Building Blocks of Success: Resilience

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.

Yulia Spiridonova

My personal source of inspiration is a Russian roly-poly doll called a Nevalyashka, which my father often compared me to. Made of several round spheres, the defining characteristic of this doll is that, no matter how hard you push it, it wobbles but eventually stands upright again. Metaphorically, my father saw this as a symbol of resilience: no matter what difficulties or challenges we face in life, we have the strength to overcome them and continue to pursue happiness and success. Read more>>

Laura Baker

I’ve been grappling with the concepts of resilience and resistance lately, finding myself drawn more towards the latter. While resilience has its place, there’s a subtle yet crucial distinction between the two that speaks to the core of my values and approach to life. Resilience, in many ways, centers on our ability to withstand and recover from harm. It’s about bouncing back, adapting, and surviving in the face of adversity. And yes, I am resilient – I’ve faced my share of hardships, discrimination, and harm. But merely surviving or individually thriving isn’t enough. Read more>>

Monica Larson

I obtained my resilience from the lessons my mother nurtured. She instilled in me to do what I have to do to make the important things in life happen. This served my extremely well when I decided to return to school and applied the lesson to my education, which I took to the highest level. Read more>>

Alexa Babin

First of all, it’s worth saying that resilience is built over time. It’s hard-earned — a kind of mental toughness that grows from moments of difficulty. I think some people might be predisposed to be more resilient, but I also fully believe it can be learned and developed over time. And that’s the thing about resilience… it’s very much tied to patience, in my opinion. Patience and the ability to recover quickly; to “bounce back,” as we like to say. So it’s a double-edged sword for me. How can I get up each time I’m knocked down, and how can I continue to do so over a long period of time? Read more>>

Tiffany Wachtler

I’ve struggled with the word resilient. For so long, I wore it as a badge of honor, and thought of resiliency as swiftly bouncing back or fully recovering from something difficult with ease. I viewed strength as the ultimate goal – being strong for my family, strong for my friends, strong for my partner. THEN my whole universe shifted when my mom was diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer in October 2017. Read more>>

Victoria Yampolsky

I am a big proponent of mind training as a key tool to build confidence and resilience. I believe everyone can train their mind to build those skills. I train my mind 1..5-2.5 hours every day – this includes meditation, exercise, morning walks, visualization exercises as well as working on rewiring suboptimal thought patters developed as a result of my upbringing.  Read more>>

Adrianne Lovato

My resilience ultimately comes from my faith in God and the impeccable example my parents set for my siblings and I. My dad, Adrian (whom I am also named after), is my hero and inspiration. Tragically, my dad passed suddenly & unexpectedly in 2019. This event obliterated me to my core. I honestly didn’t think I would be able to live life without my dad, my hero. In the darkest time of my life, it was my dad’s story and example he set that ultimately pulled me out of a depression I had never experienced. My dad grew up in an abusive household with an an abusive father. My dad lost his two older siblings due to the ways they coped with this abuse.  Read more>>

Daryana Quintana Cowie

When I reflect back on the past 4 years, I can’t believe how many hurdles I have had to clear out of my way to be able to continue with my dog boarding business. Besides COVID, which unfortunately put a halt to a lot of small business operations, I had malicious competitors trying to undermine my Google Business Profile, and I had a neighbor causing me and my business quite a bit of trouble. Read more>>

Kara Zone

In 2015, I developed a chronic pain disorder called Fibromyalgia. Only it didn’t get diagnosed until about 2022. Through that time, I was going to college full-time with two small children, and I was a single mother working two jobs. I had to devise new and different ways to get everything done. I had to get sleep when I could get sleep, do homework when I could do homework, and be a mom at all times. I realized the best way I could help myself was to work remotely. I didn’t make much but made enough to keep my house and get food for the kids. I did have government assistance, and I got help from student grants/scholarships. Read more>>

Tsung-han Lin Lin

I come from Taiwan, an island country rich in natural and cultural resources. Growing up in such a diverse environment allowed me to engage in a wide range of activities like mountain climbing, surfing, and diving. Having so many experiences shaped me into someone who embraces challenges and ultimately made me resilient. Read more>>

Alex Helander

Resilience, for me, has always been rooted in my love of learning and exploration. From a young age, I was fascinated by new ideas and spent countless hours tinkering with DIY projects, using trial and error as my teacher. Those early experiments taught me problem-solving skills, and more importantly, how to persevere through failure. Read more>>

Amanda Haro

Both sides of my family are full of badass women. Women who developed resiliency through domestic abuse, drug addiction, abandonment, homelessness, immigration, and poverty. Resilience is wired into my DNA; my mind, body and soul evolved to alchemize hardships into strengths. Read more>>

Jennifer Crystal

I’m asked this question a lot, because resilience is a key theme in my memoir, ONE TICK STOPPED THE CLOCK. The answer is somewhat ironic: the place I got sick is the same place that gave me the resilience to survive my medical journey. I was lucky enough to spend 10 summers at a camp in Maine where I learned to waterski, canoe, and swim, but moreover, learned to work through challenges, to work for certain honors sometimes over several summers (try, try again!), and to work with other people. Camp taught me resilience, independence, and perserverance. It also happens to be where I got the tick bite that changed my life. Read more>>

Marjorie Medina

I owe my resilience to my mother. In first grade, my teacher grouped us by perceived intelligence, and I found myself at the table labeled “least intelligent.” At the time, we didn’t know I had a learning disability; all we saw was my daily struggle in school. One day, I came home feeling defeated, telling my mother I felt stupid. With only a ninth-grade education, her response changed my perspective: “No, Marji. You just learn differently. This means you’ll need to find another way, which will make you a master problem solver. Someday, when things get tough for the other kids, they won’t have the experience of finding alternative solutions like you will.” Her words have stayed with me throughout my life, reminding me to always seek another path. Read more>>

Pina Justpina

My resilience comes from both of my parents. My dad was an immigrant. He came to this country from Italy when he was 12 years old.
I share parts of his story in my one woman show, “Mafia Anonymous; The Women Speak.”
Pops: “When I came to this country, they put the poor people on the bottom of the boat. I used to sneak up to the high levels where the rich were.”
At age 37, with a high school diploma, my dad was a self-made man and an entrepreneur.
A big dreamer. I retained my vision to dream from him. He was accepted into art school, but he didn’t go. Instead, he married my mom when he was 21. He used his artistic talent to bring Rome to the United States through architecture. Read more>>

Mandy Brasher

Resilience, for me, is deeply rooted in my faith in Jesus Christ. As a young adult, He placed an entrepreneurial spirit in my heart, guiding my path just as He did for my grandfather, an artisan whose footsteps I’ve followed for over 15 years through crafting and vendor shows. In the fall of 2023, a door opened with great promise, but due to unexpected complications, I made the difficult decision to close that door. Yet, what I couldn’t see in that moment was that God’s plan was far greater than my own. Several vendors took a leap of faith alongside me, and from that shared trust, The Platform’s journey began. Since then, God has continued to bless us, opening doors I could have never imagined, reminding me that resilience is trusting in His perfect plan, even when faced with difficult choices. Read more>>

Darius Butler

As a youth, growing up in my faith we learn that God calls those to do things that we may not want to do. I was above average most of the time in grades and sports, while sports especially wrestling for the 2 years I competed in it, I would begin to build my foundation for resilience with the intense training and cutting of weight amongst other things. Throughout my sports and education, I have always been called to lead. I was certainly never comfortable leading but was always thrown in the position because I am a naturally gifted communicator, planner, and delegator. For years I would vent with my mother about how much I did not want to be a leader but always had to take charge. Read more>>

MACKGRACE

I grew up in Northern New Jersey, in an 100 year-old home, overlooking the distant skyline of New York City. My hometown is called Glen Ridge. It is quiet and idyllic, serving as an escape from the hustle-and-bustle of the city. Read more>>

Jasmine Jones

My strength comes from God and the unwavering support of my family and friends. Where should I start without complicating things? When I discovered dance outside the confines of my childhood apartment, it quickly became the focal point of my life. As a very shy girl, communication felt nearly impossible for me. My parents recognized my passion for dance when they would come home to find me performing prepared dances for them at least every other night. Sometimes, I would sit at the dining room table, using whatever bottles I could find around the house to create a dance formations. Read more>>

Tee Tee & Bryce Savoy

Our resilience comes from our faith in God. Even when things seem as if they are not working in our favor, my mother and I dig deeper into our faith because we have seen the ways God has shown up in our lives and business time and time again. We also draw resilience from our individual lived experiences. No matter what life circumstances we have faced, our perseverance is what has kept us going. Read more>>

Derrick Peprah

My resilience stems from my cultural background and upbringing in Ghana, where I was raised to be tough, persevere, and create opportunities. These values have driven me to pursue my passion for filmmaking and to overcome challenges along the way. Read more>>

KA-WANA JEFFERSON

As a single mother and a business owner, my journey has been one of perseverance which has developed my resilience deep sense of purpose, and an unwavering commitment to my community. My professional background as a former school psychologist laid a strong foundation for my passion for service. Transitioning from that role to becoming an entrepreneur over eight years ago marked the beginning of a challenging yet rewarding journey. Today, I stand as a testament to the resilience and the pursuit of a vision that goes beyond personal success, aiming to foster representation, equity, and inspiration within my community. Read more>>

Chris Holmes

Growing up in an entertainment industry family my Father taught me early on that I should learn as much as I could, never say no and don’t be surprised or upset when someone else gets picked over you. That when you’re young you’ll be hired more often and when you get older you fight for the work with younger talent that were exactly like you when you started. That is the cycle, and you have to always keep changing to be relevant. Read more>>