Portraits of Resilience

Sometimes just seeing resilience can change out mindset and unlock our own resilience. That’s our hope with the Portraits of Resilience series – we hope the stories below will inspire you to tap into your own resilience.

Aaliah Hartley

I get my resilience from my upbringing. I grew up undocumented in the United States, so I was forced to be a resilient person. I had to go through unconventional methods to get to where I needed to go and to obtain what I needed to have.
The were an enormous amount of roadblocks put in front of me as I grew into adulthood, I had to persevere and overcome them for simple survival. There were a lot of no’s thrown at me – you can’t work, you can’t go to school, you can’t drive, you cant travel, you can’t rent a place to live, etc…so my resilience, perseverance, and tenacity was baked in from an early age. Read more>>

Ashley Howell Bunn

Resilience is an interesting word. I think it starts with survival and then hopefully moves into thriving in some capacity. I think I focused on surviving for a long time. My often unpredictable home life made me an anxious, hypervigilant, and people- pleasing child. This carried into my adulthood, and most of my twenties and early thirties were focused on creating safety for myself and my family through external success. Read more>>

Ville Houttu

Resilience, for me, is deeply rooted in the Finnish concept of Sisu. It’s a word that doesn’t have a direct translation in English, but it embodies a combination of determination, grit, and unwavering perseverance in the face of adversity. Growing up in Finland, these qualities are almost second nature. Read more>>

Krista Landis

I was 20 (almost 21) years old when I got married and 22 when my first child was born. Life was not easy being so young, and discovering that the person I thought I had married was a liar who had been hiding behind a mask and a charade. For 10 almost 11 years of my life I lived in constant fear, worry, constant stress and walked on egg shells because I never knew when he would explode at me or the kind of reaction he would have.  Read more>>

Deborah (debbie) Mena

I attribute my resilience to my mother and the adversity we faced living in a single-parent home in the heart of Washington Heights, NYC. Raised by a single mom who brought up two girls on her own with little to no help, I learned invaluable lessons about perseverance and strength. Read more>>

Stephanie Thoma

Living a life of trial and error, intermixed with successes comes from being curious, idealistic, and stubborn when I find it suitable. Being dedicated to understanding and loving myself has given me the optimism and courage to carry on and overcome when times have gotten hard. Read more>>

Jermeika Moody-martin

Resilience has been a defining trait in my journey, and it is deeply rooted in several key areas of my life: personal experiences, mindset, personal values and beliefs, self-care practices, my faith in Jesus, and my academic achievements. Read more>>

Jennifer Andrea

I get my resilience from my childhood upbringing. Growing up in a single-parent environment with my mother, I witnessed firsthand the strength and determination it takes to navigate life’s challenges alone. My mother was a hard worker, always doing whatever it took to provide for me and encouraging my independence. She trusted that I would always make the right choices, instilling in me a strong sense of self-reliance. Without my father around, I learned early on the importance of pushing forward despite obstacles and having perseverance. This early experience gave me a deep-seated tenacity to pursue my goals. Read more>>

Tj Cunningham

My resilience is deeply rooted in my upbringing in the Champlain Valley of Vermont, where dairy farms stretch across the landscape. Growing up, I often heard my mother say that farming is done for the love of it, not for the money. That idea—of doing something for the love of it—has been deeply embedded in my thinking since the very beginning of my artistic journey. Read more>>

Kaiza Molina

My resilience can be traced back to my parents who instilled in me the importance of perseverance and creativity from a young age. One early lesson I learned from my parents during my childhood happened during a seemingly simple middle school project. I was tasked with creating an insect species model for science class, and I had set my heart on crafting a colorful peacock butterfly—I even spent all day researching them! My enthusiasm was palpable, but reality struck when my dad said we only had $15 to spend, dashing my hopes for using expensive clay. Unfazed, he steered me towards a more budget-friendly option—a styrofoam ant. Read more>>

James Mahkween

I’ve honestly always had it. If I want it I go for it! I’ve been told many times before that I’m quite stubborn but always correct people and tell them that I’m persistent. When I have a vision I believe in completing it and it also helps that I’ve always had amazing people in my corner who believe in me. Which is more motivation to achieve my goals. Read more>>

Kristin St Sure

When it comes to resilience, the word is defined as the ability to recover from difficulties quickly. As a woman often being tough in life isn’t a choice. It’s a requirement we either sink or we learn how to swim. It’s not just about being tough though, or faking it till you make it, but truly learning to overcome. Read more>>

Maria Dominguez-morales

Maria Dominguez is an accomplished and well exhibited artists in the NYC Puerto Rican community she is well known for her murals. She started painting murals in the 1980s as a young woman growing up in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. At the time NYC was in a drug and housing crisis. The residents living there, faced “the crack epidemic,” poverty, subhuman housing conditions, all while the onslaught of gentrification loomed over them. Read more>> 

Natalia Voytsel

My resilience comes from the children and families we serve at “When Time Counts.” Every day, I witness their incredible strength, courage, and hope in the face of unimaginable challenges. These children, battling cancer with a spirit that is nothing short of inspiring, remind me why our work is so vital. Their determination fuels my own, and it’s impossible not to be resilient when you see the impact that love, care, and support can have on their lives. Read more>>

Somebody Famous

My resilience comes from my lineage. I come from a family of pioneers, like my uncle Jesse Walter Arbor, one of the first African American Naval officers in WWII, my cousins Carolyn and Mildred Gill of “The Velvelettes,” a Motown group with Billboard Hot 100 hits, and more. Their courage in the face of adversity inspires me to keep pushing forward, ensuring that the opportunities they fought for carry on through me. Read more>>

Mario Lanzarotti

My resilience comes from a deep desire to serve others and help them live more fulfilling and happy lives. I’m driven by a profound sense of purpose, rooted in my faith and the belief that I’m called to be a light in this world. This sense of purpose is further fueled by the love and support I’ve received throughout my life, starting with my parents, who loved me deeply and opened a world of possibilities for me. Read more>>

Ash Preston

Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences. Throughout my life I have had to adapt to many difficult and challenging things. Being resilient has been significant in my progress to becoming the successful person I am today. Read more>>

Larissa Stone

I believe my resilience comes from a determination to always try to self-improve. I always had the innate knowledge that no matter what happened, I would overcome it. Early on in my life, I had an understanding that going through unfortunate or “bad” situations offered an opportunity for growth and learning; and I knew growth and learning was key to a successful life. Read more>>

Anthony Robert Grasso

I would say I definitely get my resilience from my mother. She was a working mom nd had a very strong work ethic. She loved life and loved what she was doing and taught me to work hard and love what you do and the money will come.
She was a positive bright light and looked at the world with glass always half full. Anyone who met her would agree.
I was very lucky to have grown up with her confidence, grace and generosity. Read more>>

Dra. Carollaine M García, Ph.d.

If you’d asked me this three years ago, I would have said my resilience came solely from myself. But over the past decade, as I’ve studied my Dominican-American family, I can unequivocally say that my resilience stems from my roots. My mother is our family historian, and as I’ve sought to better understand my mixed-race identity and the intricate family stories that have shaped mine, I’ve become incredibly proud of my ancestral journey. Read more>>

Dorian Williams

I think I can narrow it down to a few things… but the first of which would be my parents for setting an example of strength, patience and good character. They’ve experienced every high, low, and curveball I can imagine, yet through the worst of it I am proud to say they were never robbed of their spirit or their kindness. They stood fast and never lost themselves when the world could prove itself cruel or unpredictable, and they made a point to pass on many of the lessons learned if mistakes were made along the way. Read more>>

Siri Hull

I learned the meaning of resilience from my dad. He was first diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma when I was 11 years old, living in Germany. We believe it was caused in large part by excessive stress he was experiencing.
He tried different methods to knock the cancer out of his system. Countless intensive chemo and radiation sessions, 2 bone marrow transplants, stem cell treatment.. The cancer was stubborn and kept coming back. When my dad talked about his cancer, I couldn’t help but pick up on an undeniable sense of respect he had toward its persistence and will to survive. Read more>>

Alexandra Quinn

From early childhood and upbringing. I was raised in poverty and hardships, yet I am forever grateful for the adversity which shaped who I am today. Read more>>

Daniel Brown

As a business owner, my resilience comes from a blend of passion, experience, support, and personal growth. My deep commitment to our vision drives me to overcome challenges, while past experiences offer valuable lessons that boost my confidence and adaptability. I’m fortunate to have a strong network of colleagues, mentors, and supporters who provide guidance and encouragement. Positive customer feedback also reinforces my commitment and fuels my determination. Additionally, embracing continuous learning and personal development strengthens my ability to face adversity with resilience. Together, these elements help me stay focused and motivated, no matter the obstacles. Read more>>

Karla Garcia

My resilience is deeply rooted in my family. Raised by strong women like my mother and grandmother, I learned the invaluable power of education and hard work. When my parents divorced and financial struggles ensued, my mom bravely left for the United States to pursue a nursing degree. Although it was heartbreaking to be separated, we knew that education was an opportunity for a better future. When my mom finally brought us to the United States, I was determined to study art. However, the high cost of art supplies was a decision I had to make to choose a more practical path: communications and graphic design. Read more>> 

Zevy Blokh

What a tough question. Am I resilient? Looking at the definition of the word ‘.the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.’ I don’t think I am particularly resilient. Failure knocks me down. Hard. I lean on the people around me to get me upright again, to set me back on the path. Perhaps, in an attempt to find some satisfying answer to this question, I can point to my frequent experience of failure and disappointment as my best tool for overcoming them. At this point, identifying moments where my expectations haven’t been met is so familiar to me that I find I can simply clench my jaw and stare into the future for support, knowing that this too shall pass. Read more>>

Pearl Knapp-chiarenza

My resilience comes from a lifelong journey of self-discovery shaped by early experiences as a people pleaser. I feared that saying no would make me seem selfish or unlikable, a mindset that persisted until 2015 when I took an identity and destiny course. Despite weeks of introspection, I still defined myself by the roles I played—mom, wife, volunteer—so I began a deeper exploration of who I truly was. Read more>>

Sophia Lebano

“It’s going to be your gift.” Those words echoed through my heart for years—a promise whispered by my parents when I felt most lost. I was just eight years old when my world turned upside down. I traded carefree school days for the endless hum of hospitals and hearing tests, where numbers fell like a slow-motion countdown to silence. But even as my hearing declined, I discovered a voice within me that refused to be quieted. Read more>>

Amy Valentine

I believe resilience is a choice we make over and over again, especially after experiencing challenging situations in life. It’s an inner knowing that no matter what, things will get better and better. It’s a decision to learn from experiences instead of being ruled by them. Read more>>

Natalia Baqueiro

I believe that EVERYTHING happens for a reason and I see the world as a truly magical place. I LOVE people and life, and even though it’s been so hard to get to where I am, I know this is the truth so when I embarked into becoming an entrepreneur to give it ALL there was no other option. It was either sink or swim, and I had this knowing that somehow the universe was going to put me in front of the right people and the right circumstances as long as I work as hard as I can. I don’t go agains my ethical compass, everything I do comes from an honest place. How I see the world is reflected on my art and how I treat each of my clients. Read more>>

Olena Heu

The Made in Hawai‘i Festival celebrates 30 years this year. Our resilience truly and unequivocally comes from our community. We would not be where we are today without the vendors, crafters, artisans and entrepreneurs from across the state who help our island home thrive. Read more>>

Steve Kopanski

I think resilience is something that I learned from studying those who came before me and in doing so, I’ve found that resilience is a hugely common trait or theme in those who end up succeeding in putting their mark on the world. I didn’t really have many great role models growing up, at least not for the various things I felt I wanted to do with my life, so I really relied on (and continue to rely upon) studying people who I feel have achieved what I feel I want to achieve in one form or another. Read more>>

Desiree Petrich

In 2022, my son was born during a Minnesota Blizzard, and wasn’t able to get to a NICU because of the weather. 15 hours later, he was finally flown to the nearest NICU and lived his first month of life hooked up to wires.
24 hours after we brought him home from the NICU to meet his big sister, I got a call that my mom had a stroke, and was being air-lifted to the hospital. So I packed up my one month old and my two year old to go see her. Read more>>

Ave Pildas

As the saying goes, “No risk, no reward”
I also believe that you are responsible for everything that involves you, so you must continue to work through the problem until
the problem is solved. The short answer is from my football and baseball coaches when I was a kid.  Read more>>

Tanya The Empress (tanya Dutt)

My childlike nature that effortlessly finds creative solutions for expansion, I always add – curiosity never killed this cat. My ability to alchemize/transmute perceived contradictions to work in tandem to one’s benefit creating a win-win situation. Ultimately it boils down to perception – some people flip houses, I flip perspectives. I find myself existing in a constant state of self-reflection, which keeps me attuned to the compass of my feelings, navigating life with discernment, clarity, assertion, grace and responding from a space of objectivity and being able to see the whole picture so as not to react out of defensiveness, and integrating retrospective wisdom for pattern recognition. Read more>> 

Christina Wallace

I am a naturally competitive person if it is something I know that I am capable of. Writing a book may not seem like a competition, but it’s sort of like a competition with yourself: you can either win by finishing what you set out to do or quit. Read more>>

Tina Zaremba

My resilience? It’s been a journey, not a given. Growing up neurodivergent, I had to navigate learning in my own unique way—figuring out what worked for me, like recording lectures and using color-coded Post-its. It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but each setback was a lesson in persistence and adaptation. Read more>>

Marie Chan

Surprisingly, my resilience grew through shared stories of loss. When my youngest son died unexpectedly five years ago, being in a grief support group and listening to others share their experiences of losing a child comforted me and helped me know I was not alone. Instead of feeling like a failure and being overcome with shame, their examples encouraged and freed me to be vulnerable and share my story of loss. I had feared that being open and honest about the death of my son would isolate me, but instead, I found sharing my story of loss and being honest and authentic about how I felt on my grief journey, deepened the connections in my relationships and strengthened the bonds of community. Read more>>

Arielle Brown

I’m the Founder of Bea’s Bayou, an eczema-focused haircare brand, leveraging the power of probiotics and bayou herbs. From the beginning, I was told that my vision may not be possible by people who just had not explored the ingredients that I had already been using on my skin. It made me more determined to figure out how to change their minds, and I did. I then encountered questions about the products usage for non-melanated skin. We got past that with more and more customers from all backgrounds sharing their reviews and stories about their amazing results. Read more>>

Sanjana Agarwal

My resilience comes from overcoming fear and pushing beyond my perceived limits. At age 13, I started training competitively for track. I began by running the 400m and 800m. I recall the first time I ran the 400m; I wondered how I could possibly run the entire track and complete one whole lap while maintaining speed. My coach stood on the side, giving me and the other athletes no choice but to stand at the start line. He was strict, and I was more afraid of him than of passing out while I ran. “On your mark, go,” and off we went. Read more>>

Chloe (xi) Hua

I have always been a kid growing up that was different from everyone else around me. Born and raised in the Chinese community in the early 90s was extremely challenging when it comes to living as my own person and explore my own characteristics as a human being. I have always had pushbacks whenever I wanted to pursue anything as a kid. While everybody was learning math, literature, and physics as their extracurricular subjects, I told my parents that I wanted to pursue art. Read more>>

Cassandra Duffy

As a health professional, I had to remain resilient to get through school and earn my degree. I also must maintain my license to practice and attend evidence-based courses every year to fulfill my continuing education requirements.
I feel it is my calling to foster an environment of healing for my clients and I aim to promote whole-self resilience: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Read more>>

Lily Bailey

I was born with a physical disability, For awhile, I was ashamed of that, but now I realize it’s the fuel I need to change the world. My disability limits my mobility, not my cognitive ability, and not my ability to speak. One of the biggest assumptions I have faced when using any of my mobility aids in public is that my disability affects both of these things. I find when I am out in public, people tend to talk to the person that I am with instead of me because they assume that I am incapable. Anytime I encounter ableism like this or in any other form, I just think to myself that one day I’ll prove them wrong. Read more>>

Kristen Aguirre

My resilience comes from faith and family. I’ve overcome a stroke, unemployment and multiple career changes by leaning on God and my parents for guidance and support. Despite being in my thirties, I do not have it all figured out. So, whenever I face an incredibly difficult and overwhelming situation in my life I pray and talk to my parents. It gives me clarity. It also reminds me of all the other times God has seen me through, why wouldn’t he do it this time? That outlook allows me to continue to chase my goals.  Read more>>

Asbjørn

When I stepped into the music industry, 19 years old, a lot of gate-keepers wanted to change me and claimed there wasn’t room for a man like me in the pop landscape. What they didn’t know was that I was an expert in bully-tactics and that their attempt came off like a cowardly version of the sucker-punches I used to receive in school. Read more>>

Zack Wangeman

We are a community, rooted in our staff and the corn farmers who sustain us. It’s this sense of community that gives me resilience. Read more>>

Pearl Lai

I have my parents and my family to thank for my resilience and work ethic. It has always been instilled in me to work hard and be strong as my father was a refugee when he arrived in America from Vietnam and has sacrificed so much to be where we are today. Growing up in an immigrant family and being a first generation American has made me become who I am today. The resilience I have is due to the sacrifices my family has made for me to be here and for that I am thankful. Read more>>

Lally Pia

The basic and most prominent braid in my memoir, “The Fortune Teller’s Prophecy: A Memoir of an Unlikely Doctor” is one of resilience. My resilience results from adjustment to many years of setbacks and obstacles, coupled with an inner sense of optimism ingrained into me after observing my parents’ unfailing belief that all boulders are surmountable. They focused on the good in people, not the bad. This ability to take on challenges with confidence was also the prevailing culture in the countries, where I grew up. Read more>>