Our mission statement: We seek inspirational stories from all walks of life to share in order to spark personal and professional growth.
We are Alayna Hoy, Mary Fisher, and Kim Eng Ky. We created this blog to share inspirational stories of people who have achieved success, even in the face of many obstacles. We hope to inform, motivate and encourage our readers to live their dreams.
Our Stories
Alayna grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Since high school, she’s always loved reading and writing. After enrolling as an undergraduate at Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, she knew she wanted to pursue writing academically and professionally. Alayna graduated with two B.A.’s in journalism and marketing, and a minor in English literature. During her time as a student, she had diverse work and volunteer experiences working at two non-profits, a newspaper and a community magazine. Now she works at Cargill as communications specialist, sharing the achievements of co-workers along the supply chain. Alayna’s passion is to use words to recognize people and share their story.
Mary was born in Takeo, Cambodia. When she moved to Minnesota to be with her adopted family in 2008, she knew very limited English. Upon her arrival, she started sixth grade and joined the lacrosse team at her school. She graduated high school with an International Baccalaureate diploma. Mary then moved to St. Paul to pursue her B.A. at Macalester College. She graduated with a Chinese major and an accounting concentration. She is currently enrolled part-time in the Master of Science in Accountancy program at St. Thomas University, while working full-time as an accountant at UnitedHealth Group in Minnetonka, MN. Mary’s passion is to help improve the education system in Cambodia through building schools, and to encourage young Cambodians through mentoring.
Kim grew up in Sisophon, Cambodia. In 2010, she was one of the eight Cambodian high-schoolers selected for United World College (UWC) scholarships. She completed the International Baccalaureate in 2012 at the UWC Red Cross Nordic in Flekke, Norway. After that, Kim received full financial support to complete her B.A. at Macalester College where she graduated in May 2016. Since then, she has worked as a research analyst at an economic consulting firm, and as a data scientist at a transit agency. Kim currently works as a Data Scientist at UnitedHealth Group in Minnetonka, MN. Kim’s passion is to give back to her community through this blog, through mentoring, and through connecting people to each other.