We asked some of the city’s hidden gems to tell us about what they feel is the most important factor behind their success.

Sumedhaa Kothari | Artist & Misfit

Integrity- because I have seen the impacts of what happens when it falters. Most painfully, the decisions my father made when I was younger, that lead to his incarceration. Fear and frustration can transform our best long term intentions into unrecognizable scarcity-driven action. I have found that integrity is the committed practice of respecting ourselves enough to tell ourselves the truth- so we can avoid getting to that point. It’s an ongoing dialogue about the standard we will hold ourselves to, even if no one else is watching. It means understanding that being human means being imperfect, and making errors that have very real consequences. However, that holding ourselves accountable is a kindness that we do to ourselves as it generates more self-trust, not less. Read more>>

Kat Reeder | Peruvian-American Portrait Artist and Illustrator

The most important factor behind my success is my unwillingness to be limited by lack of technical training, financial resources or gender conventions. As an immigrant from a working class family and female, I found myself the only girl among the artsy kids. I was competitive and found ways to teach myself drawing and storytelling through free resources like school books, libraries, passed down comic books, magazines and television. Read more>>

Max Meisel | Comedian and Comedy Show Producer

It’s really just taking the risk to be a bit different and stray from the current model of how people watch comedy. Read more>>

Linnan Liu | Film director, sound designer/mixer, colorist

I wouldn’t say I’ve “success” yet, but there are definitely a lot of things that have helped me get to where I am now. It all starts with my experiences—my childhood, my family, and everything I’ve gone through while growing up and studying. Honestly, I’m a slow starter. I don’t catch on to trends quickly, and I’m definitely not the fastest thinker. It took me three or four years after middle school to even realize that some people didn’t like me back then. Read more>>

Jeremy Siskind | Pianist and Author

As an author and publisher of instructional jazz books, I am constantly working directly with students at the Community College level to figure out what are the questions they are asking, what breakdowns information work the best, and how can we address and remove pain points for the students. Because I’m always working directly with live students, I can anticipate student questions, pace the learning appropriately for common levels, and provide the resources that students need to actually be successful. Read more>>