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.

Mecca Terry

My purpose is founded in my childhood. From a young age my mother allowed me to explore any and all of my interests. I remember telling her I wanted to play the clarinet. She worked hard, ensured I had private lessons, and supported that. Read more>>

Caisja Chandler

I found my purpose this year with the. passing of both my dad and grandad. Losing two loved ones in only a couple month span was extremely challenging and an emotional experience. This led me to my purpose in the most unexpected way. I tried to navigate through the pain and grief of their absence. Read more>>

Sarah Harralson

When I started volunteering with Musicians On Call, I realized my purpose and mission as an artist is to provide healing music for others. Music can do wonders for people who need joy or understanding. I want people to take what they need from my music, whether it’s a relatable story, a sense of joy, or even just some tears that needed to be shed. Read more>>

Tyler Halstead

My purpose really comes from a position of authenticity and honesty. In the crazy world of alcohol/spirits I was shocked by the number of brands who don’t even make their own products. My goal is to run a company that prides itself on craftsmanship with meticulous management of the fine details of the distillation process. Read more>>

Bart Bryars

Hmm. Read more>>

Rashida McGuire

Hello, my name is Rashida Mcguire I am the owner of creative kids learning LLC. Have you ever had friends who knew what their purpose was but you didn’t? That was me & it’s okay. I first graduated high school I wasn’t sure of what my purpose was. I was a new mom who couldn’t go to college things were hard. Read more>>

Gianna Mauceri

I was a hairstylist for 18 years before I found my true purpose! I always knew I was here to help other people. And even though behind the chair, I was helping people by listening to them and making their manes look pretty, I always felt like I was meant to be doing more, on a much deeper level. Read more>>

Antilishia O’Bannon

[Bold Journey Series Interview]: Read more>>

Marty Mitchell

I was born and raised in a Catholic family, baptized as an infant, and attended weekly Sunday Mass through high school. With the benefit of hindsight, this foundation of faith was a gift from God and my parents, which I would need to rely on as I ventured into independence. Read more>>

Emily Maneval

I found my purpose the moment I was introduced to animated films as a kid. I gravitated to the cartoons on screen and wanted to draw pictures that looked just like the films I loved. I didn’t just want to paint pretty pictures, I wanted to tell stories with my art. Read more>>

Dr Melissa Kalt, MD

For many years, I felt like my purpose — my Why — was just over the next hill. It felt so close, I could taste it. Yet, it continued to elude me. I surrendered and took each next step, listening carefully to the response of my mind, my body, my spirit. Read more>>

Vincent D’Alessio

I think this is an interesting question because so often people procrastinate in the efforts of finding their purpose. It’s a blessing to know your purpose early and charge toward that path. The large majority of the time however, purpose lies on the other side of hard work. I’ve found if you put in the work on your business or your career or your job to make yourself profitable first, you can find things to be passionate about after your bills are paid. Read more>>

 M. Bennett

My purpose was found through fasting & prayer. I knew that painting made me feel good, like I absolutely loved it. After a week of fast & prayer it became clearer that art was my journey & was going to lead me to fulfill my purpose. Read more>>

Sudie Rakusin

How did you find your purpose? Read more>>

Amira Johnson

At the age of twenty-two I lost my mother to metastatic breast cancer. The process of trying to understand death and ascension led me to exploring and doing a deeper dive into spirituality. Through learning various spiritual practices such as meditating, mindfulness and learning the laws of the universe, such as the Law of Divine Oneness and the Law of Vibration, I started to understand that everything in life is connected and recognized that we as individuals create the meaning for every day that we live. Read more>>

Samantha Walz

TRIAL AND ERROR! From the time that we start from a young age to being in our 20’s, 30’s and so on, our career choices are always changing. Finding your niche is always a difficult task in life, some more than others. For me it wasn’t until I started my journey with marketing and design in college…3 years after I had graduated from highschool and countless undecisive thoughts on what I wanted to do. Read more>>

Sam Leverson

The first step for finding my purpose was honestly stepping out of my comfort zone and healing my inner child. In the past year I have dealt with a great amount of change which really started to make me question what MY purpose was vs the purpose I was told/conditioned to believe from a societal standard and from my childhood. Read more>>

Mindy Bess

I believe that everyone has a God-given purpose in life, and in my experience, most often times it’s events in a person’s life that help reveal what that purpose is. For me, some of those events were watching my dad battle terminal brain cancer for close to five years, and experiencing the death of my dad several hours after my Granny’s funeral. Read more>>

Avinash Nair

When I was in school, I was sure I wasn’t good with numbers. All the last pages of my books contain sketches that I made. Those drawings were primarily about cars and futuristic products. Over time, I have ceased to do that, although I once enjoyed it. Perhaps I should do that more frequently. It helped me relax, now that I think about it. Read more>>

Anisa Mejia

I always knew I had a purpose and it was very evident from a young age. One of my favorite things ever, even now was to be of service. Also, as a youth, I LOVED cooking and nourishing people. As I got older, all of my job history was specified in the hospitality/food industry, being of service and dealing with food. I always thought about what I wanted to do and have in life and needed to figure out what it was that I was passionate about. Read more>>

Matthew Pena

I found my purpose of music from singing in the shower everyday from when I was 5 years old, and from listening to music for hours on end. Hearing the different chords, melodies, rhythms, and different stories inspired me that I could create music like my favorite artists. Read more>>

Anthony Salazar

I have been performing traditional mexican folklorico dances for over 30 years. Read more>>

Lexie Belle

Purpose is a funny thing. Purpose can change over time. It develops, its manifested, it’s born out of life experience, hardship, dreams, and hopes for a better tomorrow. Read more>>

Robert Marshall

I found my purpose through the crucible of my experiences, a journey marked by poverty, sexual abuse, fatherlessness, and bullying. Each of these trials shaped me, tested me, and at times nearly broke me. But instead of surrendering to despair, I used them as building blocks for my destiny. Read more>>

Tara Fjetland

It took me many years to find my true purpose in my photography journey but I came to realize that my purpose is to connect people, which makes sense both in my line of work and outside of it in my personal life. Read more>>

Ina Johnson Myers

Actually, my purpose found me!!!!!! Read more>>

Anwar Stokes

I have a passion for capturing moments. Photography allows me to freeze time and preserve memories in a visually pleasing way. I have a strong passion for storytelling through images and feel a deep sense of fulfillment when I have the ability to capture and share special moments. Read more>>

ShaTerra Jenkins

I realized that I enjoyed art and my creativity plus I was good at peopling. Customer service was also my background so I found a way to intertwine the two into my passion. That’s how I fell into the beauty industry. It allowed me to do both. Read more>>

Rollin Jewett

I was very lucky to find my purpose at a fairly young age. I would say by the end of my freshman year in high school I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how I was going to find meaning in my life. And the answer was by entertaining people. When I was very young I used to do cartoon character voices and I was a pretty good mimic. I had a good ear for music and voices and I could do pretty good impressions of a few famous actors. Read more>>

Lea Rhynehardt

For as long as I can remember I have always had this interest in planning, and more so just being in charge. Growing up, my Granny was an owner of a Daycare business “Grandma Robbie’s Childcare” and to this day I owe a lot of who I am, and how am I, to my Granny and the fundamentals taught as a student attending her daycare. Read more>>

Qianwen Yu

I’ve always wanted to be an architecture designer since I was really young influenced by my father. He used to be an architect, but after me and my sister were born, he switched to Urban Planning within the system in order to have a more stable income. He has always hoped that one of us could become an architect to follow in his footsteps. Read more>>

Tracy Croushorn

I love this question. I remember someone once said that you find what you love to do, something you can monetize, and you will never work a day in your life. Well, that is some BS!! LOL because you work harder than ever when you find what you love to do! I used to think that when you found what you love to do that was your purpose and boy was I wrong. Your purpose might be something that you love to do but it goes beyond that. Read more>>

Taylor Tomanka

Taylor the Attorney is a boutique law firm that caters to female creatives, freelancers, content creators & brands. Read more>>

Malory Ruesch

Finding purpose will happen when we are able to connect our experiences with conceptual lessons. For years, I wondered what the purpose for my addiction was. I felt behind everyone else because 16-19 I was consistently falling behind in life. I was stuck; stuck in the wreckage of my past consumed with shame and guilt. Read more>>

Anthony Mahnke Jr.

I found my purpose during covid. Even though I always knew how to draw since I was kid, I never actually took my talent seriously until I was forced to stay in the house because of the covid virus. So I watched a lot of YouTube videos on how to paint and after I got the hang of it, I started painting portraits, and from portraits I started painting landscapes and then abstracts. Read more>>

Shirley Thiessen

In 2012 I was living my best life, or so I thought. A fulfilling career, happily married, and excited to see my son and daughter making good choices as they launched into adulthood. Life was great. Read more>>

Molly Salerno

In 2016 I was a young mom working in corporate America struggling with juggling long hours and missing important moments with my then 2 year old daughter. I had been in the trenches of depression and stress while trying to help my mother who was deep in her alcoholism. I was struggling to find who I was and how to find a passion and something for myself that would give me joy. Read more>>

Lisa Powell

I found my purpose by finding myself. I learned to found the value in me what I was worth and that my gift is just as valuable as the next person, I learned to keep pushing and encouraging myself to follow my dreams. Read more>>

Chloe Morales

In my artwork, I didn’t use to have a purpose. I taught myself to draw and paint through YouTube tutorials and consistent practice during one of the most trialing periods of my life. A lot of my work was very dark, and it reflected how I felt inside. I used art to disassociate from my reality. Read more>>

Rachel Gostenhofer

First a caveat: my journey to purpose is ongoing and I hope it never ends. But like always, my path was circuitous. In the Fall of 2011, I had a personal tragedy. My life partner left me without warning. It was a few days before the second year of my PhD program at Brown University. Suddenly, not only was I missing the love of my life, but I also couldn’t afford my rent which was now greater than the entire sum of my annual doctoral stipend. Read more>>

Beau Cockrell

Although I feel I’m still on my quest to find my true bliss, I’ve been tuned in to my passions and goals for long enough into adulthood that I feel closer to understanding my purpose each day. It’s been essential for me to strip away all the superficialities typically associated with uncovering one’s purpose. I can’t be concerned with the way I am or am not fitting the societal norms of what others think I should be adhering to, and my passions are not fueled by making a certain amount of money or amassing fame. Read more>>