Activating Purpose doesn’t happen overnight. It starts with seemingly small moments. From nurturing your body to simple acts of kindness, every decision you make ripples outwards. When you live with intention every day, even in the most basic ways, it changes you and affects everything around you. How do you find and fuel your passion? What does it mean to Activate Purpose? It means being empowered. Whole-heartedly honest. Fully yourself.
We wanted to find out what this looks like in action, so we profiled unconventional artisans who fuel their purpose in different ways. A kombucha maker draws inspiration from the wild. An essential oil distiller finds healing and energy from the Sitka Spruce. And a pair of tropical flower farmers unleash their inner artistry as they harvest bouquets.
What connects these Purpose Activators is a love of plants, a respect for nature, and a profound sense of purpose. Our friend and Hawaii-based filmmaker/photographer Gretchen Powers captures their stories beautifully in this three-part film series.
As you watch their journeys, we invite you to consider your own purpose. What makes YOU come alive? When do you feel like your most authentic self? By Activating Purpose, you’re better equipped to give more to others in your life. And there is no greater reward.
Part I: Bounty Farm, Kodiak, AK
Judy Hamilton grows a diverse array of food and flowers on her one-acre farm in Kodiak, Alaska. Using Numi organic loose leaf tea, Judy brews kombucha to nurture her gut health and connect with the wilderness inside her.
Part II: Emerald Isle Essentials, Kodiak, AK
Surrounded by Sitka Spruce on Alaska’s largest island, Kodiak, Maggie Dellemann-Zadina wild-harvests plants from mountaintop to shoreline. Maggie uses a few drops of Sitka Spruce hydrosol in her tea to keep her body in balance through seasonal changes.
Part III: Cocolani Gardens, Waimanalo, HI
Daniel Mench and Leandra Gollob grow over 50 varieties of ginger and heliconia on their lush, tropical land in Hawaii. With a deep passion for nature and its aesthetic essence, they find purpose in showcasing the raw organic beauty of rare flowers.
Part IV: Jitterbug Art Studio, Rocky Mountains, CO
Latasha Dunston is a full-time artist, illustrator and muralist based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. With watercolor as her medium, she enjoys letting the paint be “do what it has to do” and have a mind of its own, imbuing unique textures and complexity. She finds purpose in creating beautiful images out of nothing and sharing them with the world.
Part V: Wai Meli Honey, Paauilo, HI
Kawika Sebag and his team practice beekeeping on the Big Island of Hawai’i. The diverse apiary locations and microclimates allow them to capture an array of unique nectar sources for their small harvest, local, raw honeys. Beekeeping, he says, is the backbone of agriculture – one of every four bites we eat is thanks to the pollination of bees – yet the bee population is experiencing a rapid decline due to increased use of pesticides globally. Through the art of organic beekeeping, Kawika finds purpose in saving the bees, connecting with the land and connecting with the community by providing delicious, nutrient-rich honey.
Part VI: Numi Founders, Sonoma County, CA
Numi is a labor of love by a brother and sister, Ahmed Rahim and Reem Hassani. They founded Numi with a vision to share the transformative, healing power of tea with the world. They named their company after the steeped dried desert lime they drank in their early childhood in Baghdad, Iraq. The drink symbolizes hospitality and community (numi means “citrus” in Arabic). Creative, conscious change-makers, they have introduced little-known herbs and teas to the United States, while advancing human rights and sustainable causes around the globe.
