In our building blocks of success series, we tackle the various foundational blocks we believe are essential for success. Resilience is near the top of the list, because pursuing greatness almost always means you will face losses, mistakes and tough times along your journey. The ability to bounce back is so critical and we hope the stories below will inspire you to dig deep and discover more of your own resiliency.

Tiffany Lawrence-Young

My resilience comes from my drive to meet my goals—once I decide on something, it’s happening. But when I became a mother, my resilience became bigger than just me. It became about my sons—their happiness, growth, and security. Read More>>

Sona Sedrakyan

I think I get my resilience from my ethnicity. I am proud to be Armenian. Resilience is in our roots. As one of the oldest nations and the first Christians in the world, who always had to fight against nomadic invaders who tried to wipe out Armenians from the face of the earth and take over their history and gene. Our people continue to defend their history, faith, gene and language to this day. So my resilience comes from my roots and the strength given to me by the Motherland. Read More>>

Ambrose Wilson-Brown

I used to believe that resilience was just about toughness—gritting my teeth and pushing through challenges. But life after college quickly showed me otherwise. Read More>>

Focus…

I am a father of 5 and a recent grandfather. My children fuel my resilience. Plus, my faith is very real for me. I never do anything fully alone… Read More>>

Anamarija Gulin

My resilience comes from a combination of three factors: my birthplace, the identities I’ve built throughout my life, and the choices I made during my most difficult moments. Read More>>

Billie Foley

I’ve always been aware that mental illness exists and that it can have a lasting impact on a person’s growth and development. My awareness came not just from witnessing loved ones struggle but from my own experiences as well. Life isn’t always fair, and some challenges aren’t easily overcome. But I was also surrounded by strong, independent women—especially my mother and five sisters, who have always been my best friends. Read More>>

Anastasia Barkow

Resilience is a big topic of conversation, especially in the acting world. The story everyone hears, the one every actor knows, is that of rejection. You can go out on so many auditions and really feel like you nailed them and you did your best work. Read More>>

Kimberly Bowie

My resilience comes from the life experiences I have found to be extremely difficult, yet something inside refuses to let me quit. Even when I want to give up, I keep going and that has created a beautiful strength in me. God has formed me, shaped me, and chased me down with his relentless love and because of this I have a resilience that makes me a fierce warrior during life’s challenges. Read More>>

Sabrina Woods

Growing up, my life felt akin to the movie Matilda. I lived in my own creative world, largely oblivious to the opposing forces around me. As I grew older, I realized that these forces were often my own family. Despite being sabotaged and undercut frequently, I continued to rise, because for me, there was no other direction but up. Read More>>

Jared Drake

When I was 18, I joined the Marine Corps and it was always preached to improvise, adapt, and overcome. This is a lesson that i’ve carried with me throughout my life. I’ve found that in filmmaking and just being a creative in general that things don’t always go according to plan and being able to pivot and being flexible is an underrated skill to have. Read More>>

Kaitlin Edwards

I get my resilience and work ethic is from my desire to nurture my inner child. When I was young my deepest desires was to be the best artist I could be. I’ve often reflected back to when I was a child, drawing in the margins of my paper and daydreaming about being an artist. In a ritualistic way I would tune out the noise of life and focus on the conversation between me and the paper/canvas. Read More>>

Jodie Duplisea

My resilience comes from a mix of life experiences that forced me to grow stronger. When I was young, I had a major accident that nearly left me paralyzed. I had to go through years of physiotherapy to recover, which taught me patience and the power of dedication. Even as a kid, I was looking for ways to feel better, and that’s when I started practicing yoga in elementary school. Read More>>

Amber Ginter Johnson

I believe my resilience began before I was born. As a premature infant, I entered this world almost 2 months before my due date and spent the first 31 days of my life in the NICU fighting for my life. By God’s grace, I overcame with little to no health issues. Read More>>

Andreas Pita

I’ve always looked up to mentors, whether they are chefs, artists, or successful friends. I’ve had four heart surgeries, spending over a year in the hospital receiving treatment. As an adult, after two of these surgeries, I became even more determined to push myself beyond what I thought I was capable of achieving. Read More>>

Sam Chavez (she/they/he)

I was born and raised in a white, wealthy suburb of Dallas, TX. On the surface, I have light skin that reddens more than it tans and a feminine, unassuming body. However, beneath the surface layer, I am also Latino, Indigenous, queer, Two Spirit, and more. Read More>>

Tyler Drewitz

Life wasn’t easy growing up in Northern California. I had to learn to trust and follow my intuition at a young age. Part of what makes me resilient is my life experiences and a big part is my faith. I’m not religious but I do have a personal relationship with my inner voice, which I call God. Read More>>

Lisa Lianna Mayer

I build my resilience by focusing on the task at hand and allowing my Dreamer mindset to guide me. Read More>>

Annie Davis

A single mother raised me, I am quite willful by nature, and I have a daughter who is watching and needs me. I grew up with a lot of self-esteem struggles, but when I found out I was going to have my daughter, everything shifted. Read More>>

Shandy Riddle

The scene begins in the deep South, where the soil is rich with history—both pain and power. Mississippi, a land that has witnessed struggle but also the unyielding strength of Black women like me, stands as both a battleground and a birthplace of transformation. Read More>>

Emily and Lindsay Stetzer

Living with OCD and anxiety meant that fear wasn’t just an occasional visitor—it was a constant companion. But we didn’t always know that the way forward wasn’t through control or avoidance. It took years to realize that true resilience wasn’t about getting rid of fear; it was about learning to coexist with it. Read More>>

Samantha Ray Mifsud

Resilience, for me, has come from necessity. As I recently shared with a group of my professional peers, I feel like I have been ‘on the brink of greatness’ over and over again throughout my life, only to fall short, most times due to circumstances outside of my control. Read More>>

Faith Dionne

I’ve learned resilience from navigating past experiences. Hard times are a good teacher, and pushing through them makes the next challenge seem more surmountable. I can look back at my own history for encouragement. Read More>>

Jeremy Lentz

I come from a lineage of survivors. Both my grandparents were Holocaust survivors and instilled in me a strong sense of self. I wrote my grandmother’s Holocaust narrative which taught me a great deal about being resilient in the face of adversity. The trait of resilience has definitely been passed down. Read More>>

Darnell Jackson Jr.

“I was resilient before I even knew what the word meant. Growing up in an urban environment on the East Side of Buffalo, NY, and witnessing difficult situations taught me how to navigate obstacles. Both of my parents were survivalists, which played a significant role in shaping my outlook on life.” Read More>>

Carly Wenderlich

In 2020, I had a falling out with my dad. Without giving details, I was just sick of having to “be the bigger person”. I stood my ground and held him accountable for how he was choosing to be, because nobody ever had. Instead of apologizing and owning up to his mistakes, he ignored me for five years. Read More>>

Julian Brown

My resilience has been with my since birth. It was always instilled in me by my family to never be a quitter. I remember joining my karate class, and on the first day having over 20 classmates. By the time I went up for my black belt test 5 years later, I was the only one left. Read More>>

Jonathan Bautista

This is a great question. Over time, I have learned how to implement a “failing forward” mindset to overcome setbacks and difficult times. Read More>>

Harshi Prakash

My resilience comes from the struggles that shaped me. I was born into a middle-class family, but life took a sharp turn when I lost my father at just seven years old. My mother, a homemaker with no prior work experience, was suddenly thrust into a world where she had to provide for us alone. Read More>>

Kibbs Fortilus

1. Where do you get your resilience from?

My family fled from Haiti when I was four years old.

We arrived in Springfield, MA and my journey began here. Read More>>

Leah. Horton

My resilience is rooted in two unwavering forces: God and my mother, Thea Horton. As a Black woman navigating neurodivergence, artistic criticism, and spaces where I often stand out, my faith has been my fortress. Read More>>

Stevie Vanoosten

Is it too easy to say I was born with it? In a way, I was. I discovered what I was and who I wanted to be at a very, very young age. Like, as soon as I could walk and talk. My parents have documented almost all of it thanks to technology, hah! I have always felt this deep longing, it feels like a burning in my chest. Read more>>

Carissa Sietsema

Like many of the individuals I work with, life has presented me with numerous hurdles and painful moments. One of the earlier hurdles that strongly shaped my ability to be resilient was being born with a rare genetic disorder that caused hand and arm birth defects. Read More>>

Lisa Fellerson

Understanding and seeing how a dramatic life shift has helped me see not just my painting but my life in a new light. Moving from a city studio in New York to a nature infused studio in Wisconsin has created a whole new sensibility and feeling into my painting. Life changes and the work changes with it. Change is an agent to becoming resilient. Read More>>