Harper Watters is a soloist with the Houston Ballet - the fourth largest dance company in the United States. Harper has stood out his whole life. His parents are white. He's gay. He's a ballet dancer. He doesn't fit. When Harper was growing up, not fitting in was hard. People stared at him. He was scared of being bullied. But as cliché as it sounds, it was when Harper learned to use his differences, to embrace them, that he found serious success as a dancer. And as a person. Some things we talk about: the moment Harper realized he was gay the video that went viral and catapulted his Instagram fame what it means to be an influencer going from small town great to big town nobody finding his way to the dance world and making his way within it May it inspire you to make your thing and change your world.

Satsuki Shibuya had it all: her own graphic design business, great clients, money in the bank and then she got sick. So sick she couldn’t get out of bed, read a book or talk on the phone. And she stayed sick for a year and a half. During that time she lost everything: her business, her clients, her reputation. But she found something bigger: painting. Now she’s a watercolorist with 33,600 Instagram followers, work that often sells out within hours, and a Kickstarter campaign that was 133% funded. In this interview, we talk about what it means to lose everything, finding you're true calling, and starting and growing a full-time art business.

Melissa Dinwiddie is an amazing talent. It’s like everything she touches becomes beautiful. At 12 she was in adult-drawing classes. At 19 she was a dancer at Juliard. When she was 27 she was in galleries for her paper cut art and by 29 she had her own business making commissioned calligraphy and papercut art for clients all over the country. Now Melissa runs the Creative Sandbox. It's a community, a consulting agency, retreats, and playdays. But most of all it's a way of life where art is just art and creativity is (almost) always fun. Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Tiny Buddha, The Abundant Artist, Creative Pro, and Life Hack. Some things we talk about: abandoning drawing in 7th for not being “good enough” getting into Juiliard at 19 and dropping out at 20 starting her own business at 29, getting divorced, shutting her business down and starting over with The Creative Sandbox.

Murphy Funkhouser Capps has lived many, many lives. She’s been a military preacher’s daughter. A theater geek. A bible college dropout. Lived in a car. A party girl. A six-figure earner and then broke. A single mom. A married mom. A playwright. An entrepreneur. A branding specialist. Unemployed. Fired. A CEO. A storyteller. And, above all, a survivor. This is Murphy’s story. Much of it anyway. From the child to the woman, through the dark and into the light. It’s all here. A gloriously beautiful, totally messed up, well-traveled life. Some things we talk about: repression, creativity, and freedom, her dark period of alcohol, drug abuse and homelessness writing an award-winning play and going from broke, single mom to owner of a seven-figure a year branding business

When Alexandra Bowman isn’t working her 9-5, she’s an illustrator. She draws all kinds of pictures, many of them women of color who are artists, writers, activists, and leaders. She “ focuses on ways to celebrate the female and illustrate her as a focal point of the community and social movements.” Alexandra's work has been featured in The New York Times, Edible Magazine, Pop-Up Magazine, Food 52, and the BBC. Some of the things we talk about: being the daughter of bi-racial parents in a mostly-white neighborhood using art to find your place in the world the best advice for getting your freelance business off the ground and making art about what matters

Melissa Dinwiddie is an amazing talent. It’s like everything she touches becomes beautiful. At 12 she was in adult-drawing classes. At 19 she was a dancer at Juliard. When she was 27 she was in galleries for her paper cut art and by 29 she had her own business making commissioned calligraphy and papercut art for clients all over the country. Now Melissa runs the Creative Sandbox. It's a community, a consulting agency, retreats, and playdays. But most of all it's a way of life where art is just art and creativity is (almost) always fun. Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Tiny Buddha, The Abundant Artist, Creative Pro, and Life Hack. Some things we talk about: abandoning drawing in 7th for not being “good enough” getting into Juiliard at 19 and dropping out at 20 starting her own business at 29, getting divorced, shutting her business down and starting over with The Creative Sandbox.

Allie Monday is a woman-centered high-end boudoir photographer who believes women are "badasses and should be photographed that way." She doesn't airbrush, photoshop, or gloss over a woman's beauty. Instead, she highlights it, exactly as it is. She has learned that when she gives other women a chance to see and know themselves through the lens of a loving camera and a compassionate photographer, a woman transforms. And she has learned that every body is a canvas and every woman an amazing piece of art. Here Allie shares it all: her truth, the truth of the women she photographs, and the undeniable truth in the beauty of every woman who lets herself be seen just as she is. Some things we talk about: her thoughts on overcoming an eating disorder and being ten years sober leaving the airbrushed world of wedding photography for the world of boudoir and doing what you love no matter how bold or terrifying

Sonal Nathwani is an artist. She was born in Africa to Indian parents who fled to England to escape bad things in Africa. She grew up in England before moving to Belgium, Florence, and eventually, Vienna. Sonal Nathwani is old enough to know that it doesn’t matter what someone else tells you matters. That when you make art, what is most important, is that you make it for you, that you do it first, for yourself. Sonal has been making, selling, and teaching art full-time for over 20 years. Some things we talk about: ditching perfectionism for imperfect beauty creating, sharing, and selling art becoming your own person, your own artist, and making what you truly love

Ash Sierra dropped out of college her sophomore year to explore herbalism. She began making salves and tinctures for friends and family. It was never meant to be a business. Today Ash runs Ritual Botanica, a private consulting practice and a thriving business selling tinctures, salves, dried herbs, oils, teas with over than 55,000 followers on Instagram and customers all over the world. Some things we talk about: trying to be adult, losing herself, and getting found starting a business doing what she loved most – as impractical as it was how to tune into your guidance and depression, autonomy, and choosing your own life

Lanecia was born the daughter of a pastor. As a young adult, she chose to study divinity and become a pastor herself. But then, at 36 years-old. Lanecia found out she was pregnant. And, as many expecting moms do, she started to examine her life in preparation for parenthood. She began questioning things in the church she hadn’t questioned before, and she started to re-envision who she was and what was possible. And that is when Lanecia began the journey into life as a full-time artist. Here Lanecia shares her story as honestly as she does her art, her struggles with the church, her loss around her daughter, and her new life as a full-time artist who is finally free. Some things we talk about: being the daughter of a black pastor in an all-white world losing a baby girl and gaining a new life getting starting making art as you’re your full-time thing and leaping after your dreams no matter the scrapes and bruises