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.

Ethan Clifton

For me, purpose lives in collaboration. Whether I’m spitballing ideas with my friends on the front porch, late-night scheming over drinks at the bar, or linking up to manufacture something from scratch, those moments remind me why I created a clothing line to begin with. It’s about creating with people I care about, not just for the sake of output, but for the shared experience of building something that feels real. I can go months without putting out new work or posting on social media, but I know when I revisit my network will still be there. Read More>>

Mya Daniel

I’ve always felt that my purpose in life is to care for others, it’s simply who I am. Even as a little girl, I was nurturing someone or something, whether it was my baby dolls, our family pets, my younger sister, or other children around me. By the age of ten, I was already babysitting and genuinely enjoying it. That natural instinct to care led me into a decade-long career as a nanny, and along the way I also taught swim lessons and pursued a bachelor’s degree in Child Development. While I wasn’t always sure exactly what career I would choose, caring for others has always felt like my calling. Read More>>

Kimberlyn Petit

I found my purpose by following what followed me.

Whatever I was naturally drawn to when I was by myself with no distractions — which, for me was writing — I’d hone in on and take a step further.

I’d listen to my instincts and concede to going wherever I was being called, paying attention to what my heart was drawn to and what it physically moved my body toward. I’d always end up with a pen and paper in hand. Read More>> 

Jennie Blackwood

Honestly, my purpose found me in the middle of chaos. I was eight months pregnant, exhausted, and staring down the reality that I might have to go back to a 9–5 I didn’t love. I wanted more than anything to be a present mom while still contributing to my family in a meaningful way.

Starting my first charcuterie bar was born out of equal parts necessity and a fire in my gut that told me I was meant for more. What started as “let’s just try this” quickly became the thing that allowed me to pay off debt, support my family, and create freedom I never thought possible. Read More>> 

Reneè Roberts-Turner

My purpose was shaped by the quiet strength, unwavering commitment, and limitless belief of my mother. She modeled what it meant to lead with love, to show up with excellence, and to carry a “can do anything” spirit no matter the circumstance. Her unconditional love gave me the foundation to pursue my path with confidence and courage, even when I was still learning to trust my own voice. Read More>> 

Bülent Doruk

I discovered my purpose through the viewfinder of a camera. Growing up in Istanbul, I was captivated by the magic of freezing time in a single frame and telling a story without words. Over the years, working as a photojournalist in more than 30 countries, I documented wars, disasters, joy, and the resilience of people. This journey taught me that photography is not just an image—it’s a way of creating a deep connection. When I moved to New York, I shifted my focus from breaking news to the special moments in people’s lives. Read More>> 

Kristi Evans

Finding my purpose began with a deeply personal chapter in my own life. Facing breast cancer firsthand gave me an intimate understanding of the fear, confusion, and overwhelming decisions that come with the diagnosis. I first felt that this experience was going to break me…it didn’t. Instead, it lit a fire in me. I had the most amazing navigators who guided me, supported me, and loved me through the scariest journey of my life. Read More>> 

Na Omi Shintani

I was a rambunctious three-year-old, and my mother decided she needed to direct my energy into something that would keep me occupied. She tried ballet, but I wasn’t very graceful. Swimming was challenging, but when I took drawing, I flourished. I am grateful to my mother for sticking with it to help me find my purpose. I depicted our daily activities and special trips, like to Marine World, where I drew a leaping whale eating a fish out of a man’s hand. I loved drawing, art, and capturing my family’s life. I continued with art throughout high school. Read More>> 

Rachel Mottern

I found my purpose by first being the child who needed someone to fight for her. I was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD early in elementary school, and for years I felt like I was drowning in a system that didn’t know what to do with me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to learn—I just needed someone to teach me differently. That someone was Mrs. Deborah Scott, my fourth-grade special education teacher. She didn’t just teach me how to read—she taught me how to believe in myself. She believed in me. Read More>> 

Stella Wembley

Since I was very young, I have always been a visionary. I have always been a dreamer. I dreamt big. I wanted to achieve something big in my life. I started my creative journey when I was sixteen, as a musician and vocalist. I have been dreaming of being on a huge stage, with thousands of people as an audience! What I really loved about music was the “feeling” I had while creating and performing. It made me feel alive. I felt I had found my purpose. And that dream, that “burning desire,” kept me going and striving to achieve success as a musician for over sixteen years. Read More>> 

Sky Rockenbach

I assume many people go through life without ever truly feeling that they’ve found their purpose. I think it’s fair to say that discovering purpose rarely comes from taking the practical route. More often, it’s born from risk—big risks—the kind that demand you put everything on the line. Most people choose not to take that path, and that’s okay. For many, stability matters more. Read More>> 

Tina Tazehabadi

Art has always been my sanctuary, a place of peace and solace during my journey of growth. Through the challenges and uncertainty of immigration, I often found myself immersed in the stories on a screen, the pages of a book, or behind the lens of a camera. Allowing me to step into a world beyond my own. Read More>> 

Shaun Parker

Finding my purpose within life, sports, and fashion has been a journey of self-discovery, perspective, and passion. Through sports, I learned the value of teamwork, discipline, and resilience, which instilled a drive within me to push beyond limits and strive for excellence. This passion for competition seamlessly blended into my appreciation for fashion, where I could express my individuality and creativity. Experiencing vintage stores and thrfit stores growing up truly was an enriching time at a young age. Read More>> 

Sarah O’Connor

I did not wake up one day and suddenly know my purpose. It revealed itself over time through conversations, crises, and quiet moments at a client’s bedside. It began when I was helping my own family navigate care for my grandmother. We were overwhelmed, confused, and constantly second guessing ourselves. I remember thinking, If this is this hard for us, how do other families manage? Read More>>

Thatohatsi Mononyane

I believe purpose is something you don’t just find — it reveals itself in everything you naturally gravitate towards. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the arts. As a little girl, I would cut up scraps of fabric to make outfits for my dolls, and by age five, I had already stepped into the world of modeling. My teenage years were filled with pageants, creative expression, and a deepening love for performance. That passion eventually led me to study Fashion Design at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. Read More>> 

Sadaf Mehdizadeh

If someone had told me a few years ago that my life’s purpose would be found in a handful of flour, sugar, and poetry, I would have smiled politely and dismissed it. At the time, I was a researcher at UCSF, deep in the world of cancer immunotherapy. My sister Morvarid and I were both fully immersed in academic science. She was preparing for the MCAT while conducting her own research on type 1 diabetes. Our lives revolved around data, discovery, and long hours in the lab. Read More>> 

Courtney Fountain

It took me 30 years to find my purpose. Starting with a string of jobs in a profession that I had no passion or interest in. Being unhappy in these jobs gave me the drive to push myself out of my comfort zone and start my own small business. A few months after quitting my full time job to peruse my dreams of being self employed, I found out I was pregnant with a baby girl. Being a mother to my mini-me daughter is my TRUE purpose. Read More>> 

Ashley Cooper

One tragic night, I received a chilling phone call from my cousin’s sister. Her voice was frantic and breaking as she asked me to try reaching her brother, hoping he would answer my call. Moments later, I learned that my cousin, La’Quan Howard, the handsome, athletic, creative, and intelligent soul I knew, had died by suicide. Read More>>