We’ve highlighted responses from some of the brightest and most talented artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in the community below.

Gaby Anderson

I’d have to pick my dad as my hero since South of Happily was written in his memory. He shaped who I am today, my business ethic, and the way I treat others. I would never claim he was perfect, but he was incredibly intelligent. A problem solver with a wicked sense of humor, and a personality that drew everyone in. A loyal friend, and someone who respected you not because of who you were, but because of your strength of character. Are you a good person, or are you bad? Do you mean harm, or do you want to make the world a better place? These are the things that truly matter. Read more>>

Itzel Santiago Pastrana

I call them my moms, but they were my actual mom, Pilar, and my oldest sister, Tania, and they are undeniably my hero(s). Both women have taught me to be resilient and as cliche as it sounds, to never give up because “si se puede.” My mom inspires me to this day because she left her home country without knowing a single word of English, leaving behind her career, family, friends, and community, to offer my sisters and I a better chance at a future. Everything she has ever done and does to this day has been for us. Then there was my older, she’s the activist in our family. Tania always goes after things and even back then wouldn’t let her immigration status or the fact that she was a women get in the way of her at least trying or contributing. Read more>>

Valerie Storm

My hero is my brother. He’s had a bumpy, chaotic life but he’s always managed to keep going and trying hard, even when one thing after another arose to knock him down. Even when he’s having a horrible time of it, I can count on him to be my rock. In fact, without him, I wouldn’t still be writing. When I’d fallen into my own slump in life, he was there to gently guide me out and suggest writing as a way to escape the daily struggles I was facing. He is calm, intelligent, loyal, and everything to me. Read more>>

Anong Beam

I read a quote once by Buckminster Fuller ” pollution is nothing but resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we’ve been ignorant of their value” This led to the approach we take at beampaints in our manufacturing and processes, we start with materials that are waste stream, stone dust from quarries, brush and branch trim from forestry, and all through our process scraps of paint, any excess material folds back into other processes like packaging. The fun of this happens by listening and working with our team, and they find and develop better, leaner, more efficient use of our materials. This also happens to be a cost saver in alot of instances. Read more>>

Lawrence Thayer

My dad is my hero and my role model. He is not a perfect man, but he always strives to be a better person everyday. He was in the Air Force, and I followed suit. Not only in joining the military but becoming an aircraft maintainer or mechanic, just like he was. He also had his own business and always encouraged to start your own business. He was my inspiration to start my own ventures and be a better person everyday. Read more>>

Katlyn Jones

My hero would have to be my grandmother, Shirley Jones. I do realize that no one is perfect, but to me, it’s not about being viewed as perfect. It’s about being one’s authentic self and believing in yourself even when you feel the weight of the world on top of your shoulders. My late grandmother was a remarkable woman. She was not only a sister to many, but a wonderful and loving wife, mother, nurse, teacher and even a mentor to others. Not only was my grandmother an incredible woman through her careers, but through loving her family she proved this everyday as being one of the centerpieces that held our family together. Read more>>

Kecia Littman

My beloved mother, my hero, departed this world 3 years ago. Her name is Sari-Janine Soule´. She was a Cosmetologist in Hawaii and inspired me at a young age to be creative and to be my authentic self. She had a high standard of ethics and morals and a gift of being able to see people for who they truly were. She knew who was honest and who had alliterative motives. Maybe that’s just a mother’s instinct, but for Sari, it was her innate gift, her na’au ( intuition). Read more>>