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.

Aria Thomas | Gemologist & Jewelry Designer

My path to becoming a jewelry designer was a combination of three things: my first gem show, my cultural background, and growing up in a creative family. The first three years of my life were spent in Tucson, Arizona where I experienced the largest gem show in the world. This single event planted the seed for entering the world of jewelry design. Read more>>

DNA Proxi | Proxi Prime Productions

From a distant corner of the cosmos a comet emerged that inevitably collided with Earth. We emerged out of the impact crater from the bubbles of probability that frothed up with the auspicious arrival of this astral water. Within the primordial pools we learned quickly how collaboration was the key to survival. Read more>>

Claudia Scheffler-Perrone | Personal Branding &Communication Coach

I’m born and grew up in Germany but my parents were from Italy. In my house it was definitely little Italy. Italian food and especially Italian Culture. Not so long ago the differences between Germans and Italians were pretty big. Read more>>

Judd Hoos | Indie Rock Band

(andy young) – I grew up in a musical house. My dad is a drummer and singer but was also the strength & conditioning coach at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD where I grew up. We always had a rule in our house that we had to be both active in a team sport and take some kind of music lesson. Read more>>

Sterling Chavez | Photographer

I grew up in a low income household. My mom and older brother always did the best they could to pay the bills and put food on the table, but there wasn’t a lot of extra money for things like photos. During the span of my senior year, my mom had struggled to find a way to ensure that I would be able to have my senior pictures taken. Read more>>

Mélina Be | Fiber Artist & Instructoress

I was born in Germany from my german dad and my french mom. When I was almost two we moved to central France to live in the country until I was 18 and went to college in Vichy a city almost the size of Fort Collins where I live now. Then Clermont Ferrand for almost a year and then Colorado when I was 20. I have been here in the US now for 23 years, on and off but for half my life now. Read more>>

pattie chalmers | Artist and Professor

I am from Winnipeg (Winterpeg) The winters of my life are vast: an openness that gives the sensation of being giant and tiny at the same time. It is an open flat white nothingness. To the many that flee it for milder and more varied landscapes to the east and west, it is a ceaseless event that only gets longer with age. Read more>>