Working on something meaningful is a common desire – but how? We started asking folks to share the story of how they ended up working on a project they felt was meaningful because we wanted inspiration but also because we wondered if hearing from people from across a range of industries would help us identify patterns making it more likely for anyone to be able to find and work on projects that they would find meaningful.

Tiffany Miller

To be honest, I try to make “meaning” the core of everything I work on. When it’s a personal piece, it’s a chance to explore and express feelings and ideas from deep within myself, my life experiences, and my reflections on the world around me. For example my piece, “The Queen of Forgotten Toys: a Self Portrait” is a life sized sculpture of toys and items mostly from my childhood. I’ve always enjoyed “recycled art” pieces, and as it is with all mosaic and collage art, part of the joy is developing story lines and meaning by how each piece fits next to another piece. Read more>>

Cameron Mcmillan

I’d have to say the most meaningful project I’ve worked on to date is my current two-sided album project called GEMINI. I’ve already launched the first side (called MASCULINE) with a ton of positive feedback and love, more than 40k streams on Spotify alone which is so sick! And then the second side (FEMININE) is launching at the end of May, the 27th, my birthday! This project has helped me focus on the bigger picture, working on a massive double album like this and have it out and promote it for years (the past 4 singles have been coming out since 2020 and the double-sided album concept I’ve been working on since 2017), it has helped me see that the longer distance is more rewarding than the quick sprint. Read more>>

Haley Osier

I released an album in 2024 called A Letting Go. It was the first music project I had worked on in nearly a decade. There was a part of me that really thought I’d never make music again. I was outed as queer and ousted from my high control religious community in 2016, instigated by a girl I had been seeing in secret. This experience truly up-ended my life, and it ended my relationship with religion and the hetero act I was putting on. It took me a long time to figure out how to relate to music apart from it being a calling from god and apart from writing sad songs about men. Then the time finally felt right to tell this story about my first sapphic heartbreak and the betrayal that came from her and the church. That writing became A Letting Go, which is the first of many projects to come from finding my voice as a lesbian artist. Read more>>

Blake Sharette

It would be impossible to choose just one meaningful project that we’ve done as an orchestra. Ever since we started in February of last year, every recording, concert, or event we’ve performed was decided on for the reason of creating meaningful experiences for our audience; that has always been our only goal. Our mission is to bring love and light to the world around us through music, and that’s it. It would be really nice if there was a way that we could all financially benefit from this group as well, but it’s really difficult to get to that point. Read more>> 

James October

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on has been the continuous collaboration with the artist Ben Ellis. I produce for a lot of different artists and genres in LA, but Ben really stands out for his diligence and dedication to his artistry. I’ve had the pleasure of being a consistent producer and writer with him, and because of that, our collaboration grows stronger and stronger with time. Read more>>

Melissa Petro

When it comes to shame, I’m a reluctant expert on the subject. As an undergraduate, I pursued what I felt was a practical degree: I earned a BA in sociology and began a career in social services, working with economically disadvantaged women and children. Coming from such a background myself, I struggled to afford my education, and so I was nineteen years old and living in Mexico as a student abroad when my money ran out and I was confronted with what felt like an easy choice: strip for cash or quit school. I worked as a stripper on and off for six years and, for a brief stint, as a call girl on Craigslist before transitioning out of the industry for good in 2007. Degrees secured, eventually I became a public-school teacher, teaching art and creative writing at an elementary school in the Bronx. It was a job I loved. Read more>>

Jesse Mar-ramirez

Personally I like to imagine that all of the shoots I am on are meaningful to me in one way or another, whether it’s the significance in tradition or even just the people I work with. There are, however, shoots that have stood out as very significant to both me and my clients in the past, one of those being a couple I have kept in touch with ever since they first reached out to me. Read more>>

Eri Yost

I am Japanese. My mother and grandmother were both kimono dressing instructors. We own over a hundred kimonos.

When I returned to Japan after a long time, my mother told me that she wanted to get rid of some kimonos. As she got older, she stopped wearing them. In Japan, there is a coming-of-age ceremony at the age of 20, where people wear kimonos. For girls, they wear a special type called furisode. Since I was the only daughter among my siblings, my mother spent over a million yen on a kimono for me. But I only wore it once. Read more>>

Ioana Groza

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on, was an exhibition I was invited to attend based on my bachelor thesis project where I created a stage design together with a scale model for Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”. I was invited to create an immersive installation inspired by that for the DIPLOMA Exhibition that takes place in Bucharest. The exhibition promotes the best bachelor and masters artistic projects in the country and is an opportunity for young graduates to show their work to a bigger and wider public. Read more>>

Erik Texter

Though much of my music involves innovation and electronics, last year, I was lucky to compose and conduct a piece that reconnected me to my roots. For as long as I can remember, I was involved in the music ministry at Central Schwenkfelder Church, a traditional Protestant congregation in southeastern Pennsylvania. In my youth, you could reliably find me in the choir, handbell ensemble, playing percussion alongside the brass and winds, or on stage with the contemporary worship band. Most of what I know about music, I learned from this era of my life. Read more>>

Amy Mcgann

Some projects change the way a business looks. Others change the way a business feels.
But every once in a while, a project does something even bigger. It reflects someone back to themselves. That’s what my branding project with Déjà Revél was.
When Kara came to me, she already knew exactly who she was as an artist. Her work was undeniable—layered, transformative, deeply human. Her clients raved about the way she made them feel, about how they saw themselves in ways they never had before. Read more>>

Chantal Jung

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on was a collage spread for the Inuit Art Foundation. I am Inuk from Nunatsiavut within Inuit Nunangat, and as a Native person, staying connected to my culture is deeply important. Since I don’t currently live on my homelands, this project felt especially significant—it was an opportunity to honor my roots and celebrate my family through my art. Read more>>

Milton Ludington-matute

My most meaningful project is what I’m currently working on called the “Crossroads LP” which will be dropping late summer this year. This project is composed of works I’ve done solo, or with Charlemagne, my band, Carter Reeves of Surfer Girl, Zebby of Tribal Seeds, Lew Richards of 17th Street Recordings and more. Current singles “Crossroads” and “More” are apart of this project and just the beginning. I plan to continuously release music through 2025 and still have some surprises on the final LP drop late summer. Read more>>

Laura Ashley

I released a single titled “Ozarks” last year, and I believe that to currently be my most meaningful project. I think our hometowns are so special and I’m a little biased with mine in the Ozarks of Southern Missouri. The inspiration from the song came from a magical moment while I was riding my horse Lil’ Bit. We were doing a little exploring in the middle of nowhere, when I started to hear a banjo (that was the last thing I was expecting). I was so darn curious I just “had” to follow the sound. My horse and I finally came upon a scene that I can only describe as “hillbilly magic”. There was a couple just a stones throw from the river we were standing at that were performing barefoot around a small fire. The man was playing a banjo, and his wife was playing the fiddle. Read more>>

Veronica Rosas

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on has been a stage show called 79 Ways to Die. I wrote, directed, and produced the show. I started writing it in 2019 and it didn’t come to fruition until 2023. I began writing the show because I love Renaissance Faires and had a dream to perform at them. I just wrote the show I would want to see as a guest. Read more>>

Ralph Tufo

As a children’s author, I’ve written three books in the Seemore the Seagull Tales. In addition to creating these fun books for children, I’ve strived to have each book promote lessons of kindness: acceptance of diversity, learning to cooperate, awareness and support of disabilities, and anti-bullying. As a former teacher, I’ve come to realize that we need to teach these values to young children as soon as possible. Our society needs individuals who put these vaues into practice. Read more>>

Michael Kennedy

Because the mission of Creative Action Unlimited is to create original theater and film productions that focus on social issues, part of that mission requires that all of our work be meaningful – and that it inspires audiences to take action in their local communities. For me, our original production, titled Any Addict, was particularly meaningful, because it represented my own leap of faith that I would be able to effectively combine my experience in human services and theater in a way that would move and inspire others. I began CAU with the money I had left (after paying bills!) that I inherited after my mother’s death, so it was important to me to do something with that money that might have a large impact. Read more>>

Mckenna Putnam

Last year, I was contacted by a sweet family who had lost their beautiful little boy in a tragic accident at just two years old. The mother shared before her session that it would be difficult to take photos with their newest baby, while also knowing that she’d never be in a picture with the little boy they’d lost. She brought a photo of their son and his favorite stuffed bear, and wanted to include these in a few photos. Read more>>

Sharie Garcia

A group of high school music teachers (I was one of them) got together back in about 2017 to begin work on crafting a school board policy that would require music education in every school in our district. Changes in state and federal government, as well as some newly elected local school board members helped our music policy to pass in 2019. At that time our district had only 50 music teachers for 156 schools. The board passed the policy without knowing how they would fund it because they believed that music instruction was essential for kids. Music was also important to the people of the City of Milwaukee – following the passage of the music policy our district went to a referendum and the citizens of Milwaukee came out in that terrible pandemic to vote for the referendum that would fund the music policy. Read more>>

Juliana Beltran

The EP I’m currently working on has some of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. It’s taken longer than I’d anticipated to get the project off the ground and be able to share it with the world but I am so excited for it to see the light.
As a songwriter, I have learned that honesty comes first. There’s no use on being vague or sugar coating when it comes to art and story telling. Read more>>

Antonique Smith

I think it’s probably when I played Aretha Franklin’s mother in Genius: Aretha. Aretha was a major influence on me as a singer so to be a part of her legacy is just amazing. But what an honor to give a voice to her mother Barbara Franklin who had a crazy story that not many people knew about. On top of that, Barbara sang and played the piano and was a big reason why Aretha was amazing at both singing and playing the piano. And as an actor, it was so much fun because it was set in the 1940’s, so I got to play this crazy, layered, period piece! Read more>>

Robert Ingram

I was born with a cleft lip/palate and because of this I had to undergo a lot of surgeries when I was a child. This left me with scars on my face, making school a very difficult experience for me. Everyday attending school felt more like attending a prison that I would go for the majority of my day. I was constantly teased and beaten on daily with no true end in sight. Read more>>

Roxy Erickson

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on in recent years was a mural for the newly built Children’s Safety Center, In Springdale, Arkansas. The goal of the center is to “empower children to overcome abuse and begin to trust, hope and heal” as well as “facilitate more effective prevention, detection, investigation, and treatment of child abuse”. Read more>>

Kate Wilson

I, with my best friend Roque Berlanga, built our company, Theatre [Untitled] in a moment where we were both navigating freelance careers in the arts as a stage manager and director respectively. We were experiencing the challenges of the theatre industry culture and we were constantly having conversations about how remarkable it was that in an industry that is so human centered….humanity is rarely centered. We talked about the increasingly long work days, the lack of sick time or PTO for artists, the “show must go on” mentality even when mental and physical safety are compromised. Read more>>

Rhiannon Aarons

Working on the feature in development Red Wings is presently the most meaningful project I’ve worked on. I’ve been very privileged creatively in that most of the projects I’ve worked on have been deeply meaningful. Red Wings is specifically meaningful because it’s a female driven team, which is rare in the film industry and especially horror. One of the most important things about Red Wings is that it uses the power of cinema to fight menstrual stigma and raise issues about misogyny in health care through the lens of comedic genre horror. Read more>>

Tori Gilchrist

Davenport is currently finishing up recording our first EP. All of the songs are really personal to me and getting to hear them fully fleshed out has been super exciting so far. We’ve released one single and performed dozens of shows, so publishing an EP feels like a step towards being a more “legitimate” artist. Having this project out is going to feel like a big milestone. I think having more music published will open up room to start working on new songs as well. Read more>>

Evelyn Inglis

The most meaningful project I worked on was creating illustrations for the credits of the short film, Road Trippin’ (2024).

Road Trippin is a queer love story following two women who follow through on their promise to go on a road trip. It’s an ode to love going right and was written and directed by my partner, Madeline Rose Fiore (filmed prior to us meeting!). In 2023, after learning about my artistic inclinations, Madeline came to me to ask if I would design, illustrate, and even create some simple animations for the credits of this her directorial debut short film. Given that this was the most professional project I had been involved in, naturally I was hesitant and almost declined the experience due to my fear of failure. Read more>>

Lyssa Nowakowski

Creating Artists Unite Collective has been, and continues to be, an incredibly meaningful project. It came to life in 2024 when we evaluated the need for more comprehensive growth, community connection, and reliable resources during our early career development in the performing arts world (and in general). Even more importantly, we saw an increasing call for this among generations growing up today. Read more>>

Yez Tutic

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on was for the Women in Tech Miami 2024 event. I was invited to contribute something special for a select group of 35 women who attended a private meeting, recognizing their participation and future contributions to the community. My goal was to create a gift that wasn’t just an object, but a meaningful representation of connection, unity, and shared purpose. Read more>>

Lindsey Nelson

There have been several meaningful projects for me, but one in particular does stand out. My acrylic painting “Begging of Time” holds an important place in my heart. This concept came after a conversation with a friend. We were messaging about topics such as the beginning of time, where we came from and how we got here. He made a typo. This typo turned into “The Begging of Time”. The words stuck with me…wondering what time begging would look like and feel like. What it would be like to beg time to slow down or speed up, as we often do, but in a painting. I wanted to show time as fast and fleeting. Read more>>

Amy Fess

I wrote a short film screenplay called Sight back in 2021 during the pandemic. I’ve long been a fan of zombie apocalypse media and I’d been a Walking Dead fan since it was only a comic, not a show. So when I came up with this very poignant zombie apocalypse story, I knew I wanted nothing more than to film it. It was one of the best things I’d ever written to date. But due to circumstances, I was not able to actually work on producing and filming it until January of 2024. I was speaking to my friends Sadithi de Zilva and Madeline Coronato, who had just started a production company called Scrappack Productions, and they expressed interest in producing and directing the project. Read more>>

Kimberly Van Dam De Gil

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is a series called “Healing Hearts.” I was driving one day when Jesus whispered to me, “Look at the trees… what do they have in common? Where do they come from? ” All trees come from a seed in a hole in the ground.
Where did this hole come from?
A hole has to be made either by an animal or trauma to the earth, many times intentional, man-made. The environment
determines how each grows, sometimes under extreme duress, making each tree unique. Read more>>

Veronica Mejia

The Most meaningful project to me would have anything to do with mental health. Which involves a lot of my classes. To be honest many of us dancers utilize dance as an escape goat; an outlet. We can have the worst day, but after a class we are all smiling, laughing and having a great time. However, I did teach one class that meant the most to me. It allowed me to be vulnerable with the class. The subject involved alcohol abuse within mental health awareness, Read more>>