Pursue The Passion – Brett Farmiloe
Brett Farmiloe is about to embark on a journey across America to interview people’s career heroes. He’s the driving force behind Pursue The Passion, a project aimed at getting people to enter careers that they’re passionate about rather than simply entering the rat race. In the spirit of using heroes to help in your own life, the Pursue The Passion project is promoting people who have been successful in finding their passion to help inspire others. It’s a fantastic project and I’m going to be watching with keen interest. I’m excited to see Pamela Slim is already on the list of interviews.
I asked Brett to be the first person to take part in my mini-interview series in which I ask people about their heroes. He obliged, so I present his answers here. An exclusive to the Hero Workshop!!!
Who was your hero as a child and why?
My heroes as a child were baseball players because they were on my baseball cards and played in front of thousands of people. My dad got me to eat turkey sandwiches because he called them Jose Canseco’s. The specific hero I had was Barry Bonds, because he is the best. Most people think Barry is the furthest thing from a hero because he (allegedly) used steroids, but the guy is a hero in the way he walks and the way he plays. I remember going to opening day and he hit a home run to end the game in extra innings. It was like he decided that he doesn’t get paid for overtime, so he just decided to end it right then with one swing of the bat. He is simply the best, and I think that is something that all heroes have in common.
Who is your hero now and why?
My hero now is my mother. Her positive outlook on the world and the love she spreads is something that is evident in the work I am trying to do with Pursue the Passion. My mother has sacrificed and struggled to raise two exceptional children and is now showing the same love and support for two step children. I think she’s heroic because of her love, sacrifice, and enthusiasm for life.
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I think this is a great concept! I know my heroes have changed as I’ve gotten older and not because I’ve been exposed to more people or because new heroes have emerged, but because my priorities in life have changed. It’s funny that the people who are my heroes now have always been there.
So, Lisa, who would you put down as your hero when you were a child and now?
Growing up my hero would have been my Aunt Kay. She was the first woman mayor of Swartz Creek, and mostly she ran because they wouldn’t let a “woman” be on the firefighting squad. She then became a state representative for 8 years. I helped campaign for her…parades and what not. I guess the part that really made me think of her as my hero is that she did it all without a man. She didn’t marry until she was 45 (after Chuck and I were together) and stood on her own two feet for all those years doing what she wanted and not having some man tell her what to do. Coming from a predominantly male dominated household and an overbearing father that was very much what I wanted and I felt that my mother was the weak one.
Now…my mother is my hero. I realize it wasn’t weakness, it was strength that held her with my father. Becoming a mother myself (especially to three…same as my mom) really changed my priorities. When I think of a hero I think of someone who puts others before themselves. Who accomplish things against all odds. Who do a lot with little or nothing at all. Who in the face of adversity can inspire others to rise above their class or level and become something better. I feel that my mom has done all of those things and much more. I look to her at least once a day for inspiration in how I raise my own children. Mom came to all our games, recitals, concerts etc and cheered us on and yet still somehow managed to keep the house up, have dinner ready, plant a garden every summer, be the leader of our 4-H clubs, be a PTA mom and a volunteer with our Girl Scout troop…and I never remember her losing her cool (although she swears she did.) She was and is a wonderful mother and a loving and doting grandmother.