Winning comes in so many different forms that it’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it. The CanvasRebel community is filled with so many incredible folks who have overcome long odds, challenged the status quo and won. Below, you’ll find stories of these winners along with much of the accumulated wisdom on what it takes to succeed.
Wi-Moto Nyoka
I started as music theater performer and always kept my writing and my love of genre as a hobby. I never even considered that it could be something I might share with my community, with an audience, with anyone. For some reason I assumed no one would be interested. I started writing plays to make work for myself and others. It was purely out of necessity and I thought it would be temporary. But I got into theater festivals fast, then moved to writing short films and was selected right out the gate. Seeing folks perform a story I wrote felt like sorcery. So I kept writing and I kept telling horror and sci-fi stories in theater, film, and audio. I am now the founder of a production company, Dusky Projects, making work, and learning the craft of being a producer. Read More>>
Yinglun Zhang
My journey as a fashion designer and dancer began with a passion for combining movement and fashion. After graduating from Parsons School of Design in 2022, I founded IO Studio to create garments that embody the essence, movement, and performance of clothing as well as a philosophy of living. Read More>>
Shelah Coleman
OutSpoken Headquarters was forged in the fire of a crummy childhood in poverty and abusive stepdads and a mom who struggled to be so amazing. As a child I was the protector of my family despite being the only girl and being the baby. I was always bold enough to call out abusive behavior, volatile words, and inappropriate actions. As an adult, I married a military man and have maintained my ability to always speak up for those who didn’t have a voice or who lost their voice. Our mission at OutSpoken Headquarters is to always provide a way for people to speak up and speak out. We are inclusive and welcoming to all genders, ages, races, religions, and backgrounds. We are a safe haven for those who need a voice. Hard work, determination, and never listening to other peoples “no” or “you can’t” got me here. Read More>>
Johanna Telander
As a pale, little waif-like girl, growing up in Southern Sweden and the Netherlands before moving to Finland, I was an at times very out-going, at times extremely shy day dreamer with a poetic heart, keenly yearning for the outdoors whenever possible. However, as a kid living with severe asthma and a broken lung, I couldn’t always run and play outside with my brother or friends; so I also used to spend hours attached to a breathing machine, watching animated Disney films on VHS-tapes, rewinding back my favorite songs over and over again until the tapes turned warbly. This is how I learned to understand and speak english and how I got my introduction to musical theatre. I’ve been brought up in classical music, through my parents. Read More>>
Gina Agassini
Hello, my name is Gina. I have been a massage therapist for 13 years, and I am the founder of Botica Spa. My journey in the world of wellness and spas began around 15 years ago. From the beginning, my journey in the world of massage therapy has been deeply rewarding and transformative. What initially started as a simple curiosity about physical well-being quickly grew into an unwavering passion for the art of healing through touch. As a massage therapist, I discovered a world of wellness that not only seeks to alleviate physical pain but also offers a holistic experience of relaxation and natural beauty. Read More>>
Ranada Dalton
The older I get, the more I’m reminded of the importance of being flexible. I was definitely someone who had their life figured out in my late teens/early 20s. It’s quite comical how little my life looks like that plan. My sophomore year of college is when my plan was first rattled. I originally was going to be an OBGYN and Mental Health Therapist. To give more context, I’ve been saying I was going to be a doctor since I was in the 3rd grade. I still remember the day when it became clear that wasn’t happening. As I walked back to my dorm I remember thinking, you’re really just going to be a therapist, you’re not going to be a doctor. I must admit I was slightly surprised at how well I came to terms with this shift, but still grieved some. Read More>>
Lisa Pachence
I was raised by two highly intelligent, loving and accomplished parents. My mother was one of the first women to graduate from Colombia Medical School, and my dad was a biopharmaceutical consultant with a PhD in biophysics from Penn. I depended on my intellect and hard work from a young age, and played high level soccer through college. Perfection, achievement, and intelligence were what I thought my most valuable tools. Read More>>
Jessie Young
Hindsight offers a cogency that lived experience does not. Where I am today is not only not where I started, but it was not even on the map. My life’s cartography is more closely described by to the opportunism of early explorers than the precision of modern pilots. It’s impossible to A-B test which yields greater success. Perhaps this is because the two are a false binary. I have always been precise about who I am as a human being, and opportunistic about what I do as a human doing. Read More>>
Jacinth Headlam
My journey started back in Jamaica, where I was born and grew up surrounded by a rich culture and vibrant community. I always loved performing and telling stories, so it wasn’t a surprise when I found myself drawn to acting. That passion brought me to New York, where I dived headfirst into the entertainment world. Read More>>
Lorenzo Pozzan
As someone who thinks a lot, (read overthinks), I can’t say exactly what early memory, moment or event is salient enough to serve as ‘start’ to my story, but I think the vivid memory of Tom Hanks running his first sprint in Forrest Gump serves that purpose well. It made me become deeply fascinated with the power of cinema, story and art in general as an unadulterated, pure language to convey and share something about our personal understanding of the human condition. Growing up in a multilingual, multicultural household, my mother’s side of the family being from a small village on an island in the Mediterranean: Corsica, my fathers’ side from Venice, Italy, finding ways to reconcile and express all the diversity I was immersed in and absorbed, became fundamental to my own expression. Read More>>
Jim Plath
I’m a writer. In my particular case, that involves a couple different arenas, but the common thread that runs through all the things I do is storytelling. The Descriers, my debut novel, came out last year. It’s a contemporary fantasy that explores a world where god-like beings live among us. Promoting it has been rewarding and educational, and it’s given me an enormous amount of appreciation for all that goes into the business and logistics of publishing. I have a lifetime of stories to tell, and many more will become novels, but there are many different ways to tell stories, and another I’m pursuing is through designing tabletop roleplaying games. Read More>>
Thomas Coles-Reyes
From a young age, I was always asking “Why?” about everything. Life took a tough turn early on when my mother left us. I was just 2 years old, and shortly after, my father, battling his own demons of violence and alcoholism, also abandoned us. The mental scars from this abandonment were deep, and my siblings and I were left to navigate life on our own. Read More>>
Erin Anne MacDonald
It’s great to talk to with you again! I’m originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then went on to study musical theatre at The University of Miami, and have been a proud New Yorker for quite some time now working as an actress, writer and producer. Read More>>
Ann Vollum
Isaac Mather
I was born in New York, eventually moving to California at age 9, and my passion for music began there. I remember I went over to my friends house and recorded some songs onto his computer and we burned them onto cd’s. I then became sick with Lyme Disease and 2 Co-Infections at age 10, leaving me bedridden. I eventually became much better as a few years passed, although that wouldn’t last long. I eventually moved to Virginia where I still live today, and at age 12 is when I started to get into rapping. I began doing music all the time and I started producing beats. Read More>>
Natalie Nixon, PhD
My story consists of a series of nudges. Nudges to follow my heart, to listen to my intuition and to trust that the combination of my lived experiences, skills I’ve acquired up to date, and great advice from mentors, sponsors and strategic partners – are my best compass. A recombination of these have been helpful at every stage of my career. Read More>>
Nell Tice
My husband and I love to travel, so in 2019, we decided to start a travel vlog on YouTube. Everyone was already asking us where we were going next or recommendations for certain places, so it just seemed like the natural thing to do. We were also following a few other travel vloggers at the time, so we thought, hey, we can do that too! We started the vlog in December of 2019, and of course, we all know what happened just a couple of months later. When travel came to a halt, we started thinking of ways to keep the channel going. Read More>>
Isis Moreno
Let me start by saying I believe everyone has a superpower. Growing up, I always knew that meeting and connecting with people was my superpower. Socializing comes very naturally to me. I can walk into a room, absorb its energy, and connect with everyone. By the night’s end, I know everyone there and create memories with strangers. Read More>>
Alessandra Maria
I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and went to school at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York. After college, I worked as a waitress for a couple of years, paying my dues while working in my off time on my artwork. Eventually, I got my first couple of shows, and worked my way up to selling my work through galleries full time. Read More>>
Adrienne Figures
My story began as a young girl. I grew up knowing I wanted to be a pediatrician. I knew I wanted to help people, but I really didn’t know how I would get there. I came from a working class family. We weren’t rich but we had what we needed. We were expected to get an education because we came from a lineage of educators. Read More>>
Tamiqua Whittaker
My journey into entrepreneurship started while I was working full-time in the dental field. My husband encouraged me to create something I could call my own, instead of just getting a 2nd job. While trying to figure out my passion (other than dentistry) I would notice the constant issue of dry lips when leaving your dental checkups, and thus, created an all natural lipscrub product that has since blossomed into an entire line of lipcare products including lipbalms, lipmasks, and a mens line of lipbalms as well. Read More>>
Michael Otule
I knew I wanted to start a Podcast or a YouTube channel. I just didn’t know how I wanted to go about it. I could have easily recorded myself in the gym or recorded daily vlogs, but I wanted to do something different. I follow athletes who are at the top of their game when it comes to making relatable content for everyone. Now, I know what you are going to say. “It doesn’t matter what others are doing, as long as you are doing honest work, people will follow” or my favorite, “You most likely will reach people these top athletes aren’t.” Read More>>
Alexandra Mosca
I have a dual career in which I’ve been able to merge my passion for writing with my primary career as a funeral director. As I explained in a 2022 interview with Canvas Rebel, my journey into funeral service began unexpectedly during my college years when I started working part-time at a local funeral home. The job was only meant to help pay my way through school. However, my early experiences in the funeral home had a profound impact on me and, as time passed, I decided to enroll in mortuary school. That meant putting my dream of becoming a writer –my intended career path–on hold for a while. Read More>>
J. Michael Miller
Stories showed me the possibility we all have to be greater and gave me an escape from a world that seemed big, scary, and painful as a child. Instead of escaping to a different world, I get to create them. There’s no bigger honor than that. On days that I’m struggling or feeling down, I try to remind myself of that and reflect on the positive moments — like kids coming back to your table to ask for an autograph they were too shy to ask for the first time and fans asking when the next release is. Read More>>
Troy Kirby
I always start with the fact that I work with amazing people, regardless of the job, or position. Too many of us, and I was a victim of it early, do the career track instead of just enjoy the moment, then we regret not knowing how good we had it until it was gone. I went back to the college athletic director’s conference in Las Vegas (NACDA), and it was the 10 year anniversary of the National Association of Athletic Ticket Sales & Operations (NAATSO) that I helped start. Read More>>
Ashley Blalock
I grew up on a tobacco farm in rural North Carolina. Even as a child I had big dreams and always knew that I wanted to live in New York City. I moved to Atlanta and attended college at Georgia State University, where at the time I was studying to enter a career in entertainment law. As I approached my senior year in college I was interning in a law office, when one day my life flashed in front of my eyes, and I realized that law really wasn’t my passion, and wasn’t what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Read More>>
Xayvier Haughton
I was born 1986 in Spanish Town, Catherine, Jamaica in a small community called Rivoli. It is located close to the town center. An alias for the Spanish Town is called the “Old Capital” being Jamaica’s first capital during the colonial occupation of Spain, 1534 -1872. My parents worked minimum wage salaries, and I was the second child out of seven; The community is situated on the banks of the Rio Cobre´ which is one of the longest river in Jamaica, at age five I saw my friends Ray and Chris drawing a man on bike that was the big think that summer, so all the kids from this quite small community would gather and to show of their newly completed drawing. I remember my first drawing I was so proud. Read More>>
Ajuan Mance
I often say that my art practice began in 1996, at the end of my first year as an English Professor (at the University of Oregon). In reality, though, art has always been the primary tool through which I have explored, questioned, synthesized, and sometimes challenged the ideas, people, and places I encounter in my world. Read More>>
Imran Rai
I would say my journey started off in my first year of university. I found myself diverging between modelling full-time and hopefully pursuing law school. I was so young and filled with so much pressure that I allowed validation and prestige to take myself away from what I truly wanted. The fashion industry was giving me validation at this stage and I quickly fell into a pattern of restriction and toxic habits which led me to an eating disorder. I wanted to do well so badly that I dismissed my basic needs as a human. Read More>>
Kavita Melwani
My family immigrated from India before I was born for a better life. My father came as an employee for a company that made custom suits. Unlike a lot of immigrants from South Asia, both of my parents are not college-educated. They have the equivalent of a H.S. diploma. Their families were generations of entrepreneurs, so eventually, they opened their own business. I grew up around business and now eventually started my first business in 2003. I have a Master’s in Education and thought I would be a teacher but after moving and working on my teacher credential I started tutoring and eventually opened my own tutoring business. Read More>>
Vuyo Joboda
My journey began in a beautiful city in South Africa called Cape Town. I was born and bred in this city and went to university in this city. It became a big part of the fabric of my journey into the media and entertainment industry. Read More>>
Michaela Traylor
As cheesy as it sounds, for as long as I can remember, I have been into photography. Growing up my parents had a digital camera and I used to love to take pictures with it. Then in the 5th grade I got my very own hot pink digital camera. I would take pictures of everything! Literally. Fast forward to 2016, I got a “point and shoot” camera. Nothing too crazy, just something to take more clear pictures for Instagram. That point in shoot had me wanting to up my game so in 2018, I purchased a Canon Rebel T6. The rebel was a great introduction to DSLR cameras. I started doing photo sessions for friends and families and within a year, I was booking sessions and needed to up my camera game even more. Read More>>
Joshua Taylor
Well it’s funny because for me my entrepreneurial journey happens to line up with my antics at a young age. Growing up without even realizing it I loved to connect people and whatever they were seeking. As a kid that might be lunchables or a Pokémon card and as an adult it could be a social media marketing campaign or helping someone find passion in selling a product or service. I realized that as I got older I really just cared bout people and the overall customer satisfaction. I carried this mentality throughout my life and it really is the North Star as I continue to move forward on my life’s path. Read More>>
Jenna Matsumoto
Like many other artists and kids, I was always drawing when I was little. I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do until the time came to figure out where I wanted to go for University. I figured I’d want to go to culinary school or learn how to professionally bake in France but it all seemed so daunting. I stuck with art school and thought I’d figure it out in college, which was definitely a trial and error but that was the fun of it! During my studies, I started taking on graphic design outside of school. I wasn’t learning what I knew I needed to so it was certainly a catalyst to where I got to now. Read More>>
Carrie Sporer
My co-founder Meredith and I created SWAIR to deal with our own sweaty hair problems. We met training for the NYC Marathon in 2007, and while we loved the benefits of working out regularly, we hated the fact that we needed to wash our hair in the shower after every sweaty run. It was too time consuming, and it was drying out our hair and scalp. We complained about this issue for more than a decade, and finally decided to start calling labs to see if someone could bring our dream product to life. The end result was SWAIR’s hero product, Showerless Shampoo. It effectively cleans sweaty hair without suds, rinsing or residue. Read More>>
Monica Kelly
I was very disconnected from my body which resulted in a long battle with eating disorders, unsure how to dress my body, and I also had awfully painful periods. I thought everyone suffered the way I did. I starved myself for years – about 15 yrs old off and on until my early thirties. Read More>>