Resilience is often the x-factor that differentiates between mild and wild success. The stories of most of the wildly successful folks in our community have exhibit an extreme degree of resilience and we’ve come to believe that if our goal is to help our community achieve great outcomes we have to help build resources and knowledge around how one can become more resilient.

Flekz

Resilience for me has been a necessity rather than a choice. Growing up as a first-generation immigrant in Los Angeles I learned early on that challenges weren’t obstacles, they were opportunities to grow. My journey into the art world wasn’t traditional. Read More>>

Philip Terry

You know what’s fascinating? In a world where AI can compose symphonies and generate Oscar-worthy screenplays, I find myself more convinced than ever about the irreplaceable value of human creativity. My resilience? It comes from this deep-seated belief that our messy, beautiful human experiences are what make art truly resonant. Read More>>

Rachna Hukmani

the course of the past 11 years since I started Whiskey Stories®. Where does the drive come from when it’s 3am there’s work to be done and you realize you’ve been working for 48 hours without sleep. Read More>>

Ruth-ann Thorn

I draw my resilience from a deep and powerful Native American lineage. My ancestors lived on this land, which we now refer to as the United States of America, and my family has called the Rincon Indian Reservation home since the 1850s during the Indian Removal Act. Read More>>

Lynette Jones

My resiliency comes from my military background, my faith, and my unwavering passion for storytelling. Serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army has ingrained in me a level of discipline, perseverance, and adaptability that I apply to every aspect of my life, including my journey as a filmmaker. Read More>>

Chris Newhard

Resilience in and of itself is a tricky word: on one side of the definition is the ability to withstand, or rather, how much can you take before you break. The other, to recover quickly, meaning how fast can you get back up.  Read More>>

Kisu Choi

“There have been many times when I felt exhausted and struggled while doing music. But I always remind myself of the family, friends, and beloved fans who support me. Thinking of them gives me the strength to keep going and to rise again. They are my greatest motivation and power.” Read More>>

Manny Herrera

Resilience has been a constant theme in my life, shaped by my time in the military, my years as a teacher, and the obstacles I’ve faced along the way. The military taught me discipline and perseverance; how to keep pushing forward even when every muscle in my body told me to stop. But more than anything, my resilience comes from my brother. Read More>>

Connie Stowers

“My resilience comes from experience—real, raw, sometimes painful experience. I wasn’t born with it; I built it. I’ve had to start over more than once, whether it was leaving a stable career, navigating a divorce, or rebuilding my life from financial rock bottom as a single mom. Every time I faced a setback, I had a choice: stay down or get back up. Read More>>

Jayden King

I get it from my dad and the way I was raised. My dad showed me very early in my life the value of a hard days work and pushing through. He taught me how good it feels to start a big project and see it through Read More>>

Jordan Lopez

I believe I get my resilience from both of my parents. My mom, who raised 5 of us as a single mom, worked hard 5-6 days a week at a car dealership all the way into her 60s. She gave us everything we ever wanted even when she didn’t have a lot to give. She’s pushed me to do my best my entire life and has always been an inspiration for me and my siblings. Read More>>

Kenda Al Yakobi

My resilience is rooted in my family’s history of survival and displacement. My father had to leave Iraq due to political unrest and the dangers that shaped his entire existence. On my Palestinian side, my grandparents were forced to leave during the Nakba of 1948. Read More>>

Kerry Dunlap

As a young person, I lost more people than I could count to the madness of the world, the conditions of my community, and, in some cases, natural causes. Loss has been an intricate thread in the tapestry of my life, embedding in me a confidence that would not exist without those experiences. Read More>>

Krishna Betai

Resilience, for me, is borne out of rejections. As a writer, I’ve built resilience over the years from the countless rejections in the various avenues of writing I’ve dabbled in—whether it’s submitting poems and short stories for my college newsletter, or humor pieces for literary magazines and websites, or writing (and ghostwriting) blogs for freelance clients, or creating ads for brands. Read More>>

Lenyce Boyd

I believe my resilience and work ethic come from my Mom. Growing up, I watched her handle challenges with such strength and determination, no matter how tough things got. She always led by example. showing me how to push through hard times, stay focused and never give up. Read More>>

Scott Weil

Resilience. Oh man…where would we be without resilience? I suppose mine has a few origin stories within me: the first I think is the importance of growing up an athlete and competing in multiple sports. Read More>>

Terry Jones

I get it because I know, know one is coming to save me. It’s up to me and me only if, I am going to be successful in my business. Read More>>

Nick James

Resilience comes from making mistakes. You must allow yourself to make mistakes, so you can learn. Every time you learn a little more and you get better Read More>>

Genia Moses-Buck

My resilience comes from my Father and Mother. They gave me balance with my mother being a Christian and my father being a self-made Man. I learned from them both to keep going no matter the circumstances. Read More>>

Allison Green

As both a woman and an artist, I’ve learned to harness resilience by transforming life’s challenges into growth opportunities rather than allowing them to break me. Resilience is fundamental to creating art; each piece is a journey through difficulty and discovery. Read More>>

Christophe Pienkowski

Probably from my grandfather who was a fisherman all his life, on a small island in Brittanny, France. He started to work on a fisher boat when he was only 8 years old. His mother was a widow, and he had a little brother. Read More>>

Gabriel Dibble

I was raised on a ranch in Paso Robles, California, where the land teaches you lessons long before you realize you’re learning them. Out there, resilience isn’t a choice—it’s a necessity. When a fence breaks, you fix it. When a storm rolls in, you brace for it. When an animal is sick, you care for it. No excuses, no shortcuts. Just the work in front of you and the determination to see it through. Read More>>

Grace Chicca

Where Do I Get My Resilience From?

Resilience in real estate isn’t just about bouncing back—it’s about pushing forward, no matter what. I remember early in my career when I lost an incredibly difficult deal with challenging clients that I had poured my heart into. Read More>>

Josh Olds

I did competitive gymnastics as a teenager. I wasn’t the best, but loved the sport. Maybe the best thing that sport taught me was how to get back up after falling and continue onward. Failure is fine, so long as you fail forward pursuing something challenging. The way I’ve looked at it is that if you’re going to improve yourself, that means constantly expanding and testing the boundaries of what you are comfortable with or what you can already do. Read More>>

Shaun Steen

There are and have been many factors and instances in my life that make me a resilient person. As a proud gay/queer man I have gone through life with many supportive friends and family but there are still the negative people in this world that can make it more difficult which in turn has helped me with being more resilient and having thicker skin. Read More>>

Arwenna Jones

Hidden gem interviews: Resilience

My resilience is not something I was born with, it’s something I’ve had to build, piece by piece, through the kind of unimaginable pain and trauma that would break most people. I’ve been tested more than I ever could’ve prepared for and imagined, and somehow, each time, I’ve found the strength to stand back up. I almost died giving birth. Read More>>

Daroneshia Duncan-boyd

Growing up in Norwood, “The Bottom,” I witnessed drug transactions, daily violence, and experienced bullying in public school for being different. As I transitioned into adulthood and embraced my identity as a trans woman by 18, I quickly understood the challenges that lay ahead—employment discrimination, homelessness, substance abuse, and engaging in survival sex work. Read More>>

Demario Scott

All my resilience comes from God above. Read More>>

Dennis Tubbs

Back in 2014-2015 I started posting motivational sayings and pictures on my Instagram account. In the beginning the idea was pretty simple. Use that platform to put some good in the world. Since then I have tried to live my life in such a way that would reflect the sayings and pictures I was posting on Monday’s. Read More>>

 Matte

The military taught me how to bounce back from anything. If there is something very important that I’ve attained from the military is how to take a loss and keep it moving. Read More>>

Melissa Warren-dick

In a way, I feel like I was born into resiliency. I grew up with a mom who had schizophrenia, and even though she loved me dearly, there was a lot of tough mental challenges to overcome. Becoming a teenager, I found that I’m doing drugs would help me deal with the things that were happening in my life that I didn’t know how to deal with, so I became an addict for many years. Read More>>

Sametra Billiot

My resilience comes from the challenges I’ve faced over the years, particularly surviving Hurricane Katrina and starting my business from the ground up. In 2005, my family and I lost everything. At the time, I was a senior in high school. While most individuals my age was dreaming about the joys of their final high school year, I didn’t have the opportunity to dream; I was solely in survival mode, which lasted for many years to come. Read More>>

Scarlet Fanene Rn, Bsn, Fnp-s

I get my resilience from my husband. Not a lot of people know my back story, but he was injured in Iraq in 2007 and came home as a double amputee. Despite that life-changing event, he refused to let his circumstances define him. Read More>>

Stephanie Noy, Irina Katsnelson, Lisa Kadoch

Resilience, for us, really stems from our life experiences. When things don’t go as planned and we’re forced to pivot, that’s when resilience is built. Life can be tough, and building a business presents its own set of challenges, but it’s in learning to face those challenges head-on and adjust as needed that resilience is forged. Read More>>