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Essay Samples on Someone Who Inspires Me

At its core, inspiration is a powerful force that ignites passion, propels dreams, and molds individuals into extraordinary beings. It is the vibrant pulse that surges through our veins, pushing us to achieve greatness even in the face of adversity. Crafting an essay about someone who inspires you allows you to shine a spotlight on the transformative power of such individuals.

How to Write an Essay on Someone Who Inspires Me

Here are some useful example you shpuld consider when writing a college essay about someone who inspires you:

• Consider beginning with a heartfelt introduction that captivates the reader’s attention and sets the stage for the awe-inspiring journey to come.
• Share a personal anecdote or a defining moment that sparked the connection between you and your inspirational figure, allowing the reader to empathize with your experience.
• Delve into the qualities and actions that make this individual so inspiring. Explore their accomplishments, perseverance, and unwavering determination. Showcase how their words and deeds have impacted your life, shaping your values and aspirations. Be vivid and descriptive, illustrating the profound influence they have had on your personal growth and development.
• Weave in personal reflections throughout your essay. Share introspective thoughts and revelations, highlighting the lessons you have learned and the ways in which your perspective has evolved. By doing so, you invite the reader to embark on a transformative journey alongside you, creating a powerful emotional connection.

To aid you in your writing process, we provide a sample essay about someone who inspires you. It serves as a guiding light, illustrating the structure, tone, and depth needed to craft an outstanding piece. Drawing inspiration from this sample, embrace your unique voice, infuse your essay with passion, and let your words leave an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of the readers.

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Best topics on Someone Who Inspires Me

1. A Bond Beyond Words: Reflecting on My Relationship with Someone Special

2. A Beacon of Inspiration: A Descriptive Peace about the Person I Admire

3. A Person I Will Always Remember: My English Teacher

4. My Grandmother as My Role Model: Her Role in Shaping My Identity

5. My Role Model and My Heroes: Mother and Father

6. Audrey Hepburn: Life Of A Timeless Inspiration Of Mine

7. Oprah Winfrey and Ariana Grande: Women That Inspire Me

8. St. Bernadette: The Woman That Inspires Me

9. Simone De Beauvoir One of the Greatest Woman

10. Ned Kelly: American Hero Or Villain

11. Joan of Arc One of the Most Heroic Women in French History

12. Who Inspired Me to Become a Nurse

13. Mary Kom, The Person Who Inspired Me to Pursue My Dreams

14. The People Who Shaped Me

15. Three People Who Influenced Me Throughout My Life

• Career Goals
• Personality
• Personal Experience

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Who Inspires You and Why? 5 Best Sample Answers with Examples

Who inspires you and why? It is one of the most common interview questions that employers ask at some point in their lives. We all have role models who inspire us to be better people, but we often don’t take the time to think about who they are.

This blog post will explore who inspires you and why they inspire you. We will also look at how we can use these people as motivation in our own lives.

Table of Contents

What is inspiration?

Inspiration can be defined as the process of stimulating the mind to create new ideas or thoughts. It is often used in the context of creativity, but it can also apply to other areas of life such as motivation, problem-solving, and leadership.

Why are people inspired by others?

One of the most common reasons people are inspired by others is because they have achieved something that we admire. Maybe they have overcome great odds to achieve their goals, or they have made a significant contribution to society.

Another reason people are inspired by others is that they possess qualities that we aspire to have. Maybe they are kind and compassionate, or intelligent and successful.

Lastly, people are often inspired by others because of the way they live their lives. Maybe they are always positive and upbeat, or maybe they live life with a sense of purpose. Whatever the case may be, we can all learn from someone.

How to find role models who inspire you

One of the best ways to find role models who inspire you is to think about the people who have positively impacted your life. These could be family members, teachers, coaches, mentors, or friends. Once you have identified these people, take some time to reflect on why they inspire you.

It is also important to seek out new sources of inspiration, especially if you feel like you are in a rut. There are many ways to do this, such as reading biographies or watching TED Talks. You can also follow inspiring people on social media or attend events where they will be speaking.

Why does the interviewer ask this question?

The interviewer asks this question for a few reasons.

• First, they want to know you better and see what motivates you.
• Second, they want to see if you have the ability to be inspired by others. This is important because it shows that you can learn from other people and that you are not just focused on yourself.
• Third, they want to see if you can identify who your role models are and why they inspire you. This shows that you are reflective and have thought about who has positively influenced your life.
• Answering this question well can give the interviewer a good sense of who you are and whether or not you would be a good fit for the job.

How to answer the “who inspires you and why?” interview question

This question can demonstrate your values and what you believe is important in life.

Some things to keep in mind when answering this question:

• Be specific about who your role model is and why they inspire you.
• Avoid saying that you don’t have a role model or that you are your own biggest inspiration.
• Talk about how this person has helped you in your life or career.
• Share what qualities or traits you admire about this person.

Sample Answers to Who inspires you and why?

Teacher example.

“One of my high school teachers, Mr. Smith, was a huge inspiration. He always went above and beyond for his students and pushed us to be our best. I aspire to have that same dedication to my work and want to help others reach their potential as he did for me.”

Relationships Example

Friend example.

“My best friend is a big inspiration to me. No matter what life throws her way, she always stays positive and keeps moving forward. She’s also an amazing listener and gives great advice. I aspire to be more like her in my personal and professional life.”

Mother example

“My mother is my biggest inspiration. She’s an incredible woman who has overcome a lot in her life. She’s always been there for me, even when things were tough. I aspire to be as strong and compassionate as she is.”

Public Figure

Martin luther king jr..

Martin Luther King Jr. is my inspiration of mine. He was a civil rights leader who fought for equality and justice. His dedication to his cause is something that I admire. He once said, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'”

Steve Jobs is another one of my inspirations. He was the founder of Apple and is widely considered a genius in the tech world. I admire his dedication to his work and ability to think outside the box.

He once said, “Your work will fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all heart matters, you’ll know when you find it.”

Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg has also inspired me. She is the COO of Facebook and has written a few books, most notably Lean In. What I admire about her is her dedication to her career while still making time for her family.

She is a working mother and is proof that you can have it all if you are willing to fight for it. In her book, she talks about the importance of women supporting other women in the workplace. She says, “We need to start leaning into our careers and stop holding ourselves back. We need to believe in our abilities and trust that we can achieve our goals.”

Elon Musk is another one of my inspirations. He is the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX, co-founder of Tesla Motors, and chairman of SolarCity. He is also the founder of The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company.

What I admire about Elon is his vision for the future. He wants to make humans a multi-planetary species, and he is working hard to make that happen. He is also a big advocate for renewable energy and believes that it is the key to saving our planet. He once said, “The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.”

Questions to Ask Elon Musk

In conclusion

Role models are important because they can inspire us to reach our goals and become the best versions. When answering the question “Who inspires you?” be specific about your role model and why they inspire you.

You can also talk about how this person has helped you in your life or career. Lastly, share what qualities or traits you admire about this person. Answering this question well can give the interviewer a good sense of who you are and whether or not you would be a good fit for the job.

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Interview Questions

Comprehensive Interview Guide: 60+ Professions Explored in Detail

Answers to “Who Inspires You?” (5 Examples)

By Biron Clark

Published: November 15, 2023

In a job interview, employers don’t just want to know you can do the job; they want to know about your life and interests.

So they ask interview questions like, “Who inspires you in your life?” or “Who is your greatest inspiration?”

And if you struggle to answer or give a response they don’t like, it could cost you the job.

Keep reading for tips on how to answer, “Who inspires you?” with example responses, mistakes to avoid, and more.

How to Answer the “Who Inspires You?” Interview Question

First of all, this is an incredibly open-ended interview question.

And while there are no wrong responses… some answers are better than others.

You could answer that your mother or father is your greatest inspiration. And that would be an okay answer.

But I recommend you look beyond a personal or family connection when answering, and consider the specific job you’re interviewing for.

Because the next question you’ll be asked, assuming you don’t expand on it in the first place, is “why?”

What did your mother, father, college teacher , or other personal connection do that was so inspiring? Was it their work ethic? Leadership skills?

Again, any of those answers are correct, but your answer will stand out and resonate more with the interviewer if you go into detail and ideally, tailor your answer to the traits required in the position you’re discussing.

Here’s a good example of how to answer this interview question by matching your inspiration to the job.

Imagine you’re looking for a career with a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide aid to the homeless, the sick, and the poor.

Claiming Mother Teresa as your greatest inspiration would be a sensible answer to the question.

She devoted most of her life to charitable work, helping the homeless, sick, and poor.

Or, if you were interviewing for a leadership position, you could use someone past or present who showed exemplary leadership as your inspiration.

Just be sure to pick someone you really admire because there’s a good chance your body language will give you away if you’re lying.

And yes, don’t be surprised if the recruiter or manager has some skill at reading body language.

The point is, your answer not only provides some insight into the person you aspire to be, but also highlights the type of behavioral patterns and attitudes you admire and respect.

And that will translate into the type of person you would be on the job.

Here’s another example of thinking about the job when answering “Who inspired you in your life?”

Imagine you’re interviewing for an accounting position. The soft skills you’ll need are:

• Problem-solving
• Strong communication skills, both written and oral
• Critical thinking
• Time management

You could use some famous accountants as your answer, perhaps someone like William Deloitte or William Cooper, the founders of Deloitte & Touche and Price Waterhouse Coopers respectively.

Or you could think outside the box and use as your inspiration someone who was or is well known for their critical thinking or problem-solving skills.

Of course, if you go this route, you need to clearly communicate your reasoning to your interviewer.

If you were to throw out Albert Einstein as your inspiration, that might not make sense to the person or people interviewing you because he’s a well-known physicist. But dig a little deeper and he’s also famous for being a problem solver and critical thinker, so you could talk about how he inspired you in those areas.

Throw an answer like that out and trust me, you’ll gain some serious credibility points.

As you can see, there’s no one “right” answer to this interview question. The key is to be able to explain why you choose the person and connect the dots between their story and your career and life goals.

Who Inspires You? Example Answers

Next, we’ll look at word-for-word who inspires you examples using people, past or present, who led a life that meshes with your career path and interests.

Example #1 for Who Inspires You: Mother Teresa

Someone who inspired me in my personal life and work is Mother Teresa. She dedicated her life to helping those less fortunate, and I’d like to achieve a similar story when I look back on my life. Also, I believe that her desire to help others made her a great leader, even though few would think of her that way. One of my favorite quotes by her is, “Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

This sample answer would be excellent if interviewing for a position at a charitable organization or other socially conscious organization.

It’s also a good answer for any role utilizing soft skills like leadership, empathy, emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills, and more.

No matter what your religious beliefs are (and I would recommend you don’t address them in the job interview), using this example answer with the reasons above would work in your favor and help you land any leadership role in an organization that values helping others.

Example #2 for Who Inspires You: Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein has inspired me in my career. His theories and vision enabled some of the technology we take for granted today, like GPS, lasers, atomic clocks, and much more. He also struggled with and had to overcome self-doubt, like so many people do. The fact that even he faced self-doubt is inspiring and reminds me to be persistent and believe in myself.

Albert Einstein would be a great choice for the “Who inspires you” interview question for anyone seeking a position in a company that requires creativity. For example:

• Any kind of artist
• Authors/writers
• College art, drama, or music teachers
• Editors, print or video
• Fashion designer
• Industrial designer
• Landscape architects

Example #3 for Who Inspires You: Michael Jordan

I’ve been inspired by Michael Jordan. He was talented, but more importantly, he was willing to outwork the competition and focus intensely on his goals. He was relentless and never stopped pushing himself to improve. One excellent piece of advice he shared was to never forget the fundamentals. “The minute you get away from fundamentals, whether it’s proper technique, work ethic, or mental preparation, the bottom can fall out of your game, your schoolwork, your job, whatever you’re doing.”

This is an interview answer that you could use for virtually any type of job.

In the corporate world, there are fundamentals critical to your success. Each job position will have its own fundamentals, but Jordan’s advice is that whatever they are, keep at them.

He also didn’t let failure stop him, which you can also say was inspiring to you. Ironically, when he was in high school, he was disqualified from the varsity basketball team because he wasn’t tall enough or good enough.

What did he do? Well, he eventually grew but more importantly, he practiced until he was good enough.

All of the factors above make Michael Jordan an excellent choice for someone you find inspiring.

Note that you could also choose a more recent athlete such as Kobe Bryant if you prefer (who happened to have a similar mindset, competitiveness, and mental toughness to Michael Jordan).

Example #4 for Who Inspires You: William Deloitte

Since becoming an accountant , I’ve been inspired by William Deloitte, one of the fathers of accounting. I’m inspired by his innovation, leadership, and interpersonal skills. These traits allowed him to make powerful connections and accomplish a tremendous amount in his career. He was ambitious and aimed high, too, which are values that are important to me. He started his career at 15 and opened his own practice at 25. He went on to found one of the largest accounting firms in the world, so his story is a reminder to stay ambitious and motivated in life.

This is a good answer to “Who inspires you?” if interviewing for any position in accounting or bookkeeping.

Remember, it’s always a good idea to consider the job you’re discussing when you answer this interview question.

Example #5 for Who Inspires You: Your Father

My father is someone who inspired me throughout life and is the reason I got into the marketing industry. When he was 19, he started a small local marketing firm and grew it to the point of having 200 clients throughout the state. He recognized that building strong relationships is just as important as being competent in your work, and he became excellent at both through consistent effort. He was also an inspiration because nobody told him to go down the marketing route, and he didn’t study marketing in school. Instead, he read local newspapers, saw opportunities to help businesses market themselves better in the local community, and went door-to-door to get his first clients.

As you can see, it’s okay to say a personal connection or family member inspired you.

But if choosing friends, parents, or other relatives/personal connections, you need to be ready to show something exceptional they did and exactly how that was an inspiration in your life and career. Otherwise, choose someone else as your inspirational figure.

Now you have 5 examples to the question, “Who inspires you?”

I’ve mentioned a few times that there are no wrong answers to this interview question. But there are some mistakes you should avoid when giving your interview answer…

Mistakes to Avoid When Answering “Who Inspires You?”

The #1 mistake to avoid when saying who inspires you in an interview:

If there’s anything we’ve learned in the last several years, it’s that there are some topics and people who are completely polarizing. Many people are one hundred percent for or against something or someone.

Why does that matter?

Because you have no idea where the person who’s interviewing you stands on the subject. And if you voice a strong like or dislike contrary to theirs, that could count against you.

So it’s best to stay away from anyone or anything highly controversial or polarizing, such as most political figures or issues.

Further mistakes to avoid:

• If you do choose a famous person, make sure they really are someone you admire and respect. Otherwise you won’t sound convincing.
• Don’t give an answer that’s more than 60-90 seconds. Be selective in sharing why someone has inspired you and just choose a few key points to share. You don’t need to share every detail you’ve read and researched about this person, and if the interviewer wants to hear more, they’ll ask.
• Don’t ever answer without having a reason ready. If you choose your mother, father, a friend, or anyone related to you, be sure to have an appropriate reason.

8 Types of People You Can Say Inspired You

To help you gather more ideas for potential answers to “Who inspired you in your life?” here are some general types of people you can mention as your inspiration.

• Historical figures
• Mentors/coaches
• Noteworthy people in your community
• Parents, family, and friends

If you follow the steps and sample answers above, you’ll be ready to answer “Who inspires you?” in your next interview.

If you can’t think of someone to name and the examples above don’t work for you, don’t panic.

Google is your friend for coming up with more answers and people you find inspiring.

If you’re not sure what soft skills and traits are most important for the position your interview is for, you can do a search on something like “soft skills needed for…” and just fill in either the field or role you’re hoping to get hired for.

Also, look at the job description before your interview. Notice which skills and traits are mentioned first and/or most often.

Then, you can try searching for someone motivational that matches the soft skills required for the job. Try something like a search for “examples of people with a good work ethic.”

This preparation will help you wow the interviewer so you can land the job.

Related interview questions:

• What do you like to do for fun?
• How would you describe yourself?
• Tell me about a time you failed?

About the Author

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How To Answer “Who Inspires You?” (Examples Included)

September 15, 2022 by Hannah Morgan

“Who inspires you?” is a fairly broad interview question that gives you a lot of wiggle room with your answer. There are so many fascinating and inspirational people out there, so who do you choose?

This resource will help you come up with a great answer when picking your biggest inspiration, so you can use this question as an opportunity to impress.

Table of contents

Why interviewers ask “who inspires you, how to answer this question, what you shouldn’t say in your answer, best example answers.

Contrary to what some people think, job interviews aren’t always tough conversations that exclusively focus on the job at hand. While every question is relevant, they don’t always appear to be at face value. “Who inspires you?” is an example of this. It’s an open-ended question that cleverly provides more insight into who you are as a person.

The main reason why interviewers ask this question is that it sheds light on your motivations. Hiring managers want to know why you pursued this opportunity and whether or not it’s something you’ll continue to be inspired by moving forward. Money is always a significant factor in your job search, but companies want people who are there for more than just monetary gains. They want people who are naturally motivated to succeed and boost the organization’s bottom line.

When you talk about who inspires you, you’re indirectly telling the interviewer what paths you respect and values you hold. Most people gain inspiration from the people they respect most. It’s who you aspire to be like one day.

Your response is an excellent opportunity to show the interviewer who you are in a more creative way than your typical job interview answers. How you answer this question says a lot about you and could help your chances of getting hired.

“Who inspires you?” is a question that also provides more practical insight. In addition to telling them more about your values, it shows off your personality and provides a glimpse of how you can connect and communicate with others. It may even lead to a conversation about soft skills that are relevant to the job. Ultimately, this question tells the interview important personality details that no resume could convey.

“Who inspires you and why?” is a question that requires some thought to answer effectively, but it’s not as challenging as you think. Everyone’s response is different, and you should focus on talking about people who truly matter to you.

However, you can use a few tricks to ensure that you’re providing an effective answer that will leave a great impression.

1. Pick Someone with a Personal Connection

The first tip is to choose someone you have a genuine personal connection with. You don’t have to be super close or even know them personally. But it pays to talk about someone who truly inspires you and your professional career.

Avoid picking people you think the interviewer wants you to talk about in your answer. For example, avoid the obvious attempt at flattery, such as choosing the company’s CEO. Unless they genuinely inspire you, avoid those cliches.

It’s easier to talk about someone that actually means something to you. There’s a good chance that you have strong feelings about what that person has accomplished. You’ll sound more genuine if you have a solid connection to them.

There are many types of people you can talk about with this response. It could be a family member or close friend. Alternatively, you can choose historical figures, industry leaders, authors, or fictional characters. The sky’s the limit here, so think about the biggest inspirations in your professional career.

2. Keep Your Answer Relevant

“Who inspires you?” is a question that is best answered by choosing someone relevant to the job. Sure, you can select a person that has nothing to do with your industry. But that may not provide the insight that the interviewer is looking to get.

The best thing you can do is choose someone related to your field. They should have some connection to your industry, the company you’re applying for, or the position you’re trying to land. Any thread of similarity is something you can lean on when formulating your response.

For example, you can talk about an industry leader. Influencers or thought leaders in your industry are well-known and likely have exciting backstories to draw inspiration. The same goes for innovators within your field. 

You can also look towards historical figures that played a part in your industry becoming what it is today. Anyone with relevance to your industry is a great way to go.

3. Dig Deeper

When you’re explaining who inspires you and why, try not to lean heavily on the obvious traits of the person you’re discussing. For example, saying that the thing that inspires you most about an inventor is that they created a product isn’t exactly groundbreaking.

Go further.

Think about what makes this person so inspiring and what you connect with personally. Think about what this individual has done for you, your industry, and society as a whole.

One great technique is to explain what signature behaviors or traits about that person you want to emulate. Talk about the characteristics that inspire you and how you want to apply them in your professional career. 

Put thought into this response and avoid the obvious cliches. This will help you create a captivating answer that the interviewer hasn’t already heard many times before.

4. Keep It Brief

At most, your response should be around a minute to a minute and a half.

“Who inspires you?” is an interview question that has the potential to draw out long, rambling answers. You probably have many strong feelings about the person you’re talking about, but that doesn’t mean you should talk about them non-stop. Keep your answer relatively concise.

Hit all your main points – state who inspires you, explain why, and move on. Long answers can seem disjointed. Not only that, they’re difficult for you to remember.

A short answer that’s well-thought-out is more likely to leave an impact.

5. Practice

Our last tip is to practice as much as you can. 

That doesn’t mean you should type out a scripted response and memorize it verbatim. That would have the opposite effect you want. Over-rehearsed answers come off as inauthentic.

Instead, decide why the person you’re highlighting inspires you, jot down a few key points, and know the basic structure of your answer. Practice responding in many different ways. The goal is to be confident in your words, not recite a scripted answer.

While you have a lot of freedom to answer this question how you want, there are a few things you want to avoid. The following mistakes could hurt your chances, so keep them in mind when crafting your response.

Typical Family Answers

Most people have nothing but loving things to say about their parents or close family members. But unless you have a compelling or unique reason to talk about them, it’s best to avoid typical responses regarding your family. 

Interviewers are more interested in hearing about individuals who inspire your professional pursuits. You can talk about family if their story is relevant to your field. But talking about how much you love someone in your family or how their support made a difference doesn’t provide the insight interviewers are looking for.

Political or Religious Figureheads

Most workplaces have unspoken rules about discussing politics, religion, and other controversial topics. Your interview should be no different.

While hiring managers can’t discriminate against you, subconscious biases can come into play. The last thing you want to do is talk about a controversial figure that the interviewer doesn’t like. It automatically puts a negative cloud over the interview experience and creates biases that are difficult to shake.

It’s better to steer clear of anyone divisive or remotely controversial when talking about who inspires you.

Example-Free Responses

This mistake happens more frequently than it should! You might have people in mind who inspire you, but unless you can talk about why they inspire you, the answer is incomplete!

Here’s where adequate preparation comes in handy. Think about why those individuals inspire you and what traits you want to emulate in the workplace. “Who inspires you?” is an interview question that should always warrant an example during your answer.

Talking About Multiple People

You probably have many people you admire or view as a source of inspiration, but try limiting your response to just one.

Talking about several individuals can make your answer seem disorganized. Covering multiple people will likely make your response a bit too lengthy.

Self-Absorbed Answers

Finally, please don’t go with the “I inspire myself” response. That might sound groundbreaking to you, but it’s nothing but self-centered and a bit awkward to everyone else.

It can paint you negatively, making the interviewer think you’re arrogant or not a team player. You’ll have other opportunities to talk about how great you are, but this question is not it.

“Who inspires you?” is a question that offers plenty of room for creative thinking. Give it ample thought and use our tips above to mold a perfectly crafted response. To give you some inspiration about talking about who inspires you, here are a few stellar examples.

The first example is for a job-seeker looking to get into the accounting field. The person they choose to talk about is a well-known figure in the accounting world. He’s the namesake for a large, multinational accounting firm. 

But more importantly, the inspirational figurehead is someone who exemplifies the necessary skills and character traits to succeed in accounting. It’s a fine example of an applicant knowing their stuff and doing their research.

“One of my biggest inspirations is William Deloitte, who is often considered the grandfather of accounting.’ There are many things about Deloitte’s life that inspire me. He started his career at 15, opened his own accounting practice at 25, and eventually founded one of the largest firms in the world that continues to operate today!

He was incredibly motivated and continually aimed high. He never let obstacles get in his way, a trait I aspire to have. Deloitte also had impressive interpersonal skills, a natural inclination for leadership, and an eye for innovation.

All those characteristics made him one of the most prominent names in accounting. His story constantly reminds me to be ambitious and strive for excellence in this field.”

In our second example, the applicant isn’t talking about a well-known figure. Instead, they’re choosing to highlight a teacher who significantly impacted their life. They’re interviewing for a journalist position, and this teacher helped hone their skills while cementing unteachable traits.

This response works well because the applicant has a genuine connection to the individual. They discuss how that person made a difference and connect it all back to the position they’re trying to get.

“There are many people who inspire me in my career, but I believe that my senior-year English teacher, Mr. Smith, is the greatest inspiration in my life. Before Mr. Smith’s class, I was relatively indifferent to journalism. But after only a few weeks in his class, I discovered the power of words.

He pushed me outside my comfort zone, encouraging me to write about life experiences. Mr. Smith inspired us to write about challenging topics, teaching us to stand behind our words while using them to connect with readers.

Mr. Smith came in every day with an evident passion for writing. He did more than have us complete simple worksheets or fluff essays. His assignments were impactful, and I continue to use his lessons to ensure that every piece I write is authentic.

I admire his dedication to the craft, and I hope my words can inspire others as much as he inspired me.”

Our last example is about a difficult subject to create an answer for: A family member. Earlier, we mentioned that providing simple responses about a family member is not wise. But here’s an example of when you can talk about someone close to you while still keeping it relevant and thoughtful.

The applicant is trying to get a sales job and decides to talk about their father. While their father works in a slightly different field, they bring up relevant traits that matter to the position they’re trying to get.

“My biggest inspiration is my father. Not only has he inspired me throughout my life, but there are so many details about his career that I find aspirational.

He started in marketing at the age of 19. In just a few short years, he established a small, local firm. It continued to grow until he had a client portfolio that was 250-strong throughout the state.

My father taught me that building solid relationships with clients was paramount. He always stressed that communication and maintaining a professional relationship with clients were just as important as competence in your work.

For years, I watched him speak to clients as if they were old pals, and they had great respect for him. I hope to take that same dedication to customer satisfaction in my career, building a loyal customer list that sticks around for years to come.”

“Who inspires you?” is an interview question that you should prepare for like any other. It doesn’t matter if it seems less serious than others, because interviewers will pay close attention to your answer.

Pick someone relevant, find a unique angle and practice. If you follow these steps, your answer will be just what the interviewer was looking for!

Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including  Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success .

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Who Inspires You? Sample Interview Answers

Doesn’t matter if we admit it or not, each of us has some role models. People we look up to, people who inspire us, people we’d like to emulate with our life journey. It can be our parents, friends, famous singers and artists, or scientists, activists, or entrepreneurs who put the dent to the universe. People who left their mark on this Earth.

Who really inspires us, however, and who we should refer to while interviewing for a job , in not necessarily always the same person. But it’s more about our reasoning and explanation than about a particular name we mention in the interview. Let’s have a look at 7 sample answers to this interesting interview question, which will work well for any of the following variations of the question:

• Mention one person who has inspired you and why.
• Who is your inspiration on life?

7 sample answers to “Who inspires you” interview question

• My mother is my greatest inspiration. She faced a lot of adversity in her life, and had to raise three children as a single mother. She worked extremely hard to provide for us, but I rarely saw her complain about her fate . What I really admire is her enthusiasm for life, and an ability to adapt quickly to changing conditions. I am extremely grateful for being her child, and I cannot thank her enough for everything. Maybe, by following her example in both my personal and professional life, I can pay back what she did for me. At least that’s what I aspire to.
• I am inspired by people who enjoy leaving their comfort zone , and do not mind venturing into the unknown. Be it the famous climbers and athletes I read about in books, or entrepreneurs or scientists who revolutionized the way is which the world functions today. I would also love to leave my mark in this world , and believe that working for your organization, trying to manufacture new ways of distributing renewable green energy to households, I can have such an impact.
• Mother Theresa is my great role model, the one person who has inspired me the most. I always felt the calling to help the sick and poor . Today we have more problems and inequality in the world than ever. Working for your non-profit organization, trying to help homeless people and people on the fringe of society to get back on track, I believe I can follow my calling. And I will always carry a small picture of Mother Theresa in my breast pocket, to motivate me to continue trying, even if the results aren’t good, or if I struggle with motivation.

* Do not forget to check also: Answers to 15 most common interview questions .

• Every person who tries to live in harmony with themselves, other people, and the environment, inspires me. Most people spend their time rushing somewhere, pursuing an illusion of happiness. That’s not the path I’d like to follow. I’m not in for petty corporate wars and daily conflicts with my colleagues, or for trying to make an impression on people around me. No, that’s not my journey. I prefer cooperation to competition , I want to follow healthy and balanced lifestyle, and bring some value to the lives of people around me. And I am lucky enough to have around me few people who are on the same journey, and they are my daily inspiration.
• To be honest, instead of looking for role models, I try to become one . I would love to be an inspiration for people around me, for people in work. How do I want to do it? I want to try my best in job each day , be attentive to the needs of my colleagues, enjoy my time in work, bring some positive energy to the office. And I constantly work on my skills and knowledge, learning new things and languages. I am sure that if my subordinates see such an example, it will be inspiring for them.
• I am mostly inspired by people who overcame extreme adversity . People who crossed Siberia while escaping from labor camps for war prisoners, sailors who managed to survive without food for a month or more when shipwrecked on the ocean, or people who pursued innovative ideas that others condemned, and often suffered imprisonment or even dead as a result of their beliefs. Luckily I do not find myself in their shoes, but I still have my personal battles and personal demons I try to conquer. People who overcame much harder obstacles are my inspiration, and they motivate me to continue trying to win in my small daily battles.
• Speaking honestly, you inspire me . You are such a young woman, and you already work as an HR director in a big company. I’d love to learn more about your journey–where you studied, what results you achieved in your former jobs, how you managed to progress so quickly in your professional career. Maybe if we become colleagues I will get a chance to learn more about your way. But hats down really and you are definitely an inspiration for me.

Try to connect your answer with your new job

When you define qualities of a person who inspires you, you can try to connect these qualities with your new job . Look at sample answer no. 2, or at sample answer no. 3, as a great example of this technique. Job applicant talks about Mother Theresa (a famous person, each hiring manager will know what she did in her life), and immediately bridges it with their duties in the job–helping homeless people.

We typically look up to certain qualities, or achievements of a person–that’s their identity in our eyes. If you can, try to pick someone who would do a great job in your new employment, or at least someone who has the right strengths and personal traits for the type of work. You want to emulate their qualities, and hence you will also do such a great job.

* Special Tip: “ Who inspires you?” isn’t the only difficult question you will face while interviewing for any decent job. You will face questions about prioritization, dealing with pressure, dealing with ambiguity , and other situations that may happen in the workplace. If you want to make sure that you stand out with your answers and outclass your competitors, have a look at our Interview Success Package . Up to 10 premium answers to 31 tricky scenario based questions (+ more) will make your life much easier in the interviews. Thank you for checking it out!

Applying for leadership roles, you can try to be an inspiration for others

When you apply for a managerial or executive position, or for any other leadership role in an organization, you can try the approach from sample answer no. 5. Instead of looking for role models, you want to become one for your colleagues.

If you opt for this answer, however, you should clearly define what you want to do to inspire other people . In an ideal case you should talk about work related things–how you want to approach your job, what attitude you want to have to your colleagues, and similar. You can be confident, but you should not sound cocky . Present them your ideas, and a humble desire to be the role model for your subordinates.

* May also interest you: How to dress for an interview? 5 things to consider when choosing clothes to wear.

Saying that your interviewer inspires you is a risky approach, but it can do wonders in some cases

Let’s face the reality of today’s economy. People strive for recognition, but often they do not get it. Some people work hard and overtime and do whatever they can for their company, just to impress their superiors, to hear some words of praise from their mouth. But their superiors don’t understand it, or are too consumed in their own ego to praise anyone else in the company.

Such a person can easily lead the interview with you . Manager who strives for recognition of their efforts and achievement, but does not get any . If you praise such a person in an interview, if you call them your role model, your inspiration, it can have a huge impact on them, and on the way in which they perceive you.

You may immediately become their favorite job applicant , and they may even feel obliged to pay you back the favor somehow–perhaps letting you progress to the next rounds of interviews. At the end of the day, even the most skilled recruiters and managers are human beings. They have their emotions, desires and dreams . If you manage to touch something profound in them, you may win them over.

Having said that, answering their question in this way definitely possesses some risks, and you should think twice whether to opt for it or not…

Ready to answer this one? Great! Now you should check our Interview Success Package 2.0 for up to 10 premium answers to all 104 interview questions. Learn something your competitors won’t know, and outclass them in your next interview! Alternatively you can have a look at sample answers to the following questions:

• What makes you unique?
• What accomplishments are you most proud of?
• Why should we hire you?
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8 Tips To Write An Essay About Someone Who Inspires You

by Faze Staff

Essay writing is one of the most boring and time-consuming academic papers, but it’s impossible to graduate from school or college without writing an essay. However, it will be fair to say that 90% of students would want to find an opportunity to avoid facing this assignment at all, except for those having an aptitude for writing. If you got interested in this article, you are either a school or college student who wants to alleviate the academic burden and find some assistance. And you came to the right place.

Students hate essay writing because the topics professors give are usually too difficult. Moreover, when students are asked to select a topic for an essay on their own, they are far more disappointed. Therefore, if you need to write a paper about inspiring a person is rather a good situation. We understand that you may fail to complete a paper alone, so ask professionals to write an essay for cheap . AffordablePapers.com is one of the few websites offering people an opportunity to alleviate their academic burden.

Sometimes it’s better to pay someone to do your assignment than to waste time and nerves on useless attempts to write an essay. However, if you feel you have enough skills and knowledge to finish this task alone, you can find some other assistance online; for example, you can use guides and tips. Today we’ll help you to craft an outstanding paper about your idol.

Tips On Essay Writing That’ll Help You Get an A-Grade

Well, you need to describe a person you like. It seems there’s nothing easier for a young person, but there are enough people who either don’t have idols or don’t understand how to write such a paper. However, we don’t believe that you don’t have a person that inspires you. It can be everyone: your friend, someone you know, a celebrity, a scientist, etc. That’s why before you start writing a paper, you need to carry out small research and decide whom you’ll devote your paper to.

The next important aspect to mention is the structure of your paper. No matter what essay you write: descriptive, narrative, or inspirational — it should follow the standard structure. Start with a captivating introduction, proceed with the main body with strong arguments, and finish with a good conclusion. Here are some tips you’d better use while writing your inspirational essay:

1. Understand what kind of person is inspiring Since your professor asked you to write an essay about an inspiring person, you should find a really good example. That’s why the first thing you need to do is to define the qualities of an inspiring person. Such people have a set of different qualities: they believe in themselves, in people around them, are self-confident, and know what they’ll do tomorrow. In 90% of cases, inspiring personalities run a business that made them well-known. They also typically engage in extensive market research to better understand their target audience and competition. If you are looking to conduct market research for your own business or consider any business as an example, there are many resources available, including research for sale from reputable market research service. You may try to find out more about inspiring personalities on the Internet and compare your choice with the characteristics you’ll find. If everything matches, your choice is good.

2. Find a list of inspiring personalities If you have no time to decide what person is inspiring for you, consider using the Internet. There are dozens of compilations of people who inspire the audience worldwide. Use Google to find it and choose any person from the list.

3. Create a set of questions to ask this person Imagine that you’ll interview this inspirational man or woman, and you need to prepare for it. It’ll help you to create an extensive personality profile. Don’t forget to mention the person’s biography, background, early life, challenges they faced, the most famous accomplishments, and so on. Your interview (essay) should be interesting to read. Remember that these interview questions are necessary just to help you craft a good narration: you write an essay, not the interview.

4. It’s an essential stage in essay writing, so skipping it isn’t an option Sit and try to create some cool and interesting ideas for writing an essay about an inspirational person. If you fail to do it alone, consider finding some examples on the Internet. There are many good essays on the Internet you may use to find inspiration: they are written by professional writers. Avoid copying the ideas you see: just read these papers, and they’ll inspire you to write your own outstanding essay.

5. Create the first draft We already mentioned the proper essay structure, and you should follow it while creating the first draft. Be ready that this paper will differ from the final version — it will mean that you did much work on improving your paper. Write down the structure of your paper and specify the ideas you’ll mention in each part (intro, main body, and conclusion). A good outline is your best writing assistant. If you don’t know how the outline should look like, don’t be afraid to find it on the Internet.

6. Edit your draft After you finish with your draft, put the paper away for some time and then look at it with fresh eyes. Read the paper till the end to find the sentences that need to be rephrased or eliminated. Perhaps you forgot to mention something important about this inspiring person — include the missing points to create a stunning essay. If you think that editing is a fast process, you’re wrong. You’ll need to reread and revise the paper a few times to make sure it’s finished.

7. Use a plagiarism checker School and college essays shouldn’t be copy and pasted: professors carefully check each paper for plagiarism, and if you want to avoid misunderstanding with your professor — do it before submitting your paper. Use several free checkers and make sure your essay contains no plagiarism at all. Make screenshots of the results and send them to the teacher together with your paper.

8. Hire a proofreader. If you doubt your editing skills, you can ask a professional proofreader to check your paper. AffordablePaper.com is an academic writing service that also lets students hire experts to edit and proofread their papers. It’s impossible to be good at everything, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.

As you see, writing an essay about the person inspiring you isn’t so difficult. Of course, there are some peculiarities we mentioned in this article, and if you’ll keep them in mind, your paper will be outstanding.

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How to Write a College Essay About an Influential Person

• November 2, 2022

When brainstorming topics for your college essay, you’ve probably considered writing about a person who has influenced or inspired you–a parent or grandparent, a sibling, a teacher, or another significant figure in your life. You may be writing an essay of your own design or responding to the fourth prompt on this year’s Common Application: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Writing about someone else in a college essay can be tricky—after all, your ultimate goal is still to tell admissions officers enough about you to help them decide whether to offer you admission. But there’s a way to do that even while writing a specific, insightful essay centered on another person. In this post, we’ll walk you through the process of choosing someone to write about, brainstorming, and pulling your ideas together into a finished essay.

Choosing a person to write about

One of our favorite college essays about someone other than the writer is Zoya Garg’s essay about her mother, which was published in the New York Times . Garg writes about her mother’s dreams of a career as a stand-up comedian and how a gift from Garg helped set her on the path to achieving those dreams:

“My mom finds a baffling delight from drinking from glass, hotel-grade water dispensers. Even when three-day-old lemon rinds float in stale water, drinking from the dispenser remains luxurious. Last year for her birthday, I saved enough to buy a water dispenser for our kitchen counter. However, instead of water, I filled it with handwritten notes encouraging her to chase her dreams of a career.”

One of the things that works well about Garg’s essay is how precisely Garg pinpoints the ways her mom has inspired her—Garg mentions her mother’s curiosity, her sense of humor, and her ability to “light up conversations” with and “reach the hearts of” everyone she encounters. If you’re going to write an essay about someone else, choose someone about whom you can identify these kinds of details, rather than someone who has inspired you from afar.

Inspiration doesn’t always have to be positive—perhaps you were inspired by not wanting to be like a particular person in your life. But if you choose to write about someone who inspired you in a more indirect or negative way, be mindful of the tone you’re striking in your essay and the impression it might leave on an admissions officer. Remember that your essay is an opportunity to show the kind of community member you would be if admitted to the school.

Brainstorming your essay

A successful essay about someone who has inspired you will have two key ingredients: examples and reflection. (To learn more on the importance of reflection in the college essay, check out our Complete Your College Essay Online Course .) But unlike a recipe, you don’t have to add these ingredients in any particular order—you can begin by brainstorming either one and still find your way to a powerful finished essay.

If you’d like to start with examples, spend some time thinking about moments when this person inspired or influenced you. Try to pinpoint them as precisely as possible: Did you have a conversation with your father or a driving lesson with your mother that particularly taught you something? Did time spent with an older sibling while on a family vacation show you something about the person you hope to become?

Once you have your list of moments, try writing a sentence or two about what you learned in each instance. For example: Driving with my mother, who always wanted to take the scenic route, reminded me of the importance of patience, something I have long struggled with. 

If you already know what you’ve learned from the person you’re focusing on, you can just as easily do this brainstorm in reverse. Try first writing out the “lessons” you’ve learned. Then, under each one, list as many examples as you can think of that illustrate how this person taught you what you’ve learned from them—the driving lesson, the meaningful conversation, the morning spent surfing, and more. The most evocative examples and moments on the list will be excellent material for your essay.

Beginning to write

You’ve probably spent a lot of time with the most important people in your life. (If you haven’t, that might be an essay in itself!) That can make those people even harder to describe, because we know so much more about them than can fit into a single essay.

As you begin to write, return to some of the questions you asked during the brainstorming process:

• What one illustrative story can you tell about this person?
• What one or two key things have you learned from them, or what one or two things have they inspired you to do?
• Was there a specific experience one of you went through during which they inspired you?

Think back to Zoya Garg’s anecdote of a birthday gift, which tells a much larger story about her relationship with her mother and about Garg’s own ability to understand and support those around her.

Sometimes the easiest way to build this kind of essay is to work backwards. Consider this person’s traits – what does the reader need to know most about the person, and what have you learned from them? Perhaps it’s your mother’s fondness for taking the scenic route, or your sister’s willingness to try new things. Then make a list of experiences, traits, or adjectives that best capture those elements: Is it the way they laugh, how they take charge in difficult situations, how they walk into a room? In Garg’s essay, one telling detail is her mother’s “baffling delight” in drinking out of fancy glass water dispensers, which kicks off the entire story. Those are the perfect kinds of characteristics and small moments to include in your essay.

And remember—it isn’t enough just to describe this inspirational person. You’ll also need to describe how their influence shows up in your life, in big or small ways.

Revising your essay

Once you’ve drafted your essay, and perhaps taken some time away from the draft, look at your essay with fresh eyes . This is a great opportunity to check that your essay is specific and precise in the way you describe the person who inspired you, so that the admissions officers reading your essay will come away feeling like they know that person. Keep in mind that even if you’re writing about an experience of anti-inspiration, or someone who inspired you not to be like them, it’s worth trying to strike a positive tone in your essay.

And finally, remember that your ultimate goal is to give the admissions committee insight into who they might be inviting into their campus community. You want them to feel as though they’ve gotten to know you —no matter who else you introduce them to along the way.

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Students will walk away with a complete, authentic Personal Statement that they can be proud to submit to the colleges of their dreams.

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How To Write An Essay About Someone Who Inspires You

To write an excellent essay about someone who inspires you, you need to think about who to write about and why. After picking the perfect candidate, the next step is to write your outline. The outline highlights all the points you intend to present in the paper. Write down the name of the person and some bullet points of things that inspires you about them. You can cite some examples to make it easy for you to remember.

Someone Who Inspires You – Essay Sample

We have all watched superhero movies and admired their strength and abilities. But some of us have real-life superheroes who inspire us to be the best version of ourselves. For me, that person is my mother.

My mother didn't grow up in a mansion, and she didn’t wear pretty dresses. She came from a very poor background. She lived in a third world country where education was not considered a necessity for the girl child. She struggled to get an education, but when the war started, she had to leave home. She became a refugee and was still determined to be educated. She got married to my father and had two children, my sister and I. Despite not being in our home country, my mother was under pressure to stop educating us.

She stood up for every other refugee child and for us. She knew the importance of education. So she did her own little part to ensure that we kept learning. She made street snacks and used the profits to buy books since we could not go to school yet. Despite not being fully educated, she struggled to teach us. She made sure that we understood the value of education and pursued it. How can we change the world if we can even read? She used to say. My mother motivated me to grow beyond all barriers.

I still remember her reaction when I got a scholarship to study because of my excellent academic abilities. She cried as she hugged me. She reminded me about her own dream to get educated and thanked me for not losing sight of the goal. Someday, I want to be just like her and impact the lives of young girls. Not everyone had a loving mother as I did. I want them to know that they can be whatever they set their hearts to. I want to break all the stereotypes. No matter what background they come from, they can get a better life for themselves.

Whenever I see my mother, I see a superheroine who inspired me to be the person I am. She is the reason for my smile, and I hope I can impact others as much as she has inspired me.

This sample can help you to collect your thoughts. If you still have issues, you can get professional writing help from an expert from Paymyessaywriter.com at a low price.

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How To Answer “Who Inspires You?”(+ Example Answers)

Mike Simpson 0 Comments

By Mike Simpson

Who inspires you? It’s an interview question that feels out of place. After all, why would the hiring manager care? It has nothing to do with your ability to do the job, right?

Well, the hiring manager does have a reason for asking the “Who inspired you?” interview question. If you’re wondering what that is and how you can craft a stellar answer, here’s what you need to know.

What Is Inspiration?

First, let’s take a second to talk about what inspiration is in the first place. Typically, you can’t properly discuss who inspired you if you don’t know what it entails.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary , inspiration – in this context – is “someone or something that gives you ideas for doing something.” In the end, that’s a pretty accurate synopsis.

Inspiration of this type involves getting a strong sense of direction or desire to take action based on the efforts, perspectives, or positions of another. Essentially, you’re motivated to excel or take a particular path because of something another person stands for or achieved.

Some inspiration is incidental in that the person you admire wasn’t aiming to give you a particular idea about the direction of your life. However, some is intentional. For example, parents strive to inspire their children to succeed. Teachers want to inspire students, and mentors feel the same about mentees.

Being able to discuss your sources of inspiration openly works in your favor. It helps you showcase your intrinsic motivations for excelling, allowing you to highlight why you find a particular career path meaningful. It can also highlight what may keep you pressing forward during challenging times, as your motivation comes from deep within.

So, is there a right kind of people to look up to if you want to answer this question successfully? Well, yes and no. Technically anyone could do the trick if you can demonstrate how they’re inspiring you can benefit the hiring manager. However, some people are easier to sell in that context than others.

Generally, it’s better to stick with broadly respected or clearly respectable figures. Anyone controversial may work against you, even if your reasons are valid and don’t have anything to do with the potentially divisive points.

Why Does the Hiring Manager Ask This Question?

Generally speaking, hiring managers ask the “Who inspires you?” interview question to learn more about your motivations for pursuing various paths. It can also give them clues regarding why you have specific traits, depending on the situation and how you present it.

In many cases, when you choose people to look up to, that also speaks a bit about your values. Often, we admire those who walk paths we respect, so who you discuss can give the hiring manager some surprising insights about what you view as important.

Finally, the person you select can give the hiring manager ideas about your overall personality . Research shows that people are drawn to individuals they feel are similar to themselves. Since that’s the case, the hiring manager may assume you have a similar personality to the person.

Common Mistakes When Answering This Question

While you might assume that there isn’t a wrong way to answer this question, that isn’t technically true. One of the biggest mistakes is choosing a controversial or divisive figure. While you might admire them, the hiring manager may feel incredibly differently.

Generally speaking, it’s best to stay away from current political figures, religious icons, and many entertainers. People often have strong, gut reactions to people in those arenas, which may not work in your favor. However, political, religious, or entertainment-oriented jobs can be an exception.

Another big misstep is not having examples to highlight why the person inspires you. Simply listing off traits isn’t going to make a strong answer. Instead, you need to describe a moment where what the person brings to the table is demonstrated, making it easier to see why the impact was so great.

You also want to avoid talking about multiple people. Regardless of whether they’re inspiring, your answer becomes unfocused. As a result, it’s better to concentrate on one person instead of several.

Finally, never say you inspire yourself. Even if you’ve had an incredibly challenging journey, it makes you seem self-centered, and that’s never good.

Just remember, this is just one question the hiring manager could ask you in your interview! That’s why we created an amazing free cheat sheet that will give you word-for-word answers for some of the toughest interview questions you are going to face in your upcoming interview.

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Tips for Answering This Question

Creating a great answer to the “Who inspired you?” interview question might seem tricky, but you can do it if you use the right approach. If you have no idea where to start, these three tips can help.

1. Start with Some Reflection

Usually, you need to look inward if you’re going to pick someone who inspires you. Consider the various people you’ve encountered in your life, particularly those that you respect and admire. As you come up with options, see if you can identify moments that capture why they had an impact.

If you’re having trouble finding one that affected your life in a way you want to discuss during a job interview, turn your attention to a new direction. Think about noteworthy or historical public figures that may fit the bill.

With the latter approach, you do want to be wary of clichés. While some figures are undoubtedly inspiring, they may be part of answers the hiring manager has heard before. Since you want your answer to stand out, consider figures who aren’t likely go-to options for people.

2. Come Up with a Specific Example

As mentioned above, simply listing positive traits people possess and saying that’s why you find them inspiring isn’t going to work. Instead, you need to make the answer a quality story by discussing an example that highlights why you find them inspirational.

Choose a moment you were either involved in or directly observed for people you know personally. For public figures where there wasn’t any interaction, focus on moments where they overcame relevant challenges on a path toward success.

3. Keep the Answer Brief

When you admire someone, you might feel you could happily talk about them for hours. The problem is, you need to keep your interview moving forward.

Since that’s the case, keep your answer reasonably short. Ideally, you should be able to wrap up your response in less than two minutes. In some cases, even a minute is fine, depending on the story you choose to showcase why you find them inspiring.

If you’re concerned about the length, practice will help you keep it under control. Decide what you want to cover, and then time yourself. If you’re in the right zone, repeat the process until you’ve got the content and timing down. If you’re not, think about what you can remove to get it under the two-minute threshold.

How to Answer the Interview Question “Who Inspired You?”

Now comes the moment you’ve been waiting for: how to answer the “Who inspires you?” interview question.

So, how do you get on the right track, not just with crafting your response but picking a great person to discuss? Well, you’ll want to start with the Tailoring Method .

The Tailoring Method teaches you to focus on relevancy. It’s a strategy based on addressing the hiring manager’s needs, ensuring your answer relates to their priorities and impresses.

After that, it’s mainly about refinement. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to help you out, followed by some example answers:

Step-by-Step Guide

Making sure your answer is on-point isn’t overly challenging. Mainly, you want to touch on critical details using a strategic approach. Here’s how to do it.

1. Choose the Example

When you begin your answer, the first sentence should always include the person’s name and the assertion that you find them inspiring. After that, it’s time to talk about why.

Ideally, you want an anecdote that showcases the skills and traits you want to emulate. That will make your connection to them clearer and ensures your answer is engaging.

2. Outline the Story

Once you know which example you want to share, break it down into four major components by answering specific questions. First, what prompted the moment to occur? Second, what happened in that moment? Third, why was that moment meaningful to you? Fourth, how did that put you on the path you’re walking now or the one you’d like to walk?

If you cover those bases, you’re providing enough information. Ideally, you want to limit yourself to just a couple of sentences for each point. That way, your answer is thorough but concise

3. Practice (and Cut) for Time

As mentioned above, keep your answer under two minutes whenever possible. With your story outline created, craft a response that follows the narrative path. If you want, record your response. That way, you have the length of the answer and a recording you can review if you need to continue practicing or cut content.

Continue rehearsing and refining until the timing is right. Then, practice that answer until it sticks.

Who Inspires You? Example Answers

Now that you know how to answer the “Who inspired you?” interview question, it’s time for some examples. Here is a look at how you can approach the question, using different types of people for each sample.

1. Family Member

EXAMPLE ANSWER:

My older sister is easily my biggest inspiration. When she was a high school student, she was in an accident that left her severely injured, with years of recovery ahead of her. While many people would let that get them down or use it as an excuse to not move their life forward, she didn’t.

She was diligent about her physical therapy and returned to her studies as soon as she was cleared. In the end, she didn’t just manage to recover from her injury; she graduated from high school with honors and landed an academic scholarship for her top-choice college. That level of commitment continues to inspire me to this day.

2. Historical Figure

One person I greatly admire is Charles Darwin. His contributions to modern biology are, of course, inspiring. However, he also endured harsh conditions during his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle. Additionally, while we acknowledge the validity of his initial steps into evolution theory, he was considered a heretic during his day.

Ultimately, his bravery, dedication, and conviction are all admirable in my book. Couple that with his assertion that evidence – not blind belief – should be a guiding force, I’m left nothing short of inspired.

My greatest inspiration is Ms. Jane Doe, a former colleague who ultimately showed me that my career could be far more than I initially expected. While I was originally hired into an administrative role in a tech department, Ms. Doe quickly became my advocate. She requested I assist on projects involving more technical work, something my manager supported.

Ms. Doe continued to expand my skill set, because she felt I had potential. As time passed, I developed a passion for the work, particularly handling site installations. My experience led me to return to college and get my degree, allowing me to officially enter the field that Ms. Doe propelled me toward.

Putting It All Together

At this point, you should have a solid idea of how to answer the “Who inspires you?” interview question. Use the tips above to your advantage, ensuring you can craft an outstanding answer whenever the need arises.

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Tips for an Admissions Essay on an Influential Person

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It's not unusual for a college admissions essay to talk about a person who played an important role in your development. Whether this is a parent, a friend, a coach, or a teacher, such essays can be powerful if they avoid common pitfalls.

Key Takeaways: An Essay on an Influential Person

• Don't just describe a person you admire. Be analytical and reflective to explain why you admire them.
• Essays focused on parents or celebrities are common and often not the best choice for your focus.
• All good application essays are about you , even when you are writing about someone else, so make sure the admissions folks are getting to know you through your essay.

With the pre-2013 Common Application , one of the essay prompts stated, "Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence." While you won't find this question among the seven 2020-21 Common Application essay prompts , the current application still allows you to write about an influential person with the "topic of your choice" option . Some of the other prompts also leave the door open for writing about an influential person.

Do Much More than Describe the Influential Person

Any essay on an influential person needs to do much more than describe that person. The act of describing requires very little critical thought, and as a result, it doesn't demonstrate the kind of analytical, reflective, and thoughtful writing that will be required of you in college. Be sure to examine why the person was influential to you, and you should analyze the ways in which you have changed because of your relationship with the person.

Think Twice About Essays on Mom or Dad

There is nothing wrong with writing about one of your parents for this essay, but make sure your relationship with your parent is unusual and compelling in some way. The admissions folks get a lot of essays that focus on a parent, and your writing won't stand out if you simply make generic points about parenting. If you find yourself making points like "my Dad was a great role model" or "my mother always pushed me to do my best," rethink your approach to the question. Consider the millions of students who could write the exact same essay.

Don't Be Star Struck

In most cases, you should avoid writing an essay about the lead singer in your favorite band or the movie star who you idolize. Such essays can be okay if handled well, but often the writer ends up sounding like a pop culture junkie rather than a thoughtful independent thinker.

Obscure Subject Matter is Fine

Be sure to read Max's essay on an influential person. Max writes about a rather unremarkable junior high kid he encountered while teaching summer camp. The essay succeeds in part because the choice of subject matter is unusual and obscure. Among a million application essays, Max's will be the only one to focus on this young boy. Also, the boy isn't even a role model. Instead, he's an ordinary kid who inadvertently makes Max challenge his preconceptions.

The "Significant Influence" Need Not Be Positive

The majority of essays written about influential people focus on role models: "my Mom/Dad/brother/friend/teacher/neighbor/coach taught me to be a better person through his or her great example..." Such essays are often excellent, but they are also a bit predictable. Keep in mind that a person can have a significant influence without having an entirely "positive" influence. Jill's essay , for example, focuses on a woman with only a few positive qualities. You could even write about someone who is abusive or hateful. Evil can have as much "influence" on us as good.

You Are Also Writing About Yourself

When you choose to write about a person who has had an influence on you, you will be most successful if you are also reflective and introspective. Your essay will be partly about the influential person, but it is equally about you. To understand someone's influence on you, you need to understand yourself — your strengths, your short-comings, the areas where you still need to grow.

As with the college admissions essay, you need to make sure a response reveals your own interests, passions, personality, and character. The details of this essay need to reveal that you are the type of person who will contribute to the campus community in a positive way.

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Helpful Instructions On How To Write An Essay About Someone Who Inspires You

I always find that these kind of essays are a joy to write. Rather than being stuck with a topic that you despise you actually get to write about your hero or heroine. In terms of motivation there shouldn’t be any problem in knuckling down to the task ahead. The scope of work calls for you to pick the person yourself, so you are also in a rare situation of not being dictated to by your teacher.

This is your opportunity to shine. However, with that opportunity can sometimes come pressure as students feel the need to do justice to the person that inspires them the most. So, if you are in danger of being a little too awestruck, sit back and relax because I’ve got it covered! Here’re my helpful instructions on how to write an essay about someone who inspires you:

• Is there enough information to write about them?

It is all very well and good having a role model that you look up to. However, before you jump in the deep end and start writing about them you need to seriously consider whether there is enough information about them to make the essay viable. You have several options:

• The person is known to you
• The information is readily available on the internet
• There is easy availability of information in text-books
• Look for a unique angle

If you are writing about someone famous then chances are you won’t be the first person to have chosen to write about them. Be wary of trotting out essays that are too similar to those that have already been written. Try and find a unique angle to cover, for example:

• Their motivations
• Their family life (If it is not widely reported)
• Don’t be sycophantic

It is very easy when writing about someone that you admire to sound sycophantic. You can still admire someone and accept that they have flaws. Everyone is human. Your teacher will be inundated with hero-worship essays, make sure that you portray your subject for the person that they really are rather than the one that their fans always see.

• Why do they inspire you?

This is an obvious one to overlook but whatever you do, make sure that you remember to include the reasons why they inspire you. It is very easy to simply write a bio about the person without addressing the original scope of work.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, yale essay prompt: what inspires you.

Hey guys! I'm working on my Yale application, and there's an essay prompt about what inspires me. Do any of you have examples or tips on how to approach this essay? I want to make sure I'm conveying my passion effectively. Thanks!

Hey! It's great that you're working on your Yale application. Tackling the "What inspires you?" essay prompt can be an excellent opportunity to share your unique passions and experiences. Here are some tips on how to approach this essay:

1. Reflect on your interests: Start by reflecting on what genuinely inspires and motivates you. What are you passionate about? It could be related to academics, extracurricular activities, social issues, hobbies, or anything else that fuels your curiosity and drive. Remember, the essay should be personal and genuine, so pick something that truly resonates with you.

2. Be specific: Once you've identified your inspiration, be specific about why it excites you. Don't just give a general description. Instead, try to think about the particular aspects, instances, or people that kindled your interest. Providing specific examples can effectively convey your passion and make your essay engaging.

3. Show, don't tell: When writing about your passion, rather than just stating what you feel, try to show how your inspiration has influenced your actions, choices, and accomplishments. This will not only make your essay more persuasive but also provide a clear picture of your personality and values.

4. Keep it concise and focused: This prompt is a short answer question. Stay focused on the prompt and ensure that the essay is well-structured and easy to follow. While you may feel tempted to connect your inspiration to Yale, you have the "Why Yale" essay to write about the school itself, so focus on your inspiration here.

Here's an example: maybe you’re passionate about competitive weightlifting and computer programming. You love the two very different activities because they allow you to constantly push your limits. You can always lift more, and create a more efficient program. Your response to this prompt might focus on your desire to continually improve yourself and what you’ve built.

Here's what the short answer could look like: "Sweat inspires me—the sweat on my brow when I'm weightlifting or writing a computer program. Sweat means I'm working towards something, constantly improving myself and the things I'm building."

Check out this CollegeVine blog post with more in-depth guidance on how to write the Yale essays, including this prompt: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-yale-university-essays

Good luck with your essay!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

Essay on My Inspiration

Students are often asked to write an essay on My Inspiration in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on My Inspiration

Introduction.

Inspiration is a driving force that encourages us to achieve our goals. My greatest inspiration is my mother.

My mother, with her hard work and dedication, has always been a role model for me. She juggles multiple roles and responsibilities with ease.

Her Strength

Despite facing many hurdles, she never gives up. Her strength and resilience inspire me to be strong and never lose hope.

Her Love for Learning

My mother’s love for learning has always motivated me to pursue my interests and never stop learning.

In conclusion, my mother’s determination, strength, and love for learning inspire me every day.

Also check:

• Speech on My Inspiration

250 Words Essay on My Inspiration

In the journey of life, we encounter numerous individuals, but only a select few leave an indelible impact. For me, that person is my high school physics teacher, Mrs. Smith, who has been my inspiration.

The Beacon of Knowledge

Mrs. Smith was not just a teacher; she was a beacon of knowledge. Her passion for physics was infectious. She had a knack for transforming complex theories into simple, understandable concepts. It was not just her academic prowess that inspired me, but her dedication towards the subject and her students.

Instilling Perseverance

She taught me that success is not an overnight phenomenon. It requires patience, hard work, and perseverance. Mrs. Smith had an unwavering belief in my capabilities, even at times when I doubted myself. This instilled in me a sense of self-confidence and resilience, a trait that has been instrumental in my personal and professional life.

Encouraging Curiosity

Mrs. Smith encouraged a culture of curiosity and exploration. She would often say, “Physics is not about memorizing formulas; it’s about understanding the mysteries of the universe.” This approach fostered a deep love for learning and critical thinking within me.

In conclusion, Mrs. Smith’s influence extends beyond the realm of academics. She has shaped my perspective on life, instilled resilience, and ignited a thirst for knowledge. Her teachings are not just lessons in physics, but lessons in life. She is my inspiration, a guiding light that continues to illuminate my path.

500 Words Essay on My Inspiration

My inspiration, much like the compass that guides a lost traveler, has been the driving force behind my journey of self-discovery and personal growth. This inspirational figure is none other than Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur and the force behind companies like SpaceX and Tesla. His innovative thinking, relentless pursuit of his dreams, and resilience in the face of adversity have left an indelible mark on my psyche.

Elon Musk: The Visionary

Musk’s vision for a sustainable future and multi-planetary human existence is not only bold but also revolutionary. He dares to dream what most people would consider impossible, and this audaciousness is what sets him apart. His belief in the power of technology to solve critical human challenges is infectious. Musk’s visionary thinking has inspired me to think beyond the conventional, to question the status quo, and to imagine a future that aligns with the principles of sustainability and technological advancement.

Relentless Pursuit of Dreams

Musk’s journey has been anything but easy. From facing financial ruin in the early days of SpaceX and Tesla to dealing with numerous technical failures, his path has been littered with obstacles. Yet, his relentless pursuit of his dreams, his unwavering commitment to his vision, and his refusal to give up, no matter how insurmountable the challenges, is awe-inspiring. This tenacity has taught me the value of perseverance and the importance of staying true to one’s dreams, even when the odds are stacked against you.

Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of Musk’s journey is his resilience. He has faced numerous setbacks, both personal and professional, but has always bounced back stronger. His ability to maintain his optimism and to keep pushing forward, despite the setbacks, is a testament to his strength of character. This resilience has shown me that failure is not the end but rather a stepping stone towards success. It has taught me to view challenges not as obstacles but as opportunities for growth.

In conclusion, Elon Musk’s audacious vision, relentless pursuit of his dreams, and resilience in the face of adversity make him a source of inspiration for me. His journey serves as a reminder that with determination, perseverance, and a willingness to challenge the status quo, one can achieve the seemingly impossible. As I navigate my own path, I carry these lessons with me, using them as a guide to chart my own course towards a future that is as innovative and sustainable as the one Musk envisions.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Inspiration
• Essay on Industrialization
• Essay on Industrial Safety

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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How to Write an Essay About Someone Who Inspires You: Brainstorming, Structure and Content

I’m a teacher. I’ve written loads of essays myself and taught lots of students how to write them as well.

I’ve also scoured the internet for some of the very best articles, posts and videos on how to write an essay and how to write about people who inspire you!

Did you know that the word “essay” was first used for a piece of writing in the 16th century by a French writer named Michel de Montaigne? “Essayer” is the French word meaning to try or attempt something, and Montaigne was trying to express his ideas.

In the same 500-year-old tradition, you will be expressing your ideas about how you were inspired by someone in your essay.

If you’ve been asked to write an essay about someone who inspires you , you may be worrying about how you will complete this task. Maybe you don’t think of yourself as a very accomplished writer.

A good way to approach an essay like this is to imagine that you are just talking to a friend. What would you want to say to a friend about a person in your life who means a lot to you and why?

You can also look for examples online to help you get started, but make sure that you don’t use their phrasing in your own essay.

Why Write an Essay About Someone Who Inspires You?

Your answer to this question might be “because I have to for a class.” That may well be the case, but your teacher or professor has probably chosen this topic over another one for a good reason!

Identifying the people who have inspired you and what you have learned from them can help you live up to the expectations that they have for you or that you have for yourself because of your admiration for them.

This video about why the people who inspire you are important goes into more detail:

That video will also help you brainstorm ideas for your essay as described below.

Looking at other essays can also help you come up with ideas, but be sure to go here when you have finished writing your essay to make sure you have not used someone else’s language.

What to Ask Yourself Before Writing This Essay

Getting started can feel like the hardest part of writing any type of essay! How to start an essay about someone who inspires you?

However, it isn’t really that hard. Brainstorming is a great way to start.

Think about three or four people that you admire. You might want to come up with a mix of people you know in person and public figures so that you have plenty of choice.

However, if you do choose a public figure, make sure that it is someone that you truly relate to in a meaningful, personal way. You are not just supposed to write about this person’s accomplishments but also why they affect you in the way they do.

This video can help you think about how to choose a person and why it’s important to make the right choice:

Write down the people that you have thought of. Then, make a list of a few qualities you admire about each of them.

Which of these is the most compelling to you? The answer to this question will help you decide what to write.

Essay Structure: The Parts of an Essay

All essays have the same basic parts regardless of their length or complexity.

They all have an introduction that contains a thesis statement. In some essays, that thesis statement can be implied, but for now, you should focus on always having a clearly stated thesis.

Essays also have a body that can be one paragraph long or dozens of paragraphs. They all end with a conclusion.

1. Your Introduction and Thesis Sentence

Every paper should start with an introduction that is around 3-5 sentences. One of those sentences needs to be the thesis sentence.

The thesis sentence lets the reader know what the main idea of the paper will be. It’s usually the last sentence of the introduction . Same thing may happend when you write about someone who inspires you.

Even though the introduction is the beginning of your paper, you don’t have to write it first. Sometimes, it’s easier if you wait until you have finished the rest of the paper to write your introductory paragraph.

However, you should write your thesis sentence first. This will help you stay focused on developing that thesis sentence throughout the essay.

2. The Body

You may or may not have been taught at some point to write a five-paragraph essay.

In this type of essay, you have an introduction followed by three paragraphs that make up the body. The last paragraph is the conclusion.

Each paragraph in the body of the five-paragraph essay has a topic sentence that supports the thesis. The rest of the paragraph supports and expands on that topic sentence just as your overall essay is supporting and expanding on your thesis statement.

You can still follow this basic structure whether your essay is five or fifteen paragraphs. The difference is that in the body of your essay, you will have more than one paragraph supporting your points, or you may have more than three points to make that support your thesis.

I recently wrote an article on a writer that I admired.

My thesis sentence stated that I admired this writer because of her use of language, her character development, and her strong plots.

I then addressed each of those points in turn in my essay.

Just as my overall essay supported the thesis sentence, each paragraph had a topic sentence, which is like a mini thesis sentence. The rest of the paragraph developed and supported that topic sentence.

One thing to remember when you are looking at examples of other essays for inspiration is that you should avoid copying their language. It can be easy to do this accidentally, so you can go here to make sure that you have not plagiarized someone else’s work.

3. Conclusion

Like your introduction, your conclusion should be 3-5 sentences long. Try to restate your thesis using different language and wrap up the essay in this paragraph.

This video looks at one way to break down your thoughts when you are planning an essay. Note that it is about how to write about a person in general and not about someone who inspires you, so your subheadings and points will be different.

However, you can still use the advice in it to structure your own essay.

Writing About Someone Who Inspires You: Putting It All Together

How do you apply this specifically to how to write an essay about someone who inspires you?

The first step, as discussed above, should be to think about some people who inspire you and write down the qualities that are important to you.

As you write, you should be concrete. Words like “great” or “amazing” or “brilliant” do not tell your reader very much about the person you admire.

Instead, choose specific qualities, back them up with a story that illustrates that quality and explain why this is meaningful to you.

For example, I once wrote an article about how much I admired my grandfather.

One of the qualities I chose was perseverance. To illustrate this, I wrote about how his dreams were to live in a cabin that he built with his own hands and to run his own business.

I then described how he spent decades of his life working toward these goals, finally achieving them in his 60s.

You should also show how these qualities are meaningful to you when you write about someone who inspires you . I then explained how I used this example of his perseverance to inspire me as I set out to start my own business.

Useful Resources

• The 10 most inspirational people of all time
• The 23 most inspiring people alive
• Albert Einstein — biography, education, discoveries, & facts
• 25 simple things you can do to get inspired

With these tips, you should feel like you now know how to write an essay about someone who inspires you.

As a final step, you should proofread your paper. You can get help with that here and also make sure that you did not actually plagiarize anything.

• Have your assignments done by seasoned writers. 24/7
• Contact us:
• +1 (213) 221-0069
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Writing an Essay about Someone Who Inspires or you Admire

Write an Essay About Someone

Writing an essay about someone is not the easiest subject to write. One should write it in such a way that it talks of a person or two while at the same time it relates to how it applies to his or her opinion on a certain topic.

The good news is we are here to empower you with the correct skill.  That is whether it is writing an essay of gratitude towards a family member. Or, someone who helped you get through school. And lastly, an influential figure in the world that inspired who you are today. Let’s get started.

People Also Read: Linking Words for Essay Writing: Useful Paragraph Phrases

Why are some People a Good Topic for an Essay

1. personal relations         .

Whatever the case, the more information you have about the relationship, the better your essay will be.

You may write about the relationship between you and the person you are writing about. Maybe it is a romantic relationship, a business relationship, or a friendship. Maybe it’s a family member , or maybe you have never met this person.

You should also try to explain what makes this person stand out from others in their field, or their life (or both): how do they compare to other people? What makes them so special?

2. Your Experience with them

Some people are just so fascinating that you could write a whole essay about them. Others are just average, or boring, and make for a poor essay topic. You need to be able to look at life objectively and see what makes good writing material and what does not.

Start by developing an idea about the person you want to write about — maybe it is someone you know well, or maybe it is someone you do not know very well but have observed from afar. The more details you can observe about a person, the better “material” they will be for your essay.

3. Their Achievements

You can write an essay about someone who has had a positive impact on your life. Also, you can use this essay as an opportunity to reflect on how that person has helped you grow and mature as a person.

Some people may have trouble writing about themselves.  So, if you know someone who fits that description, you could offer to write the essay for them. This is also a great opportunity for adults to reminisce about their childhood, and think about all of the people who helped them get where they are today.

If you choose to write about someone from your childhood, keep in mind that it’s a good idea to do some research on that person before starting your essay. As such, you can get a better sense of who they are and what makes them unique.

4. Their Failures

The best essays often feature about topics that may initially seem negative. Such include topics as coping with loss, enduring a difficult challenge, hoping for a better future, or dealing with the darker aspects of life.

In your essay, you must present yourself as someone who loves to learn, can think critically, and has a passion for things—anything.

5. Their Jobs

When you write a profile essay about someone with an interesting job, you can focus on what they do, how they got into it, and why they like the job. You can also focus on how they help others and how their job makes them feel.

Those people whose jobs serve the general public in some fashion are good candidates for profile essays. This includes doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, and firemen, but also mechanics, janitors, housekeepers, and even waitresses.

The reason is that these people are doing something that affects at least a few of us daily. They have chosen a career or profession that most of us will need at one time or another in our lives.

6. Famous People or Stars

The first thing to think about when choosing a person to write about is why they are relevant to your course or subject. For example, writing about the historical figures of World War 2 is likely a good choice if you are in a history class, but it would not fit well in a biology class.

Once you find someone who fits into the curriculum, then you need to find someone who is interesting enough that many people will want to read what you wrote about them.

This means that most famous people are good choices because they have been written about so much that there is a lot of research available on their lives and deeds.

However, if you know something interesting about an obscure person, then they can also be good choices.

People Also Read: Honors College Essay: Tips, Prompt Examples and How to Write

How to Write an Essay about Someone

Explain the person you are writing about.

Choose someone who you have interests in. It makes it easy for you to get more material on the subject since you love talking about the person and sharing their stories with other people. The person should be someone whose actions and beliefs have always been so informative to you, and they influence what you do and how you think.

The person should be someone who has had a significant influence on your life.

If you can’t meet the person, then research as much as possible about them before writing the essay. Start by asking questions from people who know them well.

Craft Your Thesis about the Person

Decide on your thesis statement. A thesis statement is a one- to two-sentence statement that presents the main idea and makes an assertion about your issue. You may have a longer thesis for much longer essays, but one to two sentences is a good general guideline.

And, remember, in an argumentative essay , the assertion you present in your thesis is going to be particularly important. When you make your assertion in your thesis, it should be clear and direct.

If your assertion is going to be controversial from some quarters, you want to make sure that it’s something that you can support with the evidence that you’ve included in your essay.

Write your arguments about him/her

Writing an essay about someone requires one to write about someone who you probably know or you have a strong feeling about or inspire you.

The feelings that you have towards such a person are the ones that will color your observation. Note that your observation should be specific like describing the physical features of the person, their personality, character, or any other aspect about them.

Cite and Reference

When writing an essay about someone, you need to cite and reference properly . This shows your tutor that you have a good understanding of academic writing and can use the proper methods when citing and referencing sources.

What do you think about the person?

The person described in the essay should be a strong, brave, and intelligent person.

Other people’s side

He has a reputation as an author that is more than a bit exaggerated. He does write well and he does write quickly (most people can’t do both), but he’s no Hemingway or Orwell. His work is usually quite good, though, and he certainly knows his subject matter.

The person is very humble and nice to talk with. She can handle pressure. She is good at her work and very punctual.

People Also Read: Thesis Defense Steps: Full Guide How to Prepare and Present

7 Examples of Essay Issues about People

• The effects of social media on people’s lives
• The value of friendship in people’s lives
• How people can nurture their friendships
• The impact of religion on family life
• The role that ethics play in society
• The importance of upbringing in shaping character
• The effects of technology on kids’ lives

When not handling complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

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Essay on Who Inspires You the Most

We all are surrounded by different types of people and things around us. Among these many of them give us some beautiful lessons of life and thus become inspirational figures for us. I think you all would be having someone in your life that inspires you in every moment of life.

Short and Long Essay on Who Inspires You the Most in English

In the short and long essay below I have described my own experience about someone that inspires me the most in my life. I think this will give you a clear idea about the topic. It might be an aid for the students in writing an essay, competitive exams, projects, and assignments.

10 Lines Essay on Who Inspires You the Most (100 – 120 Words)

1) Everyone has one person that inspires them to take every decision in their life.

2) My mother is the person in my family who inspires me the most.

3) She supports everyone and is the backbone of our family.

4) Her selfless and unconditional love for family inspires me to be like her.

5) I want to be helpful, multi-tasking, strong, and kind like her.

6) Her life and work motivated me at every step of my life.

7) She taught me to be brave and work hard to achieve all my dreams.

8) She works happily all day without complaining and hesitating.

9) She dedicated her life to keeping everyone happy.

10) I love my mother and wanted to become strong like her.

Short Essay on Holiday (200 – 250 Words)

Introduction

Inspiration is necessary for motivating us in our life. Inspiration helps in boosting ourselves to do things that are important to achieve what we desire in our life. We can be inspired by anything either it is a person, activity, or thing. Many of us want to become like the person who inspires us the most.

Inspiration helps in changing our lives

We all desire to be successful in our lives and thus we do continuous effort for the same. Inspiration is something that energizes us in the path of success. It motivates us and helps us in doing our best. Everybody has someone in their life that is the greatest inspiration for them. It can be someone from our family or the world outside. It is the characteristics and outstanding qualities of the people that make them be an inspiration for us. Our inspiration makes us enthusiastic about achieving our goals in life. It helps in enhancing our creativity that makes us different from others. It inculcates motivation in us that keeps us reminding about our aim in life.

Inspiration fills us with positivity

We all are aware that failure is a part of success. We all need to have courage and a strong mindset to face these failures in life. It is sad to state that many of us become sad or hopeless after facing failures in life. Inspiration is a positive energy that helps in getting rid of the hopelessness and depression in our life. It inculcates positivity in us and adds enthusiasm again in our life.

Conclusion Inspiration helps in changing the way of our thinking and doing things in our life. It is necessary to have an inspiration to bring light into our dark lives.

Long Essay on My Real Inspiration in My Life (1000 Words)

Every day in our life we get inspired by something or by different people in our life. Despite being inspired by many we all have somebody in our lives that inspires us the most. This choice may differ from person to person. We all are heading forward in our life to become successful. It is only the inspiration that makes a great difference in our thoughts and helps us achieve our goals and get success.

What is Meant by Inspiration?

Inspiration is the inculcation of a spirit that motivates a person to do something in his/her life. It is most important for everyone in our lives. This inspiration changes the way we think about our life. It helps in moving forward in our life by removing all the life hurdles in a positive way. This also helps in making us believe in our own power and capability.

When we observe some good qualities in others we want to do the same in our life. It changes our perspective of living. This can only happen when we get inspired by people or thing that makes us think positive as well as motivate us for doing something. We need it most when we are depressed or sad by some failure or great loss in life. It is the inspiration only that makes us strong again to fight the battle of our life. Inspiration is that idea that can change the lives of many people.

My Biggest Inspiration

I have been inspired by a number of people and instances in my life. Inspiration to me is like a catalyst that awakens my power and ability to work. The biggest inspiration in my life is none other than my family and the person I admire the most is my father. He is the one who has inspired me from my childhood. His qualities like hard-working nature, discipline, sacrifice, and sympathy inspire me a lot. I want to work and become like him always in my life but every time some or the other thing is missing.

A Light on My Father’s Life – A Great Inspiration for Me

He was born in a farmer family and his father died at a very young age. There was no one to give him financial support for his studies. He had a keen desire to study and therefore he somehow managed to complete his primary studies in the village itself. After returning from school my father used to help his mother with the fieldwork. Later he lived with his relatives and completed his higher studies. He had to undergo different kinds of problems and sufferings but he managed to survive with all types of adversities.

He had a goal that he will not return to his village bare-handed. He was a Hindi-medium student but used to learn different English words from the boards and pamphlets he saw on the way to the university. He made a lot of effort to make himself ready for different interviews. He had been a student of Hindi-medium but his fluency in English speaking is superb. It is the result of his efforts and hard work. I always get an inspiration from the life of my father. He has provided me whatever I needed. He never wants me and my sisters to face the situation that he had been through.

What about Him Inspires me a Lot?

My father has a good habit of reading books whenever he is free from his office works. He has his own library of books. My father always teaches us to never become afraid of any situation in life. Sometimes my father has been harsh with me but it is because he never wants me to be down in my life. He has a lot of expectations from me and my sisters. The way he manages every work in life gives me a great lesson. He teaches me every day and is good at all subjects. Whatever he does not know he reads and then explains it to me. Once I was very ill and therefore I could not prepare well for my exams. I was much worried about this but my father gave me the courage to give my best and leave the results on God.

He has supported me many times whenever I have been in any stressful situation. The way my father struggled in his life to get out from the clutches of poverty and become self-dependent in his life encourages me to do something big in my life so that I can make my father proud of me. Whenever I am discouraged, the words of my father make me again ready to fight and win in any type of situation. This thought always revolves in my mind that when my father could make his way through such an adverse situation then why cannot I, after getting every kind of facility. This helps me to gather sufficient courage and enthusiasm and easily face every difficulty in my life. I always want to be a reason for the smile on the face of my father.

Is Inspiration Really Important in Life?

Inspiration is that igniting spark that can help us to achieve whatever we want in our life. It is necessary for making us better and successful in our life. It is a thought that can change the life of many. It can come into us at any time when we get inspired by people or certain instances in our life. It is most important as this brings positive energy within us to do something in our life. Inspiration is necessary for changing our way of thinking. When our thinking is directed in a positive way, our actions themselves take their direction and thus help us in achieving greater heights in our life.

We are known by our thoughts and actions. Inspiration is an idea that can mold our thoughts and bring a change to our actions that may surely lead us towards success. I am very blessed to have my father in my life as my best friend and a great source of inspiration to me.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

Ans . Motivation and Inspiration Day is celebrated on 2nd January since 2002.

Ans . Inspiration is the force that makes us do something good in our life.

Ans . The synonyms of inspiration are creativity, innovation, imagination, encouragement, etc.

Ans . The person who inspires us is called as inspirer or influencer.

Ans . When we are inspired we do feel motivated to do something that may lead us to success.

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NYT Modern Love essayist navigates her grief with support from Walpole writing group

Writing can be a lonely activity, and you could say the same thing about processing grief. But Tina Hedin of Keene found community in a local writing group. It’s there that she started working on an essay about her grief after her daughter’s death. That essay recently appeared in the New York Times’ Modern Love section.

NHPR's Morning Edition host Rick Ganley spoke with Hedin about how writing can connect people who are grieving.

Your essay's called "We Didn't Know It Was the Last Time." Can you tell us about the essay for listeners who have not read that yet?

I think of it as an essay where the past and the present are happening at the same time. In my own experience of grief, that's a state that I find myself in a lot – where I'm in the present, but memories of the past are triggered by some little event and come rushing back.

And that's what happened the day that I'm describing in the story. I was at the gym. I saw a young woman there who reminded me of my daughter. It was Christmas season. I saw a picture on my phone that day taken of my daughter, and it took me back so vividly to the last days that we were together with her, and I describe that in my story.

And the experience of writing about that made me reflect on a more universal experience. Often we don't get a chance to know when something is the last time, when it's the last time we're with our loved one. Or we do something that we think is ordinary, and then in retrospect, it's incredibly precious and special because it will never happen again.

Writing isn't your job professionally, but you belong to a Walpole writing group. How did that help you navigate your grief after your daughter Kiki died?

I didn't expect to share the things that I was writing initially, but I did have a place to share them with my group. And as the months went by and I did get feedback from others, I realized that sharing my writing with other people who have experienced grief could give others what I got from reading.

Initially, after Kiki died, I was just desperate to find writing by others who had gone through the loss of a child, who were experiencing that kind of grief, and I was in hopes of feeling a connection, feeling not alone in this terrible experience.

What's been the response from readers to your essay? The New York Times obviously has a huge reach.

It's been pretty mind blowing for me. I woke up at 3 a.m. in the morning that it came out, too excited to sleep. And I went online, and I saw that I already had emails from Switzerland, and Dubai and the Netherlands – people around the world that had read it. At this point, I'm still trying to work my way through them.

Many of them are from parents who have lost a child. Many of them are from people experiencing grief and loss. Our grief is universal. Each loss is unique and precious to that person. And I really do feel honored that so many people have taken the time to reach out, especially considering that that was my hope in writing in the first place – was to connect with other people.

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When Prison and Mental Illness Amount to a Death Sentence

The downward spiral of one inmate, Markus Johnson, shows the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill.

Supported by

By Glenn Thrush

Photographs by Carlos Javier Ortiz

Glenn Thrush spent more than a year reporting this article, interviewing close to 50 people and reviewing court-obtained body-camera footage and more than 1,500 pages of documents.

• Published May 5, 2024 Updated May 7, 2024

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

“I didn’t do anything,” Mr. Johnson moaned as they pressed a shield between his shoulders.

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched.

He had entered in good health, with hopes of using the time to gain work skills. But for the previous three weeks, Mr. Johnson, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, had refused to eat or take his medication. Most dangerous of all, he had stealthily stopped drinking water, hastening the physical collapse that often accompanies full-scale mental crises.

Mr. Johnson’s horrific downward spiral, which has not been previously reported, represents the larger failures of the nation’s prisons to care for the mentally ill. Many seriously ill people receive no treatment . For those who do, the outcome is often determined by the vigilance and commitment of individual supervisors and frontline staff, which vary greatly from system to system, prison to prison, and even shift to shift.

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say.

Many of these institutions remain ill-equipped to handle such a task, and the burden often falls on prison staff and health care personnel who struggle with the dual roles of jailer and caregiver in a high-stress, dangerous, often dehumanizing environment.

In 2021, Joshua McLemore , a 29-year-old with schizophrenia held for weeks in an isolation cell in Jackson County, Ind., died of organ failure resulting from a “refusal to eat or drink,” according to an autopsy. In April, New York City agreed to pay $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, a young man with a history of mental illness who suffered severe brain damage after attempting to hang himself on Rikers Island — as correctional officers stood by.

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late.

There have been many attempts to improve the quality of mental health treatment in jails and prisons by putting care on par with punishment — including a major effort in Chicago . But improvements have proved difficult to enact and harder to sustain, hampered by funding and staffing shortages.

Lawyers representing the state corrections department, Wexford and staff members who worked at Danville declined to comment on Mr. Johnson’s death, citing the unresolved litigation. In their interviews with state police investigators, and in depositions, employees defended their professionalism and adherence to procedure, while citing problems with high staff turnover, difficult work conditions, limited resources and shortcomings of co-workers.

But some expressed a sense of resignation about the fate of Mr. Johnson and others like him.

Prisoners have “much better chances in a hospital, but that’s not their situation,” said a senior member of Wexford’s health care team in a deposition.

“I didn’t put them in prison,” he added. “They are in there for a reason.”

Markus Mison Johnson was born on March 1, 1998, to a mother who believed she was not capable of caring for him.

Days after his birth, he was taken in by Lisa Barker Johnson, a foster mother in her 30s who lived in Zion, Ill., a working-class city halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Markus eventually became one of four children she adopted from different families.

The Johnson house is a lively split level, with nieces, nephews, grandchildren and neighbors’ children, family keepsakes, video screens and juice boxes. Ms. Johnson sits at its center on a kitchen chair, chin resting on her hand as children wander over to share their thoughts, or to tug on her T-shirt to ask her to be their bathroom buddy.

From the start, her bond with Markus was particularly powerful, in part because the two looked so much alike, with distinctive dimpled smiles. Many neighbors assumed he was her biological son. The middle name she chose for him was intended to convey that message.

“Mison is short for ‘my son,’” she said standing over his modest footstone grave last summer.

He was happy at home. School was different. His grades were good, but he was intensely shy and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in elementary school.

That was around the time the bullying began. His sisters were fierce defenders, but they could only do so much. He did the best he could, developing a quick, taunting tongue.

These experiences filled him with a powerful yearning to fit in.

It was not to be.

When he was around 15, he called 911 in a panic, telling the dispatcher he saw two men standing near the small park next to his house threatening to abduct children playing there. The officers who responded found nothing out of the ordinary, and rang the Johnsons’ doorbell.

He later told his mother he had heard a voice telling him to “protect the kids.”

He was hospitalized for the first time at 16, and given medications that stabilized him for stretches of time. But the crises would strike every six months or so, often triggered by his decision to stop taking his medication.

His family became adept at reading signs he was “getting sick.” He would put on his tan Timberlands and a heavy winter coat, no matter the season, and perch on the edge of his bed as if bracing for battle. Sometimes, he would cook his own food, paranoid that someone might poison him.

He graduated six months early, on the dean’s list, but was rudderless, and hanging out with younger boys, often paying their way.

His mother pointed out the perils of buying friendship.

“I don’t care,” he said. “At least I’ll be popular for a minute.”

Zion’s inviting green grid of Bible-named streets belies the reality that it is a rough, unforgiving place to grow up. Family members say Markus wanted desperately to prove he was tough, and emulated his younger, reckless group of friends.

Like many of them, he obtained a pistol. He used it to hold up a convenience store clerk for $425 in January 2017, according to police records. He cut a plea deal for two years of probation, and never explained to his family what had made him do it.

But he kept getting into violent confrontations. In late July 2018, he was arrested in a neighbor’s garage with a handgun he later admitted was his. He was still on probation for the robbery, and his public defender negotiated a plea deal that would send him to state prison until January 2020.

An inpatient mental health system

Around 40 percent of the about 1.8 million people in local, state and federal jails and prison suffer from at least one mental illness, and many of these people have concurrent issues with substance abuse, according to recent Justice Department estimates.

Psychological problems, often exacerbated by drug use, often lead to significant medical problems resulting from a lack of hygiene or access to good health care.

“When you suffer depression in the outside world, it’s hard to concentrate, you have reduced energy, your sleep is disrupted, you have a very gloomy outlook, so you stop taking care of yourself,” said Robert L. Trestman , a Virginia Tech medical school professor who has worked on state prison mental health reforms.

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

In 2014, the parties reached a settlement that included minimum staffing mandates, revamped screening protocols, restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and the allocation of about $100 million to double capacity in the system’s specialized mental health units.

Yet within six months of the deal, Pablo Stewart, an independent monitor chosen to oversee its enforcement, declared the system to be in a state of emergency.

Over the years, some significant improvements have been made. But Dr. Stewart’s final report , drafted in 2022, gave the system failing marks for its medication and staffing policies and reliance on solitary confinement “crisis watch” cells.

Ms. Grady, one of Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, cited an additional problem: a lack of coordination between corrections staff and Wexford’s professionals, beyond dutifully filling out dozens of mandated status reports.

“Markus Johnson was basically documented to death,” she said.

‘I’m just trying to keep my head up’

Mr. Johnson was not exactly looking forward to prison. But he saw it as an opportunity to learn a trade so he could start a family when he got out.

On Dec. 18, 2018, he arrived at a processing center in Joliet, where he sat for an intake interview. He was coherent and cooperative, well-groomed and maintained eye contact. He was taking his medication, not suicidal and had a hearty appetite. He was listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 256 pounds.

Mr. Johnson described his mood as “go with the flow.”

A few days later, after arriving in Danville, he offered a less settled assessment during a telehealth visit with a Wexford psychiatrist, Dr. Nitin Thapar. Mr. Johnson admitted to being plagued by feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and “constant uncontrollable worrying” that affected his sleep.

He told Dr. Thapar he had heard voices in the past — but not now — telling him he was a failure, and warning that people were out to get him.

At the time he was incarcerated, the basic options for mentally ill people in Illinois prisons included placement in the general population or transfer to a special residential treatment program at the Dixon Correctional Center, west of Chicago. Mr. Johnson seemed out of immediate danger, so he was assigned to a standard two-man cell in the prison’s general population, with regular mental health counseling and medication.

Things started off well enough. “I’m just trying to keep my head up,” he wrote to his mother. “Every day I learn to be stronger & stronger.”

But his daily phone calls back home hinted at friction with other inmates. And there was not much for him to do after being turned down for a janitorial training program.

Then, in the spring of 2019, his grandmother died, sending him into a deep hole.

Dr. Thapar prescribed a new drug used to treat major depressive disorders. Its most common side effect is weight gain. Mr. Johnson stopped taking it.

On July 4, he told Dr. Thapar matter-of-factly during a telehealth check-in that he was no longer taking any of his medications. “I’ve been feeling normal, I guess,” he said. “I feel like I don’t need the medication anymore.”

Dr. Thapar said he thought that was a mistake, but accepted the decision and removed Mr. Johnson from his regular mental health caseload — instructing him to “reach out” if he needed help, records show.

The pace of calls back home slackened. Mr. Johnson spent more time in bed, and became more surly. At a group-therapy session, he sat stone silent, after showing up late.

By early August, he was telling guards he had stopped eating.

At some point, no one knows when, he had intermittently stopped drinking fluids.

‘I’m having a breakdown’

Then came the crash.

On Aug. 12, Mr. Johnson got into a fight with his older cellmate.

He was taken to a one-man disciplinary cell. A few hours later, Wexford’s on-site mental health counselor, Melanie Easton, was shocked by his disoriented condition. Mr. Johnson stared blankly, then burst into tears when asked if he had “suffered a loss in the previous six months.”

He was so unresponsive to her questions she could not finish the evaluation.

Ms. Easton ordered that he be moved to a 9-foot by 8-foot crisis cell — solitary confinement with enhanced monitoring. At this moment, a supervisor could have ticked the box for “residential treatment” on a form to transfer him to Dixon. That did not happen, according to records and depositions.

Around this time, he asked to be placed back on his medication but nothing seems to have come of it, records show.

By mid-August, he said he was visualizing “people that were not there,” according to case notes. At first, he was acting more aggressively, once flicking water at a guard through a hole in his cell door. But his energy ebbed, and he gradually migrated downward — from standing to bunk to floor.

“I’m having a breakdown,” he confided to a Wexford employee.

At the time, inmates in Illinois were required to declare an official hunger strike before prison officials would initiate protocols, including blood testing or forced feedings. But when a guard asked Mr. Johnson why he would not eat, he said he was “fasting,” as opposed to starving himself, and no action seems to have been taken.

‘Tell me this is OK!’

Lt. Matthew Morrison, one of the few people at Danville to take a personal interest in Mr. Johnson, reported seeing a white rind around his mouth in early September. He told other staff members the cell gave off “a death smell,” according to a deposition.

On Sept. 5, they moved Mr. Johnson to one of six cells adjacent to the prison’s small, bare-bones infirmary. Prison officials finally placed him on the official hunger strike protocol without his consent.

Mr. Morrison, in his deposition, said he was troubled by the inaction of the Wexford staff, and the lack of urgency exhibited by the medical director, Dr. Justin Young.

On Sept. 5, Mr. Morrison approached Dr. Young to express his concerns, and the doctor agreed to order blood and urine tests. But Dr. Young lived in Chicago, and was on site at the prison about four times a week, according to Mr. Kaplan. Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, was not one of those days.

Mr. Morrison arrived at work that morning, expecting to find Mr. Johnson’s testing underway. A Wexford nurse told him Dr. Young believed the tests could wait.

Mr. Morrison, stunned, asked her to call Dr. Young.

“He’s good till Monday,” Dr. Young responded, according to Mr. Morrison.

“Come on, come on, look at this guy! You tell me this is OK!” the officer responded.

Eventually, Justin Duprey, a licensed nurse practitioner and the most senior Wexford employee on duty that day, authorized the test himself.

Mr. Morrison, thinking he had averted a disaster, entered the cell and implored Mr. Johnson into taking the tests. He refused.

So prison officials obtained approval to remove him forcibly from his cell.

‘Oh, my God’

What happened next is documented in video taken from cameras held by officers on the extraction team and obtained by The Times through a court order.

Mr. Johnson is scarcely recognizable as the neatly groomed 21-year-old captured in a cellphone picture a few months earlier. His skin is ashen, eyes fixed on the middle distance. He might be 40. Or 60.

At first, he places his hands forward through the hole in his cell door to be cuffed. This is against procedure, the officers shout. His hands must be in back.

He will not, or cannot, comply. He wanders to the rear of his cell and falls hard. Two blasts of pepper spray barely elicit a reaction. The leader of the tactical team later said he found it unusual and unnerving.

The next video is in the medical unit. A shield is pressed to his chest. He is in agony, begging for them to stop, as two nurses attempt to insert a catheter.

Then they move him, half-conscious and limp, onto a wheelchair for the blood draw.

For the next 20 minutes, the Wexford nurse performing the procedure, Angelica Wachtor, jabs hands and arms to find a vessel that will hold shape. She winces with each puncture, tries to comfort him, and grows increasingly rattled.

“Oh, my God,” she mutters, and asks why help is not on the way.

She did not request assistance or discuss calling 911, records indicate.

“Can you please stop — it’s burning real bad,” Mr. Johnson said.

Soon after, a member of the tactical team reminds Ms. Wachtor to take Mr. Johnson’s vitals before taking him back to his cell. She would later tell Dr. Young she had been unable to able to obtain his blood pressure.

“You good?” one of the team members asks as they are preparing to leave.

“Yeah, I’ll have to be,” she replies in the recording.

Officers lifted him back onto his bunk, leaving him unconscious and naked except for a covering draped over his groin. His expressionless face is visible through the window on the cell door as it closes.

‘Cardiac arrest.’

Mr. Duprey, the nurse practitioner, had been sitting inside his office after corrections staff ordered him to shelter for his own protection, he said. When he emerged, he found Ms. Wachtor sobbing, and after a delay, he was let into the cell. Finding no pulse, Mr. Duprey asked a prison employee to call 911 so Mr. Johnson could be taken to a local emergency room.

The Wexford staff initiated CPR. It did not work.

At 3:38 p.m., the paramedics declared Markus Mison Johnson dead.

Afterward, a senior official at Danville called the Johnson family to say he had died of “cardiac arrest.”

Lisa Johnson pressed for more information, but none was initially forthcoming. She would soon receive a box hastily crammed with his possessions: uneaten snacks, notebooks, an inspirational memoir by a man who had served 20 years at Leavenworth.

Later, Shiping Bao, the coroner who examined his body, determined Mr. Johnson had died of severe dehydration. He told the state police it “was one of the driest bodies he had ever seen.”

For a long time, Ms. Johnson blamed herself. She says that her biggest mistake was assuming that the state, with all its resources, would provide a level of care comparable to what she had been able to provide her son.

She had stopped accepting foster care children while she was raising Markus and his siblings. But as the months dragged on, she decided her once-boisterous house had become oppressively still, and let local agencies know she was available again.

“It is good to have children around,” she said. “It was too quiet around here.”

Read by Glenn Thrush

Audio produced by Jack D’Isidoro .

Glenn Thrush covers the Department of Justice. He joined The Times in 2017 after working for Politico, Newsday, Bloomberg News, The New York Daily News, The Birmingham Post-Herald and City Limits. More about Glenn Thrush

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