Every once in a while we have the good fortune of working on a project that we feel truly matters, a project that we’ll still be thinking about years from now. Maybe even something we can imagine telling our grandkids about – surely you’ve had moments like that where something you did in your professional life really mattered?

Artists4AChange ATL

The most meaningful project we’ve undertaken so far has been ‘The Great Debate’ event in March, which marked our inaugural event and holds deep significance for several reasons. As a community-focused initiative, our primary goal was to address a pressing concern that resonated across generations. By choosing a thoughtfully selected venue, we aimed to create an atmosphere conducive to open dialogue and meaningful engagement. Read more>>

Sir Kay

That would undoubtedly be my latest album, titled “Providence,” which is slated for release on all major platforms on September 1st, 2024, under the name Sir Kay. It marks a significant departure in my musical journey. Classified broadly as acoustic singer-songwriter, Providence stands out because it revolves around lyrics, unlike my previous work, which focused heavily on intricate instrumentation and complex rhythms. This album embraces restraint, opting for music that serves as a backdrop to emotions conveyed in the lyrics. Read more>>

Jacquie Stock

Tap Lessons, a two-woman short play Lynn Hautala and I wrote and performed at Freehold Theatre Lab and Studio in Seattle was one of the most meaningful projects I helped create. For years, Lynn Hautala, Judith Da Silva and I learned, loved and practiced tap dance with Anthony Peters, a fabulous teacher. We three became friends bonding over how to do the shim sham, how to move on stage when your body is stiff and shaking from fear of public dancing, and how to persevere as age continues. We loved tap! The rhythms, movement and music were an escape to a focused, happy, “look-what-we-can-do” space. In Tap Lessons, the play, Lynn and I wrote about joy, sense of accomplishment and creatively delving into life as you age. Sharing that message with the audience was a fulfilling goal. And, we’re still tapping! Read more>>

Rose Gaffney

When you tell the stories about the strangers around you, they are no longer strangers. They become your friends, people you want to rally around and support.

That was the driving mission behind Loving Local NYC, a video documentary project I created in 2023. Loving Local NYC is a series of short video profiles on the local businesses within New York’s five boroughs, giving small business owners a chance to tell their story and educate people about the importance of small businesses. Read more>>

Amandalyn McLellan

Earlier this year, I joined the board of RiffRaff, an incredible new theatre company started by my good friends Joe Staton and Dorthea Gloria. Our mission is to provide acting opportunities to immigrant actors (all our main stage productions and otherwise include at least 50% immigrant artists) and working with RiffRaff has been a meaningful, inspiring, and motivating experience. Read more>>

Joshua DeGuzman

The most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on is probably the album I’m writing right now. I started making music only two years ago, but writing has always been a part of my life. Music is one of the most important things to me, and now it’s becoming my most powerful source of artistic expression. It’s a blessing. I think through love and passion, we can make a real change in our communities. Whether perceptually small or big, those projects mean a lot in the grand scheme of things. And I’m really excited to share my work with the world. The album is called, “For When Things Change.” It has nostagic indie-folk tones and I talk a lot about the transformations I’ve undergone growing up. It’s been a long year, but this is absolutely one of the best pieces of work I’ve ever done. Read more>>

Madison Hill

It feels like everyday I have meaningful customer interactions! With my role at Rare Beauty I get to meet customers and community members that believe in the brand and trust us to help them feel like their best selves. I’ve done makeup for people for weddings, funerals, dances, dates, red carpets, celebrating their completion of chemo, you name it! We get a front row seat for the complexity of life and I’m honored to use my craft to connect and empower those I meet. Read more>>

Zirou Zhou

I started photography because I want to remember all the beautiful moments. I like to take pictures of my family, my pets, my surroundings, because that’s what made up me as me. I am currently working on a project about beauty, the idea inspired me is that women always spend more time, money efforts want to be prettier. People spend money on skincare, wrinkles are considered aged, not young anymore, and ugly. But I believe it’s something showing of the most amazing experiences of life. This is an idea came up when seeing my mom’s hands. I photographed her hands and her skin, she has wrinkles all over her hands but that’s the most beautiful hands I’ve ever seen. Read more>>

Briggsy Hamren

At the moment, I execute and oversee all content creation for a curated clothing boutique that cultivates elevated, inspiring collections from global emerging designers and specialty artisans. Content creation is one aspect of my role that continues to excite me, specifically when it comes to styling and shooting House of Lolo’s collections. Read more>>

Kaitlyn Tucek

I’ve been very lucky and have had the opportunity to execute many of my out of the box ideas, due to the support of some very incredible individuals. Last fall, after over a year of planning, I presented “The Dinner Party”, a project that incorporated not only a series of new paintings and objects, but also a written narrative and zine, a whimsical buffet of food and drink as well as performances, music and dance. We even asked the guests to arrive in flora or fauna costume and they more than showed up. This project continues to encourage and dazzle me -and others, even a year later. Read more>>

Naylissah Aristide

My most meaningful project is the first mural I ever did. I was always interested in art but I never got into mural work. I never thought i’d be able to create a mural let alone being paid to do one. So when my friend sent me this mural application for the Ottawa Health to create something representing Covid back in 2020 i didnt think too much of it at all. We drew our draft, looked over our letter of intent and then submitted an application, thinking there’s no way that they would pick these two random little black girls from Ottawa and Gatineau. Low and behold a week passes and I get the call. I was so shocked that they called me back letting us know that our little application was accepted over many influential and great artists, some even from France. Read more>>

Fan Fang

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on is the recent partnership between Endless Health and the Black Heart Association, aimed at addressing heart health disparities within the Black community. As the product designer, I developed an accessible digital platform for the Guard Your Heart Tour, which includes events, screenings, and educational sessions. This project was particularly significant due to the necessity of creating a culturally sensitive, user-friendly interface based on extensive user research and collaboration with community leaders. Despite challenges in ensuring the platform’s robustness and intuitiveness, the overwhelmingly positive feedback highlighted the platform’s impact on improving heart health understanding and management within the community. This experience deepened my commitment to designing inclusive healthcare solutions and demonstrated the tangible difference thoughtful design can make in people’s lives. Read more>>

Amani Naija

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my crochet brand ‘Khob_Design’. This journey began during my third year of architecture studies, where the assignment was to conceptualize a fashion space in Tunis. I wanted to incorporate a textile element and chose to work with yarn. This decision led me to learn crocheting quickly, and I ended up creating my concept model with a crocheted envelope shape. Read more>>

Dru Cutler

When I moved to New York, I stumbled into a Bushwick warehouse-loft—a concrete box with six strangers fighting for the single shower. It was unruly, scattered, and occasionally charming. We started hosting parties that evolved into organized concerts. We built a stage for shows, hoisted a screen for film nights, and painted the bathroom bright red for no good reason. Read more>>

Whitney Dionizio

Helping women strengthen their legacies through images is the most meaningful part of my creative work. Women too often feel unworthy, or less-than, or just put themselves last on all of the lists. It is important for all women to have portraits and images of themselves to preserve the legacy of their journey not only for themselves or their businesses, but for their history, their mark on the world. Each image represents them in the season of life they are in, solidifying their legacy for now and for the future. Read more>>

Shanesha Brooks

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on involved commemorating loved ones through digital art portrait blending. I use multiple photos from different eras as references—’80s, ’90s, and present—and transform them into a modern, cohesive image. A standout project was a four-generation piece featuring a great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and her toddler daughter. Despite never having met physically, the great-grandmother and the toddler were brought together in this artwork. Read more>>

Lua De Morais

I must say PlayBug, It’s a kids show on YouTube where I teach languages through music and bed time stories while playing a character I love “Mel”, with the goal of not only educating, but uniting generations. I work on this project with both my daughter & son: Sharon & Lian, (23 & 21), and it’s very fulfilling not only as a professional in the arts of writing , acting, singing , & creating a show from beginning to end, but as a mother. This for me is an honor that I simply can’t describe in words! Read more>>

Pearl Kim

The project “If a snack falls from the sky” that I worked on with Korean magician Jung Sung-mo is the most significant one that I have ever come across. In my childhood, he was one of the more well-known magicians in Korea and belongs to the first generation of magicians.

I saw his performance when I was ten years old, and I got to see his once or twice a year after that. As a devoted Christian, he always concluded his performances with a gospel message presented through the magic show. Read more>>

Emily Markoe

For as long as I can remember, I’ve dealt with emetophobia (the extreme, debilitating fear of vomit…gross! sorry) and its accompanying OCD rituals and behaviors. Without exaggeration, I think about vomit every single day of my life and sometimes I’m absolutely paralyzed with fear about it. I once jumped out of a moving car because somebody started throwing up. And I was *driving* that car. Read more>>

Alex Philpott

My most meaningful project is actually the one I’m currently working on. It’s a short film titled “Contaminant.” It’s the first time that I will be stepping into the role of a producer and really making a film from the ground up. It’s even more meaningful as I am collaborating on this film with a director I met while attending California State University Northridge. When I made the decision to go back to school and get degrees in Screenwriting as well as Creative Writing, I mainly did so in order to grow my circle and meet other creatives who shared my interests. So, it’s very rewarding to see that paying off and materializing into a film I feel so passionately about. I feel like this process has only made me appreciate the journey of a script from being words on a page to images on a screen that much more. Ultimately, I want to learn and grow as a writer, and this project has certainly done that and more. Read more>>

Charlie Ung Kim

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my daily sunset photography at the beach. It began with a simple walk along the shore, where I enjoyed the sunset, the ocean breeze, and the sound of the waves. During these walks, I started to notice beautiful moments—families playing together, children laughing, and sea animals appearing unexpectedly. These moments inspired me to bring my camera and capture the magic of each evening. Now, I spend about one to two hours almost every day at the beach, photographing these special moments. Read more>>

Rudy Raffulls

I take pride in creating meaningful projects. As the saying goes, “Treat every day like a good and bad day & you’ll learn something from every day”. Recently I had the pleasure to model a nail polish brand. Breaking the stereotypes that men shouldn’t wear nail polish. I found immense confidence in being different & expressing my creativity. We were featured in magazines and Access Hollywood. I hope many others will experience the same. Collaborating with other photographers on their visions also helped me see outside the box. Read more>>

Nicole Antoinette Lewis

Teaching creative writing and yoga has been significant to me, but my latest project, Blooms and Alchemy, holds a special place in my heart. It all began with childhood memories of dancing in fields of wildflowers at my grandmother’s house in Pennsylvania. Enchanted by their beauty, I would blow on dandelions and make wishes, sparking a lifelong fascination with the magic of flowers. Read more>>

Richard Bledsoe

My most meaningful project was writing my book, Remodern America: How the Renewal of the Arts Will Change the Course of Western Civilization.
Even though I believe works of art need to be able to speak for themselves without relying on extraneous verbiage or non-artistic concerns, art’s role in our society needs discussion and reformation. For 7 years, I worked on a book on that summarized my ideas on how art is both influenced and is an influencer on our way of life. Read more>>

Ishanee Chanda

The most meaningful project I have ever worked on has been my work in inspiring younger students in both high school and college to utilize spoken word poetry as a medium of therapy and release. Read more>>

AINARA

I worked on the Audiobook production of Black Miami in the Twentieth Century as the audio producer and editor from the beginning of 2021 through 2022. The project stands out as something larger than me because of its historical weight, but also because of the relationship I built with the author, Dr. Marvin Dunn, and the skills we both developed in the process. Read more>>

Kate Peabody

I consider myself an “intuition junkie,” always looking for new ways to connect with myself and help my coaching clients build self-awareness. For a number of years now, I’ve been working with tarot and the runes as a way to kick-off reflection and journaling sessions for myself. Like meditation, working with tarot and runes helps us tap into our subconscious mind; to draw on our experiences, emotions and inner wisdom to guide us. Read more>>

Wonder Truly

I’m extremely fortunate in my work that I’ve had the privilege of working on many meaningful projects in my career. Since I started producing for other artists in January 2023, a number of my clients have told me that the work I did on their tracks was as if I’d pulled the ideas right out of their head and made it tangible. Read more>>

Gary Smith

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on has been my most recent feature film, a comedy drama titled SkyFly. I was taught to write what you know, so this film is highly inspired by personal events which was something I found to be very therapeutic. SkyFly means a lot to me because I took action and made a bet on myself. I’ve made plenty of mistakes and learned a lot along the way which has helped me to grow as a creative and in life. Read more>>

Thelonious Love

My last album, Love Me Naught, is such a raw and insightful body of work. We were still deep inside the pandemic. I was fresh out of a toxic 4 year relationship. I was struggling with alcohol abuse. Dealing with my own racial trauma. I had a lot to heal. Writing and recording that album was my safe space to process. There was a lot I needed to change about my behavior at that time too. A lot of things I had to confront. Not to mention I was really hurt by the way the relationship ended. Once I moved into a safe space, these songs poured out of me. I meant every word of that shit! I had to rediscover who I was on my own and learn to love that person. I had to forgive myself. I started working towards who I wanted to be and this album takes you through that evolution. It was hard worl but I am all the better for it now. You can love me or love me not. I’m gonna love me with all I got. Read more>>

Jemal Diamond

I was on a long phone call with a friend one day. I often doodle when I’m on the phone. I had won a small contest with Sharpie.com, and they’d sent me a large 36-pack of colorful markers. They were laying around and I happened to grab a new canvas that was still wrapped in cellophane to doodle on. I was engrossed in the phone call for some time, and when I hung up I looked down and I’d drawn a wonderful abstract figure and I was seeing it for the first time. I’d made it without even noticing, my focused mind completely in the phone conversation while my hands played with different colors as I enjoyed the smooth glide of the marker on the plastic while my focused mind was on my friend. It was that moment I discovered I was an abstract artist and my process continues to this day to recreate that mindful practice of letting go of my focused and critical mind and let it wander while I enjoy the act of improvisational creation. Read more>>

Abigail Goh

As I look through my portfolio to pick my most meaningful project, I realise they are each meaningful in different ways. Some projects are meaningful in personal ways (A an artwork exploring my relationship with my grandma), some because I experienced self growth during the process (When I led the design on massive projects for huge clients like McDonalds/Google), or some where I discovered a new voice when I explored a new style (personal work). Read more>>

Matt Krahula

I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have been part of some really special projects. Most recently, I released an album of songs called “Last Goodbye 11”, or LG11 for short. LG11 is a collection of songs that I wrote and released 11 years ago with my Indie-Folk group, The Nightmare River Band, on our sophomore album “Last Goodbye”. To celebrate the 11 year anniversary of the original “Last Goodbye”, I asked a bunch of friends to each re-imagine a song from the album in their own style. The artists involved are a collection of friends and collaborators that I’ve crossed paths with over my 20 years in the music industry. They brought so much talent and heart into this project. It has been rewarding on so many levels. Both hearing my music performed by people I look up to as well as having so many friends rally around this project with me. LG11 brings 11 new artists, performing 11 songs, 11 years later. Read more>>

Hillerbrand+ Magsamen

“Higher Ground” is a multimedia installation that combines video, sculpture, and performance. At its core, it explores the concept of building and climbing as metaphors for overcoming obstacles and reaching new heights. The central piece is a video that depicts our family constructing a precarious tower out of household objects and furniture, constantly striving to go higher despite the instability of the structure. It represents our journey as a family and artists, embodying the resilience and hope that drive us forward. Read more>>