Kimson Albert
Animator/Producer

"I wasn't going to be a dentist and then animate on the side. I made a determination in college never to do what I didn't want to do outside of my field."

Blake Amos
Performance Artist/Musician

"It's about what you settle for, what you want in your life, and how long you're willing to work toward it."

Stacey Barney
Book Editor

"I love books. That's the heart of it."

Heidi Brooks
Nonprofit Consultant

"Where you can I be most effective? That's always what guides me. Where can I make the most difference."

Azikiwe Chandler
Shepherd

"There's liberation in saying I can't do it all."

Bill Collins
Principal/Sailor/Chef

"Passion for something plays an intrinsic role in my ability to not only grasp but work with it and go with it. And when the passion wanes, then I don't fight it."

W. Ellington Felton
Actor/Poet/Soul Artist

"Destiny is there. It's not going to change. If you have good intent in whatever you're doing and it's really genuinely good intent, then that will manifest itself and nothing else."

Kimone Freeman
Activist/Artist

"It was a beautiful day. The sun was shinin'. We're having little drinks, a little Remy. And this brother just came by and said 'Brothers,, we're not niggas today. Just for today.'"

Ray Hill
Brewmaster/Entrepreneur

"People love beer. Whether I come out with a company or not, people are going to drink it.'"

Jonathon Iverson
Ringmaster

"You couldn't dream this thing up. A guy calls me and asks if I want to do the Greatest Show on Earth."

Darryl Keith
Oceanographer

"I didn't want to just be in the water, but of the water."

Mike C. Ladd
Poet/MC/Producer/Professor

"I often meet a lot of other people out there like me. That's the whole thing about doing shows. In every city I meet one other brother who's like me. There's like this secret army of alternative black people."

Michele Luc
Global Youth Advocate

"Despite how many lives I have affected positively, I don't know if I consider myself successful."

Jair Lynch
Olympian/Real Estate Developer

"I knew I had a small window of time. Like a head of lettuce, I knew it would go bad. If you don't know who you are before you get there, then someone else will define you."

James McLurkin
Scientist/Inventor

"Nothing in the world is accomplished without passion."

Zachary James Miller
Filmmaker/Psychologist/Activist

"I'm a realist, and I know that life is hard and everything, but I am a believer in positive thinking. I've always felt that I could achieve what I wanted to achieve."

Kara Mitchell
Ex-Peace Corps Volunteer/Child Therapist

"Defer your loans. Pay your debts. Get up and get out."

Marla Moore
Filmmaker

"You have to find time to be with yourself. You have to do things counter to what society is asking you to do at times. You have to honor yourself. To honor the art is easy."

Alvin Morrow
Holistic Healer/Author

"People [here] have to see things because it's a material city. That's why they call it the 'Show Me' state. If you're in the process of manifesting an idea from the mind to reality - to the material - you're gonna have a real difficult time in this part of the country."

Keith Norris
Scientist/Metaphysician

"I think the most important aspects of life, in many respects, are those things that can't be measured."

Sherwood "Woody" Phifer
Inventor/Guitar Maker

"If people want to stop me, I'll go around the wall. If you want to block me there, I'm going to blow the wall down. I'm going to make something so bad it's just going to blow you away and there's going to be no denying it."

Ellington Robinson
Painter

"All I want to do is create, but at the same time at who's expense? There comes a time when you want to be self-sufficient and go out there and be able to make decisions for yourself, be able to do whatever it is you want to do."

Uchenna L. Smith
School Leader

"Could I be more selfish, be thinking about myself, some dude, a family? Yes. But right now there's no guy that's more important to me than my school. This place is a dream; it's like magic."

Lisa Stevens
Zoo Curator

"Everybody wants to find their little niche in their community. Why? The world's so rich. There's all kinds of people. You don't have to have this little community that you fit in. You should have this community that you're proud of, that's part of you, but there's a whole world out there."

Barbara Summers
Fashion Model/Author

"I'm always called a sellout. Well, in order to be a sellout, you have to have something to sell."

Monique Welles
Travel Guide/Veterinarian

"You're reflected in a different mirror here and it's so liberating and it bolsters one's confidence, one's sense of self-worth."

Sariya Wilkens
Undecided

"I feel like the work you do, that's your life's work. It's where you spend the majority of your time and you can't take that lightly."