Below you’ll find the stories and lessons of some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs, artists and creatives in the community and how they found their purpose.
Jack Ho
I found my purpose from growing up in such a special place. Waikīkī shaped me to become the person and athlete that I am today. I grew up with the most talented group of friends who all excell at different board sports, and have pushed me to be the best version of myself, in and out of the ocean. Duke Kahanamoku is the grandfather of modern day surfing and showed the world what it is to be a true waterman. I try to emulate his values and the everlasting impact that he shared with the surfing world. Read more>>
Emily Graffam
I knew from an early age that I liked helping people. I didn’t know how that would translate into a career or adulthood, but now that I am in the Cosmetic Tattoo Industry it all feels so right. Before getting into this industry, when I was trying to figure out a career path, I was stuck between nursing and fashion design. Very different careers, I know. I was drawn to nursing because of my desire to help people and I was drawn to fashion design because I loved being creative and working with my hands. I ended up going to art school in Chicago and pursing fashion. Read more>>
Stewart Smith
At a very young age, my sister introduced me to Photography. She took photography classes in school and every now and then she would let me borrow her camera. I would take pictures of scenery and my friends. There was one time in particular I remember where I was in high school and my friend had a party. I brought my little point-and-shoot camera to the party and took pictures of my friends acting crazy. This was back in the days of film processing. The day after the party, I went to the drugstore and dropped my film off awaiting the pictures to get printed. A few days later, I went back to pick up the pictures and brought them to school. Read more>>
Ivy Karlinsky
I was not a kid who grew up knowing exactly what they wanted to do in life until I found myself as an adult in an unfulfilling job and knew I couldn’t do that for the rest of my life. I call it my 1/4 life crisis and I thought long and hard about what I found interesting, what could I get up every day and learn and talk about until the end of time. I realized that I had always had an interest in food, nutrition and movement. I started small with a recipe blog, and then – took a huge leap and quit my job and went back to school for Nutrition & Exercise Science. Read more>>
Olivia Altair
The moment I discovered the power of writing and producing my own original pop music, I knew without a doubt that it was my purpose. When I was younger, I always liked making art. I enjoyed drawing, painting, theater—but music always touched me in a way that nothing else did. Even before I knew how to write or sing, I was obsessed with the old pop songs my mom would play in the car. She would play 60’s Oldies, as well as ABBA and Elton John, and immediately, that music would transport me into another world. I was 10 or 11 when I discovered modern, more aggressive electronic pop. I remember the first few songs I ever heard by artists like Kesha, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry—and how those songs made me feel. That feeling changed my life—I felt like it transcended everything else around me. Read more>>
Grant Gill
I think that, oftentimes, people searching for their purpose get the whole thing backwards. It is tempting to think that you will find whatever that thing is and from day one you have a deep sense of “rightness” like this must be the grand purpose you were searching for all along. Read more>>
Dr. Jenni Lung
I picked this question because I do what I do today because I have a passion for helping people. I started out in the restaurant/hotel business knowing it was not my calling. I have always had a passion for movement and being active as well as for helping people. While working in food and beverage out in Oregon I threw out my back one day and had to be carried into a chiropractic office. I was familiar with chiropractic since I have gone off and on my whole life but never for something this debilitating. I could not walk or stand up straight and had radiating pain down my legs. Read more>>
Sarah Cooper
When my daughter was a toddler, she didn’t speak. At the time, I was working in cancer research at the University of New Mexico, coding and building Oracle forms. While I enjoyed my job, I knew deep down it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Read more>>
Ali Aktas
I was born in a small village and there was no big entertainment there. I found joy in cinema since then. It felt like everything was possible and i enjoyed dreaming a lot. Back in days when I realized that i have a big passion on movies and every movie I watched, like they were teaching me something about the world. I realized that i wanted to be a storyteller. Back in highschool days, I wasnt very social person didn’t have many friends, so I decide I should create a movie account in the social media. Read more>>
Daniel Perry
Unlike other photographers who specialize in one genre their entire career. I like to blur the lines between commercial and fine art while continuously growing with each new project, no matter how extreme or mundane. My inspiration and challenge is to elevate the audience. Read more>>
Kiimberly Dawn
After having my fourth child I had to regroup and find my own identity. I felt like I was a great wife and a mother and loved my role in my. families life, but I wanted more for myself and a way to further guide my children by example into the future. I looked at what brings me joy, even before I was married and it brought me full circle back to music which has always been a foundation of my joy. Read more>>
Kim Mcallister
Honestly, it was a question that haunted me for years. After spending over 20 years in Marketing, I hit a point where I no longer felt fulfilled. I realized that while I could continue doing the same work at another company, it didn’t excite me anymore. The birth of my daughter shifted my priorities, and suddenly, I didn’t know what I wanted from my career or even what my purpose was. It was an overwhelming and paralyzing feeling. Read more>>
Laura Mitsu
I believe my purpose in life is to remind people to live fully and deeply — to take chances on themselves, to learn to love and accept who they are, to grow, to express what’s within them, and to live authentically. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, and this truth shapes how I approach life. Leaving my career as a line cook and sous chef to become an artist was a huge step in honoring these beliefs for myself. Read more>>
Brian Oaks
In 2017, at 43 years old, I experienced a life-changing event. During a basketball game, I took a lowered shoulder hit to the chest on a fast break. I’m a fairly big guy, but this blow laid me out flat. As I got up, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. That pain soon turned into a cardiac arrest, similar to what Damar Hamlin experienced in the NFL a few years ago. The EMTs arrived quickly, and despite my heart stopping for several minutes, they were able to revive me. I later learned that 90% of people who suffer cardiac arrests like mine don’t survive, and of the remaining 10%, only a fraction are able to walk and talk without difficulty. While I struggled with memory issues for a while, I was fortunate to recover my ability to function relatively normally. Read more>>
Emily Davis
I find my purpose in two profound areas of my life: creating beautiful, timeless art and raising kind, compassionate children. Art allows me to express myself in ways that go beyond words—it’s a way of capturing emotion, beauty, and meaning in something lasting. When I create, I’m thinking about how my work will stand the test of time, hoping it might touch someone years, or even generations, from now. There’s an incredible fulfillment in knowing that my art could continue to resonate with people, even when I’m not around. Read more>>
Amethysta Herrick
When I was young, I believed my purpose was to engineer a better human being – literally. I became interested in genetics before junior high school, knowing the key to “fix myself” would be found in science.
I say “fix myself” because I knew I was a girl, even though everybody around me treated me like a boy. I admit, I looked like a boy. The doctor called me a boy when I was born, but I knew the truth. And if I could just use genetics, I could make myself right. Read more>>
Lesley Yang
Come to think of it, there probably isn’t a single defining moment in my life that made me realize filmmaking is my purpose. It’s rather something I found myself gravitating towards over the years. I mean, I’ve always known I had a passion for films. It started out with the almost weekly family ritual of going to the movies when I was a kid. As I got older, I started to take an interest in finding out how movies are made—rummaging through obscure and suspicious websites for creative materials and behind-the-scenes footage. Read more>>
Lasheika Kassa
I have always had a passion for helping others and knew from childhood that whatever path I found myself on, it would involve helping others that can’t help themselves or struggle to find their own voice. People have always gravitated towards me and found it very easy to talk to and share their livelihood, their failures, and all that life has offered and taken from them. I remember being a child and everywhere I went with my dad, aunts, and grandmother, people always respected them and took the time out to talk to them. As I have grown older, I am the exact same way. I can’t walk into a grocery store without someone holding a conversation. I attended Clark Atlanta University and majored in psychology with a minor in criminal justice. I have been working in the field helping others since I was 22 years old. This has always been my purpose. Read more>>
Naji Shatliff
For a long time, I thought my purpose was just to win games. Growing up, soccer was about competition, about pushing yourself to the limit, and about celebrating the victories that came after hard-fought battles on the field. But when I transitioned from playing to coaching, something shifted. It wasn’t immediate. At first, I approached coaching the way I had approached my previous career—focused on results. Read more>>
Hansini Vyas
My purpose found me through a combination of passion and serendipity. I’ve always had a love for organizing events, which started during college when I planned large competitions and social gatherings. But it wasn’t until I planned my own wedding that I realized how much joy I found in creating meaningful, memorable experiences for others. Seeing how much happiness and peace of mind I could bring to couples on one of the most important days of their lives made everything click. Read more>>
Deborah Hudgens
When I was 40 I decided to take a painting class. I had never painted before and could barely draw a straight line, but I felt a pull to be in the creative world. I discovered that I loved painting and somehow created paintings from looking at photos or other paintings.
Four years later, my father passed away unexpectedly. I’m an only child and had a very hard time with losing him. I was in therapy, and one day my therapist suggested that I do flowers for a local restaurant. She knew of my love of flowers and gardening, and I had made arrangements for my home and for events at my sons’ school. Read more>>
Mary Kay (mk) Campbell
For more than a decade, I knew I was called to be an inspirational speaker and trainer. I am a super connector and love to hear others’ stories. Sharing these and my own in an impactful manner is my jam. However, I was a single mom and the life of an entrepreneur wasn’t in my cards. Read more>>
Steph Jones, Mft
In all honesty, my purpose found me as I believe is the case for many. I knew early on that I wanted to help others live peaceful lives full of freedom by making them feel comfortable enough to release their emotions because of the very interesting environment I was raised in. Although love was present, anxiety, arguments, criticism, and maladaptive coping skills often overshadowed it. I learned early on that I had a gift for making people feel comfortable enough to share their deep feelings. This gift was further revealed as I rode public transportation or shopped at the mall and encountered strangers who shared their most intimate experiences with me. Read more>>
Lance A. Slatton
When I was growing up and spending time with my grandparents I learned that helping others is a really impactful career path. While I originally had been pursuing medical school to help others that all changed when I received a phone call that my father needed help and that phone call lead to a defining choice that would change the path and trajectory of my life. Read more>>
Baljit Rayat
I discovered my purpose by overcoming a deeply challenging period in my life. In 2005, I was struggling with panic disorder and depression. On the outside, my life seemed picture-perfect—I was living in Toronto, Ontario, with a successful career as an Architectural Technologist at a prestigious firm. But internally, I was suffering. The panic attacks not only robbed me of my happiness but made me question everything about life, including my purpose for being here. Read more>>
Jocelyn Jonaneth
My earliest memories of making people smile are of whenever I made art. That is how I found my purpose. I love to make people smile. I realized that every one of God’s creations since they are made from God, then they too have the ability to create life. Life is art. The probability of being born is so small that just by being alive means that I am unique. As if that wasn’t enough, it is by God’s graciousness that not only do we get a opportunity to experience human life, but we also receive the ability to experience it abundantly and are meant to thrive in it. Read more>>
Kelcee B
I believe it started in high school. I always enjoyed taking photos of my animals. I had a crappy phone camera and wanted something higher quality. I saved up as much money as I could to purchase my first camera and fell in love. Fast forward to 2018 when I worked for Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, I was a wanna be Youtuber. I loved vlogging my adventures around Florida and playing in the parks during my days off of work. When I returned home from working with Disney, I started my degree in Theatre and never picked up a camera again. Read more>>
Kaita Mrazek
In The Creative Act, Rick Rubin reflects on the creative process: “We are mining for these events: the moments when the dots connect. We revel in the satisfaction of seeing the whole shape come into clear focus.” My purpose unfolded slowly over time, but looking back, I can finally see the dots connecting. Read more>>
Soraya Garré
I think my purpose found me rather than the other way around! Around the age of 15, I started wanting to become an actress. It kind of came out of nowhere because I grew up in a small village in the South of France where there was not even the smallest movie theater. So I didn’t grow up watching movies at all, instead I grew up reading tons of books. I dived into British, French and Russian literature in particular. I learned storytelling through novels and thus developed my imagination and a love for words. Read more>>
Chelsey Reeder
I’ve always loved a good story. Stories that inspire, stories that teach, and stories that move the reader or viewer. That’s part of what drew me to broadcast journalism in college. I loved getting to know people and the stories that made them uniquely theirs. I married my husband just after I graduated. His career took us from Phoenix to Boston, then Southern California, and back to the Phoenix Valley again. While I didn’t formally pursue broadcast journalism, my love for visual storytelling never went away. I found creative fulfillment making videos of my kids, family vacations and outings. Read more>>
Vidit Singh Chhikara
I think creating art and staying true to what I believe in helped me find a voice that always whispered from my heart—telling me to follow my dreams, move to new places, design what I love, meet new people, and seek out the unknown, especially when I felt scared or uncertain. In many ways, it feels like I’ve been rediscovering that childhood sense of following a voice guided by love and care. Each time I act on it, I uncover a deeper purpose in both being and doing. Every time I live this purpose, it grows and reveals more, making me believe that one day, we might truly discover our higher purpose in life. Read more>>
Dr. Charley Dagher, Nd
Becoming a doctor has always been my true calling. I knew I wanted to help people profoundly. Even as a child, I had the intuition of a healer. I had an innate understanding of how the body works in many ways. I remember one instance where I explained to my mother why she had a headache, and years later, my professional learning confirmed that I had been right. I was no more than 8 years old at the time. Read more>>
Stephanie Strickland
My purpose found me. I am a survivor of domestic violence. I was in an abusive marriage for 26 years. For 26 years I endured emotional, verbal, financial, sexual and physical abuse. I constantly walked on eggshells, always wondering when the next abusive episode would occur. I felt worthless and unloved. I was too afraid to leave. Fear of being on my own and the fear of being harmed by my ex-husband for leaving so I stayed. There was a point in my life where I contemplated taking my life. I felt it was my only way out. It was during this time I started reading the Bible and attending church. The day I surrendered my life to Christ, that was the day things started to change. Read more>>
Adrianne Ferree
After my divorce 25 years ago, I asked myself: “What do I want the rest of my life to look like?” I didn’t know the exact answer, but I knew I wanted to give back and contribute meaningfully to my community. A co-worker suggested Habitat for Humanity, and, as an architect, I immediately saw how I could help. Soon, I joined a three-day “Blitz Build” for a 48-home development with 3,000 volunteers. The future homeowners worked alongside us and, by the end of the first day, we had framed entire houses from the ground up. I left in tears, overwhelmed by what we had accomplished together and eager to return the next day. Read more>>
Kate Dunn
I have always been a believer and strong proponent of lifelong learning, so it came as no surprise to many of my family members and friends that I ended up in the career I currently have, which is a full-time professor. From a young age, I knew my purpose was to educate, inspire, connect with, and empower others. Read more>>
Shannon Yeager
Throughout high school and college, I experienced anxiety as I constantly strove to achieve more. One day, I woke up feeling numb and tingly in my hands. I found out I had been hyperventilating due to stress. It was here that my wellness journey began. I started attending weekly yoga classes and learning different types of breathwork. Eventually the blanket of anxiety lifted and I realized the power of calming the nervous system. I was inspired to complete my 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2015 and 300-hour training in 2017 and have enjoyed offering wellness classes and sound baths to the San Diego community. Read more>>
Kelly Meagher
I found my purpose in my high school tv production class. In my freshman year, the minute I was behind the camera I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. From taking classes in high school I realized I wanted to do this for a career and I majored in Film and Television at Montclair State University. During my time I directed several short films but the one that sticks out to me was my Thesis “Recovery”. Read more>>
Hamdullah Hamdard
My purpose is deeply rooted in my journey. Coming from Afghanistan, I experienced both freedom and the collapse of my country. When I arrived in the U.S. with just $100, a backpack with a pair of clothes, and my computer, I knew I had to create something meaningful. I drove Lyft for eight months to support my family, but it also helped me meet people, make connections, and lay the foundation for Owlsion Pictures. Read more>>
Shane Grant
From a young age, I was surrounded by the hum of machines, the spark of creativity, and the satisfaction of a job well done. It all started when I was 15, working in my family’s machine shop in Jackson, MI. Like many young teens, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I found myself fascinated by the craftsmanship and precision that went into each part we created. What began as sweeping floors and simple tasks quickly turned into something much deeper—a realization that this work was not just a job but a passion that would shape my life. Read more>>
Pamela James
It all started with a single, unforgettable piece from my mother’s wardrobe—a floral silk matching set by Adrienne Vittadini. It wasn’t just a piece of clothing; it was an heirloom of elegance and possibility. That was the first moment I realized fashion could be more than just fabric—it could tell stories, preserve memories, and transcend time. A pivotal moment for me was watching my mother effortlessly mix and match her wardrobe, layering pieces to create a new, unique style every time. Read more>>
Julie Kessler
I like to say Oakley’s Oath was founded by chance not by choice. It was never on my life path to start my own business or nonprofit, although, I always wanted to find my purpose in life when it came to my career, nothing ever really called to me. Being a devoted Mother and pet owner was always my main focus and it took tragically losing Oakley, our beloved pet to find my purpose. From the moment we lost Oakley, I sat broken hearted at my kitchen table, thinking” this can never happen to another family again”. I knew my mission was to get my story out to the World, educate and bring awareness of safety and save the lives! Read more>>
Pamela Maria De La Luz
My purpose didn’t just appear overnight—it grew over 20 years of working in the tequila industry. I’ve always had a deep connection to tequila, not just because it’s a beloved drink, but because it’s a part of my Mexican heritage. Growing up near Jalisco, I was surrounded by the culture of tequila, from the fields of agave to the distilleries where it was carefully crafted. I remember the times I’d walk through those agave fields, captivated by the craftsmanship and tradition behind every bottle. That connection stayed with me as I built my career in the industry. Read more>>
Karen Sikie
When my daughter was born, I woke up from a haze. I realized that I was unhappy, always scared and needed to control people and circumstances to feel safe. I felt like I was a victim of an uncontrollable world.
I wanted to be my best self and be an example for her. But I wondered who that was and how to get there? Something had to change and that something was ME! Read more>>
