Even if you are from the same neighborhood as someone else, you might still be coming from different places.  Where you are from is a complicated question and it elicits complicated, but interesting and thought-provoking responses. We’ve shared some of those responses below.

Kara Langill: Health & Fitness Influencer

I moved around a lot as a kid, but I have lived in Georgia for most of my life. I always had an active lifestyle since I grew up playing different kinds of sports. I played competitively through my freshman year of college. It was after I stopped playing and with gaining the freshman 15 that I truly realized the impact health and fitness played in my life. Read more>>

Charmin A. Bates: Creative Girls Rock®, Founder and Creative Director

I was born and raised in Joliet, IL, a suburb of Chicago. I grew up in a well-grounded home and community that instilled positive principles in me and my siblings to ensure we would stay on the right path. I attended church and other activities, reinforced education as a priority, limited negative spaces, and was active in the community. I am a firm believer in the word of God, Proverbs 22:2, “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. These principles helped shape me to who I am today. Read more>>

Teeara Ida: Content Creator

I was born in Jersey City, NJ, and moved to Newark, NJ, at the age of 8. I didn’t come from money and was raised in a single-parent home. I watched my mother work double shifts and sometimes 2-3 jobs to make sure we can survive and have the things we want. I was exposed to a lot at a very young age, and growing up in the hood taught me independence but gave me the grit to figure it out and go after the things I want. The struggle gave me so much motivation to get out of the hood and to show others its possible despite where you come from. Read more>>

Munib Rezaie: Educator & Children’s Book Author

This is definitely one of the most difficult questions for me to answer. The easiest reply for me is: I’m a world citizen. My parents are from Iran, but I’ve never been there. I was born in Belgium, but I never lived there beyond the first few months of my life. I grew up in Brazil, Macau, China, and the United States, and feel at home just about anywhere. I am from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. When I call myself a world citizen, I mean it more than just the fact that I’ve lived in different countries. For me, world citizenship is more of a global ethic that accepts the inherent oneness of the human race and ties it to a sense of global solidarity. To me, that sense of solidarity MUST be tied to pursuing social justice for every single person on the planet, not to mention the planet itself!. Read more>>

Charlene Autumn: Makeup Artist

Originally I am from New Jersey, but I was raised in Atlanta, GA. I come from a Haitian household which if you don’t know anything about Haitians/Caribbean households, you’ve got two choices. Doctor or a Lawyer. So I chose Makeup Artist! Not going to lie, my upbringing was pretty great. I’m an only child, I got everything I needed, and then some. When I told my family and friends I wanted to pursue makeup they supported me. Although this wasn’t without some push back from my parents, but once they saw how serious I was about it they let the “doctor, lawyer dream” go. Watching my parents work for other people definitely impacted why I knew it was up to me to break this cycle. I knew I couldn’t see myself in 5-10 years working for someone else forever, and I’m so blessed to have makeup as my talent to do so. Read more>>