t happen. I just looked for ways to make things happen..  Read more>>

Kimberly Lackey

I believe my resilience came from facing adversity during my health challenges and then learning from that as well as growing from the struggle. Dealing with the uncertainty of illness such as lymphoma and a debilitating autoimmune condition that put me in a wheelchair, I learned to navigate a variety of intense emotions and adapt to living with these diagnoses by altering my prior viewpoint of what being “healthy” would look like for me.  Read more>>

Danny Kaczmarek

My faith in Christ Jesus…He has overcome the world and that comforts me. Read more>>

Edward Valaitis

My resilience was drive was so powerful. I had been giving a calling by God to become a physician. That is what I believed and I was not going to let anything get in my way. I could see no way, but God had a way. I kept pushing the doors open one class at a time. When graduation was near, I had to take 26 hours in one semester to be able to graduate on time and attend medical school. The fear that I faced was formidable but I had read in a self help book that fear is fake. All you have to do is walk thru the fear and accomplish your goal    Read more>>

Edward Valaitis

When I was about ten years old, I started to work every Saturday with my father in his landscaping business. My life consisted of getting bullied in school throughout the week and then working ten to twelve hours of hard labor on Saturdays. However, as grueling as the landscaping work was, I felt it was my duty to be with my dad. Not so much because of the physical help I provided, but more so that I could keep him from getting drunk after work and try to help keep our family together. Read more>>

Jazzlyn Ifeji – Pryor

My resilience is embedded in my dna. Whenever there’s a setback or a “lesson,” that I had to fathom. I’ll acknowledge it, get up and dust myself off, and continue on my path to success. Now that I’m a mom of 3, I have absolutely no choice but to be resilient. I can’t go home and look at them and say, ” Mom is defeated, I can’t move forward.” The journey must continue, and I will prevail all adversities. Read more>>

Gary Black

For many years now I have been studying what initiation for young men looks like, and how to help people step into the second half of life. In the first half of life, until we get to the age of around 30, we are mostly driven by our ego and our fear of man. The first half of life is necessary, but if we stay stuck there, we turn into bitter, confused, and unhappy adults. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Dead at 40, buried at 70.” Read more>>

Djennie Laguerre

I was born resilient. I Had no CHOICE. It was explained to me very young by the world and my mother that everything was going to be harder for me. I am black, I am a woman, I am a dark skin black woman. Everything seemed painted grim at first but as the years went on, I realized that all that was to keep me down, made me special, beautiful, strong, and smarter than most because I am an artist. I LEARNED MY HISTORY AND MY HERSTORY.  Read more>>

Gino Haynes

In short my grandmother. My grandmother was the best, most strongest, and enduring leader I have ever known and I’m grateful for what she has instilled in me. It has largely shaped and molded me into who I have become today. She was involved in a serious car accident, before I was born, in which she broke her back in 3 different places and was told that she’d be paralyzed and never walk again. She defied the odds, was able to walk again (with assistance from a walker), and was able to live a pretty independent life throughout the rest of her life. Read more>>

Armond Willis

I actually believe that, like a rock that slowly gets sculpted by the flowing water of a river, resilience is developed through experience, with a combination of environment.  My father left home when he was barely 17 years old, put himself through college, and through many trials, became an extremely successful, and innovative entrepreneur. Sink or swim. His drive and relentless determination was big reason for his ascension.  Read more>>

Jamie Rivers

I try to stay positive. When I was growing up, it was tough dealing with negative thoughts. Going outside helped me see things more clearly. Read more>>

Ashlie Chavez

The compulsion to create. Of course, that’s speaking in regards to making art. But it’s definitely a drive that transcends to all aspects of life. I started making art so young and as I’ve gotten older the need just gets stronger. We’re packed down with so many responsibilities- children, aging grandparents, lawsuits, school loans, large dogs, money to keep living, real tragedies etc- it’s amazing that despite all that one can still have this NEED to MAKE THINGS. That workhorse ethic towards art has made me resilient in all areas of life. Read more>>

Mark Esric

I get my resilience from my mother. I grew up in a single parent household and watched my mother be everything she had to be to raise me. Never sacrificing her principles never or moral code.. she instilled those in me and it gave me a blueprint to navigate through life. Read more>>

Siobhan St. John

At the age of 18 months old I was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of cancer. From the age of 10 until 22 years old, I would be in and out of hospitals correcting what cancer treatment did to my body. At the age of 22 years, well after remission, I had a hysterectomy due to the irreversible damage from chemotherapy and radiation. My parents did the best job they could do with the information given to them, and throughout my treatment as an infant and toddler, they allowed me to still be a kid. Read more>>

Christina Romano

When I think about the source of my resilience I think back to my early childhood which was filled with chaos, stress, and grief. At a very early age my father suddenly passed away which started a downward spiral of financial instability and endless trials for my family. The years that followed left my mother and sister working several jobs each to try and provide for us while we tried to navigate our intense grief due to the loss of my father.  Read more>>

Jerry Francois

I get my Resilience from my mother. Watching her gorebf you and seeing how she always hustles and finds ways to work around a system that wasn’t made for us while being a single mom of 2. Struggling but always striving to make ends meet for me my brother RIp Anna Francois. Read more>>

Jessica Munoz

Throughout my life I’ve been in some pretty bad situations that forced me to be strong and those times really molded me to who I am now. Read more>>

Ilaria Malvezzi

From an early age, I was fortunate to have three exceptional mentors who have played a pivotal role in shaping my life and career. My father, despite our often-conflicting relationship ( I was a little rebel… ), instilled in me a strong sense of self-determination and the courage to pursue my own path, even when it diverged from his expectations. Read more>>

Catie Loth

Resilience, I had to learn, is something you build up over time throughout periods of hardship. For me, the past two years have tested my patience, strength, and optimism in various ways, which allowed me to become more and more resilient over time. Two years ago, I moved from Germany to LA to work in the film industry as a producer, and with me, I brought a lot of optimism and ambition to fulfill my dreams. But I underestimated or didn’t understand the scope of the challenges I was going to face. Read more>>