We asked the community what factors they felt were responsible for their success and we’ve highlighted some of those responses below.

Alvaro Carta | Owner

we start as a Food Truck with the vision to become a restaurant ,and we are very proud to be able to open our first brick & mortar more fast than we expected. was easy? no!! not at all, too much work behind this, but we learned that nothing become easy and nothing is luck ,everything is a goal and if you really want it you have to work for it. Read more>>

Bryan Byrd | DJ,Music Producer, Restauranter

I feel what has allowed me to be successful is the ability to adapt and recreate. Being someone who occupies many hats the turning point is being able to do things that are your natural strengths while generating an public or audience for that need convincingly. Read more>>

Braxton & Tia Hooks | Table View Foundation Scholarship & Black Love Advocates

We believe that the most important factor behind our success and the value of our brand is authenticity. We like to think that as long as we remain true to ourselves and maintain our values, everything will fall into place. There are opportunities that may be presented to us, but if they don’t fit with who we are, we will have to pass because being authentic is very important to us. Read more>>

Jasmine Jeffrey | CEO of Ghiaudii & Poet

The most important factor behind my success was my mindset. I had to get out of my own way. A lot of times it was me being afraid, worry about what could go wrong and just letting the negative thoughts cause me to hesitate on going for what I wanted. Read more>>

Jean Fleming | Wedding + Events Coordinator

Definitely God, my relationship with Christ has played a huge factor in my success. Secondly, the people. With the support of friends, clients and strangers- there would be no Sincerely, JS Services. Read more>>

Michael Blake Fortune, II | Managing Partner, Chief Compliance Officer

Transparency and Trust. Like many millennials, I began my finance journey during the financial crisis. The housing market was crashing, and big banks were going belly up. One of the major contributors to the ’08 crash were financial products that nobody, including the issuers, understood. Families were torn apart from Wall Street greed, and retirement savings for many people were wiped away virtually overnight. Read more>>

Shay Matthews | Entrepreneur | Artist

The most important factor behind my success is trusting God and never giving up no matter how hard it gets. Read more>>

Zantaviu$ | Inspiring Artist, Dancer , Choreographer, Motivational leader

The most important factor behind my success is my mindset. I find that a positive mindset will always help you strive in reaching your true goals and ambitions . We all know that the mind is a powerful thing so the ability to think above and beyond while remaining level headed is AMAZING ! Read more>>

Isaac Ameyaw | Photographer & Creator

Staying true to self. Often times we can get so caught up in following every other path but ours. I’m a firm believer in sitting with yourself and finding out what resonates mentally, whether that’s through meditation or just being to yourself and brainstorming. Read more>>

Hana Park | Model and Creative

I find that a lot of my success came from finding comfort within my own self. When I stopped comparing myself to others I could single out my own goals rather than what I believed I needed to achieve to “fit in”. I had been told all my life to model due to my height but my own self-doubt kept me from venturing into this field. Read more>>

Jason Cantrell | Photographer

I keep in mind that every day I need to be better than I was yesterday. Photography is an art, like most, that is impossible to master and sometimes hard to distinguish oneself in. Developing your ‘look’ without forcing something not natural to yourself takes decades and it should never cease to evolve. Read more>>

Dezjah Hutchins | Serial Entrepreneur, Artist & Interior Designer

The most important factor behind the success in my life and brand is ultimately patience. As a young entrepreneur fresh out of college, I was so anxious to jump onto the next steps of elevating my business of 5 years that I began to lose focus on the original purpose and vision of my company. I also realized that rushing the process because of where I was at mentally, left huge gaps within the authenticity of my work. Read more>>

Auntie Naj | Artist and Mogul

I would have to say authenticity, I only know how to be myself and draw inspiration from my life. I feel like in the social media age it’s easy to adapt other people’s thought process. I think it’s important to take a break from social media and watch a movie you’ve always loved or listen to a song from your childhood. Doing this allows me to reconnect with my inner child, and remind myself who I am and what’s my personal mission. Read more>>

Alan Upshur | Realtor, mortgage lender, Title agent

Consistency. You have to know that success doesn’t come over night and YOU WILL experience failure along the way. You have to ride the highs and lows when they come. Along the journey you will meet great people who will help grow your vision AND provide speed bumps along the way. Continue through it because you’ll learn, grow and gain exposure along the way if you stay committed to positive outcomes. Read more>>

Capodei Capi | Small Business Owner , Rap Artist

Staying Focused, Maximizing your craft , Not let people know your vision until it is seen in completion are the most important factor behind success . You have to be OBSESSED with completing your goals. Until they are complete everything else needs to come second to none. You cannot listen to outsiders & negative people doubt you and not support you. Read more>>