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.
Tamara Benavente
I don’t think the world told me who I had to be. For me, it’s always felt more like a process of discovery than a battle against expectations. I was a little girl, and later a young woman, who needed to express herself through art. That’s never changed. As a child, I lived in my imagination. Read more>>
Leo Figueredo
I was an insecure and overweight teen before I became the person I am today. Back then, I lacked confidence and direction, but deep down I always had a drive to improve myself and prove that I could become more. Read more>>
Kat Fleischman
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was a loud, sparkly little girl with big dreams, a pen in one hand and a passport in the other. I was the one organizing fashion shows in my expansive backyard, making up stories in two languages, and asking way too many questions at grown-up dinner tables. Read more>>
Yameli Rivas
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was deeply in love with movement—dance, choreography, and the pure joy of expressing myself through the body. I was always connected to art, literature, poetry, and film, but dance was my greatest passion. Read more>>
Lander Tee
I think this is an exciting question because I am always the kind of person who never wants to listen to what I ‘have to be’. I grew up in the traditional Chinese culture. There are always expectations throughout our lives. When I was a kid, the expectation was ‘do not date, get a good grade, get into a good college’. Read more>>
JD Bertola
The great thing is, I have always been aware that the world molds people whether it be relationships, work, or the general stress of life people can get worn down and give up. Read more>>
Kat Barrow-Horth
I’ve always danced to the beat of my own drum—and the older I get, the more emboldened I feel to keep doing just that. My mom was told in Kindergarten that I would be an artist, and she wasn’t wrong. Even though I tried to follow a more conventional path—at one point even starting pre-med in college—the arts have always called to me. Read more>>
Kelvin Small III
I was a quiet, observant Black kid growing up in West Palm Beach, in a neighborhood where survival often overshadowed self-discovery. I never quite fit in. While most people around me were trying to blend in or stay hardened by circumstance, I was drawn to things that felt softer, stranger, more imaginative. Read more>>
TYMUR TRUSHKOVSKYI
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was a DJ and deeply involved in the nightlife industry. I organized events, managed parties, and worked as an art director for a nightclub. After graduating from university, I threw myself into that world and built a career around music and entertainment. Read more>>
Azari’el Sudan
This question deeply resonated with me because healing my inner child is a central theme in my life right now. As a child, I was adventurous, bold, artistic, athletic, and endlessly curious. I was always exploring—whether through gymnastics, basketball, girls’ groups, track, learning guitar, or singing in the choir. Read more>>
Tetiana Bohoslavska Orel
Back in 2012, when I co-founded RGB Idea Group in Ukraine with my partner, we had two core directions: events and branding. One phrase I kept hearing in the early days was: “We are interchangeable.” As in — we’re co-founders, we can replace each other if needed. But that never resonated with me. Read more>>
