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.

Celli Villarreal

I am honored to have the privilege to work full-time as a tattoo artist and newly registered yoga teacher. It is my mission to incorporate mindfulness into my tattooing practice. I always want clients to feel safe and confident with their design choice and to feel supported by me as their artist. With yoga, it is my mission to give back to communities who I believe can be under-represented such as those in trauma and substance abuse recovery. For me, tattooing has been a journey that is truly nurturing and healing my inner child. Being able to tap into my creativity, strengthen my drawing skills, and having an artistic career has been so freeing. Read more>>

Danielle D. Smith

When I started the Columbus Film, Author, and Photography Festival, it wasn’t just about hosting an event—it was about creating a movement.
One day while teaching at Ohio Media School, I found myself in a powerful conversation with some of my students. They asked about their future in media, and I began to share my own journey—touring the film festival circuit, winning awards, and finding so much joy through storytelling. Their excitement was contagious. They were amazed, inspired, and eager to know more. Read more>>

Nicole Lanzafame

Nicolucha’s story begins in the bustling streets of Los Angeles, where a unique blend of cultures shaped her identity and purpose. Growing up as a soulful, sultry-voiced Sicilian-white girl, her life took a vibrant turn when her mother married into a Colombian family, immersing her in a rich tapestry of Afro-Colombian heritage. Read more>>

Erica Pietrzyk

Pietrzyk Pierogi started very organically. I was tending bar when my friends and patrons wanted food while I was working. I muttered that I could make pierogi. What started as one week with my family’s original recipes turned into every week. I quickly realized if I was going to do this, I wanted it to be bigger. I was also working at Dean’s Foods in their USDA facility so I spent a lot of time there, learning the coding, how bigger systems worked and distribution. I was getting ready to make the leap and start my company but wanted a short get away first. I went on a vacation only to discover the person I was with was going to test my strength by how much torture they could put me through and I somehow survived domestic assault. Read more>>

Jody McPhearson

The Belong Mission was born from what I wish I had growing up, and what I desperately want for my sons today.
I was raised around church but didn’t truly know Jesus. I learned to perform faith before I ever understood how to live it. And for years, I carried that tension of feeling like I had to be something or someone to belong. To be honest, there are days when I still do. Read more>>

Tae Daaz

Creating opportunities is more than a goal—it’s a reflection of who I am and what I value most. I believe that everyone deserves a chance to grow, to shine, and to become more than their circumstances may allow. For me, creating opportunities means opening doors that might otherwise remain closed. Read more>>

Michelle Klettke

I’m one of the rare, very fortunate people who was able to live out their childhood dream before pivoting career-wise. When I was 8 years old, I named my future business Sesroh or ‘Horses’ spelled backwards. I dreamt of becoming a famous rider, one day making it to the Olympics and put all my efforts into riding and learning about how to care for and train horses. At 12, I opened my first bank account with the intention it would be a savings account to purchase my own farm one day. Read more>>

Jessica Wang

VAH or Virtual Arts for Humanity is a primarily youth-led 501c3 nonprofit organization. The goal of VAH is to showcase the arts for a good cause: feeding hungry families through our partnership with Feeding America. VAH provides opportunities for performing artists all across the world all while enabling meals for food insecure families. I found out about VAH through a friend and I applied because of its mission. As an artist myself, I believe it is so important for young, budding artists to have opportunities to share their passion with others. Read more>>

Destiney Benish

A tale as old as time; add your chapter to our storybook. There’s something magical about vintage decor. These pieces have witnessed generations of families grow, laugh, and cry together. You can’t help but wonder… Read more>>

Rekaya Gibson

Food Temptress Cookbook Store’s mission is to connect customers to cookbooks by Black authors that inspire creativity and preserve food traditions. It exists to support and amplify the works of underrepresented voices in the food and publishing industries. This independent bookstore also pays homage to the mothers, grandmothers and ancestors who have created edible, magical moments in the kitchen. Read more>>

Ciera Veale

Ever since I was a little girl, I would always tell my stepdad that I wanted to do hair. I didn’t know how I’d get there or what the path would look like, but I was certain that’s what I was meant to do. He always encouraged that dream. In May 2021, he tragically took his own life—and that changed everything for me. In that moment, I knew I had to make our dream real. We talked about it so much, and I couldn’t let that go. Read more>>

Amanda Cahill

The story behind my mission started in motherhood during one of the most beautiful yet disorienting chapters of my life. After having my son, I found myself in a space I never expected: physically healing, emotionally unraveling, and spiritually lost. I had spent so much of my life checking the boxes, but nothing prepared me for the identity shift that came with becoming a mother. Read more>>

Noah Tarnow

What started as a passion project has evolved into a nationally recognized mission to redefine how people connect, engage, and find meaning through knowledge-driven trivia experiences.

In 2002, Noah Tarnow launched The Big Quiz Thing with a clear purpose: to create dynamic, high-quality trivia experiences that spark curiosity, foster connection, and celebrate the joy of learning. His goal was simple, but bold: to prove that trivia can be more than bar games and quick facts—it can create meaningful, unifying, and memorable experiences. Read more>>

Krista Foertsch

Roots Wellness was created under the notion of helping others help themselves. In today’s world there is a plethora of information and mis-information available at our fingertips pertaining to achieving overall health and well-being. More often than not, we seek an ideology of health and wellness that was created by societal standards, which is portrayed differently in varying cultures, and in most, this version of wellness is not “realistic”. Roots wellness was created to empower individuals to take back their health and be in charge of own well-being. Each individual has unique circumstances, experiences, physiology, nutritional needs, traumas etc that will impact their progress and lifestyle. Read more>>

Michelle Dianne Rodriguez

I decided to become a hairstylist to be in control of my own career, little did I know, it turned into much more. After 15 years in the industry I have come to understand that it’s not always about the money. Making people feel beautiful and confident in their own bodies is much more rewarding! Making people feel accepted! I have a friend that for two years was contemplating cutting her hair short. She was afraid and ashamed because her family had always said that she would not be beautiful if she did. You do not have to have the perfect face or weight to have a fire haircut!!! She finally did it and never looked back!! Read more>>

Brittany Boothe

Capturing Life, Love, and Legacy: The Heart Behind Forever Photography Since 2011, I’ve had the privilege of being the owner and lead photographer of Forever Photography. What started as a passion project quickly became a mission—to make sure that families have access to affordable, and sometimes even free, photographs that capture the most important moments of their lives. Whether it’s playing sports, celebrating milestones, or just being together, these moments deserve to be remembered. Read more>>

Anthony Creighton

My mom died when I was 21. She was 42 and had lung cancer. I had always focused on health and wellness but after that I focused even more on it. When I was younger I used exercise as a way to help my own mental health. I had bad ptsd and exercise was my outlet rather than medications. My mom did not have the best lifestyle, smoked and rarely got much movement. Then when I was 26 my younger brother was killed from medications when he was 15 years old. I moved back to washington to be closer to my other younger brother. This forced me to really start something to help people. This pushed me into the gym industry and I opened a gym. Read more>>

Angel Quesada

was originally born in Manati, Puerto Rico, but I moved when I was young. I ended living in Texas and Florida. Throughout my teenage years, I was inspired to be a social media influencer and create videos on YouTube and TikTok. But my chase for fame left me in a broken place and I quit my dream of being a content creator. Around 18 years old I was in a lost and broken place my freshman year of college where I was struggling with depression, anxiety, and several health conditions like a heart condition and nerve damage I thought my life was done and had no hope for my future. But everything changed when I started going to church and I had an encounter with God where my life changed, and God healed me from my struggles. Read more>>

Ligia Perez

My mission is to empower Latina women to confidently stand anywhere, in front of anyone, and sell whatever they want (even their ideas) with certainty and confidence—because they know the message they’re sharing is clear, impactful, and effective. Read more>>

Meanna Kintaudi

The story behind my mission is deeply personal, because it came out of survival. Not just physical survival, but emotional, mental, and spiritual. I experienced a health crisis that nearly took my life—three heart attacks in a single week—and what I realized in the aftermath is that my body wasn’t breaking down from poor habits, but from unprocessed pain, chronic stress, and constantly performing strength. Read more>>

Dr. Jamisa McIvor-Bennett

At the heart of our mission is transformation—both personal and generational.
Rosebud’s Investments was founded on a simple but powerful belief: wealth shouldn’t be reserved for the privileged few. As someone who came from humble beginnings and became a first-generation millionaire through real estate, I experienced firsthand the power of ownership, education, and strategic action. But more importantly, I saw the gaps—so many people, especially in underserved communities, lacked access to the knowledge and tools needed to build sustainable wealth. Read more>>

Keyara Clardy

Our mission at Clardy Design Group is “design to break the mould”. That is always our focus when we are creating new spaces for our clients. In the ceramics world, a mould is created when you would like to easily remake the same item with minor modifications or variations. In the interior design and architecture world, we call this “cookie cutter”. I’m sure cookie cutter is a phrase everyone may hear thrown around a lot. That’s because a lot of the time, design is very cookie cutter. We specialize in the opposite. Every design we produce is crafted with the client’s style, personality and end use in mind. Every design has a story just like you. We are passionate about functional, maginficent spaces that invoke emotion in us all. We are here to break the mould in design. It’s our mission. Read more>>

Robbie Capell

Our mission at Saving A Hero’s Place is to make sure every first responder fallen in the line of duty is never forgotten. That is the meaning and reasoning behind the Honor Chair. It serves as a place of reverence to ensure the Hero at his/her department is never forgotten. As new Officers come in, it is our hope they will ask about the Honor Chair, thus starting the conversation about who the officer was, etc. It’s very important to us that the fallen are always remembered. Read more>>

Siera Capesius

The mission behind Prolean Personal Training has remained consistent for over a decade: to help people achieve lasting change through a clear, supportive, and effective fitness experience. While our core purpose has never wavered, the tools we use have evolved through years of hands on experience, trial and error, and a deep understanding of what truly works. One of the biggest challenges we see is that many people simply don’t know where to start when it comes to working out and eating well and this leads to frustration, burnout, or never even beginning the journey. At Prolean, our entire approach is built around our motto: “Simplifying Fitness Into Results.” Read more>>

Dorretta Richardson

At Msrettarosscurls, our mission is to empower every curly-haired client to embrace, celebrate, and truly love their natural curls. We believe every curl is unique, and we’re here to nurture, define, and elevate your natural beauty.” Msrettarosscurls is more than just a business — it’s a reflection of my passion, my journey, and my purpose. As someone who has experienced the struggles and the beauty of natural curls firsthand, I understand the importance of feeling seen, celebrated, and confident in your own hair. Every client who walks through our doors is a reminder of why I started: to create a safe, empowering space where curls are not just managed, but embraced and honored. Watching someone fall in love with their natural texture — sometimes for the first time — is the most rewarding part of what I do. That joy, that transformation, is what makes this work so deeply special to me. Read more>>

Demia Avery

One of the reasons that I started “The Demia Avery Show” is to encourage those who have gotten up there in age that you can still go after your dreams. Age does not define you! Read more>>

MARIA MOCK

As the Founder and CEO of The All Purpose Center, my mission is deeply personal. Our mission is to empower individuals of all ages to discover and align with their true purpose in life. That mission was born from my own journey—starting from humble beginnings working part-time in housekeeping and dietary in a nursing home, to building and leading successful businesses in home health care, and now, pouring back into the community through purpose-driven programs and mentorship. Read more>>

Jillian Morris

The mission of Sharks4Kids is to create the next generation of shark advocates through education, outreach and adventure. Early in my career as a marine biologist, I started visiting classrooms. My mom was a teacher, and I had friends who were teachers, and they asked me to speak to their students. I was amazed at how much misinformation students had, and how much fear was mentioned in our conversations. I was equally amazed by how much creativity and optimism they had. Each visit gave me hope for sharks and the oceans. Read more>>

Andrea Randolph

At Findlay, we create timeless leather goods using sustainable, ethically sourced, vegetable-tanned leather. Our mission was born from a mix of personal passions and a desire to do things differently in an industry that too often prioritizes speed over intention. Read more>>