We asked some very thoughtful members of our community to reflect on what they’ve learned from their heroes.

Blair and Nat

One of our heroes is Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia and Black Diamond. His work in outdoor advocacy as well as climate science is particularly outstanding from a business standpoint. Most large companies haven’t quite shown that they care much about the impacts of climate change. Yvon has, throughout his life, always cared for the climate as a lifelong climber. Read more>>

Cole Brummond

My great grandmother is my hero. The majority of my childhood and teenage years were spent living with my great grandmother, and over the years she taught me many life lessons. The life lesson that stands out more than any other has to do with love. My grandmother loved her people unconditionally. There is not a single thing she would not do to see a smile on your face. Every day she would drive me to school, pick me up from school, and attend all of my sports practices and games. As I would practice she would sit in her car, Read more>>

Audrey Derbonne

I would have to say my dad is my hero. He is my biggest cheer leader, role model, and mentor. He set such a strong example of success for me growing up while still managing to love and support me and my family. My dad immigrated here from Germany at the age of 5, and never had it easy. Growing up, he always worked multiple jobs. Later in life, he saw one of his friends become successful in the Title Insurance business and decided he himself wanted that too. Read more>>

Kenisha Tiana

My hero…..would have to be my big sister, second mother, forever girl, Brittany Yeldell. First things first, she was my first hair model dating back to the 90s. One way we bonded was through me doing her hair. Yes, a four year old was doing an eight year old hair lol…good times! Read more>>

Matt Canterbury

A photographer named Tim Williams. I followed his social media and every time he would post photos from his sessions, I would be blown away at the quality. One day I said to myself “I’d love to know how he did that”. So I bought a camera with zero knowledge of how cameras work and slowly started learning. In my opinion, my photos still aren’t on his level but I feel pretty good about how far my photography has come in such a small amount of time with zero training. Read more>>

Marty Boyer

My grandfather, Anderson “Andy” Moore is my hero. In fact, it’s hard to write his name without tearing up. Some of the lessons that he imparted to me.– Self-reliance: If it is to be, it starts with me. – Contribute: Be part of the solution. – Work hard: It doesn’t matter what problem you are trying to solve, grind. – Listen with you eyes and ears: He never explicitly stated this, but I inherently understood it. You can learn a lot by simply paying attention with both eyes and ears. Read more>>