We asked some of the most talented folks in the community to talk to us about projects they’ve worked on that they still think about, projects that really meant something. Have you had such an experience? Are you looking for inspiration for your next project? Check out the stories below, they are exciting, entertaining, and most importantly – inspiring.

Carrie Cariello

I’m just finishing my third book and it’s by far my most personal work yet. I opted to self-publish it as a way to keep control over every aspect, from cover design to content. Read more>>

Jason and Ash West

The most meaningful project we have worked on is actually the one we are working on now. We are renewing our wedding vows at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia this year. We have a tradition where, every 5 years, we renew our vows in a new or special way. This year we have taken our favorite custom cosplay, a Valkyrie of our own design, and created an entire Viking/ Valkyrie event. We have updated and upgraded almost the entire cosplay for the bride (Ash) and are currently building a full set of ceremonial Viking armor for the groom (Jason). Read more>>

Kristen Pileri

Well this is an interesting question. Only because I feel so split between two worlds that I can’t just choose one of them! As for storyboarding, I would say the most meaningful tv shows I’ve worked on as a storyboard artist would be the ones that have had the most meaningful crews! When you work with incredibly kind and talented artists, it fulfills that void in your heart that yearns for meaning. Some of the best shows that come to mind first are – Puppy Dog Pals, Farzar, and The Great North. As for the most meaningful cake I’ve done, WELL THAT’S EASY. Early on in my cake making career, I wanted to do some crazy cakes that no one was asking for! So as a learning experience, I made a life size baby yoda cake for my best friends birthday! Read more>>

Aradia Sunseri

years ago, when I stepped onto this path, I had dreamed of the modern mystery school. I was just barely 24 years old and I knew I was born to create something I’d never seen. As an artist I was always rebellious and loved finding new ways to perceive the world. In the entertainment industry and the dance world it can be very lonely and highly competitive especially with women. I trained in traditional ballet and modern dance and found it almost impossible to create lasting friendships with women. Read more>>

Calvin Tarzan

My most meaningful project was my wiz of oz garbage can art. I remember my teenage years I would take magazines from the post office garbage can to use for art. So my garbage can art symbolize those moments for me. Read more>>

Hope Wang Xi

The most meaningful project for me is creating a children’s book about animal abuse. In the end of my undergraduate years, I gradually started to consider what can I bring to audiences with my cute drawing style. I have been telling that my illustrations are cute. But I’m longing for something more than cute. So for my thesis project, I decided to use my cute style to draw a relatively sad and dark story. I have three cats in China as my pets. Stray animals are abundant and neglected in many parts of the world. I wish to do something for them. So I came up with an idea of creating a story that a stray dog, who had a car accident, went to the heaven, and finally back to the earth. He experienced a lot and had been disappointed to human. But in the end he still chose to believe in human and had a happy life with his owner who saved him from the car accident. Read more>>

Erica Hubbard

I have worked on many meaningful projects working in the Television & Film Industry over thirty years of being a professional actress. One of the most meaningful projects I have worked on as a creative is my work as an author. Over the years of being a story-teller and filming projects I wholeheartedly enjoy working on productions in the entertainment industry that have very powerful and meaningful messages. The storylines help a lot of viewers in their personal life because many people have informed me that the subject matter is relatable and has helped their viewpoints while they faced trials and tribulations in their life that they solved. Read more>>

Courtney North

The most meaningful project I have worked on in my company was working with children and allowing them to design their very own shirt! It was such a fun experience to work with these children, allowing them to express their creativity and spread the message they want to spread. I worked with Noah who is Autistic who designed two shirts, the best thing about these shirts is that they contain words from Noah himself, who is Autistic, printed on the Tees in his own handwriting. Read more>>

Susan Kaulbars

There’s more to framing than a white mat and a black frame, or what you see in online or in big box stores. Picture framing is about telling a story, why are you framing that item, why is it important to you, and translating those connections into the design presentation. There are a lot of “Framers” out there, but there are not a lot of designers out there with the complete knowledge of the diversity of skill sets to properly create or produce the custom designs for any type of art media or textile. With a background in art, music, and theatre the creative thought process (mixing art with materials to enhance but not overshadow the artwork. That is my strength. Read more>>

Kim Ko

I published my first novel – “July Seventeenth” – in 2020, in the midst of Melbourne’s first Covid lockdown. It was inspired by true events, particularly the loss of a friend in the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 tragedy in Ukraine. It was also loosely based on my own journey to becoming a doctor-actor-author. It is a story about the trials and tribulations of three international students’ (from ) adventures in Melbourne, from language barriers to culture shock, love found and love lost. Read more>>

Ningjing (Julia) Chen

The most meaningful project to me so far is my thesis film in graduate school. It was my first time spending a whole year producing a motion graphics character animation in AfterEffects, making it a challenging but unforgettable experience in my life. I came up with the basic idea for the story at the end of the first year. Then everything started to take shape at the beginning of the second year, which was in September 2022. My thesis instructor was a highly experienced professor, not only in techniques but also in guiding students. He emphasized the importance of having a complete, compelling story before diving into production. So, the first major challenge for me was refining my story. Read more>>

Tiffany “Snookie” Risch

One of the most meaningful projects I have had the pleasure working with is getting kids and women involved in fishing through social media connections. Currently I am working on a project to get women out on the water boating and fishing. To do this, I am partnering with one of my captain friends who provides local guide services on James river with a handful of women who want to learn how to catfish. The event is organized to provide women an opportunity to learn about the James River, ask questions about the species and experience hands on how to catch the fish. I hope my small group events will encourage women to come aboard and give fishing/boating a try while making new friends that share the same passion for nature. Read more>>

Rosie Hunter

When my daughter was cast in the local middle school musical, I volunteered to do a vocal master class for the kids. Little did I know this experience would lead to my being offered a role at the school as the Choir Director and Vocal Director for their subsequent projects! My first year teaching at Carl Sandburg Middle School in Mundelein, Illinois was a truly special experience. I loved being able to share my love of music and passion for performing with the kids. Seeing their growth musically and personally from the start of the year to the end was magical. Middle school is a very transformative and challenging time for kids, complete with so many big feelings, changes, and experiences to be had. Read more>>

Gabriella Spiegel

I graduated from college in May 2020, so for a million reasons that was a hard and scary time. About two weeks before my virtual graduation date, I received an email from Elle Magazine saying that they liked my photography, and wanted to work with me on an article for their September issue called, “Fall Fashion, Through the Eyes of 2020 Graduates.” We were still very much in the time of lockdown, so my models were my two sisters, which was great because a lot of my work at that point was about, and continues to be about, capturing our sisterhood. Read more>>

Swords and Stories

Along with the many renaissance faires and shows we perform throughout the year, our outreach and charity work are one of the primary focuses of Swords and Stories as a team. We started planning in 2016 and launched Swords and Stories in 2017 with the goal to reintroduce the world to the precepts of knighthood and chivalry. Our creative direction is based off Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queen, which focuses on the knightly virtues and how to embrace them in our everyday lives. As knightly performers, giving back to the community through our charity works is just as important as prowess on the battlefield. Read more>>

Jaime Parker Stickle and Jason Beeber

We’re currently working on the cold case story of Jamie Stickle. A member of Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ community found dead, burned alive, in her jeep twenty years ago. The case has never been resolved and has left a community still bewildered and confused. We’re hoping to tell Jamie’s story, who she was in life, not just death, and hoping new evidence presents itself or someone comes forward who knows something. Read more>>

Simone Artis

Being a designer and a creative, many project I have done have been meaningful to me. Fashion has always been my number 1 passion, so my designs have always been inspired by something very important to me. I would say my most meaningful project was my senior collection in school inspired by my hometown Oakland, CA. Oakland was the city that is always a part of me even since I’ve moved to Texas. The culture, the colors, the places to go was the best inspiration in order for me to make my collection and I was very proud of it. Read more>>

Joe Clarke

Every project I take on I try and put as much meaning and purpose into as possible. This is important to create passion, so we do the best we can. Read more>>

SHAO CHIU YEN

As an aspiring production designer for independent and passion projects, my most meaningful endeavor was working on a narrative short film titled “The Fanatics.” The film follows a desperate mother’s journey to save her daughter, who is struggling with depression following the collapse of a cult within a Taiwanese immigrant family in the late 90s. Being both the production designer and co-writer, the film held special significance for me as it was inspired by my childhood friend’s experience, making it deeply personal and meaningful. Read more>>

Enzo Fiore

My second country single, titled “Two Bits”, will be released on August 18th, 2023. This project, along with my first single “Down Home”, are really important to me because these songs represent a full circle moment in my life. Growing up in a small town with country roots, I always had country in my blood. I still remember the first time I heard “Fly Over States” by Jason Aldean on the radio. Everything about country always resonated with me, because it was the type of life we grew up on. After performing other popular genres for a years, I finally came back to my roots…and launching my country career feels like I’ve come home to where I belong. I am beyond excited to start sharing my stories with the world, and getting the opportunity to show people who may not have grown up like I did, what country is all about. Read more>>

Nathan Berkley

Throughout the years Grim Waters has released several meaningful projects. Everything we create is backed with emotion and vulnerability. Each release tells a story that we hope our listeners can feel and relate to. Our hope is that our audience feels heard and not so alone. Each project is curated very meticulously by the four members of Grim Waters. We all come from very different musical backgrounds, which helps develop a unique sound and brings tons of ideas when writing. Our first release, “Latchkey Years” was initially written fully on an acoustic guitar. The songs were intended to be played solo, and have a more singer songwriter feel. Read more>>

Jasmine Graham

I must say that most of my projects are meaningful to me. When it comes to my Art, I am very cautious about what I put out into the world. When I am creating, I often think to myself… “what am I saying?” and “Who am I saying it to?” THE BLACKOUT project holds a special place in my heart for multiple reasons. *It was my FIRST solo Art showcase. *The Art showcase was also a book release for my self-published Novella The Blackout. *I created all original photo installations to occupy the theme of the Novella. *The Art showcase highlighted BLACK MEN in all of their forms. I showcased the beauty, the pain the misunderstanding, and the glory of black men. Read more>>

Leni Kreienberg

My first experience building and performing my own instrument was incredibly important to me both personally and for my development as an artist. Coming from a combination of a classical background on the French horn and a traditional vocal jazz background, my education as a musician was largely quite regimented. I learned standard repertoire, I aimed toward the sound of my musical idols, and I rarely stretched the boundaries my teachers had set in place. It wasn’t until I began learning Max/MSP in 2018 that I found a new means of musical expression I felt gave me the freedom I needed as an artist. A whole world opened up for me. I was free from Beautiful Sounds: time grids, traditional tuning systems, codified instrument affordances, and all of these things I hadn’t realized were creating a stifled resentment in me. Read more>>

Colleen Fischer

For the last six years, we have had the honor of partnering with The WARM Place to produce their impact video, which helps to communicate the mission through a personal story. The WARM Place is a nonprofit that provides grief support to children and teens. This is a deeply meaningful project to me because I am able to spend time getting to know individuals and families to help them feel comfortable opening up about painful experiences and emotions. Connecting with people is my favorite part of filmmaking, and life in general, and so this project is something I cherish. I have experienced a significant amount of loss in my early life and so I also am able to witness how truly powerful the organization is. And finally, knowing that the video we produce directly helps to raise funds is incredibly meaningful to me. Read more>>

Shannon Collins

Over the past two years, I’ve done some of my my most meaningful work as a photographer, parent, and educator. In April 2021, I founded Youthphoria in an effort to combine my previous experience as a Crisis Counselor at The Trevor Project with my photography background. Youthphoria was an ongoing project photographing trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive youth in the Philadelphia area at no cost, while providing an affirming experience that celebrated them along the way. Though the project recently wrapped, we raised over $30k thanks to the enthusiasm from our community and served 22 incredible participants who trusted us to share their stories. Read more>>

Briana Paxton

Between September 1, 2022 and July 8, 2023, I was contracted by the La Plata County Historical Society in Durango, Colorado to conserve over 75 pieces of Ancestral Pueblo pottery and several hundred pottery sherds in the Animas Museum collection. LPCHS was awarded an Inspire! grant through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to analyze, conserve, and properly identify the pottery with the intent of expanding the museum’s online research database and their Native American pottery exhibits. La Plata County is an ancestral home of Pueblo peoples and their artifacts were found in abundance by white settlers moving into the area over the past 150 years. Avocational archaeologists in the 1930s attracted the attention of professionals with the quantity and quality of the artifacts they collected. Most of these artifacts where acquired by larger institutions, but a relatively small collection was donated to the Animas Museum. Read more>>

Drew Wayne Roberts

When I started my production company, I came in wanting to bring together horror film makers and create a network from which we could all help each other to grow and succeed. I never actually expected to be making my own film. After working on a couple of my friend’s sets, I was became inspired and started writing. It was addicting. I kept thinking how cool it would be to see my imagination brought to life on screen. I took a lot of time to write my first short, Hermit. I sent my screenplay to anyone I thought would read it and give me constructive feedback. It was terrifying for me but I wanted my first short to be something I was proud of and something others would like. Read more>>

Nicholas Dold

I founded the Kansas City Young Chamber Musicians in the Fall of 2022 when I relocated to the Kansas City Metro and was appointed to the Keyboard Faculty at the William Jewell College. I realized that there were a lot of very talented and hard working high school music students in the community, but opportunities for them to connect with each other and play in small ensembles were not readily aparent. When I first pitched my idea to some of the other classical music professionals and music educators in our city about creating a chamber music community to match these students together in trios, quartetes, and quintets and provide training and performance opportunities for them, I was told all the reasons why this type of a non-profit education would not work. Read more>>

George Marius

My meaningful projects are working at red bear brewing as the drag entertainment coordinator and creating my show (voted best dc drag show 2022) desiree dik’s: oddball . At red bear, I created “Slay them”, a new comers competition where drag artists perform their best number and he winner is chosen by audience Votes. Winning that month gets them in the pageant which will be in March. We have crowned our first winner evry pleasure from Puerto Rico, and our second winner from Richmond, Virginia Thea trickality . Im currently on my third season of slay them about to see who will be our third crowned winner starting every first Friday in august. The final project that I am currently working on is the pageant I created out of oddball called the Spookiest Ghoul, our current winner is Baphomette. I created this because we didn’t have a creative and spooky pageant where contestants can be weird and win at the same time. We will be crowning our second winner of Spookiest Ghoul on sept 22. Read more>>

Jessie

Charity character performance and cosplay is, by far, one of the most meaningful creative endeavors I have ever had the pleasure of taking part in. You have the unique opportunity to connect with people on a level that, otherwise, wouldn’t occur in day to day life. The most meaningful work I do as a character volunteer is the work I do with the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain Area in Salt Lake City, Utah. I partner with them several times a month to do story time visits, in which I visit the kids and their families in costume, interact in character, take pictures, read stories, and plan simple activities. This organization is so precious to me, and the affection I hold in my heart for RMHC is difficult to put into words. Read more>>

David Rygiol

In 2016 A friend and I had the idea to do a nationwide collaborative poster show to celebrate the National Parks centennial anniversary. We gathered 60 designers from across the country to do posters for each of the 60 national parks. The project went so well that we formed an official non-profit and did eight more collaborative projects celebrating the outdoors – donating 100% of the proceeds to various nonprofits advocating for the environment. We eventually sunsetted the nonprofit, but in early 2023 decided to try a similar idea, but this time for companies with a positive social impact who want a more interesting way to tell their story than a traditional ad campaign. We started Friends For Good in April to be a community of creative people joining together to do their best work for companies that do the most good. Our first two projects tested the idea and we’re taking the lessons learned and successful piece of those and are looking for our next big project. Read more>>

Cara Romano

One of the most meaningful projects I have worked on is a fairly recent endeavor called “The Post-It Project”. The project culminated in an installation titled “Spectrum” at Negative Space Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio, in the spring of 2023, but it actually began many years ago. While visiting Portland, Oregon, in 2011, I created an installation of post-it notes on the wall to capture the sunlight coming through the Venetian blinds. As the light moved across the wall, I added post-its, both the iconic yellow post-it notes and also slightly larger purple and orange post-its, tracing the shapes of the light onto the small pieces of paper. I collected the post-its and took them home with me, vowing that I would create something else with them. Read more>>

Lina Zinecker

This year I got to perform in front of a lot of young audiences. I‘m employed by The Freestyle Repertory Theater and together we perform at different schools in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Majority of the kids are in middle school and they all bring such love and appreciation for the theater to the table. At one point during the show we get some of the students with us on stage and improv with them. Read more>>

Jackie Moranty

My sixth season was a labor of love. It was all about wildlife conservation and the diseases that affect wildlife. I really got into that season because I don’t think that people truly understand how delicate our ecosystems are or that the extinction of one species can essentially bring down a whole ecosystem. Read more>>