How did you find your purpose?

Core to our mission is helping our audience and community reach their full potential and the most important part of reaching your full potential is starting to find your purpose. Below, we’ve shared stories and insights from the community around how various folks found their purpose and we hope it helps you in your journey.

Hao Shen

I think the search and establishment of goals are often related to personal experience and the influence of the surrounding environment. When I was little, unlike other kids who liked to play outside, drawing and reading storybooks were my pastimes. As I invested a lot of time and energy, this interest in painting grew into a passion.  Read more>>

Micki Weiner

I knew my purpose for a long time. And then suddenly, I didn’t. I started training to be a professional dancer from a very young age. When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my response of wanting to be a ballerina—despite the juvenile appearance—came with absolute certainty. Read more>>

Tamara S. Hall

I feel like my purpose found me, and I’ve been blessed with the discernment to acknowledge and welcome it with open arms. It is my belief that any time your vision becomes shared and has an impact on the lives of others, it is now infiltrating the territory of “purpose.” Read more>>

Lilia Kazakova

I believe that discovering one’s purpose lies within us. We might not actively be aware of it, but when we look inward and ask ourselves the right questions, we ought to find it. I’ve always been somewhat of a dreamer growing up, and I believe that is the reason why I ended up in the ultimate city for dreamers, LA.  Read more>>

Minglu Zhong

Due to childhood interests and enlightenment, I’ve always felt a calling towards the realm of art. Initially, art seemed boundless to me, and I was unaware of its various career avenues. However, as I immersed myself in this field, I discovered my passions spanned across the humanities and arts spectrum. Read more>>

Michele Broadhurst

I grew up in South Africa, and graduated from Durban University of Technology in 2003 with my masters and as a doctor of chiropractic. I then went on to specialize in sports chiropractic, acupuncture and animal chiropractic. At the time there was very little animal chiropractic in South Africa and I was fortunate enough to pave the way in animal rehabilitation and chiropractic in South Africa. Read more>>

Chelsea Fournier

Over the course of my career I have found deep purpose in helping business owners – particularly those that are earlier on in the journey of becoming an entrepreneur. I spent 7 years serving clients as a small business lawyer as they navigated the twists and turns of stepping into small business ownership.  Read more>>

Tyler McNeil

Every morning when I wake up and after I pray, the first thing on my mind is music. Whether that be melody ideas, lyric ideas, or production ideas. That is how I know I am meant to create music. I just can’t turn the music thoughts off. They are always going through my mind because of the passion I have for music.  Read more>>

Alexandra Peck

I discovered my purpose through gentle nudges of intuition and my deep-seated desire to positively impact the world. As an interior designer, I find immense joy in creating spaces that uplift and inspire others. However, what I believe truly illuminated my destined path is my experience living abroad and traveling around the world.  Read more>>

Bruna Lages Veloso

When I was a child, I had some learning difficulties, I didn’t like standing still and what helped me stay focused was drawing. However, this didn’t sit well with my traditional teachers. Over time, I realized that my studies were more productive when I wrote and, at the same time, drew on mind maps. Read more>>

Kiya Page

After my daughter went to prison for thirty years I was broken. Then 2020 happened and the entire world was shut down. I began to reflect on my life and what I truly wanted. I have always been an entrepreneur but this time I wanted to make sure to have something my family can continue to carry with or without me.  Read more>>

Sacha Chaban

I began playing the piano at the age of 4, and by the time I was 6, I was admitted to the Conservatory of Bordeaux. Music has been more than just a passion for me; it has been an integral part of my life since my earliest memories. I vividly recall playing the compositions of the greatest masters and feeling a profound connection with them, despite the centuries that separate us.  Read more>>

Caitlyn Saville

I’ve always had a creative streak, drawn to Interior Design, Architecture, and working with wood. But I never imagined I’d become a professional painter. After high school, I pursued Interior Design in college in Rochester, NY, but soon realized it wasn’t the right path for me. Read more>>

Stephanie Bloodworth

This is such a wonderful and complex question. I feel like my work is a calling and find deep joy and achievement in knowing I am supporting others in healing, growth, and happiness. Sitting with someone through some of their hardest moments and providing a space they can unload in is something I realized I could do in my teens. Read more>>

Damian Funes

I could never say “this is my purpose in life” because I think we might have more than one. Sometimes you can think that you only have one purpose, but life can change, and you can find yourself discovering new purposes. In my case, very far from having a well-defined purpose, I left Argentina some years ago trying to get away from some stressful jobs and the recurrent crisis that usually hit Argentina, so I decided to take a year off just to travel and make new experiences.  Read more>>

Ivelisse Campbell

Since a small child I enjoyed parties and celebrations. My house was the party house. Holidays birthdays and all types of get-togethers happened there. Throughout the good times the focus on alcohol consumption was not present. To me it went completely unnoticed until I lost my dad. My father passed away when I was 18 years old. Read more>> 

Kelsey Lettko

To me, purpose is a state of being that feels in alignment with my heart and intuition. I see it as that little nudge that shows me the next right step and invites me into a feeling of deep fulfillment (when I am brave enough to listen). Read more>>

Curtis Lee

I started my prop making career around 2014 by reading and watching cosplay tutorials by makers such as Bill Doran and Shawn Thorsson. I realized that my years of tinkering were a strong foundation to start learning professional methods and materials. Around the same time, my younger brother had moved to Los Angeles and was getting his foot in the door in the prop making industry.  Read more>>

Ken Kniss

After graduating from college in 2007, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, which made adjusting to my new life extremely challenging. I felt isolated, scared, uninformed, unsupported, and depressed, which led to three years of denial. Read more>>

tito.

I was born in a Bengali family in Kolkata, India. An ethnicity that has produced few of the most iconic artistic personalities like Rabindranath Tagore, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Satyajit Ray in India. But being born in an era where the entertainment industry was mostly bollywood, it was difficult to find my own voice early on in my childhood. Read more>>

Dennis Davis

After encountering and working through two deaths of best friends in consecutive years, I was task with how to move forward in my life, with the lingering question of why do these things happen. And at the time the bigger question was why did these things happen to me? I decided to join a gym to help cope with the loss of my friends. Read more>>

David Finkelstein

Growing up, I was extremely fortunate to have my parents, brother and both sets of grandparents as my support system. They each introduced me to a variety of things from history, religion, entertainment, sports, music and technology. Being in a Jewish family, it was taught to us from an early age that if you were born you had a purpose. Read more>>

Jessica Grace

I found that my purpose is and always has been centered on people, relationships and communication. It is something that has been in my heart, soul and gifting since day one. The way that has looked in every season of my life has looked different, but it can all be summed up in a phrase I have used since my childhood, “I love to love people”. Read more>>

Jon Roberts

When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to take a black & white film photography class where we learned the entire process from start to finish. Shooting film, developing the film with chemicals, and even printing the images in a darkroom.  Read more>>

Max McDowell

Since I was a child I was consistently told that we all have a purpose to serve on this earth. Growing up in a Lutheran household with sober alcoholic parents I could clearly see the purpose my parents served. I once told my mom that being a sponsor in AA was her “God job”, and I feel it still holds true even though I don’t believe in God anymore.  Read more>>

Angela Caldwell

I studied to become a therapist after failing at a couple of other careers, because I found that no matter where I was, I was good with people and interpersonal dynamics. I could see things happening between people that others couldn’t see, and I imagine I was blessed with this gift because I came from a difficult family myself.  Read more>>

Robyn Miller Brecker

I started following my intuition and listening to the “whispers” at a young age…although I had NO idea that I was actually doing such a thing. LOL. I was twelve-years-old when my father passed away suddenly. My mom, my sister and I had to figure out our new normal/ Oprah became our constant in our home. Read more>>

Christa Pfeiffer

As a child, one would usually find me hiding behind my mother’s skirt until I had something to play or sing. Music slowly brought me out of my shell and I thrived playing the flute and singing. I was very fortunate to have parents who encouraged and supported my passion for music. Read more>>

Katie Kurer

After struggling to find purpose in my career path and experiencing a very personal loss, I identified a need for better grief and sympathy support gifts. Sending flowers is nice and beautiful, but they die and become an extra hassle to collect from a church or funeral home after the memorial services.  Read more>>

Tabby Biddle

I found my purpose to empower and elevate women’s voices and leadership in the world through an unexpected series of events and a deep commitment to listening to my inner voice. As a young woman, I started my career working in politics and journalism in Washington, D.C. Read more>>

Carla Salvador

I studied Massage Therapy and opened my Spiritual Business as an Independent Massage Therapist in 2012. My clients started asking me if I did Energy Healing, and some told me I was already doing it without even noticing.  Read more>>

Christina Dober

When I was young, my intuition told me I should be a teacher, but my family sat me down and showed me how that would be fiscally irresponsible. After that, I was lost for a long time, because if your inner compass is wrong, well then what else are you supposed to be guided by? To me, the only other guidance is what impressed people around me. So I ended majoring in physics and then going to law school. Read more>>

JAHQWALE Wallace

Purpose for me was always a struggle since I was a little girl. I wondered “Why am I here?” I always knew I was good at doing hair, but the older I got the more I felt my identity was placed in doing hair alone. It felt as if that was the only thing I was good at so I got depressed. Wondering if all my relationships and fabricated from my skill of doing hair.  Read more>>

Joan (Joanie) Aubele

“The sole purpose of our existence is to live for one another. Be kind, be patient, be fully present!” Since I faced death at a young age, I was given a unique vision. I was quickly brought to the reality of what’s most important in life. Spending time with loved ones, sharing smiles, and hugging friends. Most people agree with this, but it’s after living a long life. Read more>>

Angela Knight

You know when you first meet someone and you are trying to start conversation, one of the first questions is “so what do you do?” It’s that one liner that is suppose to sum up your purpose, your identity- your title. I always despised that question.  Read more>>

Tracy Allen

What do you want to be when you grow up? My answer at nine or so was that I would be a lawyer during the weekday, run my own dance company in the evenings and play rugby for South Africa on the weekend. I was always ambitious, but I was essentially quite lazy. I did well at school and with my hobbies but that’s because I avoided anything that I was not above average or the best at. Read more>>

Abbey, Ajoy Yoder

Finding my purpose is never ending for me. As someone who has a lot of passions, I’ve always felt pulled to go in the directions that have led me to where I am now, but I know that my purpose will continue to grow and expand as I do believe everyone’s will. Read more>>