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.

Aimee Frisk

“Growing up, I was always told that going to college was the key to getting a good job. That message came from all directions—my parents, grandparents, teachers. My family even contributed to a college fund for me. But as I reached the end of high school, I still had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. Read More>>

WILL HANSEN

My path to design wasn’t straightforward—it took a detour through the U.S. Navy. After high school, I spent ten years crafting dental prosthetics. It was steady and respectable work, but it didn’t feed the creative spark I’d always carried. When I left the service, I gave myself time to reset, searching for who I was beyond the uniform. Read More>> 

Sai A Sharma

For me, Films were never just entertainment — they were an escape, a teacher, and ultimately, a calling. Growing up, while most of my peers spent their time socializing, I was immersed in cinema. I studied the details, the storytelling, the visuals, the way entire worlds could be built from imagination. That early obsession wasn’t isolation, it was training — a deep apprenticeship in understanding how stories connect with people. Read More>>

Tyler Boronski

I discovered my purpose early on. Growing up in Connecticut, I loved making videos with friends, which sparked my fascination with media and storytelling. That spark grew stronger when I began interviewing players in the Atlantic League in Bridgeport. After watching reporters on TV and imagining myself in their place, I realized what excited me most wasn’t just the actual sports, but it was uncovering the stories behind the people. Read More>>

Lakithia Nicole

I found my purpose the moment I stopped searching for success and started seeking God. My journey wasn’t about chasing a title, platform, or dream — it was about surrender. There came a point where everything I tried to build in my own strength either fell apart or left me empty. I had the talent. I had the opportunities. But what I didn’t have was alignment. Read More>>

Phil Hawkins

In ways my purpose found me. Seeking new experiences and exploring art has always peaked my interests. Along the way learning different practices helped shape my life moving forward. Read More>>

Jack Paduntin

Based on my personal journey, finding purpose has been less about a single moment of clarity and more about a journey of self-discovery through listening to my experiences and the people around me. When I first arrived in the United States from Thailand over 30 years ago, I didn’t have all the answers; I only knew that education could be my pathway forward. Over time, through diligent study, hard work, and community service, I discovered that my purpose wasn’t solely about achieving personal success. Rather, it involves creating opportunities for others. Read More>>

Taro Wayama

I found my purpose through the desire to create something uniquely my own and to communicate my thoughts and feelings through that process. For me, creating is an innate activity—something deeply human that connects us all. I believe that everyone carries the urge to create and express, and following that instinct has helped me recognize and embrace my own purpose. Read More>>

DonnyJ

I found my purpose the moment I realized that everything I was chasing in the material world was a farce. The true beauty of art lies in expression. Growing up, I carried the expectations of my family and friends—they had visions for where my talents should take me, but all of that felt like baggage. Music became meaningful to me only when I stripped away those pressures. Read More>>

Aubrey Christensen

I believe that your life purpose comes from a combination of your passion(s) and life experience. For me personally, the challenges I dealt with gave me the motivation to seek answers and once I could see that there was a different way, that lit a fire under me that wanted to share it with the world. Long story short, I had a couple persistent health symptoms that were not improving despite help from traditional doctors and many failed attempts.  Read More>>

Chante’ Reddest

I found my purpose by praying and staying sober-minded while on my journey on the Red Road. It’s not everyday that you can help change someone’s life by just being yourself. That’s what I found in my spiritual journey as I was growing over the years and prospering into the person I am today. In this day in age there are so many distractions all around us. I find it my job to lead by example and live a prayerful life as a young man in this technological world we live in today because it’s so easy to get caught up in the madness of it.  Read More>>

Joshua Lakes

When I went to college to run track and ended walking-on to the football team. These were sports that I had been putting so much work into becoming good at during junior high and high school. And by this time I had done just that. I was good but not great, and in college it began to dawn on me. You have to be great to compete at this level. And I maybe could’ve work harder and gotten there, but in the midst of all of this I started to take up music courses. Read More>>

Makhyli Simpson

I didn’t find my purpose; my purpose found me. I truly believe every one of us is born with a purpose, and as children, we often already know what that is. We might not recognize it at the time, but it shows up in the games we play or the things that light us up; pretending to be a doctor, a parent, a singer, an actor, or even getting that unexplainable excitement when learning about dinosaurs, airplanes, or animals. For me, it was watching kids on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon doing exactly what I dreamed of doing, singing and acting. Read More>>

Stella Taylor

Purpose is completely up to the individual. I believe it’s up to each individual to find their own purpose, or seek it out. I was lucky enough that it found me at a very young age. I remember watching VHS movies over and over and over again in my room growing up. Feeling compelled to share the feeling that I was experiencing with others. Read More>>

Isabella

Finding my purpose wasn’t a single “aha” moment, it was something that grew with me. I still remember being in elementary school, working on hydroponic farms in my biology class. At the time, I didn’t realize it, but that curiosity about how food is grown planted the first seed. Read More>>

Julia Toothacre

I’ve made multiple transitions in my career, and while I believe they were all necessary and fairly well thought out, they all centered around purpose. What I’ve only recently realized is that my purpose has aligned throughout my career, even though some of the paths look very different. I pursued careers that allowed me to problem-solve and build something. Early in my career, it was within small creative businesses. I pursued a master’s degree that led me into career development to help people figure out their career path.  Read More>>

Dr. Rishikesh Upadhyay

Well, I discovered my purpose in life relatively early. From a young age, I was deeply passionate about helping children and students. I’ve always loved stories—whether through a good book or a compelling film. My journey in education began while I was pursuing my BSc (Hons) at Haflong Government College in 1999. My first job interest was teaching and writing, and that experience sparked a lasting commitment to education. I went on to complete my MSc in 2002, MPhil in 2005 and a PhD in 2010 from Assam University, Silchar. Read More>>

Opal Vinopal

Early on as a songwriter, I heard a quote most often attributed to Pablo Picasso, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” This resonated hard with me as both a songwriter and an educator and helped me remain focused on this purpose of sharing my songs and my knowledge, unselfishly and with love. Read More>>

Brandon Thomas

I feel like my purpose found me without me looking for it over two decades ago when I was an over 300 pound teenager. When my doctor told me I was pre-diabetic, pre-high blood pressure and everything else that comes from poor eating habits and chooses. The next day I woke up and said no one will ever know that I used to be morbidly obese and I went from 300 pounds to 175 pounds that summer and have never regained the weight. Read More>>

Samuel Gegen

In 2016, I quit drinking alcohol. That was the moment I knew I wanted to make an impact. I didn’t know how exactly but I LOVE helping people. It’s become a personal mission. I got into leadership in 2017 shortly after and started coaching people. I was a sales manager and worked with hundreds of sales people on how to sell but also around mindset and confidence on how to change their lives. I made an impact on them and started to see so many peoples lives change. Read More>>

Taylor Peterson

I’ve always had a heart for caring for people. Being the oldest of three girls, it came naturally to me to look after everyone else. Even as a kid, I knew I wanted to work in a field where I could help people, but my journey to finding my purpose wasn’t simple or straightforward. Read More>>

Elisa Kallioniemi

I grew up in a working-class family in a small town in Finland, and I am the first in my family to complete university. The largest employers in my hometown were paper mill factories, and I spent my summers interning at one of them. Higher-level education was never highly valued, and thus, it never really occurred to me to put much effort into my studies. What I really loved, though, was travelling and exploring new places, which, looking back, has been one of the strongest influences in my life journey. Read More>>

Eileen Berger

Just Lookin’ was born in 1990 out of the frustration I experienced while trying to collect original art and hand pulled prints by Black American artists; I found that most galleries offered little to no representation of their incredible talents. Too many of the galleries I visited made me feel unwelcome as a neophyte collector. When I started meeting artists the first question I asked them was why I couldn’t find their work in galleries.. Read More>>

Maite Salazar

I found my purpose during one of the most disruptive times of our lives, the middle of COVID. Like so many, I was forced to pause, reevaluate, and ask myself what really mattered and what legacy I wanted to build. In that season of uncertainty, the answer became very clear: my purpose is anchored in three guiding values: Faith, Family, and Freedom. Read More>>

Alexis Greig

I grew up surrounded by examples of purpose in action, even before I knew to call it that. My grandmother, who is still alive today at 103, was the first person I saw turn resourcefulness into something beautiful. She saved scraps of fabric to design clothing, organized fashion shows at our church, baked praline cookies that people still talk about, and taught me that a home could sustain itself if you were creative and disciplined. That legacy carried into my parents. Read More>>

Julian Habib

It came to me in what I can only describe as a Satori moment. In Zen Buddhism, Satori is a sudden flash of awakening, a moment of pure clarity and enlightenment where everything in life makes sense at once. That is exactly how it felt.

Imagine every cubic inch of a room containing a lightbulb, and then suddenly every single one of them switched on. The room was overwhelmingly bright to my eyes, and in that brilliance, everything came to me. For hours I stood at a dry erase board, writing, drawing lines, mapping out connections. Read More>>

Ruchi Kothari

Many times, a purpose—or even a business—grows from a lack of support, resources, or opportunities. For me, that was exactly the case.

Growing up in America with traditional Indian values often meant navigating conflicting expectations. Education was highly valued, yet as a woman, leaving home to pursue a degree was not permitted. As a child of immigrant parents and an ESL student, I had to navigate the college admissions process on my own. Despite gaining acceptance into several Ivy League schools, I commuted to USC from my home in Southern California. Read More>>

Justin Williams & Mychal Keels

Our purpose came from always being the underdog, always being the people who possessed the skills others wanted to use, but not banking on our own ability and worth. However, during one of the hardest periods of their artistic lives thus far, we saw our purpose in their passion and their love for the art. We recognized that we could see a young artist’s passion even when it was being warped into shapes that didn’t suit them. We’ve always found our purpose in being our strongest and most realized selves, as well as when we are able to help others find that. Read More>>

Ruobing Liu

I think finding one’s purpose is a lifelong pursuit rather than a fixed destination. I can’t claim to have fully discovered mine yet, nor can I guarantee that I ever will, because purpose is something that continues to evolve as we grow and change. In many ways, that uncertainty is what makes life meaningful. It opens up space to explore, to experiment, and to redefine ourselves over time. Read More>>

Marlon Daniel

I didn’t stumble upon purpose; I looked for it and it grew with me. As a child I grew up on the infamous West Side of Chicago, a place defined by gangs, drugs, poverty, and violence. If I had stayed, I don’t know if I would be here today. Music became not only my way out but a voice and a way to connect with people. My first step towards purpose was leaving Chicago as soon as I could, with the piano, and later the podium, giving me the vehicle for my escape to new journey. For me music was not just a passion; it was my lifeline, my survival, and ultimately my transformation. Read More>>

Tavis Porter

Honestly, I stumbled into photography about 8 years ago while hosting a roller skate party. I grabbed a camera just to capture the vibe, and I fell in love with how those photos told the story of the night. That was the moment I realized this is what I’m meant to do. Read More>>

Mackenzie Paul

When I was diagnosed with cancer, I felt as though I had lost my entire identity. I was no longer a medical student. I couldn’t work out. I didn’t feel like a beautiful newlywed, and I was unable to enjoy the things I once loved with my friends and family. Instead, I was confined to a hospital bed, fighting for my life. I felt hopeless, as though I had nothing left to offer the world, because the roles and passions that once defined me had been stripped away. Read More>>

Christina Rendon

For me, purpose began with alignment—a felt sense that I wanted to find greater meaning in life. Most of my life, I’ve been drawn to the more layered aspects of the human experience. That curiosity led me to study Religious Studies and meditation teaching at UCLA, where I explored the intersection of psychology, spirituality, and consciousness. Read More>>

Austin Acosta

Both personal challenges and the things I cherish most have shaped my journey to find my purpose. As a father of two wonderful children, I see my purpose reflected in the responsibility and joy of guiding them as they grow. They remind me every day why it’s so important to live with meaning and to help others do the same. Read More>>

Makena Horn

When I was small and wild I would look upon the forest with such bewilderment and curiosity. I knew the trees, flowers, leaves and branches held a magic that laid just beyond my fingertips. Somehow, inherently, I always knew that nature was a place I could go to heal, to find reprieve, a place could go and feel found when I was lost, even if I didn’t know where I was or where I was going. I wanted to learn how to unravel these mysteries, listen to the old wisdom of the herbs and stories on the wind. Read More>>