We were fortunate to catch up with some brilliant artists, creatives and entrepreneurs from throughout the Houston area and they share the wisdom with us below.

Paula Ray

I am originally from Colorado Springs, CO, and have lived in Denver for about five years. Growing up as a second-generation Korean-American in a large, supportive family shaped me in profound ways. My parents, who had me later in life and unexpectedly, taught me the true meaning of “it takes a village to raise a child.” Despite their relationship ending early, my connections with both sides of my extended family remained strong, emphasizing the importance of family unity despite occasional conflicts. Read more>>

Casey O’Shea | Artist + Mama

Everything is hard. Life is hard. Motherhood is hard. Getting out of bed some days is hard. Owning a business is hard. Learning and unlearning things that break cycles and then applying those things in your marriage, friendships and raising children; is hard. But we do it. We do hard things. “We can do hard things” is what I told myself when my son was born, its what I tell myself now that he is five and when everybody is tired and overstimulated and we’re all done with the day, its what I tell myself when I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing or I’m intimidated by people who have ran a business longer than I’ve been alive, and it’s what we tell our son every time he feels he can’t do something or when he feels too small. It applies to everything. Owning a business or just being a human being. At some point, we were doing something for the first time. And it was hard. But we can do hard things. Read more>>

Sabena Carter | Picnic Creative

It was the summer of 2021 and I was gathering ideas to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. While browsing Pinterest one evening, I stumbled across these beachfront luxury picnics on the United States coasts and thought, “That would be a cute idea to surprise Isaac!” When going into a few local thrift stores for supplies, my entrepreneurial gears started turning for this to turn into a business opportunity. After our first luxury picnic in Sioux Falls on the evening of our second anniversary, we hit the ground running with an overwhelming response to this new type of local experience. Read more>>

Dylan Kishner-Lopez | Songwriter/Guitar Player

Honestly it really depends on what you want out of your career in the music industry and how realistic you’re being about those goals. If simply making music is what makes you happy, then you’ll probably never get to a point where you feel so overwhelmed that you’ll want to just up and quit. But if you want to tour, make records, and generally be more “successful” , then it’s going to get pretty rough from time to time (especially as an independent artist). Just be honest with yourself, and take time to re-examine what you really want out of music every so often. And if you ever decide you actually want to quit music entirely, it probably means it wasn’t what you really wanted in the first place. Read more>>

Felicia Mendes | Psychologist & Founder of Radiant Resurgence Retreat

The most important thing I’ve done as a parent, in terms of impact on my child, was prioritizing my mental health during and after my divorce. As I was growing through that difficult period, I initially felt a lot of guilt about what my son was going through. We often pressure ourselves to be perfect parents—worrying if our children are eating enough, sleeping enough, reading enough, and staying involved in numerous activities. The constant “more, more, more” can be overwhelming. Read more>>

Tamara Herl | Changemaker Coach

More and more people are feeling called to change old paradigms in society. They can no longer settle for the status quo of doing things the way they’ve always been done. When they begin to speak up and stand out, they need more than just their passion for change to create the difference they long to see. I show these Changemakers how to do their inner work so they can make the difference they were destined for, without burning out in the process. I help them learn how to rise above the “Us vs them” mentality that isn’t effective, because that only creates more divisiveness. My clients learn how to tap into their internal and Divine wisdom so they can create the innovative and win-win solutions that society needs right now. Read more>>

Sarah Lurie | Founder and Lead Planner at Delilah Events

From a business perspective: Making my clients happy, of course! But no, really! There’s nothing quite like working with a couple for 1+ years planning their wedding and then seeing it all come to fruition. From the preliminary stages of sending out the Save the Dates to witnessing the vows at the ceremony, it’s extremely rewarding to be on the journey with my clients. It’s sort of addicting…once I complete a wedding, I’m early awaiting the next! Read more>>

Nancy Benz | Historian and Museum Professional

One piece of conventional advice I disagree with is you have to hustle your way through life in order to be successful. You don’t have to have thousands or millions to be successful. I think how we measure success should be subjective and less influenced by what others/society deems successful. Ask yourself these three questions. Are you happy? Is your family happy? Do you like/have passion for what you are doing? If the answer is yes to all of the above, you, in my mind, are as successful as a millionaire. Read more>>

Sara Defibaugh | Marketing & Organizational Communication Consultant

I vehemently do not believe you have to be on one set path to succeed. I’ve never known exactly what I want to do with my career. Instead, I take opportunities as they come and learn more about myself throughout the process. From there, I evolve and feel empowered to take on more work that I simply enjoy versus work that serves as a building block. I let my goals and desires change with time and pivot accordingly. I don’t know where my career will be in five years, and I’m okay with that. It’s all a part of the process! Read more>>

Wes Kenney | Music Director and Conductor, Fort Collins Symphony

As an orchestral conductor, the public part (on the podium in front of the audience) is a very small part of the job. The planning and preparation are years in the making. There is a set protocol for auditioning members into a professional orchestra. There are programs to plan (often 3-5 years in advance.) There are budgets, rehearsal schedules, instrumentation that impact the number of players to consider. And of course the preparation of the pieces chosen both from studying the scores and rehearsing the ensemble. All of this takes place before we take the stage. Read more>>

Ari Perez | French Bulldog Breeder

To breed, Frenchies takes a lot of money, time, and effort because they cannot breed naturally typically. The breeding process is lengthy and expensive and takes a lot of knowledge to work through each step. Frenchies are required to be artificially inseminated, so you have to test ovulation, with progesterone testing, and once they have the right value, you artificially inseminate them with semen from the stud. The semen has to be manually collected from the stud and then inseminated into the female. Once that process is done, you have to do an ultrasound to verify pregnancy and get a puppy count, Lastly, Frenchies have to have C-sections, so timing these is important to make sure to not pull puppies too soon. Once Frenchie puppies are born, the breeder has to get up every 2 1/2 hours for the first three weeks to help Mom get all puppies latched and make sure they are all getting nice full tummies. Puppies should be weighed at every feeding to make sure they are gaining weight. Read more>>

Sara Chadil | Grief Advocate, Trauma Survivor & Accounting Enthusiast

For as long as I can remember people have called me an old soul. It didn’t matter where I met them or in what capacity, it was always, “Oh Sara, did you know you are an old soul.” It happened in my youth with my parents as I was always a deeply introspective child and frequently lost in books. There were significant items and transformational events in my childhood that contributed to this personality, but I think it was always there, at some sort of foundational level. Read more>>