Everyday we meet business owners, professionals, artists and creatives. Photographers, florists, realtors and more. They might come from different backgrounds, work in different industries, have varying personalities, and have vastly different income and educational profiles, but the one thing we’ve seen over and over again is that most people have a unique and special reason for why they do what they do. From a realtor helping families afford the first home he always wished for as a kid to a photographer using her skills to give a voice and face to victims who feel voiceless, we have been blown away by what happens when you just ask people a simple question – why do you do what you do?

Kirsten Pribula

My mission with Kirsten Lynne Studios is rooted in human connection. I want people to feel seen, heard, and understood, and I believe photography and design are powerful ways to make that happen. Every session I take on is an opportunity to capture moments that reveal someone’s story, personality, and essence. Read more>>

Lia Almagor

I’m the editor and writing director of a newspaper for a non profit called The TeenSpace. I’ve always adored writing and I have wanted to be an author since I was seven! I was absolutely delighted when the founder of The TeenSpace, Nisha, asked me to take on this role. Read more>>

Laurel Rick

From an early age, I felt a deep sensitivity and intuition that set me apart, but I never imagined how profoundly it would shape my life. When my son, Neil, passed unexpectedly, my world shattered. The grief was overwhelming, and I felt like I was sinking into quicksand with no way out. Then something extraordinary happened: Neil’s spirit came to me. Read more>>

CJ Metz

We didn’t set out to start a recording studio. Five years ago, my wife Jenna and I were two twenty-somethings who had recently gotten our degrees and were working corporate jobs. Then in 2020, COVID hit, remote work became an option, and the rules of ‘what we thought we should do’ kind of went out the window. Read more>>

Tiffany Gordon

We are in a time where the world has become socially awkward, to live behind a screen, and where building a genuine connection with another human face to face, feels rare and unworthy of time. Yet as humans, WE are built for more. Read more>>

Tiffani Davis

At Kingdom Family Ministry, our mission is to strengthen families at their core because we believe stronger families build stronger communities. That mission is deeply personal to us. My husband and I founded KFM after walking through our own season of brokenness and restoration. We experienced firsthand how isolation, social strains, and generational patterns can tear a family apart. Read more>>

Bryan Milstead

Here at Valley Verbomania, our mission is rooted in a deep enthusiasm for etymologies and passion for language! My journey began as a 2x Scripps National Spelling Bee participant, which is where I first discovered the importance of words as something more than just elements of a sentence. Read more>>

Catelyn Johnson

I started Vintage Afterlife with a lifelong passion for lessening my footprint by shopping secondhand whenever possible. I fell in love with antiques and vintage after walking through countless antique malls and thrift stores with my mother and grandmother, eating up every story I could about each piece I found interesting. Read more>>

Tiffany Bost

Nanastreats we’re all about showing that age doesn’t define ability. Founded by a young entrepreneur, our mission is to inspire and empower other kids to dream big, take action, and create their own businesses. Through creativity, hard work, and heart, we’re proving that kids can be leaders too. We don’t just build our own success—we help others do the same. Read more>>

Bomi Bae

When I think about my mission as a designer, it has always been rooted in connecting people through spaces. Coming from Korea and building my career in the United States, I realized early on that restaurants and hospitality spaces are not just about food or service—they are cultural bridges. They tell stories, evoke emotions, and create memories that people carry with them. Read more>>

Ade Olumofin

Our mission is to tell what we call under-told stories. We use comic books and other media to cast a spotlight on characters or figures often overlooked in popular media. A good example is our comic book anthology about a mythical figure known as Sàngó in west African culture. He is known as the god of thunder and lightning in many cultures around the world. Read more>>

Rudy Manning

I didn’t set out to build a mission-driven agency. I set out to build a good one—thoughtful, creative, intentional. An agency rooted in design excellence, not ego. A place where work mattered. And along the way, it became clear: the work that meant the most was the work that helped people. Read more>>

Salvador Castro

The mission behind Goodfellas really comes from how I grew up seeing the barbershop. It was never just about a haircut — it was about the conversations, the laughter,the people and the way you always left feeling better than when you walked in. I wanted to bring that same experience into my own shop. For me, it’s about more than clippers and fades. Read more>>

Vina Morris

AfroPink’s mission is personal for me because it grew out of my own story. I’m a two-time breast cancer survivor, and walking through that journey showed me firsthand how much our community carries—late diagnoses, lack of information, limited access, and sometimes silence around the topic altogether. Read more>>

Kevin W. Hertell

Our mission is to break the stigma of mental health, suicide, and seeking treatment within our warrior culture to facilitate suicide prevention for our Veterans & Military. There are tremendous mental health resources available regarding suicide prevention, however these resources are vastly underutilized because of the stigma that’s associated with seeking help, or even just openly talking about mental health or suicide. Read more>>

Monique Hercules

The Remontant means “a flower that blooms more than once in a single season,” and that meaning perfectly reflects our brand story. I built The Remontant while battling a chronic illness that often left me bedbound. Creating scents became both my escape and my form of healing—an artscape where I could transform pain into beauty. Read more>>

Yunet Solorzano

I first picked up a camera in 2009 to capture my soul dog, the one who carried me through seasons of my life with a love so steady it felt like home. Before I had a child, she was my entire world, and through her I came to understand that pets are not “just like family.” They are chosen family. Read more>>

Sarah Peterson

The Love & Mine Foundation’s mission is to stop power-based violence happening at the university level, and to fiercely advocate for those that have been affected by it in our area. Read more>>

Garrett Wood Kusmierz

After a traumatic hospital birth of my son in 2021, (TLDR: It took 4 days, every intervention, a failed epidural, an infection, 4 hours of pushing and no sleep), I came home with a new baby and another challenge – extreme breast engorgement and breastmilk leakage. Read more>>