It’s more important to understand someone than to judge them. We think the first step to understanding someone is asking them the fundamental questions about who they are and how they became the person they are today. Understanding and empathy are essential building blocks for a better, more compassionate world. We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to ask these questions each week through our interview series. Below you’ll find inspiring interviews from in and around Dallas.
Ebony Robinson 
I am the successful career woman who traded my laptop for a skillet. Before becoming a full-time recipe developer and content creator, I spent years building a career in corporate America, most recently working as a Director of Global Partnerships at Mastercard. Read more>>
Molly O’Neil Hayley Waring 
We met during our first semester of graduate school at TCU, where we were both studying clinical mental health counseling. We became fast friends and recognized pretty quickly that we shared not only a love for this work, but a similar vision for what counseling could look and feel like. Read more>>
Ashleigh Hasselbusch 
I began my career in the interior design industry right out of college, where I spent four and a half years working exclusively in residential design before transitioning into commercial design, where I’ve spent the last four years. Throughout the different roles I’ve held, one thing has always remained constant: my love for design and creativity. Read more>>
Will Stegall 
I’ve always been musically inclined, but things really picked up for me when my family members got me my first instrument, a bright red Epiphone bass guitar that I still play to this day! My passion for the trumpet carried me through my years as a school kid. From there, I finally took the plunge and started doing singer/songwriter open mics in my twenties. Read more>>
Cindi Coker Nakami Stewart 
The Swirled Sip was created by two Jesus-loving best friends who wanted to use their creative inspirations and life experience to bring something different to the event experience. Being a woman and veteran owned business we knew our life experiences would bring an original aspect to all our clients party or event needs! Read more>>
FALLON LEE 
After being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and having a very sick child, I dove full force into healing through food and holistic living. I found a lot of incredible information, progress, and encouragement, but eventually felt ‘stuck’. The women’s wellness world felt confusing, limiting, and often not supportive to women’s biology and needs – prioritizing thinness and calorie counting over true nourishment. Read more>>
Hannah Maloof 
I was born into the automotive and racing world, where cars have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up at the track watching my dad race and working alongside my parents at our family business, Maloof Racing Engines. Read more>>
Tiffany Hannah Studio 
My journey as an artist has evolved from simply creating art to building an entire world around it. Read more>>
Richard Sodeke 
I moved to Dallas in 2021 by way of Washington, D.C., for a job in commercial real estate. I was born and raised in New Jersey and started my career in Brooklyn, so by the time I arrived in Texas, I had experienced a pretty wide spectrum of culture and nightlife up and down the East Coast. Read more>>
Lucas Smissen 
Hi, my name is Lucas Smissen. I am a professional travel photographer and content creator out of Dallas, TX. When I was in high school, my parents rented a Ford van for me and 6 buddies to take the car across the country from Virginia to California and back. Read more>>
Ricardo Morales
My name is Ricardo Ivan Morales, but I go by Ivan. I was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, and moved to Anaheim, California, at the age of 12. Moving to a new country came with its challenges. Adapting to a different culture, learning a new language, and adjusting to a new school environment were all experiences that pushed me outside of my comfort zone. Read more>>
Payal Goyal, Anshika Goyal N/A 
Stronger Than Cancer began during one of the most difficult chapters of our lives, but also from a simple act of kindness that stayed with us. In late 2024, I, Payal, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Suddenly, our family was navigating fear, uncertainty, appointments, surgery, and recovery. In January 2025, I underwent a mastectomy with DIEP flap reconstruction. Read more>>
Jesse Davalos 
Hello im Jesse Lee Davalos a color and black and gray realism and large scale anime artist from Dallas Texas and i co own a studio that serves the Forney and surrounding areas named Royal circle tattoo studio so I got into art early it help silence alot of outside noise and keep me out of trouble while I definitely did my fair share it was definitely a anchor for me coming from someone who only dreamed of going to places I seen on tv and in magazines to being able to travel the world off of what I love motivated me and constantly reminds me me of how blessed I am to be where I’m at in life and my career Read more>>
Danielle Riddle 
Following several diagnosis including endometriosis and Hashimoto’s auto-immune disease, it became evident that my health and fitness journey was going to take an interesting pivot. Since exercise and movement became an actual requirement to battle back inflammation, pain, and anxiety, I decided to step-up my game and become a Certified Personal Trainer later in life (40s to be exact). Read more>>
Amy Treme 
My name is Amy Treme. I live in Shreveport Louisiana. With my spouse Nathan and 2 kiddos. I work as a fashion styling teacher at a career center. I have been swing in some way shape or form since I was 6 years old. I have seen for my myself,friends,family or my community since high school. Read more>>
Jordan (Jay) Day 
Yes of course. So I started off as an artist who was young and broke and couldn’t afford the things I needed to shape my career. So of course I took the DYI route and started doing everything myself. I have a background in tech so naturally I began to gravitate towards what I was doing, engineering, videography, photography etc. Read more>>
Brittany Jurand 
I got into the health insurance industry about a year and a half ago during a season of my life when I honestly had no idea where it would lead. At the time, I was working traditional 9–5 jobs, barely making it financially, and constantly feeling like I wasn’t as available for my family as I wanted to be. Read more>>
Madison McCormick 
I joke that I somehow ended up building three careers at the same time, but looking back, they all make a lot of sense together. Photography was where it all started for me. Read more>>
Orion Fern Schiada 
We always were a creative kid – and our parents were incredibly generous in their encouragement of my artistic endeavors from a young age. I come from a working-class family that started out in the Bay Area of California and then moved to North Texas in 2001. My mother’s side is Mexican American and German, and my father’s side is Italian American and Irish American. Read more>>
LaPorcha Gentry 
I got to where I am at today, because I decided to explore/express my artistic skills in a different way. I’ve always been able to draw or paint and make the simplest things into something so good. Read more>>
Arturo Salas Güell 
My journey has always been connected to music, creativity, and the people behind it. I started working in the music industry more than 17 years ago, initially as a musician and later expanding into artist management, music business, cultural management, and creative entrepreneurship. Read more>>
Trey Lawrence 
Yes, so Last year of my high School education I was in a Audio/Video production class.. this led to a Love for music production. Which is where I started primarily. Making beats and finding classmates / local artists to hop on them. Read more>>
Abby Burris 
I’m originally from Georgia—a Southern girl at heart—and found my way to Texas, where I studied scenic design at TCU. My background in design sparked my love for creating beautiful, thoughtfully considered spaces, but I quickly realized I was equally drawn to the people and experiences behind them. Read more>>
JoMerra Watson 
I like to describe my art journey with the visual of picking up a thread and just following where it leads. There have been multiple points in my life when I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted to do, but I’ve always followed that thread back to art. Read more>>
Leslie White 
I began my career in global technology and telecommunications sales for the world’s 2nd largest company—a Fortune 5 organization. I became fascinated not only with sales, but with performance psychology + behavioral design: what people respond to coupled with what creates actual influence, and what allows someone to perform beyond what they previously believed was possible. Read more>>
Guillaume Coutheillas 
I was born and raised on the Left Bank in Paris in a family of art lovers, so I grew up surrounded by objects, art and interiors that carried a sense of history. I think that is where my fascination with design really began, not only how something looks, but with the emotional connection we form with the spaces and objects around us. Read more>>
Sophia Knolton 
I began working professionally in film in 2016, and I have continued building my career in the independent film industry through film, television, and commercial work. The journey has not always been easy or perfectly mapped out, but every role, every set, and every experience has helped prepare me for where I am today. Read more>>
Pamela & Dylan Dowdy 
If you’re ever in East Dallas, come find our artisan gift shop, Dowdy Studio. We describe it as a thrilling fever dream filled with hand-drawn cats, goofy cowboys, yetis, space dinosaurs, spooky fun, mermaids, raccoons, rampaging opossums, and all kinds of local Texas nonsense. Read more>>
Quaneshia Johnson 
My journey in the beauty industry started at just 11 years old, when I taught myself how to braid hair in my mother’s den. By the time I was 13, I had taken my very first paying client—a set of micro braids that earned me $80. Read more>>
Triana 
I’m a multidisciplinary artist, and my creative journey has taken me through a few different mediums over the years. I went to the Art Institute for graphic design and earned my BFA. After college, I worked in graphic design for a few years before eventually going freelance and offering my own graphic design services. Read more>>
Jean Cozier 
It all started as a dream from when I was a kid. I remember falling in love with fragrances and sunglasses. I remember how awesome it was to have my first wallet. I always was in love with fashion, but I had no idea how to get into it or where to start. Read more>>
Diamond/Simon Flores 
In high school my school only offered a theatre program, so at the time I focused on that even though what I truly wanted was to do film. Around my junior year I met my best friend Sonia! She was also interested in film so we started making films together. Often having me write, producing, and acting in the films. Read more>>
Carolina Herrera 
Our story began with a personal realization: that true health is more than the absence of disease—it is the presence of wholeness in mind, body, and soul. As a nurse, I saw firsthand how people navigating health challenges, caregiving, and demanding seasons often feel lost and overwhelmed. There was a gap between the clinical setting and the emotional and spiritual support people needed. Read more>>
Charles Eugene
I was born in New Orleans during Hurricane Andrew, and New Orleans was a city I truly loved. Eventually, life took me to California, and being exposed to a completely different environment opened my eyes to different cultures, different perspectives, and different ways people approached opportunity. Read more>>
Samuel Thomas 
Louis Hunter and Samuel Thomas started as film school buddies out of the University of North Texas in Denton. After enjoying success on the film festival circuit they decided to bring that magic to Waco. The festival grew out of a college partnership. Samuel Thomas and Louis Hunter made short films together as film production majors at the University of North Texas. Read more>>
Rebecca Allmon 
My passion for cooking was ignited when I was 8 years old. Prior to that I use to watch my mom and her friends cook, assisting whenever given the opportunity. I am number nine of twelve children. My siblings and I use to play restaurant during any meal time; I was always the waitress/Chef. Read more>>
Brian Bradley 
I got into videography because I was always the person who wanted to make things. What started as me figuring out how to shoot and edit my own projects eventually turned into freelance work, and over the years I kept saying yes to opportunities that forced me to learn new thing after new thing. Read more>>
Errin & Grace Johnson 
We started as sourdough hobbyists during COVID in 2020, when our son was born and the world felt chaotic. Stuck at home, we learned to bake sourdough—and named our starter Lazarus, after Jesus’ friend who was brought back to life. Read more>>
Brandi Brown 
I started my fashion journey right out of high school when I attended Berkeley College in White Plains, NY, studying Fashion Marketing and Management. About two years in, I decided to leave school because I wasn’t sure what I wanted from a career in fashion or what that career would look like for me. Read more>>
Reginald Terrell 
Born and raised in Austin, TX, I was taught how to be an efficient musician from my church. At first I was getting acquainted with the drumset/percussion. However, once I got into middle school, that changed completely. Of course, getting into band wasn’t too hard (especially for someone who’s played in his church all of his life). Read more>>
Melissa Trivette 
Founding Melissa Trivette Interiors was an interesting twist of fate. I worked in global marketing roles for 15 years until I was laid off during the pandemic (while still on maternity leave). I had always loved interior design, and decided this was an opportunity for me to pursue a career I was passionate about that also enabled me to serve my family better. Read more>>
Jordan Cooper 
My story really begins with healing, but before I understood that, I was honestly just trying to do my best. I spent a lot of my life following what my parents and the people around me, told me I should and shouldn’t be doing. Read more>>
Roger Myers II 
I began my jiu jitsu journey in December of 2011 when I attended my first class at Chris Brennan’s Next Generation MMA in Frisco, TX. I had taken more than a few trials in the metroplex to find where I felt at home and I found that at NG MMA. I didn’t even know the price of the monthly tuition when I first signed up. Read more>>
Lawrence Mann
Top Achievers really started with my sons. When my sons, Anteus and Lawrence Jr., asked me to coach them, I saw an opportunity to do more than teach basketball. I began bringing together young athletes who were willing to work, learn and challenge themselves. As the team developed, so did the athletes. Read more>>
Brandy Ross 
Music has been part of my story for as long as I can remember. I come from a singing family, my late father was a pastor, my mother played the piano, and somehow most of our family gatherings eventually turned into somebody singing. Music wasn’t something that was formally introduced to me; it was simply woven into the fabric of how I grew up. Read more>>
Kiara Mullins 
I had always been a music enthusiast. I grew up loving Elvis, then Taylor Swift, Fleetwood Mac, and then Paramore. There was never a time when I didn’t have a poster of my favorite artist on the walls of my bedroom. I mean – I still have posters to this day. You could say I never outgrew being a fangirl… Read more>>
Alexander Boyd 
It all started with a 2011 A$AP Rocky music video. I must’ve been 9 at the time but I’ll never forget the feeling of, “this is what i wanna be”. The swag. the visuals, the message of rebellion through the finer things always intrigued me and from that point on i knew I wanted to be known for art. Read more>>
Paloma Fuentes 
I was born and raised in the city of Acuña, in the state of Coahuila de Zaragoza, México. It’s a small city on México’s northern border. Aside from being the place I call home, Acuña gave me three important life gifts: identity, perspective, and an instinct to seek out what I couldn’t immediately see around me. Creativity included. Read more>>
Tiara 
I’ve been an athlete all my life, so the world of arts and creativity is relatively new to me. What drew me in was the freedom of expression — the ability to take something that begins as a thought or a feeling and find a way to bring it to life. Read more>>
Chase Schurga 
My career has never exactly followed a traditional path. It actually started when I was younger, making YouTube videos under the name CopyAndChase. Read more>>
Jessica Brown
Well my love for crafting came from working at a daycare, I worked on a lot of crafts big and small. From there I started making crafts for every occasion that came around. It wasn’t until I worked on a few events for my friends and family that I really decided I wanted to try and make event planning/coordination a career. Read more>>
Damon Harris 
My journey into fitness didn’t begin in a gym—it began with loss. In 2003, I experienced the heartbreaking loss of my mother and, just three months later, my little cousin. Losing two people I loved so deeply changed my life forever. I was carrying a kind of pain that I didn’t always know how to express, so I turned to fitness as an outlet. Read more>>
Angela Pozniak 
I am originally from Dallas, TX, Oak Cliff to be specific, I was raised by my mother, Elsie Crabtree, and I have four sisters: Makeba Crabtree, Tiffany Law, Jasmine Crabtree Jacobs, and Traesi Smith. I attended Lisbon Elementary, Sarah Zumwalt Middle School, and Skyline High School. I left home at 18 to join the military so I could pay for school. Read more>>
Kat Watson
I was born and raised in the Arlington, TX area. Until 2022, I never would have considered myself an artist. But becoming disabled through Covid forced me to try new things that I could do while sitting down. I tried a few embroidery kits and immediately knew I had found my passion. Read more>>
Jessica Deskewies
I was born January 23 1997 in Memphis, TN. I spent 15 years there in local community theatre training under Julie Freeman, Kathy Caradine and Bob Westbrook entertainment, competitive cheerleadering, playing cello and on a competitive hip hop dance team. I was 15 when my father passed. My mom and I decided to relocate to Dallas, TX where I graduated from Coram Deo Academy. Read more>>
