Winning comes in so many different forms that it’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it. The CanvasRebel community is filled with so many incredible folks who have overcome long odds, challenged the status quo and won. Below, you’ll find stories of these winners along with much of the accumulated wisdom on what it takes to succeed.

Lindsey Tieman

I’ve always been drawn to storytelling, and photography became my way of capturing the raw, beautiful moments that make life so special. My journey started with a deep love for documenting the world around me—first as a hobby, then as a passion that grew into what it is today. Read more>>

Naama Sarid

I’ve always loved to go to vintage shops. The dusty shelves, the jumbled containers, and the scent of aged leather or wood. It’s not just about shopping; it’s about the thrill of discovery. Every corner hides the potential for something extraordinary, and within the chaos of old books, worn furniture, and forgotten knick-knacks, there’s a promise of an unexpected treasure. Read more>>

Malissa Lee

It all began in the third grade when my teacher assigned us to write a short story about aliens. It wasn’t just the fact that Little Malissa, who was all about her princesses and whimsical fairytales, hated the idea of writing about these gross and green aliens. But she struggled to churn out the words that would take the ideas in her head and bring them to life on paper. Read more>>

Sarah Pachtman-Shetty

I am a practicing Obstetrician and Maternal Fetal Medicine physician, mama to my son Orion, and social media women’s health educator. I grew up in Paradise Valley, Arizona with a mom who worked as an Obstetrician Gynecologist, a dad who is a retired Pediatric Ophthalmologist, and my younger sister and brother. Unfortunately, when I was 11 years old, my mother was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. She had surgery and chemotherapy and we had almost put that chapter behind us when she got sick again when I was almost 16 years old. At that time, my parents moved her to Houston, Texas to be under the care of Oncologists at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. She went through rounds of many aggressive therapies and even was part of a clinical trial, but the cancer took over and she passed away when I was 17 years old. Read more>>

Christiano Vazquez

Is still on going fighting to see my kids
With my music 🎶 life’s has been treating me weird at times but I continue to stay positive thru it all
I just drop my 4 album dedicated to my kids like always I have a fan base now I hope it continue to grow Read more>>

Fiona Roberts

Absolutely! My journey started from a deeply personal experience—one that shaped my passion for health and wellness. In 2017, I became a cancer survivor after being diagnosed with ovarian and endometrial cancer at 35. That experience opened my eyes to the importance of proactive health, detoxification, and the lymphatic system’s role in overall well-being.  Read more>>

Josette Gastonguay

Thank you for asking! Possibly like many women of my generation, my career began in administration, and that’s where I spent many years working behind the scenes, supporting the success of others. While I wasn’t always in the spotlight, that vantage point gave me invaluable opportunities to observe, learn, and refine my skills. The work wasn’t always glamorous, but it taught me efficiency, accuracy, patience, and most importantly determination. Read more>>

Maymunah Kelly

I actually started off my journey when I registered for a photography minor class my freshman year of college. I fortunately didn’t make it past ‘syllabus day’, as I couldn’t fathom going out and taking 90-100 photos at the time and submitting 9-10 of them for every class session. At the time it felt very robotic and counterintuitive to my goals. I wanted to learn from scratch and make my own path. Not a class or group to pave the path just me my camera, and occasionally YouTube/Google. Read more>>

Suzannah Kelly

As a young woman arriving in Canada from the UK and stepping into the corporate world many many years ago, I quickly learned that the path to success was not a straight road. It requires you to navigate your own success path based on hard work, networking, relationships, solid performance and a belief in yourself. It also requires a certain level of confidence to overcome obstacles and advocate for yourself. Over 25 years in Human Resources, I navigated the complex landscape of corporate life—both locally and globally and at an executive level—grappling with office politics, leadership challenges, mergers, acquisitions, and more. Along the way, I witnessed firsthand the uniquely rocky, sometimes lonely and frankly disempowering journey that women often endure to achieve success. Read more>>

Kevin Pinkerton

I guess it all started as a kid who loved to draw and paint in high school continued studying art and then at the high school some art school experience then real life begins as student artist. It was very interesting time to be in the Art community in the late 70s and early 80s and then as a young adult I traveled a lot Europe and there was a time in the late 80s that I went to culinary school in New York City the French culinary institute I received certificate in the culinary arts in 1987. Read more>>

Sha Ked

I’ve always been playing music – but I’m always trying to find a new direction too. My little sister started playing the flute at school, and I picked it up one day and decided – “Ok. I’m learning this now.” Took the day, learned every note, and just started playing. It felt natural and fun, especially now that I’m playing bass and singing full stop. Read more>>

Jerad Linnell

I currently the co-founder of a grilling/kitchen utensil company called GrillSpec. We patented our flagship utensil which is a multi use basting brush. We’ve had positive reviews gaining momentum daily. It all started with my passion of cooking for my loved ones. My network of friends and loved ones has grown and have been always told to start catering. I never really wanted to be so committed to cooking that it became my everyday job. One day an idea popped in my head of how to create a basting brush that also serves as a ladle. After some intense planning and testing the Tomahaük was born and is currently for sale on line and in some mom and pop retail stores. Read more>>

Joey Flores

I moved to Los Angeles when I was 20 years old and got my first job at a startup shortly after that. It wasn’t until my 3rd startup job that I finally landed at a company that would be successful. We were acquired by Experian, the global credit bureau. Having been employee number two for that company and seeing that people similar to me could build a successful company gave me the confidence to start my own company in 2010. We were fortunate enough to get into Y Combinator, which is the world’s best accelerator program for startups, and eventually we were acquired. Read more>>

Michael Wilkins

I was working from home in a cushy 9-5 job, when I was unexpectedly laid off from my job; my wife and I had just purchased a home, so I was understandably distraught. However, months before I was laid off, a friend of mine who used to be in the janitorial field kept encouraging me to start a cleaning business. When I was laid off, I thought that it was the perfect time to start, so that’s what I did. It was the best decision that I ever made, and in hindsight, I am so glad that I was laid off! Read more>>

Sarah Asifa Nimalan

Before emerging into the fashion industry, I attended York University where I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce while working in my family’s print-finish business, one of the largest print-finish companies in the GTA. Aside from that, I had always loved fashion and art as a young woman growing up. However I didn’t know how that could turn into a tangible career where I would be successful. This is when I took a leap of faith and enrolled at Parsons School of Design to learn about what it takes to run a fashion business. Read more>>

Kathy Erwin

My name is Kathy Erwin and I sailed from California across the Pacific, and am continuing my adventure around the world. I am passionate about yoga and provide yoga sessions in remote island countries along the way. My sessions are often recorded and uploaded to YouTube for others to download or participate in. I thoroughly enjoy the richness of this sailing/adventure/travel life, now proud to enter year 4. I look forward to all the people I meet and hopefully touch with the gift of a special yoga experience. Read more>>

Rani Gupta

I fell into my career in an unexpected way. I was living in Boston and had graduated from my undergraduate journalism program with every intention of pursuing journalism as a career. As I worked on stories, though, I felt like something was missing. I felt constricted by my role and wanted to find a path where I could actually offer more tangible support to people after they had experienced something difficult or something joyful. This also coincided with hearing about my friends’ struggles to find therapists who either came from the same communities as them, or at least had a nuanced, empathetic understanding of what they were bringing into the therapy room. Read more>>

Jane Purnell

I attended a small public school in rural Virginia, played sports (soccer was my favorite), and performed in the drama club. I started drama club in the 9th grade with a small yet memorable role and closed my senior year with an Outstanding Actor Award at the VHSL State Theatre Festival (Group 1A/2A). Read more>>

Sam Phish

Electric Sunnshine is a project I’ve been working on for almost ten years now. What started as a doom metal meets shoegaze band has slowly evolved into it’s own brand of classic rock, something that calls back to the days of The Fuzzy Duck, The Eagles, The Humble Pie, and The Led Zeppelin. In the past couple of years, I’ve really tried to hit the ground running, doing as much as I can to get a step ahead at a time while also managing everything life has to offer. Read more>>

Meghan Hopkins

My interest in photography started when I was attending college in the spring of 2019. I didn’t own a DSLR at that time. All I pretty much had was my iPhone Six; surprisingly I managed to capture/edit some excellent images. During this time I was still on a journey discovering my style in photography.
While on this journey I learned the importance of understanding your camera and the environment around you; and to be quite frank I’m still on that journey. You never stop learning when it comes to this craft. Learning the rules of photography, the skills of editing, and the valuable feedback from my peers lend me to find my genre in the photography world. Till this day I live in a monochrome world. Read more>>

Chris Zilong Wang

I’m Chris Zilong Wang, an independent film producer currently based in New York. My journey into filmmaking stems from a deep passion for storytelling and an enduring commitment to shedding light on underrepresented narratives, particularly those rooted in Asian and Asian American culture and experiences. Read more>>

Monique Evans

My journey into the mental health field as a therapist and a private-practice business owner has been shaped by personal experiences, community, and mentorship. Like many, my path hasn’t been linear—I started as an undergraduate student, navigating the challenges of school while discovering my passion for understanding human relationships and resilience. Read more>>

Diamond Franklin

I’ve always felt “at home” on the stage and began working in the Performing Arts world at four years old, first as a singer providing entertainment at weddings and events, before moving on to Theater and Film/Television acting. In 2010 at the age of 12 I even had the opportunity to perform a tribute to the world renowned poet Nikki Giovanni as she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. At that time I was a member of the Art Sanctuary North Stars of Philadelphia, a program that further exposed me to the world of Performing Arts. From then on over the years I went through many years of study in school and through private lessons. Read more>>

Ikyo Bailey

My journey as a photographer started as a fan. I wasn’t necessarily into photography as an art however the images that some photographers created on Instagram were awe-inspiring!
I started as a page that would repost and reshare the images to a larger audience. It wasn’t until covid that I decided to get a camera and do it myself. Read more>>

Kaaryn

My fascination with entrepreneurship began in childhood. My father ran a medical practice, and I fondly remember interacting with patients in his office when I started working there. This experience instilled in me the value of cultivating authentic customer relationships from a young age. Read more>>

Lyn

I started riding motorcycles in June 2022, when I passed my local Motorcycle Safety Foundation course and got licensed. I immediately bought a motorcycle and rode for about 4 months, then had some electrical issues and “gave up” for 17 months. I picked it back up in March 2024, and because it had been so long, it felt like I was relearning everything. Because of this, I decided to start documenting my journey, my progress, my mistakes, and milestones on Instagram. The initial intent was sort of my own journal – I had never really intended for it to amount to anything, let alone grow to the following I currently have (over 126K across my social media platforms). Read more>>

Ralph Exilus

As cliché as it sounds there is no start to this journey, I was born with an affinity fore being creative and wanting to want bridge the gap between two worlds that people didn’t think was existed. Early in my adolescence I had so little clothes to work with, which gave me a fun challenge of finding new ways to breathe new life into old clothes. Then finding my passion for design and branding which propelled me into the world of fashion. 5 years later what turned into 1 off t shirts for my friends and family turned into a brand that I could display not only my talent but my passion for storytelling. Read more>>

Ashley Borrero

I graduated high school in 2011 without a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I had taken a cosmetology program in high school, but quickly realized that doing hair wasn’t for me. However, I found myself fascinated by the skincare side of things, which led me to pursue a career as an esthetician. I graduated from esthetician school in 2013, and it was a pivotal moment for me in discovering my passion for wellness. Read more>>

Viktoriya

As a child I was moved by nature and found magic among ordinary things. I liked to draw, paint. and write poetry. I dreamed of being an artist but to me it seemed like an impossible dream similar to a dream of becoming a mermaid or flying to other galaxies. But I decided to pursue my dream in my early twenties stepping over all of the fears that I had. Read more>>

Mara Francesca

I’ve always had a passion for creativity. Whether it was drawing, writing, painting, or especially anything involving music, I was drawn to expressing myself from a very young age. My first ‘performance’ was at just three years old, standing at the edge of my parents’ bed, singing ‘Somewhere Out There’ with as much vibrato as I could muster. On my father’s side, music runs deep. My dad and many of my relatives are self-taught musicians, and on my mother’s side, writing is the family talent. My mom writes so eloquently, inspire by my grandfather, who encouraged us to read to become better writers. She passed that love of words on to me and taught me to express my emotions through writing. Read more>>

Peter Castleman

WISEcode was born out of pure frustration that our foods are hurting us, not helping us. We are each given a gift, our beautiful and remarkable bodies and minds which, are designed to be healthy, regenerate, fight disease and live long. Our bodies simply need fuel (food) which is good. But that is not the world we live in. Read more>>

David W. Berner

Much of my career has been spent in broadcast journalism and education. I worked for CBS Radio and other broadcast entities as a radio anchor and reporter. My first job was at a country music station outside Pittsburgh where I learned to be a good broadcaster and eventually a storyteller. After a long career in radio, I moved to education, teaching at the university level. But today, I foremost consider myself a writer. I am an award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, short stories, and poetry.. My work includes the novels A Well-Respected Man, The Islander, Night Radio, Sandman, and Rainbow Man, and the nonfiction books Accidental Lessons, Any Road Will Take You There, Walks with Sam, The Consequence of Stars, and most recently Daylight Saving Time. Read more>>

Kadra Nevitt

My start was actually as a teenager creating pencil works and custom portraits as I traveled to rodeos and fairs selling prints. I am re-entering the western art scene now as a pastelist. Read more>>

Haf N’ Haf

Though my I don’t come from a legacy of music makers, there has always been a deep appreciation of music in my family tree. This is fairly common but I suppose what was not so common was my personal fascination with all things melodic. Looking back, I learned to read & memorize lyrics fairly early in life so it only makes sense that I began penning my own little rhymes at age eleven. A year later I found myself performing an original full length song I wrote to DMX & Swizz Beats’ “Get It On the Floor” in the humble gymnasium of my Catholic grade school for a talent show. It makes me chuckle now knowing how unapologetically hardcore the original record is. Read more>>

Syn Devereaux

Where do I begin! To start, I’ll say this: my life has been a series of unconventional moments for a solid 32 years and nine months (and a few days). Born in Utah to young(ish) parents, my younger brother—3.5 years my junior—and I lived there until I was 4.5 when my parents divorced. Really, now that I think about it, that’s where everything begins. Read more>>

Miranda Mable

I started writing poetry in high school just as a way to express myself. I always found so much freedom in writing and like they say, Hip Hop gives people a voice. Eventually I started rapping what I was writing and the rest was history. From that moment on I attended every event I could go to, every park jam, and just completely submerged myself into all things Hip Hop. Needless to say, I haven’t looked back since. All of the best memories I’ve had in my life has stemmed from my decision to pick up a microphone and it was definitely the best decision I ever made! I’m never stopping! Read more>>

Nick Nilsson

I started my online fitness business in the year 2000, back when the only real option was dial-up.

I had been doing in-person personal training for a number years and wanted to try and reach more people who may not have otherwise been able to afford to work with a trainer.

To accomplish this, I had to bootstrap everything… including learning how to code HTML as well as learning marketing from scratch. Read more>>

Louise Becker

My journey began in northern Germany, where I spent my childhood. My passion for music emerged early on. I took piano lessons as a child, but the routine of it made it hard for me to get excited about it. However, it gave me the foundation to start writing songs. Singing, on the other hand, was always my joy—I sang all the time, and it quickly became clear that music was the path I wanted to follow. After dreaming about it for years, in the summer of 2022, I made the decision to move to New York City. I’m now studying music at the School of Jazz and performing my music and constantly writing songs. This year, I released two songs and have been growing continuously, discovering more about myself and the artist I aspire to become. Read more>>

Kalpak Deshmukh

My path to becoming a VFX artist wasn’t a straight shot, it was more of a winding road filled with discovery and growth. I’ve always been fascinated by the ability of movies, TV shows, and games to immerse audiences in entirely new worlds. But as a kid, I didn’t know that creating these experiences could be a career option. Read more>>

OG

I started my journey in music back in 2015 as a rapper, heavily influenced by artists like Lil Wayne, Migos, Future, Drake, Rick Ross, and Meek Mill. Growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, I was driven by a deep passion for hip-hop and a hunger to express myself through music. My debut mixtape, Heads or Tails, released in 2017, marked a turning point in my career. Songs like ‘Hunnit’ and ‘Lose’ gained traction, and I experienced a breakthrough when I heard my music being played in clubs and saw fans singing my lyrics back to me. That moment solidified my decision to fully commit to my craft. Read more>>

Katie

I began taking photos when I was in high school. Took a photo class to learn the basics and really started getting into photography when Instagram was in its infancy. I’d never seen photography from people my age, all the professional photos I’d been exposed to were old dudes who used telephoto lenses for boring “technically correct” shots. It’s silly to look back on, but Instagram and Tumblr played a huge part in teaching me photography and shaping my taste in those early years. I grew up in a very conservative community, so I knew a lot of people getting married right out of high school and college, so I started taking friends’ engagement and wedding photos. Read more>>

Bill D. Shin

I started with a love for working with my hands and creating something special for people. After finishing school, I opened my first barbershop in [location/year]. It was small at first, but I worked hard and built strong relationships with my clients.

Over time, I was able to grow my business into multiple locations. Now, I also run 028 Barber School, where I teach and help others who want to become great barbers. Helping people and improving my craft has always been my biggest goal, and I’m excited about what’s next! Read more>>