Everyday we meet business owners, professionals, artists and creatives. Photographers, florists, realtors and more. They might come from different backgrounds, work in different industries, have varying personalities, and have vastly different income and educational profiles, but the one thing we’ve seen over and over again is that most people have a unique and special reason for why they do what they do. From a realtor helping families afford the first home he always wished for as a kid to a photographer using her skills to give a voice and face to victims who feel voiceless, we have been blown away by what happens when you just ask people a simple question – why do you do what you do?
Derrick Whitfield
The story of my mission starts on December 17th, 2014, my separation date from the Navy. Before my separation date, I was going to play it safe and go into a job equivalent to my Navy job (pay and customer service). Read more>>
Brittany Williams
I took the saying “when you look good, you feel good” to heart at a very young age. I believe a woman performs her best when she feels her best and feeling her best starts with looking her best. That said, my mission is not only to provide high quality, fashionable, and functional apparel to working women in order to ease the transition from a work day to a night out; Read more>>
Andrea Lecusay
My story begins with a desire for healing interiors & illumination. Moving to Hawaii & traveling to Bali opened a door that lead to everything. Through meditation & yoga practice I learned to transform myself which evolved the way I work and see the work and my craft. Today I transform spaces which become infused with peace and light due to the balance brought in through connection with nature. The effect is a harmony of elements, textiles, colors, and shapes resulting in beauty. Read more>>
Claudia Linares
My mission is to provide a holistic approach to female healthcare, I suffered for years from multiple illnesses and no medication was helping me until I tried natural herbs. Then I decided to get certified after it helped me so much. My mission is to pay it forward to other women who suffer from their female reproductive system like myself, that want to live a more natural life. Read more>>
Stephanie Idio
In early 2021, I had been enabling and helping clients achieve their dreams of freedom and become serial entrepreneurs by creating products, cosmetics, and revenue streams for them and their families. Read more>>
Demetria Goode
I’m a survivor of domestic violence- brutally beaten and stabbed six times! I share the good, bad and ugly of abuse! I was abused as a child – my company The Goode Fight is built off me sharing my life experiences to others – so I started sharing others life experiences through my platforms and created a podcast Unfiltered Unspoken. Read more>>
Rachel Kaplan
My goal is to spread kindness and acceptance through my work as a writer. I also donate profits from my book sales to charities that are important to me. I love that I can spread the word about kindness, friendship and acceptance through my writing of children’s books. Having been bullied and treated differently motivated me to become a writer. I didn’t learn to read until High School and wrote my first book to let people know the challenges that I faced and how kindness is powerful. Read more>>
D.L. Kyles
The story behind my mission is a little girl from Dallas who has an extraordinary light that she doesn’t know quite how to use because she is always being shut down by people that she holds close. She sees how people react to her being herself and is in conflict within herself because of it. Read more>>
Victoria Marcouillier
The mission of BrandWell is to help women show up confident online so that they can stand out and sell more. Read more>>
Kristie Mankowich
After 14 years in the industry, and working towards everyone else’s dreams, I decided it was time to start chasing my own. This industry is evolving, and quickly, and if you don’t evolve with it, you’ll be left behind. Read more>>
Kimberle Elbery
I’ve always been an avid supporter of small production wineries for many reasons. I started working as a consultant for a direct-to-consumer winery that supports small producers and once I learned the real truth about the wine industry and what can lurk in that bottle of wine, I’ve made it my mission to help education the consumer so they can make better choices when purchasing wine. It’s not only better for us and our health but also for the environment. Read more>>
Meleaka Crocker
The story behind my mission is me losing my mother. One day at my job, I had a mental breakdown and I didn’t know at the time that’s what happened. I started therapy right away and me being transparent about my life on all my social media’s platforms, I started my nonprofit name “Letsheal1on1” and I also started my “Meleaka’s Monday Night Live” where I speak about mental health and more important things connecting to mental health. Read more>>
Antonio Cawthorne
The story behind my mission is helping others. I love to show my talents in different ways and show you don’t just have to do everything everybody else is doing. I want to show my kids and others that whatever you want to do you can do it. It’s like when it comes to the fitness coaching everyone think you supposed to be doing something perfect nothing is never perfect it’s just right or wrong. When being an actor I just want to tell someone story or tell mines make people laugh , cry or even motivate them in the process. Read more>>
Marvin Dejon
I am a writer before I am anything else, however I’m not an author in the sense that I want to write books for a living. I am, however, an auteur filmmaker because I want to see my idea from initial inception on the page to the final credits rolling in front of a paying/streaming audience. Having been in numerous partnerships, I’ve decided to take a singular approach to filmmaking now and pursue my career on my own terms. Read more>>
Jasmine Smith
Before I started Passionately Kreative, as a consumer I realized that the customer service in the hospitality industry was declining at a rapid pace. You’re seen as a dollar sign given the bare minimum service. Being a person who is imperative to details I knew that my customers would be considered family and given custom experiences. Read more>>
Anne Drane
SAWA SAWA means ‘it will be okay’ in Swahili. We are a sustainable, conscious, ethically made fashion brand in Austin, Texas. Our mission is to empower artisan women in Kenya make a sustainable, dignified living using skills handed down through generations. We harness skills in beading, weaving, basketry, art and more. This creates unique, intricately handcrafted bags and accessories that are made from organic, natural materials. Read more>>
Mary Beth Simón
Small businesses and entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of communities and neighborhoods. The pandemic exposed why it’s essential for business owners to have strategies in place that help them navigate the unexpected. Read more>>
Kayla Perry Agu
I lost my ability to walk due to the gastric sleeve surgery; done by a doctor who had no concern for my health. It has been 3 years and I’m still not able to walk on my own. I got the surgery because I wanted to be smaller, the love I had for myself was boiled down to a number on a scale. Read more>>
Catherine Jackson
Home-Styled Cookies Anyone? Read more>>
Jolanta Young
Jolanta Young is a Minnesota based Fine Art Photographer and filmmaker. She believes in capturing life’s most magical moments. She also brings the raw beautiful presence of life to a new reality. Jolanta is an artist and a visionary storyteller through her lens. Read more>>
Lequvia Ousley
I am the owner of D.I.V.I.N.E. Blogger, LLC and my mission is to help others tell their stories authentically and unapologetically. I assist in the creation and management of content from the hearts of God’s chosen vessels, with the purpose of bringing forth those divine messages to the masses. As far as I can remember, I’ve always had a love for words and great stories. Read more>>
T.K. Mills
UP Magazine’s mission is to provide the art community with nuanced, provocative, and critical writing that navigates the questions of our generation. We pride ourselves on serving our readers high-quality articles that investigate, inform, and entertain. Like good art, UP Magazine is made to make you think and make you feel. Read more>>
Moriah king
The reason I create, is to inspire. I’m a creative person and I feel like I’ve been inspired all my life seeing different artworks, and I know how that made me feel. I want to give that feeling back to the world with my art. I want people to take my art and be able to relate to it in many different ways. Read more>>
Marlon & Camille Jones
As a young married couple enjoying life together, we unfortunately found ourselves at our heaviest weights of 205lbs (Camille) and 475lbs (Marlon), and facing health issues like PCOS and diabetes at an early age. We knew that we needed to make a true change for our health, and wanted to stop selling ourselves short by making excuses. Read more>>
Shae Shakur
My mission is to provide my audience an experience. Bringing them that overwhelming nostalgia, while enjoying timeless trends and fashions from the 90s and 2000s. Educating others on Urban Culture, and how many black creators from the past that trail blazed for others creators today. Read more>>
Tracey Smith
The story behind my mission started with an unforeseeable tragedy that occurred in my life. I decided to go on a mission and crusade to inspire and encourage others, through books, to realize there can be new beginnings, to embrace their self-worth and to go after their dreams. I truly believe God allows us to experience and overcome challenging situations so that we can gently minister to others and help them overcome theirs. Read more>>
Advika Rajeev
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I realized that there was a larger and more malignant epidemic traveling the globe. Misinformation. A pandemic spreads fast, but an infodemic is viral. I started the Thinker’s Chronicle newspaper as a force to fight this sickness. Read more>>
Will Davis
Thinking back there’s a chapter of my story that begins within the same chaos and “what is this?” context of the pandemic. In my opinion we’re reeling and still trying to find our footing 3 years later. For sure there are people who are progressing a little smoother than others but when all is still and minds have a chance to process, I bet we find ourselves “back there”. Read more>>
Melissa Bailey
In 2018 I was let go from the highest paying job I’d ever had. I felt like I was doing everything right. I finished my college degree in Organizational Leadership, I had 20 years of management and business ownership experience and I found myself without a job. For years friends and family had been telling me real estate would be a good fit for me. Read more>>
Tobi Komolafe
I’ve been doing hair since i was 15years old, i’ve stopped and started so many times. I never took it serious until i was 21. I started to understand my gift and being apart of helping women feel beautiful, seeing the transformation, the heighten of confidence when i was finished a hairstyle, was the most rewarding. Just being apart of a women’s process & continuing to provide that experience to all queens is my mission . Read more>>
Dominique Walton
I am a makeup artist so my goal for every client that sits in my chair is to help boost their confidence. I strongly believe in if you look your best then you feel your best and if you feel your best then you will definitely do your best. When I look good I feel invincible. I feel like the spotlight is on me and I am not afraid of it. I feel like I can conquer anything! Read more>>
Jesse Brajuha
One day I was showering and thought I’d try out my girlfriend’s body scrub. It felt delicious on my skin but the shimmery pink packaging and flowery scent didn’t really resonate with me. In that moment it struck me that there is so much missing in the world of skincare. Read more>>
Jennifer James
When I started my business my initial thought process was to keep my house from foreclosing and my oldest two daughters in college. I guess, I would say I started out of opposition not knowing it was opportunity. After beginning the process and struggles my thought process changed. Now no matter how hard things got I was going to push myself to build a legacy for my three daughters as well as, other young ladies in my path Read more>>
Regina Noel Downing
My childhood was complicated. I think most of us could say that, actually. It’s not “special.” But – as adults we get the opportunity to heal our own selves, and be in service to others. For me, childhood lacked something very basic: unconditional love and acceptance from my own parents Read more>>
Aaron Shriver
The story behind my mission is simply my love and passion for music. Like many music fans, I appreciate the artistry and the story behind a song. I love capturing the essence of an artist when they are on stage performing their music. I want to be the person to be the whole package for an artist. I love supporting new and upcoming artist who needs support in music media and being that person to work with them within their element to help bring their vision to a larger platform. Read more>>
Diego Garcia
Honestly the mission we’re on is to be able to create a platform backed by League Supply to be able to uplift and help. It’s going to take a lot of hard work and time to get to the spot we want to be at. But we’re going to go through with it. We’re trying to reach the younger community through our brand by telling stories and making an impact on how to uplift and help. The main goal to get across is that it’s cool to help others when in need, not just in a physical form or gift form but mentally as well. Read more>>
Angela Black
There used to be a time when companies really valued and respected their employees and they treated them with kindness. Employees felt appreciated and had loyalty to companies who were loyal to them. These same employees had pride in performing their jobs because they received a variety of “pats on the back” from the companies they worked for. So when it was time to help customers, those employees were happy to provide a high level of customer service. Read more>>
Hilary Hartling
My 15 years in marketing at Walt Disney Studios inspired my understanding of how to position a brand to win the hearts of your audience. I chose to start my own brand strategy consultancy and education platform with a clear mission: to help entrepreneurs create captivating brands that resonate. While I offer brand & messaging strategy, there’s a bigger why behind what it’s really about. Read more>>
Devin Keopraphay
Like many chefs, I’ve always been addicted to work. The constant pursuit of perfection, endless hours of research & development, living the chef motto of “first one in, last one to leave”. After becoming a father, I realized how much more precious my time became. I was no longer on a pursuit of perfection but in pursuit of happiness. Read more>>