Most people say they want success, but when you ask them what success means you get wildly different responses. We recently asked some of the best and brightest in our community to tell us about how they define success and have shared their responses below.

Gina Freize | Founder

Freedom. There is nothing more rewarding to me than making my own decisions, working in a career that has good hours, running a business that brings joy to people and being able to truly work only on things that make me happy. It was so hard to give up a six-figure corporate income and venture out on a dream. I used to think success meant money – the more you have the more successful you are. While some might think so, I disagree. Success is waking up every day anxious to dive into work projects. Success is bringing smiles to people’s faces. Success is deciding to work at 2 a.m. one day, then take the next day off. Success is working with people that share your love of living. And finally, success is having the freedom to truly make decisions that take me to the places I want to go. Read more>>

Claudio Parentela | Visual Artist & Journalist Freelance

Being able to simply live your dream day after day. Being able to feel free day after day…. Dreaming about art, eating art, smelling art, drinking art. Getting inside yourself more and more every day to open new doors, new colorful worlds. Read more>>

Linda Ruggeri | Bilingual Nonfiction Editor & Writer Coach

Success to me is being able to do the work I love on an everyday basis and earn an income from it. It took me a long time to realize (and believe) that I could do the work I love (editing, writing, reading) and get paid for it. Even though I believed in myself and my skills, I came from the traditional Latinx upbringing that work is work, and your probably not going to love it, but it pays the bills. Walking away from that paradigm, and understanding that it was ok to do what I was passionate about was a huge leap of faith. It was clear to me that I could be successful, but that a bachelor’s degree alone wasn’t going to cut it. I knew I was going to have to further my own education, find my niche (nonfiction editing), network, and put myself out there in order to succeed. It’s been a great life learning experience. Read more>>