The luckiest people alive are those who have been fortunate enough to realize their personal calling, the very reason they are on this Earth. Still, I question how one finds their true purpose and how they are to serve others. For Ethan Brown, his personal calling derives from childhood. It is rooted in his compassion for animals. Brown is an entrepreneur who has launched a line of plant-based meats called Beyond Meat. This took an immense amount of courage for him. Corporate America guided his professional life and being a staunch animal activist and environmentalist was not customary. Yet, Brown ultimately found a way to listen to his inner voice and become just that through his company.
As a long-time vegetarian and lover of nature and animals, I empathize with Brown. I try to leave as small of a carbon footprint as I can by employing such practices as thrifting, recycling, gardening, and abstaining from products such as meat, soda, make-up, etc. Like him, I also wish to find my calling in life. So far, it has been my vocation of educating others. Yet I feel like I can do so much more, and with every semester in the International Education and Entrepreneurship program and as a graduate assistant, I feel led down this path. More and more, I yearn to help others in third-world countries. With my upcoming trip to Peru in May to work on education and sustainability projects with Women’s Global Connection and Sr. Martha- Ann Kirk I am excited to begin this venture. In college and throughout my twenties, I often contemplated missionary work or serving in the Peace Corps. Why didn’t I? The easiest answer: I was not ready. However, I am at a point in my life where my drive to do what I have long felt I should do far surpasses any fear, doubt, or anxiety of the unknown.
This is, I am almost certain, what Ethan Brown must have felt when he began his venture into plant-based meats. Behind every successful entrepreneur lies a person who listened to what his or her heart truly and purposefully beats for. No matter how small, as the case with Brown’s, or large the business, it is the vision of the entrepreneur that gives it merit. It took a while for Brown to realize his calling as it has with mine, but I do not take my journey for granted. Once you find your purpose, regardless of how or when, with wisdom, passion, and experience it will become even less than possible to let it go.