Where you grew up and your background can often have surprising effects on our lives and careers. We’ve asked folks from the community to tell us about how their background has affected them.

Charles Lennon

I grew up in from Sioux City Iowa until I was 19 years old before moving to California where I lived in Marina Del Rey California for the next 20 years. I moved to Colorado almost 35 years ago where I started my cabinetry business charliescarpentry.com. I entered the soapbox derby when I was 11 years old and competed for 3 years improving my derby car each year and ended up winning second place my final year. Read More>>

Amber Miller

I’m from Lakewood, Colorado, born and raised. My background and upbringing have had a profound impact on who I am, especially as an artist. When I was 7 years old, I was diagnosed with an incredibly rare form of muscular dystrophy. My childhood was filled with doctor’s appointments, endless medical tests, and limitations that kept me from doing what most kids were doing—playing sports, running, even just being on the playground. So instead, I drew. Art became my outlet, my way of coping with the physical and emotional weight of being different. Read More>>

CJ Quinlan

I think music is such a beautiful thing because no matter what struggles you go through in life—from your past or the people you surround yourself with—it can shape the way you see things in your day to day. I use making music as a coping skill from all the childhood trauma and lots of other things in my day to day life to make it positive in letting out my emotions through writing and melodies that definitely helped shape me into this superstardom of who I am today. Read More>>