I'm excited that today, Dawn Brown, is “Speaking From the Heart” and sharing her experiences with all of us. Dawn was the Director of Student Life Services and head of Career Services at Carleton University (where I obtained my Bachelor's degree) in Ottawa, Canada. I am really inspired by Dawn's message of hope, so I asked her to be part of this series; she is a mentor to me. As said on her website, "she credits those she has met on the road and seas with inspiring her by allowing her to see life through their eyes." I had to ask Dawn to inspire fellow writers by asking her to speak from her heart!

What makes you come alive? When I was working on my Master's degree and contemplating this very question, a friend of mine shared with me a quote by Howard Thurman (image found further down in the article).

After reflecting on that quote, I decided to create a blog as I love writing and connecting with people from around the world. Relationships are what make me come ALIVE. I’m so excited to have connected with the inspiring coach and creator of Alive in Berlin, Jana Schuberth. In the interview below, Jana speaks from her heart and talks about what makes her come alive.  

Jenny Blake is a bestselling author, micro-business, coach, and international speaker who helps people move beyond burnout to build sustainable, dynamic careers they love. With two years at a technology start-up as the first employee, over five years at Google on the Training and Career Development teams, and two years of running her own business, Jenny combines her love of technology with her superpower of organizing information to help clients through big transitions — often to launch or elevate a book, blog, or business.

I'm excited to start the series by featuring the amazing Vanessa Grillone. I discovered Vanessa's blog, My Pen, My Voice, this past January on the Canadian Weblog Awards  site where both our blogs were nominated. I had to connect with her as we share similar interests, live/lived in Toronto, and both have self-published books. Vanessa is a writer, blogger, and book-lover looking to find her place in the publishing world. She contributes to ChicDarling.com  and Workstory.net; she also writes for her own lifestyle blog on VanessaGrillone.com . Vanessa can’t stop writing and can be annoyingly optimistic, but she doesn’t care—she loves life.

As you know, I love sharing stories of people who have impacted my journey.  I was saddened to find out that a beautiful soul, Zach Sobiech, lost his battle to cancer yesterday.  Zach was only 18 years old when he died but in his short time he embraced life to the fullest.  His passion for life, love of others, and contagious joy touched my heart as well as those of many others. His legacy will live on.  As Zach said in his documentary, "It's really simple, actually, just try to make people happy."

I’m so excited that today a role model of mine and fellow Canadian blogger, Elan Morgan (aka Schmutzie), is sharing her thoughts on perseverance with us.  As I have said before in a previous post, "tome, my role models are individuals who have the courage to be real, to be vulnerable, to be themselves, and to share their journeys." Elan does this through speaking from her heart.  I was first introduced to Elan electronically when I was a juror for the Canadian Weblog Awards.  After hearing her Ted Talk, I had to ask her to be part of the "Profiles of Perseverance" series as Elan encouraged me to be more open and to dig deep by sharing my personal narrative online.  I'm so thankful for Elan's advice; she truly inspires me. Thanks, Elan, for your presence on my blogging journey!

Scott Vannatter is 54 years-old and has had several careers throughout his life.  He has been a programmer, worked in computers in several capacities, and was a teacher of special needs middle-schoolers.  On May 7, 2010, Scott suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke, which forced him to stop working in February of 2012.  At this point in his life, Scott maintains daily blogging on his website  and has, finally, earned one of his dreams:  that of being a published author.  He is published online at www.atomicavarice.com  (“The Way It Is”) and in print with his story “Sirens of the Undead” contained in the anthology “The Dead Sea” on sale at Amazon in print and on Kindle: Scott’s Story.  Scott lives in Middletown, Indiana, with his cat, Tamika.

 met author Heather Grace Stewart “randomly” last year through the blogging community on WordPress.com, even though we grew up in the same city.  We have never met in person yet have so much in common.  Therefore, when she asked me to take part in this blog hop – I jumped at the opportunity to get to know my new “friend” a little more.

Jesse Ruben is a Philly-bred singer/songwriter currently living in Brooklyn, NY. He has independently sold over 10,000 albums, gotten song placements on TV shows such as One Tree Hill, Degrassi, and Teen Mom and toured with some amazing artists including Jewel, KT Tunstall, Rick Springfield, and Hanson. His song “We Can” is in regular rotation on the XM/Sirius Coffeehouse channel, which called him “the next generation of singer/songwriter”.

Therefore, today I'm happy to feature Cameron Von St. James and his FAMILY as part of my Profiles of Perseverance  series. To this family every day is family day, as they know how valuable it is to be together. Cameron initially reached out to me and wanted to share his family's story, which he called "Living with Cancer." After I read it, I had to ask Cameron to also share his pieces of advice about overcoming obstacles. His writing moved me to tears, as many in my life have been affected by this disease.  As you will see below, the Von St. James family is beautiful and perseverant. Hearing their story shows how important social support is in overcoming obstacles. Thank you, Cameron, Heather, and Lily, for reminding others what is important in life! 

As I have said before, one of my favourite things about blogging is connecting with others.  Erin and I connected randomly on Twitter. Erin O’Brien lives in Sydney, Australia and is Chief Encouragement Officer at Activate28. She helps women who procrastinate and feel overwhelmed, and who want more *flow* and ease in their workday. I'm so glad I met her. Soon after she emailed me the following virtue card along with the message:

"When you mentioned that perseverance is a core theme for your life, I decided to attach the virtue card of perseverance. The third sentence reminds me of your website … and I imagine other sentences would resonate with you on the journey you’ve been on. "

Asnat Greenberg is an economist, an artist, and a writer. She worked in the Bank of Israel for 20 years as a Senior Economist, managing billions dollars worth of foreign investments. A few years ago, she followed her heart, left the Bank of Israel, and began to create art, exhibiting in the US and in Europe. Asnat is married, has three children, and lives in Jerusalem, Israel. Her art can be seen at: www.helen-and-asnat.com. Her book, Secrets of Kindness: A Journey among Good People, that has been published recently, is the story of her journey through the world of altruism. This fascinating mosaic of interviews with good people forms an impressive and inspiring document showing the human spirit at its best.