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.

Kara Livingston

Hand Me Up is on a mission to fight overconsumption of fast fashion and textile waste. These two problems go hand in hand and impact not only the employees manufacturing clothes in unsafe environments but also impact the environment through waste and pollution. Fast fashion can be defined as clothing made at incredibly cheap prices by employees not being paid fair wages or provided a safe work environment. Hand Me Up wants to help our customers have an option that is as easy, cost effective and sustainable when it comes to purchasing kids’ clothes! Read more>>

Janet Meyer Founder and Author

Our mission at Golden Days at Home is to support parents of preschoolers in making the most of these precious, foundational years of early childhood by developing connection. Humans are built to need connection with others. Adults and children alike thrive in safe, close relationships allowing them to feel calm and accepted. Read more>>

Hannah Faurot

I started Han Made Goods four years ago. I was a new teacher straight out of college, living in a new town, looking for a creative outlet and a way to find community for myself. From the beginning, the mission of Han Made Goods was to create a space for all women to belong. I wanted to use my page to create community amongst other women. Yes, I sold hair accessories, but it has always been about more than that. Read more>>

MaggieAnn Otto

In our world today we often feel like we are just one in the crowd, no different than everyone else. But the truth is, each person is so beautiful in their nuanced qualities and characteristics. The little personality quirks we all have set us apart in the most amazing and beautiful way. As an Elopement and Intimate Wedding Photographer my vision for each of my couples, Read more>>

Constance Howard

“Not another woman”…those were the words that came to me as I sat in a TV news conference room listening to yet another unrealistic request/demand. I can’t even tell you what the topic was. All I know is that in that moment, I would stand my ground and decide my fate without fear! A bold, courageous decision when I look back on it. Fear, in all its forms dominated my life until that moment. The fear of whether I would succeed as defined by family, friends and society; fear of what others would say or think; fear of not being enough paralyzed me. Read more>>

Val Childs

Catch Wrestling is America’s Original Martial Art! Our mission at Combat City is to preserve this important piece of America’s heritage by teaching this powerful style of wrestling to the next generation. Read more>>

Charmayne Romero

In 2013, my husband Marvin was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, an incurable auto-immune disease that attacks the spine and each individual experiences different symptoms. For the next few years, he was in constant pain, his quality of life was diminishing each day and with each visit to doctors and specialists, the only answers we received came in the form of additional pain medications. Read more>>

Teri Harman

In fall of 2021, I’d just resigned from a position as a chief officer of operations for a small franchising company and I was recovering from surgery to repair a herniated spinal disc. As part of my recovery (from both, really) I started walking daily on the north shore of Utah Lake. There I encountered so much life: aquatic, plant, animal. I also came face to face with the cultural narrative that says this lake is damaged, toxic, and not worthy of our attention. Read more>>

McKenzy Hansen

Growing up I was in special education for as long as I can remember it started out being just a stutter. however, it grew, and having extreme dyslexia and my teachers gave up hope in me that I will achieve much in my education. when I reached Middle School I was in this extreme shell and thought that I would never succeed because that is how my teachers presented my life story to me. Read more>>

Dion Green

Dion Green is a survivor of the 2019 Oregon District shooting in Dayton. After the death of his father, Green founded the FUDGE foundation. The organization specializes in helping those directly impacted by mass shootings and other forms of violence. Green says he knew his experience and perspective would allow him to provide unique help. Read more>>

Stephanie Hajducek

In January 2022 I started a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization called This One’s for the Gals. The mission of TOFTG is to help girls in grades k-12 with career exploration and workforce development in the construction, energy and manufacturing industries. We like to say that we talk to girls about careers that not a lot of people talk to girls about. Our overall goal is to bring awareness to careers that girls didn’t consider previous, didn’t know existed or didn’t think were for them. Read more>>

Ricky Robinson

In 2022, I started F.L.Y. TALK TV PODCAST. The mission behind the podcast was to give creatives a platform to showcase what their purpose is in their respective fields. F.L.Y. stands for Forever Love Yourself. So all artist that come on the show express moments in their life where they were faced with conflict and how they triumphed over the situation. Read more>>

 Lyric Everly

I’ve been running my creative agency (Everly Agency) for years and we’re launching a mission-driven wellness startup (Cloudspa) later this year. Cloudspa came about after my personal wellness journey about 6 years ago when I was going through a second divorce and my body started shutting down from the pain, shame, and stress. Doctors gave me rounds of antibiotics and even took me in for a surgery because I was holding so much tension in my kidney area that it kinked off. Read more>>

Rachel Griffin

The story behind my mission was more personal, but decided to share with the world anyway. I grew up in a home where I was not free to express self, thoughts or opinions. There were constant fights and arguments within the family. Those were my first daily doses of trauma. Once entering adulthood and experiencing dating, the trauma continued to pile up. The constant trials and errors I endured were from lack of guidance and love from home and within. Read more>>

Jerry North

Our Mission at NorthStar Sports is to guide young athletes along their journey and be there to help support them with the discipline needed to achieve their dream. Read more>>

Pernille Stryker

Fitness and personal development has changed my life and my mission is to create engaging content to spread these transformational tools with the world. Read more>>

Suzanne Siebert

I started natural soapmaking about 7 years ago when my son was battling eczema. After trying every “gentle” commercially produced baby soap and lotion without success, I did my own research and discovered that baby cleansing products are still filled with shelf-life extending preservatives and artificial fragrances that can irritate sensitive skin. Cold process soapmaking enabled me to control all of the ingredients. Read more>>

Judi Swanson

At Kindness Champions we are champions of celebrating every person to see their unique remarkable awesome by being kind to themselves and to others. Every person has a place and a purpose in this incredible world we live in. When a person is kind to another person your brain is filled with joy and you feel happier. Read more>>

Mikayla Hodge-Mills

Our mission is to provide our customers with genuine, knowledge based, professional level skin care advice and establish a long lasting relationship of trust and commitment with each of our clients. The reason this mission is so meaningful to me is because there was a time in my life where I was searching for answers to help me clear up my acne and I was never guided in the right direction. Read more>>

Mai Waller

I was inspired to start the foundation after the years it took to recover from the loss of my son Mace in 2017 due to procedural complications during childbirth. After the loss of my son I was heartbroken to see my baby go straight to the NICU immediately following his birth. A week later, I was given the terrible news: Mace was brain dead, a result of the failed vacuum-assisted attempt to bring him into the world. Read more>>

Ciera Simril

I reflected on how my mission began about how my life would go after talking to my grandma. It will be 2 months since she went to be with my ancestors on June 9th so remembering this day means a lot. My mission began at 5 years old telling my grandma about what I wanted to do when I became an adult. Most children come up with realistic careers or something imaginary. Read more>>

Will Robinson

It’s important for me to teach gun owners how to properly handle their firearms. Most of what we learn growing up is completely based on myths and Hollywood films. Carrying these myths into our day-to-day lives can be extremely dangerous. Because of this, I’ve been pushing to get as many people as possible familiar with firearms, what they do, what they don’t do, and how to safely/effectively handle them. Read more>>

Christian Leal

Here at Spinny Brand Co., the mission is our entire blueprint for the company. The reason why the brand was created, and what it can do for society. Here is our mission, “Our brand is based off two ideas, consisting of “Enable the Disabled”, and “Rewrite the Assumptions”. We want to create representation for those who are handicapped, disabled, or have special needs. Building a brand for them, by someone in similar situation. Read more>>

Ruby Soto

Our mission is to keep growing open up couple stores . Start our own clothing line and if possible in the future start doing collaborations with big well known companies. This is a really meaningful mission to me because I want to have my kids set. I’m working hard for them so they can have something to depend on and maybe even in the future join the family business. Read more>>

XUAM LAWSON

I believe God has allowed me this platform to inspire others by helping to spread the gospel of his son Jesus Christ via my syndicated gospel radio show, my book on Fatherhood, and as a minister. It’s important to me to put God first and allow God to speak to those who will support my cause. Read more>>

Benjamin Dierker

Aii is a think tank. That is just a fancy name for an organization that studies issues and works to elevate good ideas that may improve things through public policy or industry action. Aii stands for the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure. While there are a lot of think tanks – mostly in Washingon, D.C. – as far as we could see, there were no national public policy think tanks dedicated solely to infrastructure. Read more>>

Kimberly Sechser

My mission is to Inspire and Empower people with the tools they need for success I am where I am today because of people who invested in my life. As a teen, I struggled greatly with confidence. I had teachers who worked with me and supported me to help me realize what I was capable of. I also had family and friends who supported me and encouraged me whether I failed or succeeded. These people helped me overcome fears, doubts, and insecurities. Read more>>

Jie & Nithya Wang & Achanta

Our mission is to inspire girls, specifically in areas with less academic and economic opportunity, to pursue interests in the predominantly male field of STEM. This mission is particularly meaningful to us because we created it based on personal experiences we had in the past. Read more>>

Peewee Dread

As a child, I have always felt a deep connection to helping others. I sat at my grandma’s knee and listened to her tell me the story about the people in heaven and the people in hell. They both had full tables of food, but they were chained and could not feed themselves; however, the people in heaven were full, whilst the people in hell were starving. The people in heaven were full because they feed each other, and the people in hell were only trying to feed themselves. Read more>>

Amir Monsefi

At AIRE Advisors, our mission is to empower individuals and families to achieve financial well-being and peace of mind through holistic, fee-only wealth management. We are dedicated to removing conflicts of interest, providing comprehensive financial advice across all aspects of our clients’ lives, and fostering a culture of education to promote long-term investing success. Read more>>

Jonathan Layssard

A culture that frees the languished spirits and offers a voice for communities, Hip Hop has emerged as one of the most well known genre in the music industry. Contributing incessantly to this profound culture is J’Ele with his meaningful music, thought provoking lyrics and all in all, relatable ideas. Read more>>

Janie Desir

I have been working on Teaching Your Baby In Braille for 3 years. I decided to create these books because I’m when I became pregnant all I think about I could I prepare my child if he end up with my eye disease. I wasn’t born blind I have a rare eye disease called Keratoconus which doesn’t affect you until your adult. So while I was in class I created a children book in Braille as an assignment, and on my last semester I decided to create a whole collection. Read more>>

Melissa Reddick

Modern History Clay Works, LLC, ceramic studio and woman owned business, was founded 5 years ago by artist, Melissa Reddick with the goal of providing story based, handmade ceramics to the retail and wholesale markets. Five collections are now offered which are distinctly different in technique and presentation while sharing one very important principal. Every handmade ceramic piece is created to celebrate the story beyond the surface. Read more>>

Marquisha Palmer

I am Marquisha “Kecia” Palmer owner of the #1 Upscale Postop Body Contouring Spa in the North Atlanta Ga area for over 15 years. Retired using life insurance Now Teaching Entrepreneurs especially Beautyprenuers How to use Life insurance while you’re alive and retire using life insurance since most of us entrepreneurs don’t have a retirement plan! Read more>>

Gregory Coker

I wrote a book 2 years ago, Death Waits in the Dark, about my experiences as a special operations attack helicopter aviator in the 160th SOAR, fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, to include the “dragons” after retirement. 100% of the proceeds are donated to support veterans, first responders, and their families, over $50,000 to date. Read more>>

Irene Base

Got into the industry by teaching myself how to decorate cookies and then working my way through bakeries while taking side work on the weekends. Eventually I decided to try and make my business my fulltime job and through hard work and persistence I haven’t had to turn back since. Read more>>

Maryann Bivens

My mission is to enrich every life I touch, by providing a tranquil environment that promotes selfcare. Read more>>

Shavinma Bryan

The mission is to create a safe pathway to success for models and entrepreneurs. Read more>>

Dami Odunewu

After discovering my purpose in life, my approach to work shifted. I knew that not every career opportunity was for me and wherever I planted myself as an employee, I meant to be there and I wanted to be there. After graduating college, I accepted a job offer in management at a large hospital. I had 33 direct reports and two co-managers. Read more>>

Amanda Lui

Modernizing the word “heirloom jewelry” for the next generation. Creating pieces that could last a life time that could turn into a legacy over time. Read more>>

Tauhidah Lovings

Appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken. Thank you for the opportunity to be interviewed and introduced to your audience. My life journey has required resilience and required a good measure of risk taking. Read more>>

Natly Frazier

I always had a passion for designing since I was a little girl, and I wanted my artwork to come to life so I started my own clothing line. I also listen to my clients on how I can approve my clothing line so it compliments them and others. My clothing line stands out and set its own message because I hand draw my designs and it also has a story behind it. I am very proud of all my work I have put out and I want my clients to know I’m always working hard to put out the best fashion. Read more>>

Curtiss Wheeler

Allsect Pest Control mission is “Creating relationships one house at a time”. Over my career as a pest control professional I found that building relationships has been key to my success. Success apart I believe in being genuine when it comes to actually caring about people other than just considering them another notch to the books. Read more>>

Eric B

Basically I enjoy telling stories filled with exaggerated scenarios as a way to illustrate the realities of average, ordinary, mundane everyday life. All of my books are works of fiction — and some of them are based in a different place and a different time — yet at the same time their purpose is to make a statement about real life, right here, today. Read more>>