Sometimes just seeing resilience can change out mindset and unlock our own resilience. That’s our hope with the Portraits of Resilience series – we hope the stories below will inspire you to tap into your own resilience.

Q

My resilience comes from how I was raised and the many hardships I’ve endured in life. To be specific about a time that my resilience was on full display was when I was homeless sleeping in my car for two months. Read More>>

Krisia Powell

I get my resilience from a blend of life’s challenges and the incredible support system around me. As a solo immigrant who left everything behind at 25—trading a Senior PR role to become an Au Pair and chase new opportunities in the USA—I quickly learned that every setback is an opportunity in disguise. Read More>>

Pamela Wingard

I lost my husband suddenly in 2021. It changed my life forever. I had to learn how to do a lot of different things on my own and learned to rely on friends and family for many other things.

He had always supported my creative pursuits, and I felt lost without him. I always turned up my music in my studio and painted with happiness and spontaneity while he worked at his computer downstairs. Read More>>

Jeff Grogan

Resilience is often thought of as something you either have or you don’t. But I believe resilience is part art, part science, and most importantly it’s a skill that can be learned and strengthened over time. My own journey has been shaped by resilience, not because I was born with it, but because life demanded it of me. Read More>>

Lauren Ansley

My resilience has come from bombing on stage – literally! I first stepped onto the stage by taking a stand-up comedy class. It was a six-week course, and our “graduation” was performing a brand-new set in front of friends and family. It was incredible – easily one of the best nights of my life. Read More>>

Faith Omole

I would say from my mom. This woman did everything she could to raise 2 kids when she was in her twenties, she was working and studying at the same time. My mom and grandma had very tough lives mostly because of the man they married, yet I have never seen any of them break down in front of me before. They always found a mission to keep them going and that did it for me. Read More>>

La Carmina

I have a favorite quote that comes from my bestie Yukiro (a leading drag queen and Goth performer in Tokyo). We love to hype each other up by saying: “Always go forward, but never straight!”

I feel this sums up my approach to resilience. No matter what happens, you’ve got to keep on going, one day and step at a time. However, the journey will never be a linear, upward one. There will be twists and turns, disappointments and surprises. Read More>>

Reggie Burton

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines resilience as “an ability to recover or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” As a practical matter for everyday life, resilience is the ability to adapt to and grow from difficult situations. It’s a skill that can be developed over time. Read More>>

Annamarie Pemberton

Likely from about having not so great things happen and coming out on the other side. Isn’t that all of us who are still standing after hardship? It’s important to see the goodness around you even in difficult times. Read More>>

Mario Johnson

I draw my resilience from a combination of personal experiences and my spiritual beliefs. Throughout my life, I’ve faced challenges that have tested my strength, but each time, I’ve found a way to move forward, learning from each setback. Read More>>

Evans Akanno

Resilience, for me, is a product of experience, environment, and a relentless drive to keep moving forward.

I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, in an Igbo family as the third of five siblings. Life in Nigeria presents its own set of challenges—the stories you hear, the realities you see unfold, and the resilience it demands from you daily. Read More>>

Ilana Zablozki-amir

I get my resilience from my parents.
My mother was a young girl during the Holocaust, and she often shares how her parents did everything they could to shield her emotionally from the horrors unfolding around them. Read More>>

Elspeth Lorraine

I often wonder what the difference between resilience and stubbornness is, and how they intersect. My instincts for both are simply honed in adulthood. In childhood I was often left to my own devices. No one was wondering where I was or asking me my opinions Read More>>

Fearon Deweese

Where do you get your resilience from?
Resilience, for me, has always come from a mix of sheer determination, adaptability, and a deep love for storytelling. I’ve never been someone who takes the easy road—probably because I don’t believe it exists. Read More>>

Nick Maus

I’ve experienced my fair share of successes and accomplishments, but like most people, I’ve also faced rejection, challenges, and difficult lessons. A few years ago, when I hit one of my lowest points, I underwent a period of profound personal growth. Read More>>

Aubrey Lynn Hendricks

I get my resilience from my parents. I’ve seen them both walk through struggles that seemed impossible to endure. They always kept going, kept trying, and never gave up. They raised me and my siblings to strive for excellence in anything we ever attempted to do. Read More>>

Natasha Charles

My resilience is deeply rooted in my upbringing. I was raised by a single mother who worked tirelessly to provide for my sibling and me. Watching her navigate life as an entrepreneur—building her career as a hairdresser, overcoming challenges, and continually striving for more—instilled in me a relentless work ethic and an unshakable drive. Read More>>

Carly Mejia

Over the last three years, my resilience has come from becoming a medical mama. My daughter was born at 24 weeks, 1 lb 6 oz… A true miracle baby. After spending 138 days in the NICU, we were able to bring her home with a feeding tube. Read More>>

Camille Ashkenazi

Many times in my life I have had the love and support of others to help get me through tough times, so I can never say that my resilience comes from me alone. However, there is one story that has always stuck with me and remained as a source of perseverance and strength. Read More>>

Peicen Jiang

My resilience comes from years of navigating the demanding world of fashion, where persistence and adaptability are essential for success. As a designer, I have consistently pushed creative boundaries, whether through my exploration of the psychological impact of fashion or my dedication to sustainable couture techniques. Read More>>

Christopher Anderson

My resolve to overcome was given to me by my community and their efforts to teach me the history of diasporic Africans. In my part of Michigan, I was blessed to be a part of experiences that showed me that people who looked like me throughout history have been an essential part of progress and the success of America. Read More>>

Big Ced

This is the easiest question I came across because I got my resilience from my mother. Ever since I could remember, her resiliency set the tone for me to learn about being resilient which helped me later in life when I had come across difficult times.  Read More>>

Savonna Champ

My resilience comes from God and my children. Every since I was a little girl, I knew I was gonna be a star. I would make a microphone out of anything I can find to sing into. I would tie a towel around my head to give my self super long hair like my mother’s hair and stand on something to give me a stage. Ive been through a lot growing up. Read More>>

Cece Heslin

Growing up, we moved around a lot, so I was frequently the “new kid” and was forced to learn to make friends and the best of the situation. Additionally, the market crashed when I was in high school and both of my parents were laid off, so that’s when I got my first job. Read More>>

Brandi (bthunder) Sawyer

Throughout my life, I have endured a multitude of harrowing experiences. These have led me down a path of resilience and redemption. Over the course of 25 years, I underwent a total of 37 surgeries, five of them taking place within a 10- month period. Read More>>

Nicole Lewis-keeber

Resilience is a hard thing to pinpoint, but if I had to credit one experience, it would be growing up in a time when the school system didn’t support students with learning disabilities. I very clearly had a learning difference, yet I spent 12 years in school struggling—not because I wasn’t capable, but because the system didn’t know how to teach me. Read More>>

Aniyah Okafor

Resilience, for me, has always been more than just a word—it’s a way of life I learned at home. Growing up in a single-parent household, I had a front-row seat to my mom’s incredible work ethic and determination. Read More>>

Crystal Whitmarsh

Resiliency. The American Psychological Association describes resilience as: “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” Read More>>

Anela Bird

My resilience is a fluid thing. I keep developing it. The evolution of my resilience never ends. I feel like the depth of my pool, the capacity I hold comes from my lineages pain and my upbringing. I used to say that I was raised in all the ways I didn’t want to be. Read More>>

Lindsey Nelson

My resilience comes from many sources. I’ve always had a solid support system that helps me keep my head above water, when it feels hard to swim through life. My husband, family and friends help me stay afloat, so that I can rebuild that resilience inside and swim again when I’m ready. They have been crucial in my continuing. Read More>>

Rachel Malkin

I started really pursuing makeup when I was wearing a back brace for scoliosis in middle school and needed a creative and emotional outlet. That experience taught me resilience more than anything and has trickled into my career and perseverance with makeup to this day. Read More>>

Zuwena Omari Muhammad

My resilience, I believe, comes from my mother, grandmothers and aunts. As a child, these were the women I watched make miracles happen for our family, despite their own personal setbacks and struggles. They set the precedence in my mind of what getting back up after a knockdown really looks like Read More>>

Sno Rajwani

Resilience has been the foundation of my life, built from the ground up through relentless hard work and perseverance. As a first-generation immigrant from a middle-lower-class family, challenges were never an exception—they were the norm. Read More>>

Kathryn Brown Ramsperger

I learned resilience along the road of life. Like Robert Frost’s poem, I usually choose the “Road Less Traveled.” Sometimes that path was a short cut, and other times I needed a figurative machete to slash my way out of a jungle of my own making.  Read More>>

Karen Johnson

Just the mention of the word resilience and a flurry of emotions and experience comes to the fore: hardship, disappoints, setbacks, betrayals and just sheer hunger to survive to thrive. Hello, I am Karen Johnson, and I am Resilient! Read More>>

Fred Bode Iii

From my belief that what we do as artists and creators is a special gift. Whether its creating a piece of art, developing a product or toy or creating a live attraction , we have the ability TOUCH . Thru memories ,emotions or a feeling of escape . Read More>>

Katie Bair

Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back—it’s about pushing forward when every part of you wants to quit. My journey has been filled with roadblocks, self-doubt, and moments where I questioned if I was strong enough to keep going. Read More>>

Marshall Kilpatric

I get my resilience from knowing that no matter how bad it can seem to be, it can and most certainly will always get better if you have the right outlook, mindset, and perspective. By retaining that sense of self-worth, value, love, and positivity – and remembering how that affects those around me. Read More>>

Her Eminence Archbishop Dr. Eloisa Crawley- Bonaparte

My resilience is deeply rooted in the extraordinary journey of my mother. As a business woman during the Great Depression, she faced challenges that would have overwhelmed many. As a woman of color in the 1930s, she navigated a world rife with systemic obstacles and societal expectations. Read More>>

Chris Vasconcelos

First off, I’m an August Leo. So there’s that. Ha.

I think a lot of my persistence, work ethic, and resilience comes from being a father. Making sure that my children are safe, happy, and healthy became the only priority once my children were born. Read More>>

Parris Martin

I learned throughout life, you get out what you put in it. So ever since then I knew if I put in greater amount of effort than what is rquired, I Knew I could achieve anything I wanted out of life Read More>>

Shumaila Nemat Ullah

I don’t know why I chose this question to answer, because frankly speaking, it’s a tough one. But as I sit and write about it, I exactly know how I feel but I am not sure if I will be able to put it into words. Read More>>

Faten Baassiri

Resilience, for me, was built from the ground up, starting with my family’s unwavering belief in education as the ultimate tool for navigating life’s challenges. My parents sacrificed so much to ensure that my siblings and I had the best education possible because they knew that knowledge is power. It arms you with the ability to adapt, push forward and stand tall when life throws obstacles in your way. Read More>>

Emily Kinney

I’m twenty-five years old and in my seventh year of college. I’ve struggled a lot in school throughout my life, despite loving education, because of my ADHD. Read More>>

Katie Corum

We are not born with resilience. We learn it through trial and error. And although we have the choice to be resilient or not, I choose to be.
I had gone out of state for college in order to receive my B.A. in Human Resource Management. When I moved back to Florida (where my family lives) it was difficult for me to get a job in HR due to not having experience. Read More>>