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.
Rocio Martinez Alvarado
My resilience was born from the strength of loving parents. We came to Colorado from Mexico when I was a young girl, chasing the promise of a better life. My parents worked endlessly, and I grew up quickly carrying experiences no child should endure like sexual abuse. Read More>>
Nour Awada
When people ask me where my resilience comes from, I always think of four things: my roots, my motivation, my mindset, and the love of my family. Honestly, it’s not something I ever analyzed, it’s something life taught me. My roots: Being Lebanese who moved to Germany for a short period, then to the U.S. forced me to adapt quickly. Read More>>
Kirem Marnett
As a third-generation healer who reads energy for a living, I’ve had to learn through experience that true resilience is born in the moments when we stop fighting the redirect and start listening to our soul’s guidance. Read More>>
Akis Tsivourakis
Endless Love for Music… Music is a personal daily main need, so becoming more and more resilient is a one way ticket! Fans are helping of course, when realising that you grow every single day, this gives strength to go on…Sharing worldwide with no limits is the most important thing to me. Read More>>
Ariel Rainville
I get my resilience primarily from growing up around strong hardworking parents, along with overcoming my own obstacles and finding my own resilience which comes with age and life experiences. Read More>>
Mei Tang
Sometimes when we feel what it feels like to be at “rock bottom” a few times, when you’re pushed to doing things on your own and learning to adapt, resilience naturally leads the spirit. Read More>>
Laura Erekson
I was bullied as a child—only in elementary school, but it shaped my sense of self early on. I changed schools twice and was targeted each time for different reasons: a haircut, a pair of shoes, even the way my name was pronounced. Still, I always knew who I was. Confidence, I believe, is something I carried with me into this life. Read More>>
Jenna Rodriguez
I get my resilience from the women before me and the challenges that shaped me. I grew up in a home where I watched my mom do everything she could with what she had. We were on food stamps and Section 8, and I saw firsthand what it looked like for a woman to hold a family together while carrying the weight of the world. Read More>>
Harold Sims
My mother. That’s an easy one. My mother taught me that there is a difference between ‘your best’ and ‘the best’. Sometime those two can be the same sometimes they aren’t. She reminds me that resilience means continuing to work through the incongruence until the two are resolved. I have many wins, and twice as many losses. Read More>>
Ryan Shah
I draw my resilience from navigating the job market from 2024 to 2025, which proved to be one of the toughest periods I have ever faced. That stretch exposed me to constant setbacks and rejection, often after investing significant time and effort into each opportunity, and it forced me to confront what persistence really means. Read More>>
Mary Wheeler
Growing up in a country setting as an only child I had to be very outgoing-find friends and people to be with as well as things to do. This included adults as well as people my own age. It also pushed me to get out there, to find information, meet people, try different classes, explore more interests, etc. Read More>>
Rosangela Torres Nila
I choose the topic of resilience, because it’s the thread that has shaped every chapter of my life. My resilience comes from two places: my family and my community. I grew up watching my parents work incredibly hard, often without taking breaks, always finding a way—even when the way wasn’t obvious. They never complained. They just showed up with faith, grit, and gratitude. Read More>>
Tami Lysher
I get my resilience from a lifetime of turning movement, learning, and lived experience into strength. As a child, movement was my first form of regulation — swinging, climbing, and playing were how I found calm. I didn’t know it then, but I was already beginning to understand the nervous system through my body. Read More>>
Amanda Brunngraeber
At a young age, I had a vision for how the world should look. I had an intense inner knowing of my values and how I wanted to operate in the world. My childhood taught me how to adapt, survive, and problem-solve under pressure. Giving me skills to navigate changes and challenges. Read More>>
Kareem Hayes
I get my resilience from the fire I was born into and the purpose I refuse to let go of. Nothing in my life came easy — not my childhood, not my fatherhood journey, not my creative grind, not my relationships, not the systems I had to fight. Read More>>
Hannah Spaniak
I grew up as a pastor’s daughter, which meant we moved—a lot. The denomination my dad served with often relocated pastors for different reasons, so my childhood was a constant cycle of packing up, starting over, and adapting to new environments. By the time I was in eighth grade, I had attended thirteen different schools. Being the “new girl” so often wasn’t easy. Read More>>
Lauren Valdez
I get my resilience from my parents. My father immigrated from South Africa and joined the U.S. military as an enlisted soldier to earn his citizenship. He worked his way through the Green-to-Gold program to become an officer, and throughout every transition, deployment, and challenge, he stayed focused, dedicated, and committed to giving his family stability and opportunity. Read More>>
Hannah Whitt
I 101% get my resilience from my mom, Mrs.Rachel Joy. My mom’s side of the family immigrated to Carson in the early 90s from the Philippines, as she was only 18 and the second eldest. She was working two jobs while studying to get her computer science degree because she was stubborn and like me, didn’t want to take the traditional medical route. Read More>>
Eliana Benigar
I left my home in Patagonia when I was 17 years old. Coming from a small town and looking back now, more than ten years later, I can see how much life has shaped me. I’ve lived in many cities, and in each place I’ve had to rebuild, adapt, and keep moving forward while building my career. Read More>>
Samantha Barker
Resilience, for me, has never been about hardening or pushing through- it’s been about softening into truth. It comes from learning how to hold myself through change, through uncertainty, through the wild unfolding of life, and still remember who I am beneath it all. Read More>>
Mimi Doyo
As artists, we’re constantly adapting to the world around us, and for me, resilience has become an essential part of the creative process. Ideas don’t always go as planned, and mistakes happen. But I’ve learned to see those moments as opportunities. They often lead me in new directions or reveal something unexpected in my work. Read More>>
subekchya K C
When I look back at my journey, I realize my resilience didn’t come from being unshakable — it came from learning how to bend without breaking. Every challenge, every change, every loss has quietly shaped the woman I am today. It began with my roots — my parents’ love, their trust, and the home they built for me. Read More>>
Scott Howe
My ability of being good at trouble shooting and F****** figuring things out has made me resilient. Growing up in the construction world and having solid journeymen around helped instill resilience. Since nothing is ever 100% perfect, we tend to problem solve and make things happen on the spot. It’s part of being in a creative field and what makes projects interesting. Read More>>
Jazzie Bella
I think it came from always knowing who I am. I truly have always known who I am, unapologetically, with honesty, and truly believing, not in myself… but in my vision- following what makes me feel alive… and it’s always been story telling. The mediums may have changed… but the concept always the same. Story telling Read More>>
Latasha Valeria Shabani
I’d say my resilience comes from living a life full of ups and downs. I’ve learned to basically just keep going because I’ve seen life totally shift for the better in a moment. Read More>>
Destin Mckenzie
I get my resilience from honestly listening to music that hypes me up, watching my favorite action/super hero movies, & working out. I work 4 days in a week & on my off days, I want to just relax. Read More>>
KENNY GOMEZ
Honestly… my resilience comes from everything I’ve been through. From the military, from long nights, from starting with nothing but a bucket and a dream, from the moments where quitting would’ve been easier, but my family was watching. Read More>>
Shauntel Douglas
My resiliency comes from watching generations of women in my family make things shake and happen in the midst of multiple odds including just being black women. I’ve seen both my mother, grandmother and others being rejected so many times when in need of help, when attempting to help others and etc. Read More>>
Whitney Walker
Reading the word resilience I immediately think of its counterpart, tenacity. It reminds me of the saying, “if you have a strong enough WHY you can bear any HOW.” I consider tenacity to be the why and resilience to be the how. Once you find your goal and passions, you will push through any obstacles to achieve it. Read More>>
Yuchen Lu
To be honest, I wouldn’t describe myself as inherently strong. Frustration can hit me hard, making me feel down and unmotivated for a while. But beneath those temporary feelings, there’s a constant thread: I have always known that I want an art career and to achieve something meaningful. Read More>>
Emma Ecklin
If I’m being honest, I used to think resilience was something you earned only after your life fell apart. Something you had to go find after the breaking. Something I’d have to build from scratch once I felt strong enough again. But the older I get, the more I realize resilience is something I’ve been rehearsing my whole life without knowing it. Read More>>
Alexandra Mot
My resilience comes from the challenging journey of moving from Hungary to the US at 20 to pursue my dreams and become a successful fashion designer one day. I landed at LAX with only 2 suitcases and a big dream. Taking more than a year to apply for and receive my student visa in 2022, life and living here has it’s constant ups and downs. Read More>>
Justine Pucella Winans
As an author of mystery and horror, a lot of my books deal with survival. Read More>>
Peggy Williams
I never thought of myself as having resilience or even needing it. Resilience is something people develop when enduring hardship or tragedy. I’ve had a blessed life. My parents had resilience in spades, both having lived through the Great Depression. During WWII my dad became a bombardier in the Army Airforce. His plane was shot down on his 33rd mission. Read More>>
Funmi Osatuyi
My resilience comes from God, my culture, and the many moments in my life where choosing to keep going was the only option. Moving to Canada as a young woman forced me to grow quickly — working in kitchens, restarting my dreams more than once, and building LagosChop from scratch with more faith than resources. Every setback strengthened me. Every pivot taught me something. Read More>>
Ellyn Essig
I have had many chapters in my life, some good, some great and some that tested whether I could recover from complete financial and/or emotional devastation. It’s easy to weather the clouds when you’re life is generally good. Read More>>
