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.

Hanyuan Guo | Visual Designer & Illustrator

I was born in Germany and grew up in China. I have a multi-cultural background which provides me with an open vision of diversity and creativity. My background in production design in film, television, and theatre, I worked for advertising companies for several years. From those experiences, I combined my interest in drawing with the advertising field. Now I am a visual designer and illustrator based in Savannah. Read more>>

Haowei Zhang | Director&Writer&Production Designer

I come from a central city in China. My education and environment since childhood have subconsciously influenced me by traditional Eastern culture and values. But I have been a rebel since I was a child. In an environment where I believe in moderation, I often feel out of place. I grew up in the gap between resignation and contradiction, trying to find some kind of balance or reconciliation. After coming to the United States, I unconsciously realized that my blood was still that of a boy living in a small town in China. In many moments, I found that my intuitive judgment was still influenced by Eastern values. Then, I realized that the reason why I was able to discover this was because I began to be slowly shaped by the Western cultural background. Under the oriental values ​​of the past, I was disciplined and taught not to be too good and shoot first. But now, I sometimes understand that I need to fight for everything myself. If you don’t express yourself, you have no chance of being seen. Read more>>

Daiyon Davis | Music artist/entrepreneur/Brand

My name is Daiyon and I’m from Beloit Wisconsin. I am the youngest of 6 children, 5 boys and 1 girl.–Fred,jon, Lewis, tarina, tony and me. Beloit is a small city but it definitely shaped who i am. Coming from a musical background, especially with my mom, Flora jean, being a legend there and also listed in the music archives, it fueled me growing up. My dad, Mack, was a known name in Alabama and rockford for his jazz and blues talents, so i was blessed with the gift from both parents. plus, all of my brothers either play guitar, bass,drums, and one was a rapper that i followed after. Beloit has plenty of talent but very few outlets so that encouraged me to leave and bring the dream back, once im in a position to. I didn’t want to leave her behind, but once my mom told me not to get stuck in beloit, that was all the motivation i needed. During this time, Buddy, the man i called my pops passed and my brother Tony got sent to the feds all in the same year. After having that conversation with my mom, i knew i had to make her proud because she is kind of living her dream through me. My mom almost signed to motown before they were called motown, so music is deeply rooted in my family. Read more>>

Amaria Demia | Video Editor/ Actor

I’m from Brunswick, Georgia. I grew up in the country and remembering how hard my family worked, The expectations they wanted out of me was my biggest motivation. With that, I had to grow out of the layers of limitations and start revealing my creative side. Now here I am today, still discovering the other creative sides that I have, and I want to encourage others to do the same. Read more>>

Daphne Adebayo | Fitness Entrepreneur

I am an athlete always and forever. At the age of 10, I started playing basketball. I trained hard enough to retire a D1 athlete playing all 4 years on scholarship at Virginia Commonwealth University. That level of work and commitment led me to be the fitness professional I am today. It not only solidified the concept that “any gym is home” is a real thing, but it also led me to explore what fitness meant to me. One would think I would go down the straight path of sports performance or strength training since I have been doing that most of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I love and coach those fitness modalities, but I think it pushed me to be way more explorative as a coach since I had done sports training all my life. Once I could say no to workouts post-graduation it was a wrap lol. It took time for me to fall back in love with the gym because my body felt so beat up I rarely wanted to work out. So I had to find what worked the best for me to keep me motivated to workout. When I first started as a trainer my focus was functional fitness, then as someone who experienced multiple injuries in college, I became a pain-free performance specialist. Those injuries also led me to become a cycling instructor because it became my favorite form of cardio due to it having a lower impact on one’s knees. I have been building ever since adding things like kettle bell training or utilizing a pilates reformer. Read more>>

De’Ja Brown | Brand & Experiential Marketing Strategist | Sports, Culture, Lifestyle, Fashion & Entertainment

I’m from Burlington County, located in South Jersey in the Philly metro area. My background and upbringing definitely had a huge impact of who I am and where I am at, especially in my career. I grew up playing basketball for over 10 years. Playing against hoopers all over Jersey, Philly and New York definitely brought out a different type of “hustle” in me, that I carried way beyond the basketball court. That hustle that was instilled in me brought me various types of scholarships, allowing me to be a first generation college graduate. I’m also the first in my family to have attended graduate school, where I obtained two master’s degrees. I have consistently strived to break generational curses and look forward to continue to do so, now that I am pursuing a career in the sports industry, which is a male-dominated career field. Read more>>

Eugene Lucas | Photographer., Artist

Growing up in Scranton Pennsylvania offered a lot of different routes to go as far as making friends. Growing up, my family encouraged my creativity and taught me respect and to treat everyone equally. In my adolescent years I was into metal/ hardcore , rap , playing guitar, etc. So often I was at local shows, skateboarding, or dabbing in graffiti. As I got older those things became fewer and fewer.. After the passing of my mother, I decided I was going to take a loan buy a camera and start taking photos seriously. This city is so creative musically, artistically and in so many other ways. And the community as whole is supportive of it all. So about a yr and a half ago I started painting as well. I love both mediums equally and float between the two as it goes. Without the support of my fiancé Shannon and the community I’d probably be a very different person. All the creators in this city push you to do more, to be better than you were yesterday in all aspects. And I appreciate all the support they’ve given me. Read more>>

Chris Rectenwald | Fine Artist

I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. Both of my parents and my 2 sisters and I were all artists. It was fun being raised in an “artsy” family. We always took our artvsupplies on vacation. My mother painted on everything in our house. Front door, milk box, telephones, bathtub, and furniture. My father had a table in the back of the livingroom where he could carve and still be with the family. My parents were both totally supportive of my desire to go to art school, but said that I would have to get a scholarship. Because of this, I worked hard to keep good grades, and was on honor roll. I attended PNCA (Museum Art School at that time), studying in graphic design. After the first year I got a summer job working in an art department. I didn’t return to school, and never regretted it. I received all of my training on the job and loved it. I was a graphic designer for 37 years. Read more>>