Bernhard’s house is made of mud, and he is very proud of that fact. As a natural builder, in Portland, Oregon, Bernhard is working to inspire more people to realize the possibilities of the natural world around them, or in this case, under their feet. Bernhard says the empowerment he felt, from building his own home, is what has led him to educate others in the ways of natural building. He has learned entirely from experience, and books read on the subject. Bernhard does not tout natural building as a way to make a fortune, but as he says, “That’s not the way I want to be.”

Speaking from a public bench, the construction of which he oversaw, Bernhard speaks of the wonderful relationships that can be formed while working with a natural medium. Mud, he says, is a very natural thing. There is very little training that makes one person more of a mud expert than another person. This particular Oregon bench was built as a school project, and Bernhard says it was rewarding to see the kids come together, across social strata, and build a space for the community. And that is truly Bernhard’s passion: community building. The construction creates places that inspire public congregation, bringing people together around places they can proud of.

Michael Hynson, the featured surfer in the legendary movie The Endless Summer, as well as one of the finest surfboard shapers in the world, offers a warning to those pursuing their passion:

“Fame and fortune do not go hand in hand.”

After filming The Endless Summer Michael had attained a legendary status in the surfing, yet he saw no financial reward in that legendary status. Passion took Michael around the world and back, but in the end was more of a blinding force than a supportive one.

The boy who grew up in Hawaii but became enamored with surfing in California, is credited as one of the people who brought the surfer lifestyle into mainstream American culture. He was recently featured in a nine-page spread in Surfer magazine displaying his innovative line of Hynson Surfboards.

Michael is a sarcastic, funny, gruff man, reflective of many years of successes and also failure. But he comes across as an incredibly honest man, to the extent that he offers no personal review of his surfboards, leaving that job to those who ride them.

Michael is resilient in his business drive, working his way to the top with a more sound business plan than before, and his surfboards will certainly be a big part of the surfing culture for many years to come.

You can check out Michael Hynson’s surfboards at http://www.michaelhynsonsurfboards.com/

We met up with Amy in her Southside Chicago loft, to hear her story of how she made a leap of faith from the security of Corporate America, to the exhilarating yet exhausting world of entrepreneurship. While we devoured the best pound cake known to man, the warm and collected Amy relived the events that led to her following her passion, and the opening of her business Comfort Cake®.

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Marc Fages is the Quality Assurance Specialist of Supplier Quality Management at Amgen, a bio-pharmaceutical company recently voted to Forbes’ list of “100 best places to work for.”

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