When Dmitriy leads the dance, his defiant, rebellious streak is brilliantly on-point. For instance, when a kennel owner was the only one who would offer him a job before the age of 14, Dmitriy turned his rebellious streak right back around, on to himself. “I was scared to death of dogs,” he remembers, “but I grew to love them.” He worked that job for five years, mastering his fear and channeling the sensation of conquering that obstacle.

His near-death experience was a defining moment in his life. Until then, he’d come to accept the notion that the dangerous gang community would be the only community he’d ever belong to. But when that was ripped out from underneath him, he was forced to find a new stage for the next act in his life.

Dmitriy choreographed a new dance for this next act, unleashing his inner rebel to perform. This time, it was a passionate blend of positive purpose fueled by all of his life’s experiences.

Every upset was turned into a lesson. Each drop of pain was turned into a new beat for success. Rather than dwell on the absence of emotional support at home, he accepted this as a blessing in disguise, as it afforded him the opportunity to learn self-reliance and develop a stronger sense of maturity than his peers.

The stark contrast of life in Soviet Russia with its limited possibilities and extreme hardships were used as a reminder of all the potential left available to him in this country. The rejection of his peers and the festering wounds that left were used as a calling to him to create a community of his own, offering others the acceptance he’d longed for.

Slowly, Dmitriy Kozlov turned his life around.

Step by step, he proved all his Doubters wrong, earning top grades, maintaining a job, moving on to graduate college with a double major, and constantly seeking to surround himself with strictly positive influences. Still, he knew there was one more adversary on his path to a fulfilled life  – Himself.

Although he was managing his inner rebel, it was still a strong foe. Dmitriy was familiar enough with this side of himself to understand it has the potential for healthy and unhealthy outlets. Try as he may, he still struggled to master this trait and harness it for healthy outlets.

This need took him to Peru, where he stepped into a 10-day experience he credits as being a “Purpose Accelerator.”

Dmitriy joined a small group of ten entrepreneurs on a voyage into inner discovery. They sat down with a Shaman and dove into this experience. Unlike the rest of his group, Dmitriy was already clear on his purpose of helping others find their own voice. He simply needed to find a way to accelerate this in the world.

Deep in Peru, Dmitry embraced the opportunity to address his old patterns and expose all of his wounds, so that he may finally and fully heal them. “Our wounds are beautiful things because they can create places where the light shines through,“ he realized.

It was an intense process and he committed wholly to it.

The outcome liberated him from the pain and unhealthy patterns of his past that had still been clinging to him. Unencumbered by these burdens, Dmitriy renewed his dance with a lighter step and a clearer focus.