Stories are incredibly powerful – their ability to teach, inspire, and create understanding is why we are so in love with storytelling. Most stories have a defining moment and so we’ve asked some of the most talented, insightful folks across a broad range of industries and markets to tell us about a defining moment in their story.

Adrian Cavada II

When I first began my career journey, I was lost. I did the typical story of graduating from high school and pursuing a college degree immediately after. I had my intention of becoming an engineer. I left my hometown and studied out of state in a whole new environment that I never been exposed to. I studied heavily in the area of physics so I can understand how our actual world operates but, I felt this sense of misalignment. I thought it was because the cirriculum was challenging and I was simply going through the motions of facing adversity. Read more>>

Eli Prachar

I have been working in behavior analysis for five years as a behavior technician. As a person with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and C-PTSD, I have also been the recipient of a significant number of behavioral, medical, and therapeutic interventions ever since the third grade. I remember how frustrated and stuck I felt as a teen and young adult when just taking my medicine and talking about my feelings didn’t seem to help. Read more>>

Rachel Ginger

I birthed both of my daughters out-of-hospital in a birth center, and was blown away by my body’s ability to bring life into the world and how prepared and empowered I felt doing so. I had been drawn to birth work for a while, but wasn’t sure what my involvement would look like. It wasn’t until shortly before I gave birth to my second and had talked to others who were pregnant that I realized just how little knowledge there is of pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum. Read more>>

Archana Dhurka

As you would expect, coming from India into the USA, Bharat and I were both computer engineers working in IT. Our first son, Ankush, was born in 1999. As first-time parents, we didn’t know much about children and their milestones. Ankush developed typically the first year and at about 2 years, we put him in a Montessori (like many of our friends), and when I would pick him from school, he would always be in a time out area because he didn’t listen to the teacher. Read more>>

Evelyn LeVasseur

I always wanted to be a mom. I actually never visualized a life in which I wasn’t one. But the road to becoming a mother was not an easy one. After suffering two losses, my husband and I decided to try a third time (with our doctor’s guidance). Throughout the entire pregnancy, I kept preparing myself to hear the words, “I’m sorry” at each appointment. But nine months later, I gave birth to my first baby girl and was finally able to breathe real, deep breaths. She was real!! Read more>>

Earnestine Jackson

I began my journey to becoming a Registered Dietitian in 2012. After graduating a year early from my Bachelors program in 2015, I was required to complete a 1200 hour competitive internship in order to sit for the board exam to become a Registered Dietitian. Upon completing my Bachelors degree, it became a great challenge to get accepted into an internship. The national acceptance rate averages at about 50%, leaving top scholars without an internship. Read more>>

Candace Drummond

Like many other single parents, I relied on “my village,” and this was dismantled due to COVID. My daughter’s school closed around the 2nd or 3rd week of March 2020. For the first 2 weeks, again, like most of us, I wasn’t working from home, I was at home, trying to work, and waiting for something to get better, to reopen, something. So, imagine with me, 14 days already into the stay at home order. I’m groggily rubbing my face after just waking up in the morning, sitting on the toilet doing my business… Read more>>

Elsa Martinez

Being in the makeup industry can be hard sometimes just because there is more competition now than before , I used to work in Sephora when one of my clients hugged me and told me “I love your service you have been such a big help and thank you for color matching me “ seeing her smile and her happiness made me happy and I knew I was doing my job correct and I was in the right field Read more>>