There are so many factors that affect how our lives turn out, but one of the most interesting is how our backgrounds give us unique strengths and perspectives that affect who we are as adults. We asked rising stars from the community to tell us about their background and upbringing and how they feel it’s impacted who they are today.

Kristen Margiotta | Fine Artist, Oil Painter, Art Instructor, and Illustrator.

I was born and raised in Delaware, the tiny little state nestled in between other bustling states in the Mid Atlantic. It’s a short drive to NYC, Baltimore, Philly, and the Jersey Shore and the Delaware beaches. My father immigrated from a small town in Italy to the USA at age 17, and my mom was born and raised here in Delaware. They were very supportive of my interest in art from a young age. I don’t think they were necessarily thinking I could pursue it later as a career looking back on that, which is quite healthy. So many parents today only want their kids doing activities that they could potentially turn into a career. Or, they only want their kids to focus on school work, which is life draining and unfulfilling. Life is challenging and messy, so we need to find the parts of it we enjoy and embrace them. Hobbies and interests are necessary for our overall state of well being. I just happened to turn my love of art into a career. Read more>>

Mike Diamond | Interventionist, Best Selling Author and tv personality.

I was born in Perth Western Australia which is geographically the most isolated capital city in the world. Growing up in Perth was very trying and chaotic. My parents did the best they could with the resources the resources they had at the time but i was exposed to a lot of mental and physical abuse. I struggle at school as no one picked up that i had dyslexia so trying to navigate the formal education process was very difficult. Being under constant stress from my chaotic, dysfunctional family environment i started mood altering at an early age to try and find some peace and mind. Taking drugs and drinking worked until it didn’t work and i was expelled from school at 16. I finished my formal education at another school then decided to leave Perth after graduation and pursue my dreams. Looking back no at the adversity i face it was an asset. See we cant become resilient unless we are faced with adversity. Having to parent myself most of my early years and life has taught me to be self reliant, responsible and gritty. I now feel blessed not bitter from my past. Read more>>

Scott Strickland | Personal Trainer and Actor

I was born in Hawaii but raised in Maryland. My father was a career military man in the Air Force. He was also a drill instructor while in the military which explains most things in how I was raised. My father instilled discipline and a competitive nature in my brother and I while my mother instilled more of a compassionate nature as well. I like to think it balanced well. I grew up playing sports every year and eventually I wanted to join the military like my father. I joined the Marine Corps as a Rifleman and did two deployments in Afghanistan. I have a more old fashioned mentality when it comes to life. I try to live honorably and I take pride in my masculinity. Read more>>

Yanghuixiao Gao | Gaoyang | Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer

My journey into the world of storytelling commenced in China, where I grew up and pursued studies in digital media art. It was during this period that I encountered a profoundly transformative Japanese film titled ‘Memories of Matsuko,’ directed by Tetsuya Nakashima. This cinematic experience served as a powerful awakening, igniting within me a deep-seated passion for storytelling’s capacity to illuminate the human experience and inspire positive change. Read more>>

 Christiana Ewing | Owner & Apothecary

After experiencing much trauma growing up I often fought with self esteem issues and feeling as if I was unworthy of the things that I desired. In 2009 While headed out with friends I was in a life threatening car accident, as a result I suffered injuries that left me in bed for months. When I tell you “That accident changed me at just 18 years old to a person I no longer recognized”. I was unknowingly suffering with PTSD. Read more>>

 Rob Rosen | TV Director and showrunner

I grew up in Boston; the only child of Eastern European immigrants. My parents were unassimilated and bitter war children. They had witnessed horrors I couldn’t understand, but America didn’t seem to salve their wounds. They felt alienated from the culture. So I retreated into a world of books and movies and TV shows. I was like an alien from a distant planet, studying the behaviors of what I perceived to be ‘normal’ and ‘well-adjusted’ people. While the name Dr. Huxtable conjures up an entirely different set of images now, at the time he seemed like the All-American dad I craved. Florence Henderson seemed like the perfect mom. And who wouldn’t want Mallory Keaton as a girlfriend. At a very young age, maybe 11 or 12, I decided that somehow, someway, I would crawl through the TV set and be a part of this world. Read more>>

Maria Greenshields-Ziman | Artist & Designer

I come from a long line of successful visual artists which, being a defiant child, had a contradictory effect on me, I wanted to be anything but an artist! Rather than follow family tradition, I had disparate visions of being either an actor or an academic. However as I got older I soon came to realize that my talents definitely did not lie in either of those directions and I learned to embrace and enjoy the strengths and abilities I found I did have. My father quietly encouraged me and was the gentle catalyst in helping me develop as an artist. I saw how he closely observed the world around him, and by witnessing his sheer devotion and commitment to his art, I learnt the principles of art theory that are now the basis of my own practice, both as an artist and designer. I eventually went on to study art and am eternally grateful I did so. Another large part of what impacts who I am today is my upbringing on a dairy farm in a very rural and beautiful part of Southwest England. The sensibility of this environment has never left me and continues to inform the type of work I create. I interpret and explore the complex forms and patterns of the natural world using a variety of mediums and formats. Read more>>

Macmillan (Hunter) Hasselfield | Artist, Composer, Musician

My parents homesteaded a log home In Northern Alberta, Canada, along the Peace River valley near a place called Dunvegan Provincial park. There was so much wildlife and it was an incredibly beautiful place to have been brought up. I’m sure that the ability to roam in a wild place alone gave me a sense of freedom that not every child is lucky enough to have. I could bound off into nature with my dogs and let my imagination go wild. That has definitely affected my art, music and the rest of my life for that matter. Read more>>

Brittany Vadnais | Actress

I was born in a small town in North Carolina, called Hope Mills. Well, it’s like one of those cities in a town. I was born in the hospital of Fayetteville but spent the first seven years of my life in Hope Mills. It is such a small community and I was happy for a long time. I had my grandma and my grandpa. My family, and our nice house with our cousins to play with everyday. Then we moved to Italy, and that was nice. I had my friends. I missed my family back home but I had friends and I was happy. I danced and sang, and my friends would come over and we’d have sleepovers. It was when I moved back to the United States that I realized how small my world was. I started to branch out and that led me back to my love of performing. I danced, and I sung and I acted my heart out and that lead me to today. I don’t dance or sing as much anymore- I left that onstage and switched to film. Which is what I want for my artistic fulfillment. Read more>>