Our stories are often hard to understand until folks understand our true motivations, our true drivers and the stories behind why our mission or purpose truly matters to us. We’ve asked some inspiring folks from the community to talk to us about why they do what they do and have shared some of our favorite responses below.

Fushsia Caldwell-Howard

My mission fell into my lap the same way I fell into running my own company. Founded during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, EliteLuxTravels, LLC is more than a travel agency; it is a beacon of hope and healing. As an independently black-owned venture, our mission is to curate transformative travel experiences that go beyond the conventional journey. We exist to inspire, rejuvenate, and uplift, using the power of exploration to rebirth women and foster a sense of healing.  Read more>>

Sheirra Haines

I Mend Brokenness LLC comes from a place of power and position. It’s a Kingdom establishment that started with me. In 2007 I was sentenced to 18 months inside of Ohio Reformatory for Women (ORW). At the time I was pregnant with my third child, who was able to stay with me in the nursery program during my prison sentence. It was there, inside those walls that I believe I Mend Brokenness was birthed. It started with me in my low place, broken with no where to go but up. Read more>>

Amber Cobbins

My mission is simple: I want people to feel beautiful in their own skin. Growing up, I hate it myself. I hated my skin, my hair, my personality, my weight, everything that made me, me, I hated. To top it off, I had eczema. Now only ostracize due to the deep hue complexion of my skin, but also due to different areas of my skin not being even, and being more rough. Eventually time went on, my skin healed from the eczema, but I still internally suffered, the ridicule I faced as a kid and never feeling like I was enough. Read more>>

Regina Edwards

“Ant DivaMo: Unraveling the Legacy of Order, Resilience, and Love” Life often weaves a complex tapestry of experiences, and within the threads of adversity, stories of resilience, strength, and unwavering love emerge. For me, the legacy story behind the mission intricately ties into my mother’s indomitable spirit, who left me with a profound gift – the gift of order. In the chaotic tapestry of our childhood marked by domestic violence and the sheltering confusion of the church world, my mother’s legacy becomes a beacon of hope, order, and life skills that would serve as our parachutes. Read more>>

James Barry

At Pluck, we’re all about organ meats, yet not just any organ meats. Quality is everything when eating any part of an animal. We define quality as grass-fed, grass-finished, humanely treated, pasture-raised animals raised with no GMOs or hormones. “As close to nature as possible” is what I say. There’s a lot of what is wrong in our current agricultural systems, but more and more farms are pivoting to what is right: Regenerative Agriculture. With diverse crop coverage and no tilling we can change not only the food produced on these farms but our health as well. We are what we eat AND what we eat eats. Read more>>

Lauren Patrick

Homosapien Organics is more than just an apothecary; it’s a personal journey that originated from the founder’s own needs and has evolved to meet the collective needs. Our journey began 25 years ago when the founder experienced an allergic reaction to a commercial cleaning product, this lead to the creation of Homosapiens first cleaning product: our beloved Surface Spray. This experience also sparked a lifelong exploration of herbalism. Homosapien combined an extensive background as a military medic & trauma nurse with the study of herbalism to create well researched evidence based products., Read more>>

Anna Bradford

My passion for plants and crafting herbal medicine was sparked during my pregnancy with my first child. I was working as a nurse in a women’s hospital, taking care of moms and babies. I was introduced to a woman that was renting an apartment from my mom who had a deep passion for plant medicine and was excited to share her wisdom. We sparked a friendship and started getting together and making tinctures, fire cider and oxymels. Read more>>

Asia Monet Hudson

I’m on a mission to introduce art into the lives of those I encounter. I find Art to be beautiful, therapeutic, and a source of enjoyment, and relaxation. Art became a profound part of my life during the start of Covid 19 pandemic, Painting was my way of dealing with my anxiety and I quickly grew to love it.. What started as a personal escape turned into a passion that I now share through my small business, hosting private paint parties, Art lessons and community events. Read more>>

Thomas Witte

Our mission is to serve unique and delicious bbq while giving back to the community and feeding those in need as well as those who deserve it like first responders, teachers and more. Read more>>

Tommy Moore

There’s something so special about feeling an image on a page. Feeling the grain of the paper on your fingertips, smelling the very specific scent that books–especially old books–hold within their covers, flipping page by page to discover what the next holds. The tangible nature of books is so much more intimate than any image that appears on a screen.  Read more>>

Charity Mullins

The reason behind why I do what I do is really to help others and ensure others know there are so many avenues to get to where they ultimately want to get to and intervening by helping them map out a plan and getting their resume in alignment so when an opportunity presents itself, they can execute successfully and with great confidence. I truly have always been a “I want everyone to win” person and I truly believe in giving back that way really helps and hearing people’s follow ups after helping are amazing because their so much farther with the guidance I’ve provided so it’s always great to know the constant impact being made. Read more>>

Jeff and Kim Tolnar

We are a non profit LLC called Awaken the Nation. As we look round at our world we see a lot of divisiveness, loneliness, depression and hopelessness. We both have a strong faith and asked ourselves what believers within churches could do to help the situation. We believe that many people are not walking the talk of their faith. This is one of the reasons why we started Awaken the Nation. To awaken believers to their faith (walk the talk) and reach non believers with the hope that we find in Christ. Read more>>

Charity Mullins

The reason behind why I do what I do is really to help others and ensure others know there are so many avenues to get to where they ultimately want to get to and intervening by helping them map out a plan and getting their resume in alignment so when an opportunity presents itself, they can execute successfully and with great confidence. I truly have always been a “I want everyone to win” person and I truly believe in giving back that way really helps and hearing people’s follow ups after helping are amazing because their so much farther with the guidance I’ve provided so it’s always great to know the constant impact being made. Read more>>

Angela Pennella

The story behind my mission… I choose to live a purpose driven life. Friends would probably describe me as driven. Since my early twenties, I’ve been on a relentless mission to inspire, educate, challenge, and motivate others on the way they live their life. That mindset was stamped in my brain after I survived a nearly fatal car accident that resulted in severe head trauma, broken ribs, thousands of stitches to my face and body, massive internal injuries, and so much more. Read more>>

Corey Kearsley Katie Gurney

In 2016, both of our previous spouses died from pancreatic cancer at the young ages of 49 and 47. We were left with kids to raise, households to run, and careers to manage. We lived about an hour apart and did not know each other until we met at a widow/widowers conference put on by the administrators of a Facebook group for widows and widowers. Read more>>

Sylvia Longmire

I’ve had multiple sclerosis for 19 years, and I’ve been using a wheelchair full-time for nine years. I’ve been traveling since I was a small child, and started solo travel when I was in my 20s. But when I got back to traveling on my own eight years ago as a wheelchair user, my entire landscape had changed. I came across so many different types of obstacles and challenges in the world of accessible travel, and as a professional writer, I felt like it was my mission to serve the disability community by writing about my experiences. Read more>>

Jessica Rosario

Sound Body Initiative manifested out of my three main passions; music, healing, and community. It came from a deep desire to share with others the same transformational experiences that I was having through my own creative practice. As a vocalist and musician, I kept having profound realizations every time I went into a trance-like state with music and dance. Read more>>

Christine Roebuck

My journey towards debt freedom began after making many wrong choices in my young adult life, which led to a desperate decision to start making the right choices. I was 19 years old with 13 credit cards and they were all maxed out and I was stressed out. Living paycheck to paycheck was not the lifestyle that I desired. Everything I had attempted to do to get out of the grip of debt failed until I heard biblical teaching on getting out of debt God’s way.  Read more>>

Yuchen Han

I used to feel like a loser as a boy, haunted by the abuse I suffered at the hands of my father during my childhood. However, fashion became my beacon of bravery in high school. It inspired me to dream of creating my own fashion brand. Read more>>

Rob Gomes

When I first got into non-scripted, there weren’t many producers of color….my mission has always been to help give people of color a hand to hold on to, someone they could relate to and trust, a producer/friend to help them tell their story (I mainly produce dating shows & docu-series)…. Read more>>

Kate Huiskens

If our pets deserve a spot in heaven with us, then they deserve as good of a spot and life on Earth with us too. My mission with Naturly Pets is to teach pet owners “Don’t Fear Fresh!”. Our dogs and cats are designed to eat animals and hunt, they are scavengers. There are concerns and worries with giving dehydrated treats and chews to our pets. The biggest fear for pet owners is their pet getting an obstruction in their intestine by a bone. Contrary to popular belief, dehydrated treats and chews are generally safe and can actually be a fantastic addition to your pet’s diet. Read more>>