Through our work we have had the good fortune of seeing firsthand how success comes in every shape, size, color, faith, and orientation. More importantly we’ve learned that success is often the result of people embracing their unique backgrounds and so we’ve asked the community to tell us about their background and how it has impacted where they are today.

Joseph Ross | Next Generation Pastor (Faith Chapel) & Sr. Director of Communications (San Diego Christian College)

I was born and raised in Kansas City, MO. My parents were Pastors of a local church. Our church was outreach focused so we were heavily involved with reaching people of our neighborhood which at the time was the meth capital of the world. So from a young age, I was seeing people come in off the streets, get clean, give their live to Jesus and restart their life. Read more>>

KEVINRAY | KRE8R

I’m originally from Chesterton, Indiana which is a small town about 2 hrs East of Chicago. It’s a typical small town where everyone knows everyone. Local bars, no movie theatre, no clubs, and the baseball coach is a local legend that is still coaching after about 50 years. It was frustrating as a kid not having much to do but it gave me a solid base of “what matters,” and helped me build strong character, morals, values which is necessary to stay afloat in the hustle and bustle of a major metropolitan area such as LA Read more>>

April Werle | Pinay Artist & Muralist

I grew up in Helena, Montana, within a small, tight-knit, Pinay community (Filipino). My life growing up here was divided by two very different cultures: My home life, and social life mainly revolved around our community. In fact, the community of Pinays were the ones that raised my little sister and I. Our single mom and our aunties, who were also mostly single moms, are who raised all of us kids. Read more>>

R.C. Samo | Entertainment Journalist and Voice Over Artist

I am a first generation American originally from San Francisco, CA. My father was an Assyrian from Iran and my mother is Lebanese, from Beirut. Being of two distinct ethnicities from the Middle East along with not fully belonging to those identities, let alone the American one, shaped my worldview quite differently. Realizing in my late-20s that I had three identities to choose from and not being full accepted by any of them allowed me to forge my own way without the pressures of conforming to any particular customs. Read more>>

Nuzhat Hussain | Microbiologist / Leader – Training and Development

I am from Pakistan but spent most of my early childhood years in Dubai. When I was in eight grade, my dad had a massive heart attack while on a business trip to Pakistan. We were fortunate that he was at a hospital working on design configuration for an operating room and received timely medical attention that saved his life. Due to this incident, we had to relocate back to Pakistan. I still remember it being the toughest time for us as a family but it was my mom’s strength and the family support that pulled us through. Read more>>