A testament to the power of the human spirit, Kath Koschel is a survivor who has overcome incredible odds and unimaginable tragedy to inspire ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Koschel is formerly an elite cricketer and Ironman competitor whose world came crashing down when she broke her back twice in the span of five years and was told she’d never walk again. Instead, she faced the challenges head-on and defied all medical prognoses by teaching herself to walk again on three separate occasions. Driven by a passion to spread gratitude in the world, she founded Kindness Factory with the goal of encouraging one million acts of kindness and helping people find the light during dark times — just as she has done so many times.

How do you turn a t-shirt brand that’s sold from the trunk of a rusty car into a global, multi-million dollar business? Johnny Earle transformed Johnny Cupcakes into one of the world’s fastest growing independent businesses. Businessweek named him America’s No. 1 young entrepreneur, and he has been profiled by the New York Times, NPR, MTV, Forbes, Newsweek, the Boston Globe, and INC. By focusing on the customer experience (he wants buying a t-shirt to feel like your birthday), he created such a unique brand that consumers would (and do) line up around the block for his shirts.

Victoria was 11 years old when she came down with a rare viral disease, Transverse Myelitis, with which she battled for five years including four years in a vegetative coma. The disease left her without the use of her legs for nearly a decade. A lifelong swimmer and athlete, Victoria never gave up her childhood dream of competing in the Olympics Games. In June of 2010 she returned to the pool for the first time since her illness and in the spring of 2012 she qualified for the London Paralympic Games in four events. There she won a Gold Medal, and three Silver Medals. Despite missing five years of school during her illness, Victoria graduated on-time with her triplet brothers, from Exeter High School (New Hampshire) in June of 2013. Victoria is now an on-air TV personality with ESPN reporting for numerous programs including X-Games, Invictus Games, The ESPY Awards, espnW, Frozen Four, Special Olympics World Games and Sportscenter.