SARAH HUNT, raised in rural North Carolina, grew from humble beginnings to become the first cover star of ELYSIAN magazine. Her early experiences as a wrestler and student shaped her resilience and dedication. After studying math and earning a master’s in data science, Sarah became a passionate advocate for mentorship, learning, and community. Influenced by her mother’s strength and Native American roots, she believes success is amplified through shared support. Sarah now leads a life rooted in curiosity, empowerment, and vulnerability, inspiring others to grow by embracing their unique paths and uplifting one another.
After spending her first 12 years in a rural town in North Carolina, Sarah Hunt found herself engulfed in various depictions of success. Raised on values of resilience, purpose, and tenacity, she feels her growth is owed to the women who encouraged her from an early age to persevere and remain strong in moments of uncertainty, all with a fervor for life that could only be considered unwavering. After a happenstance meeting with ELYSIAN’s publisher, Karen Floyd, in a downtown retail operation in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Karen asked the young 15-year-old and her parents if Sarah would consider “sitting” for the first cover of ELYSIAN print magazine. At the time, Sarah was a competitive wrestler, navigating the commitments and difficulties she faced by dedicating a significant amount of time to practice and tournaments. Organizing between schedules ahead of the shoot was understandably difficult. Considering how young Sarah was at the time, it would be very difficult to understand how a cover would boost her sense of confidence and elevate her future goals. As the banner fluttered down the side of the building and eyes were transfixed on her, it all became clear. Sarah finally realized what she had achieved at the launch event held at ELYSIAN’s headquarters on Main Street in downtown Spartanburg, SC. The debut cover was expanded to an oversized version, the poster came cascading down—inciting a ripple effect of tremendous expansion in Sarah’s personal trajectories. Before she knew it, her life would be forever changed.
Though already a powerful moment of personal achievement, the magazine launch shifted the way that Sarah viewed herself, and the possibilities of her future. She says, “That moment marked the beginning of a limitless journey—one filled with opportunities waiting to be claimed. From that point forward, I never doubted my ability to accomplish what I set my mind to.” Sarah went on to be accepted at her top choice college, Clemson University. Earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, she would later go on to achieve a master’s degree in data science and analytics. Expertly showcasing that two things can be true at once—Sarah was praised for her natural beauty and simultaneously went on to commit to a life of learning, indefinitely expanding her worldview and developing meaningful community ties. After the magazine’s debut with Sarah gracing the cover, she has continued her affiliation with the magazine, going on to become an official member of the team. She expressed that, “None of this would have been possible without the extraordinary women who raised me, and the inspiring women I have been fortunate enough to meet along the way.” Having a positive role model or guide who can share similar experiences with you is invaluable, further establishing that ELYSIAN’s move to incorporate a younger audience’s perspectives into their work will push all audiences forward. If we are to seek more ways to connect, aid in each other’s struggles, and support the successes, we all soar to brand new levels of achievement we never previously never thought possible.
Photograph by Todd Kuhns
Though every one person is on their own path, our lives inevitably interweave and what we realize is that much more can be achieved with a community-oriented mindset. This understanding of personal mobility allows hard maintained walls of isolation and gatekeeping to come down. It’s a simple analogy, but consider the meager ant: This insect is tasked with bringing food back to the nest—if it were to find a particularly large bounty, it is very unlikely this could be attained single-handedly. If you were, instead, to take a group of ants who are working together toward a collective goal (in this analogy the food is creative or career opportunities), they are able to move the piece seamlessly, and all at once. If operating from a scarcity mindset and taking off a small chunk, keeping the find hidden—the ant will eventually come to realize that the remnant of food, for all its’ worth, cannot be moved alone. It will either have to be chipped away at (reducing its impact/value) or abandoned entirely. In recent years, we have seen a surge of women come to occupy powerful positions, establish life changing career developments, and become community builders who are actively extending opportunities to newfound talent amongst women across industries. Sarah touches on this occurrence, “It would be super lonely to do it all by yourself,” she states, “If someone’s cup is empty and mine is overflowing, I’m going to pour into their cup.” If you take this metaphor about ants and consider it in the way that inspiring women have the chance to connect with and aid aspiring women, what we suddenly begin to see manifest is a mindset of abundance. Often young women are looked down upon as unable to understand the many complexities of life, told that “you’ll understand when you get older.” Sarah thinks that women would tremendously benefit, societally, if we moved to embrace a standard of being graceful with every woman you meet, regardless of age. This allows pathways for shared vested interest in growth and empowerment of others to take root—as opposed to individually looking out for oneself. There is so much more that can be achieved when we open ourselves to vulnerability and offer a hand to those who may be in need of assistance or guidance.
Sarah shares that she intentionally leads a life focused on expanding her worldview, dedicating herself to learning in an ongoing and tangible way. She says, “Being open to everything around you creates a happier life, ideas, people, new places. You can never really stop learning. I think when you continually strive for knowledge it just makes it easier to make connections.” Aspiring women are dedicated to learning about themselves as they reflect off the world around them, mentorship comes into play here as a mutual exchange. An existence driven by the desire to learn is what will push our lives forward, dotted by achievements never previously envisioned for ourselves. Sarah continues, “You can never really stop learning, I just continually learn about new topics, whether it be my current job or not.” Enrolling this standard throughout her life, she believes, “If I’m 50 or 60 years down the road, retired, I’m still reading a new book. When you continue to strive for knowledge, it just makes you more palatable for society as a whole.” A person dedicated to understanding the differences between them and other people, either personally or creatively, is far more likely to expand. This openness dispels the likelihood of arbitrarily removing oneself from potentially beneficial scenarios and relationships due to fear of the unknown. Seeking an understanding of the world is not only going to enliven your perception of the types of relationships you can build and benefit from, but also adjust your understanding of what achievement looks like for you, into new configurations. With each commitment to new perspectives, you’ll be forced to diversify your definition of success—for the better.
When it comes to the next generation of aspirational women, it seems the days of gatekeeping are slowly waning. Sarah Hunt says, “I’m more than happy to share, ‘this is exactly step by step how I got here’ . . . I feel some women think other women are threatening, I don’t really believe that. I think that other women are the people that will help us the most.” In a world that in many ways is still focused on uplifting men first, there are remnants of a time where women were in constant competition with one another, vying for limited seats at the men’s table. It takes active acknowledgement in order to remove these negative thought patterns that have become commonplace in spaces where women are seeking career growth. Much of the narrative has previously focused on women’s achievement, almost exclusively as a result of men’s success. Women of all generations are starting to realize that their story of personal achievement doesn’t have to hinge on someone else’s accomplishments. Rather they can carve their own path. A big contributing factor to Sarah’s ability to push through difficulties is the result of her mother’s guidance and influence over her life. Sarah shares, “I’m Native American and that culture is a matriarchy,” when talking about her mom who’s one of her biggest inspirations, “She had a bachelor’s degree, when I was born, but by the time I was 10-years-old she’d gotten a master’s and a PhD while raising two children on her own.” Sarah’s mother instilled a standard of flexible excellence from a young age, “She’s always pushed me to do my best.” Sarah recalled a memory, “One time in high school I cried because she found my report card. I thought she was going to be upset with me but instead she said ‘did you do your best? . . . then, that’s all you can do’.”
ELYSIAN “Aspiring Woman,” Sarah Hunt, from her original ELYSIAN cover shoot ten years ago.
When it comes to mentorship, each of these aspiring women have had positive relationships with people who committed to their growth throughout their lives. Further proving that ELYSIAN’s move to support rising voices—already has roots. When women support each other, their skills and offerings become amplified. Though many may not have a close tie to their mother or family members, there are so many other avenues that we can achieve meaningful mentorships. A necessary part of forming these foundations comes down to becoming comfortable with vulnerability. Many women still struggling with this often have experienced unfortunate circumstances where their vulnerability was weaponized against them. It makes sense that many may feel wary of opening up emotionally, though what lies on the other side of earnestness is boundless understanding. In Sarah’s case, beginning her journey at college was not the easiest adjustment. She expressed, “I had a lot of suppressed feelings about things that happened in my life before high school, when I got to college it all hit me.” She continued, “I just wasn’t prepared for the type of work I needed to put in to be successful in college, so I didn’t do well my freshman year at all.” Sometimes it takes readjustment of our goals to achieve a better outcome than we’d planned. Sarah’s parents worked in higher education and, therefore, she had a set idea of what her college experience would look like. When she first started studying, “The plan was to do environmental science and get a doctorate in genetics . . . it’s so crazy that 18-year-old me was thinking that.” When her experience hadn’t panned out as expected, she decided to change her major to mathematics. This was striking to her, “Somehow I landed on math, which is really crazy because my late father was the head of the math department at the college in the town I used to live in.” Sometimes unforeseen challenges lead us to exactly where we need to be. The common turn of phrase “everything happens for a reason” is employed in instances like this, but sometimes things are more complicated than that. Often what ends up happening is not always “for a reason” and rather we choose to “make the reason” as the only real control we have over our circumstances is how we choose to react. Having a solid support system is how women can effectively maneuver the ups and downs, while remaining active participants in their own lives.
This is not an uncommon experience for aspiring women. Sometimes the personal goals and expectations we set ourselves become some of the most difficult barriers to overcome. Sarah notes that after navigating so many pitfalls throughout her life, she now occupies a more relaxed perspective, “When people ask me what I want to do, I say I’ll see how it goes.” Starting over can be very difficult but it can also be a necessary part of our personal process of growth. In Sarah’s case, it’s exactly what she needed to kickstart other achievements she didn’t know were ahead of her. Sarah shared that in college, though she didn’t experience direct mentorship, she found it through various relationships to women her age experiencing new struggles and similar difficulties. She says, “Freshman year was really tough for me . . . I didn’t really have mentors. I didn’t have my mom, so I turned to my girlfriends. We had the best group of friends. You could call on any single one of us.” Having a mentor to help guide you away from negative and self-destructive tendencies, can make the difference between pursuing one’s dreams and leaving them to fizzle.