Stories & Lessons for Finding Your Purpose

Tara Lipsyncki

Do we ever really find our purpose? I feel like our purpose is ever-changing, and varies with the situations we find ourselves in and the shortcomings we see in society. If I had to put a broad statement of what my purpose is and how I found it, I would say my purpose in this life is to assist others grow into their fullest and most authentic self. Read more>>

Francheska Nicole Diaz

People can find a sense of purpose organically or through deliberate exercises and self-reflection. I found my purpose by standing back, looking at the communities need while auto analyzing myself and asking myself, how can I be of be of help. Sometimes, just having someone to talk to you about what matters to them makes you think more intentionally about your life and your purpose, therefor I thought of creating a safe haven for those who might just need someone to listen. Read more>>

Rodney Mitchell

When I was a teenager, around 19 years old, I was living in Montgomery Alabama and I was watching a tv program, about children who had cancer and they were organizing this camp for them. Seeing that triggered something in me and made me want to be apart of it. I immediately put in an application with the American Cancer Society and received a letter a few weeks later saying I was not qualified because I did not have a college degree. Read more>>

MyKenzie Mathis

I would say that my purpose is to bring joy, connection and memories to others that I come across throughout life. Not only do I serve my clients but I also serve other creatives in the industry. I believe that we go through the things that we go through in order to help others get through the same or similar situations during our lifetime. If I cross paths with you throughout my lifetime, I want to ensure that I either made you feel something or educated you on something. Read more>>

Julie Hildebrand

After spending a year in pre-pharmacy at the University of Texas at Austin and working as a pharmacy technician, I realized quickly that I did not feel like I was giving anything back to my community and wanted to do more with my talents. I spoke with a college counselor and they recommended volunteering in the community. I quickly fell in love with volunteering in elementary schools and knew that I was destined to work with kids. Read more>>

Jessica Liggero

Finding my purpose almost cost me my life. Although I realize now that God will not put you through anything that you cannot handle. In 2015 I endured a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). During my day job while playing outside with kids, I slipped on the concrete and ran head first into a brick wall. Read more>>

Brit Adgie

Ah purpose. The greatest question in life and what we all strive to have. Before I started my business, I was working at a job that had a lot of financial benefits but the culture was awful and I really lacked drive in what I was doing. When I got pregnant with my daughter I decided to take some time off to recalibrate and decide what was the most important aspect of my working life. Read more>>

Mokwang Lima

Finding my purpose took many years and was built upon experiences gained over time. I’ve had multiple careers in my life that led me to embrace purpose within them. I’m grateful to have exposure to lots of experiences. It allowed me to gain perspective and focus on how to appreciate each one, good or not so great. Read more>>

Eugene Wilson

Finding purpose is something that people look for and often never find. Being raised in a huge family and seeing my great-great grandparents live into their 90-100s, I realized there’s nothing more important than family. As a business owner, things can become very hectic, and organization becomes vital. Read more>>

Shavanna Spratt

In my personal journey as a resilient black woman, I found my purpose through a powerful combination of healing and self-discovery. As I navigated the depths of my own experiences, I discovered the transformative power of healing, not just for myself but also for my community. It’s not just about rising above my past wounds; it’s about empowering others to heal and thrive too. Read more>>

Deondra Powers

I’ve actually realized that I have a few purposes- teaching, styling hair, and fashion styling. I taught myself how to braid when I was about 8 years old, after watching my sister-in-law style her clients’ hair. I’d spend hours practicing on my baby dolls’ hair, then eventually started styling friends and family members’ hair. However, it was just a hobby until I started undergraduate school. Read more>>

Danielle Dominique

I honestly found my purpose through trial and error. Although I’ve been writing stories since I was in the 6th grade, I never considered being a journalist, screenwriter, or narrative writer as a career or purpose. I grew up being told that my talents were hobbies, not careers. With that in mind, I pursued jobs based on their salary instead of my gifts and interests. Read more>>

Mervat Haddad

Running a business has provided me with a fulfilling avenue to live out my purpose every day. It’s the perfect platform to merge my passion for makeup artistry with the desire to uplift and empower women. My goal was to create a space where women could not only leave feeling beautiful but also fully embrace their individuality and inner beauty. Read more>>

Deidra Hogan

Surely people expect some cliché movie response about purpose. Anyone who knows me knows I’ve always wanted to be a hairstylist. I’ve always love to do hair and I love everything about it. I definitely have my days but it’s still my number one. I came back to this being my passion after I gave myself time and opportunity to try to do other things. I’ve always given 1000% anything I’ve ever done but doing what I do just makes me happier, creating healthy hair is some thing that really feeds my soul. Read more>>

Eric B

In my experience, purpose is not that hard to find, largely because it is bred out of desire. And I have always had a desire to get people to look at the world around them in a different way by using overly exaggerated stories. I have always enjoyed creating a world of my own, filled with fun and complex characters as well as an exciting adventure. Read more>>

Leo Sandoval

I found my true purpose when I lost my husband Walter in 2019. As a child, I loved to sing. I would watch singers and actors on TV; and would say to myself: “someday I would like to be like them”. As an influencer on social media, the opportunity arose when my husband (with whom I would do different types of videos like makeup tutorials, everyday life, etc.) suddenly became ill and passed away. I was offered to record Song and a music video in which I was the lead singer that told the story of what had happened to Walter; and how I felt during his illness and when he passed away. Read more>>

Quianna Marie

On the surface it may look like my purpose is defined by photography with my camera always in my hand. Yes, photographing the best moments of your life and capturing my adventures truly brings my heart joy! After taking some time to think about my purpose, I quickly realized that my camera is simply a tool. It’s the human experience, sharing milestones, and building relationships that fuel me. Read more>>

Erin Morse

Discovering my purpose to establish a non-profit animal rescue has a been a transformative journey. Despite having a successful and financially rewarding career in automotive software, I felt an ever-growing sense of emptiness. Something within me was not being satisfied despite the accolades I was achieving within my career. To help fill this sense of emptiness I decided to get a dog. Read more>>

Paulette Carr

Finding purpose in life is difficult at best. But finding purpose in following your dreams sometimes seems self centered and selfish. However, I find that as I pursue my dreams of being an artist, becoming a gallery owner and an activist for the art community all seemed to occur naturally. Read more>>

Trevor Stickman” Stickel”

My sense of purpose come from the need to express a deep visceral love for the rebellion, chaos and design aesthetics of the rock n roll space. I often state – when a person chooses a different path, is admired by their peers and stays true to themselves with zero regard to the court of public opinion, they transcend to rockstar status regardless of their path or medium. So….Iam fulfilling that purpose: I am recognized for my works and have found success. Read more>>

Will Saulsbery

We found our purpose early on in the life of the band. All any of us want to do is write great songs, and do what ever is best for that song in the studio. That’s what we all love. We grew up listening to bands and artists that were excellent songwriters, composers, etc. That’s the dream every time we gather at a session, make an amazing song in this moment. Read more>>

Tracey Love Graves

This will sound cliché, but my purpose found me! As early as I can remember I have been inundated with desires to be on stage in some way, shape, or form even if it meant scaring myself to death. And I sure did scare myself at every step of the way. As a young child, I wanted to be a ballerina, but I was too shy to ask anyone to put me in dance classes. Read more>>

Kelly Schrader

This is a doozy of a question, but I think it’s key to consider this idea not in terms of “my life’s purpose is XYZ” but rather as “I do this because of XYZ purpose”. If I’m being completely honest, I don’t think any of us have much of a purpose beyond fertilizer, but I also think it’s much nicer to not focus on that too much while we’re still living. Just trying to do your best and offering the community around you what you can is a noble pursuit, and should be purpose enough for anyone. Read more>>

Nakera Lee

Honestly, I’ve always wanted to create an impact and change lives, but I never knew what that looked like. It took me 20-plus years before I knew what my purpose was. Read more>>

Dexter Komakaru

The first time I ever questioned my purpose on this planet, I was 12 years old, going through some of the worst struggle and depression you could imagine a child to go through. I remember looking to the sky, a jaded atheist already by that age, and wondering what the meaning of life was, what my purpose was. It was at that point that I realized, the purpose of life is to find what gives it purpose, what gives it meaning. I didn’t realize what mine was yet at that time, but it was that hope for one day finding it that kept me going even through the lowest lows and my darkest days. Read more>>

Drew Johnson Nwabueze

The cliché notion of “I did not find my purpose; my purpose found me” resonates deeply with me, particularly as I reflect on my journey. It all began with my humble venture into creating self-care products, an endeavor that has unexpectedly flourished into engaging in meaningful humanitarian work and embarking on a Ph.D. program in transpersonal integral psychology, which directly aligns with my commitment to humanitarian efforts. Looking back, there was no way for me to anticipate that this extraordinary path was meant for me. Read more>>

Josiah Fletcher

I personally believe that as people we have multiple purposes in life and they change as we grow and experience different things. One of my main purposes in life is to educate people on sneaker maintenance, and footwear in general as well as help them keep their footwear in good condition and customize shoes for people to have something unique from everyone else. I found that purpose during the pandemic when I customized my first pair of shoes to go with an outfit and I wanted to stand out from others and also wanting to keep my first pair of Jordan’s and not throwing them away. Read more>>

Dr. KayLa N. Allen

As I began creating my life, my brand under my name “Dr. KayLa N. Allen,” and “Dear Mixed Girl,” I had to tap into what I knew to be true about my passion. Understanding what made my heart happy and seeing a vision of what I wanted to do in my community and globally helped me learn about my true purpose. One individual in the past asked me, “If money was no object what would be the thing that I would do happily and for free?” Read more>>

Juanita Ikuta

From the corporate world to the journey of wellness, the path I took to get to where I am today is one full of unexpected twists and turns, but in the end, it’s clear that I’ve ended up exactly where I need to be. Read more>>

Lana Hansen

I wish I could say I was the cliche and “I always wanted to be a photographer” but really it just sort of developed. 12 years ago when I had my first child I wanted to soak everything in and remember every tiny detail but there weren’t newborn photographers anywhere near me. So I used my dad’s canon Rebel and from there it felt like a flame had been lit. I loved it. I craved it. I wanted to take more and more pictures! Soon enough I was taking every type of picture from newborns to weddings. Read more>>

Lajada Jackson

I found my purpose through god i remember being lost in life and going in and out of college because i was so undecided on my career i had a hard to finding my purpose because i feel i was chasing the wrong things and was not surrounded by people i needed to be around one day i was scrolling on Instagram and i seen an esthetician and i was like i love what she is doing she was giving a skin care service  Read more>>

Lauren Ivey

In my 20’s, I began to have a lot of growing pains. Trying to figure out who I was post-college was a challenge for me. I began to question my career goals, doubt myself, and began to do a lot of negative self-talk. When the pandemic hit in 2020, like most people, I had to sit with my thoughts and I questioned who I wanted to be as I started to transition into my 30s. Read more>>

Lax Louiie

To be 100% honest, I found my purpose through seeking the Most High. I was lost for a while and was not sure on what exactly is my purpose. Once I connected back to the source, it became clear. Read more>>