We have had the good fortunate of connecting with Nobel Laureates, titans of industry, rockstars and rising stars across dozens of industries and we have always found their stories about who they were early on to be most fascinating. Below, you’ll find members of the community sharing their responses to this key aspect of their stories.
Rose Barbantan
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was a curious and fearless mover always dancing, imagining, expressing without filter. Movement was my language, my refuge, and my joy. I didn’t know it yet, but I was already living my vocation. I lived in my own rhythm, guided by instinct rather than expectation. Read more>>
Zoey Hunter Vick
I was an angry teenager who was trapped in the ideals society had put forth for artist kids. The world told me we were going to be nothing, that who I was inside was worthless in society. Read more>>
Kennedy Keever
This is a very unique question because both inside and outside of my photography career, I have experienced the coming and going of ‘belonging’ – yet I don’t feel that I’ve ever truly lost sight of who I am to my core – even if the world has different expectations or standards of me. Read more>>
Mari Brown
People often expect you to show up small, to shrink yourself so that they feel comfortable. Many people don’t have the courage to be themselves, do what they love, so often times they project those feelings onto others. Before I understood that my triggers aren’t the same as others I would be affected by those projections. Read more>>
Vanessa Palomera
I was a curious, intuitive little girl who felt everything deeply: other people’s emotions, the unspoken tension in a room, the pain behind someone’s smile. I was the helper before I had the words for it. The one who could see someone’s heart even when they couldn’t. Read more>>
Alexander Fletcher
When people ask how I got into hospitality, I usually smile and say, “I took a thousand wrong turns to end up exactly where I’m supposed to be.” And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. In my twenties, I was fully immersed in two very different worlds: studying philosophy by day and chasing a dream of becoming a professional musician by night. Read more>>
Nicko Coleman
I was loud, emotional, endlessly curious, and always creating something. Music, art, chaos, you name it. I felt everything big. I asked too many questions, made too many jokes at the wrong time, and always had my hands in something creative. Read more>>
Taylor Hamill
I never listened when the world told me who to be. Even as a kid I marched to my own beat, my father and brother are the same way. My brother and I started this business together despite people telling us it was a mistake. Our father joined us a couple of years later. Read more>>
