Our story
We shared a story every week for three months now (#StorySaturday)! Can you believe it? We still get excited when people talk about their passions (as mentioned in Lauren's previous story). Running The Passion Collective intensified this realization: celebrating your passion begins with sharing authentic stories.
Sharing Authentic Stories
Remember the days when social media and the like were platforms for us to share our authentic selves? We remember updating our statuses on MSN Messenger and Facebook to WhAtEvEr I fElT lIkE =D that day. Now, we feel inclined to be very selective about what we share as if we have to upkeep a particular image of ourselves.
These days, media companies work hard to obnoxiously push content in front of us. In the midst of this business model, we must remember hearing people's stories is still a privilege. Lauren and I want to provide a platform and build a community where people can share their one-of-a-kind stories.
A way we're accomplishing this goal is by inviting guests from different backgrounds. It's easier to be your genuine self when you feel like you belong. We're working to ensure the BIPOC community is well-represented, and we appreciate your support. Moving forward, we want to invite more guests who are outside the age range of 25-35. Additionally, while we are ecstatic to represent women, we also want to ensure men and nonbinary individuals feel equally safe to share their stories. Feel free to hold us accountable for our diversity and inclusion goals!
Secondly, to encourage a comfortable place to share your passions, we want to emphasize stories that don't have a resolution. Joel talked about the value of sharing our work-in-progress stories and not just our successes. We are definitely here to celebrate wins, but we're also here for the journeys not yet finished.
Learning about Toni's badass hard work was an inspiration. Simultaneously, we believe Shinae's taboo passion and uncertainties are just as valuable to broadcast. We are always excited for people who made careers out of their passions. But we also esteem Chloe and Natalie, who prefer to keep their influential media platform as a hobby.
Lauren and I want to make sure authentic stories are shared at The Passion Collective. We want to share diverse, honest stories that represent your story as well. This sets the foundation for our second passion.
Celebrating your passions
We long to foster a community where we can learn and grow together. At The Passion Collective, we don't expect you to have your life together. We're not interested in accomplished CEO bios on websites or impressive author descriptions on the sleeve of bestseller books. We want to celebrate your passion wherever it's at.
Obviously, we want to shine our guest interviewees in a positive light. On top of that, their achievements are exciting! However, Lauren and I are broken human beings. And we know some of the deepest passions come from the greatest pains. We’re going to do a better job of also sharing those pieces as well. We want to share human, not superhero, stories.
For now, we appreciated how Tash and Conrad led us through a journey of creatively amalgamating their passions into their careers. It's a relief there are different ways to love your job. On the other hand, it was fascinating to learn about the perks and struggles of being an Athletic Trainer from Karina and being a personal trainer for older adults from Tim. Meanwhile, Andrew shared how having passions helped with his mental wellbeing.
We also loved reflecting on Uliana's and Barbie's story side-by-side. They're both free spirits heavily invested in fine art, which traditionally isn't the most reliable income-generator. Uliana is a young adult, and Barbie is older with adult children who are also passionate about the arts. We can't help but imagine if this is a glimpse of Uliana's future. Perhaps her passion will also overflows onto the next generation.
Finally, we had multiple heartwarming conversations with various people aboutStop Asian Hate story. I inserted a raw piece of my heart into that story. In return, your overwhelming support was deeply felt, and we enjoyed hearing about your personal experiences as Asian and non-Asian Canadians.
Onwards and upwards
Thank you to everyone who has joined us on this journey so far, both as interviewed guests and readers! We're working hard to ensure this platform remains a welcoming place to share your authentic selves. As we establish this culture, we hope you will continue to celebrate different passions with us.
If you're interested in sharing your story, please do not hesitate to contact us! You can fill out our contact form at the bottom of this page, or you send us a DM on Instagram.
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