We asked some of the city’s rising stars to reflect on what made a difference in their journey. We asked them to tell us about what they think the most important factor has been behind their success.

Anastasia Rossinsky | Marketing Director and Brand Strategist

The customer experience/customer journey we provide to our clients. Though we are a marketing and branding boutique, our clients always come first. From the on-boarding process to sending the final project, we have curated a personalized system to help our clients feel involved in the process, fully understood, and up to date on projects. Read more>>

Mel Cancio | Blogger & Philanthropist

It’s all about the idea of who you are as a person that translates to who you want to become for yourself, your future kids, your family, loved ones and how you want to achieve your goals. Every year I define my year with a word or phrase to help me become a better person. I only started doing this a few years back, but it’s become a part of me and I continue to be better with it. This year, I decided that I wanted to be more intentional about what I do with my choices. I give myself a little more confident here and there, but it’s all to achieve the success I want. Read more>>

Jennifer Kassir | Content Creator

The most important factor behind my success is quite simple: consistency. I’m a content creator on TikTok with over 3M followers across 3 accounts. I started end of 2019 so basically 2020. I would upload like 3-5 Tiktoks a day sometimes even more. The secret to growth online is posting daily without missing a day. It’s also having patience so that’s another important factor. I wanted to honestly give up so many times but kept in mind my end goal, which is reaching a large platform of people that I can make a difference in their lives. Read more>>

Chantel Rodriguez | Content Creator & Educator

The most important factor behind my personal and professional success is my MINDSET. As a start up business / entrepreneur you can pretty much count on the fact that obstacles, self doubt and an intense amount of work will be involved. While these things may be overwhelming at times, a grounded mindset and perspective will allow you to overcome it all. This can take a lot of practice but it all begins with understanding your worth and viewing everything as a lesson. Read more>>

Ian Sebastian | Musician, composer, actor

There are various factors and even definitions to success. It may be different for each individual. For me, success is doing what I love, what I enjoy doing, and if success is measured by monetary compensation, well then the ultimate success is getting paid for doing what you love to do. For me, what’s clear or evident is that whatever I choose to do, it has to be done with great dedication, focus and perseverance. There’s no other way, and that in itself is also “success”, when you know you gave it everything you have and you always believed in yourself. When you do this, when you achieve this level of dedication, then you have nothing to regret. Read more>>

RONICA TAYLOR | Event Stylists

The most important factor that I contribute to the success of my brand is my faith.God has gifted me with such an amazing ability to turn my clients’ desires and dreams into reality.For that gift, I continuously have faith and pray that He will always show me the visions that represent my clients’ event outcome.We pride ourselves on our slogan, which is simply “Made to Fit any Occasion”! As we never consider an event as working a job because we love what we do, we also are faithful that the plan for a successful outcome is all a part of the gift from God. Read more>>

Shani | Sales & Charter Salesperson, Motivational and Transformational Speaker

ATTITUDE!!! At a very young age my parents would remind me that I can Do, Be and Have anything in this world; with Faith, the Spirit of Excellence, dedication, staying consistent and always having a positive ATTTIUDE. Today I am those very words. I AM YAYA. YAYA stands for YOU ARE YOUR ATTITUDE. Every day, I CHOOSE to BE, DO and HAVE the day I want; and I choose Excellence. In my 25 plus years in sales, I have risen to the top in sales and have used my platform as a Director of Training and Education and Regional Sales Director within the High-end Luxury Designer Jewelry Brands to inspire others to choose Excellence daily because undoubtedly, Read more>>

Kamilah Harris | Founder, Birth Worker, and Doula

The most important factor behind the success of Birth Work South Florida and Mother Earth Cloth Diaper Service is the commitment to my mission. My current mission is to normalize the basics. As parents we are bombarded with “hot product must haves…” and “the new best parenting book of all times”. I have learned that in a world full of options the most simple option of them all is most likely the best. I embody this in my approach to business, parenting, and educating clients or potential doulas. Read more>>

Maiya Jones | Fashion Designer & Influencer

The most important factor behind my success is my willingness to give up everything even if it’s for a dream that only I could see. When no one supported me, helped me, and believed in me, I was going to keep going regardless. I was willing to go without money, struggle, starve, and without sleep just to make sure I took the steps needed to achieve my goals. That’s how bad I wanted to succeed. Not only did I remember why I started but, always keeping my end goal at the forefront of my mind in my lowest moments. That’s what kept me going that’s why I didn’t stop. Read more>>

Natalee Pryce | Fashion Stylist & Health& Wellness Coach

The most important factor behind my brand and success is confidence in God and my consistency.I believe that having that strong confidence in God that all things are possible with him will give you a drive and motivation that no outside force will be able to hinder or stop you.There is a old African proverb that says if there is no enemy within,the enemy without can do no harm. Read more>>

Andrea Franco Rey | Owner of Lennox & Grace Candle Company

For the longest time, I felt that the most important factor behind our success was our marketing. Technically word of mouth and our marketing efforts have really gotten us far. However the more I reflect and look back at the true success of our business, it has all been due to consistency and discipline. It is hands down the most important factor. You can have a killer marketing strategy, but if there’s no consistency behind it, it will fail. There are long work days involved in having your own business, especially in the saturated market that is the events industry. It’s easy to quit, easy to get discouraged, but having consistency and faith in your product and your business is what takes you far. Read more>>

PK Pandey | Entrepeneur/ Founder Symphonic Acoustics

Curiosity, self learning and hard work have all been crucial elements of my success. I consider myself a perpetual student of life. I didn’t have the opportunity to go to college, so that’s one of those most important lessons I want to teach my kids, never stop learning. I want to foster an environment that encourages constant curiosity, and instill the value of continued learning throughout life. Constantly striving to improve, paired with drive and hard work is how I have forged such strong relationships with my clients, vendors and partners. Relationships are the most important part of business. Read more>>