Welcome to On Fire — your weekly spark.

I started On Fire driven by a core belief: passion is fundamental to our joy and purpose in life. This belief extends beyond our individual passions. By stepping outside ourselves and engaging with the passions of others, we enrich our own lives. Ironically, the more we expose ourselves to other diverse passions, the more vibrant and fulfilling our own lives become. Doing so reminds us just how full of wonder the world is — and it brings us new life if we’re feeling burnt out or ready for a change.

On Fire profiles the world’s most passionate people and provides insights about passion to help you find — or rekindle — your passion in life.

Every Sunday, when we get a brief pause from the whirlwind of our modern daily lives, I will deliver one story to your inbox — a short profile of a life especially fueled by passion. Think of it as your weekly kindling.

From circus performers to humanistic psychologists and martial arts superstars to specialist chefs, gamers, and everyone in between, On Fire aims to be more than just a read. It’s a nudge, a prompt, an invitation to ask: What’s my ‘thing’?

What separates the super passionate people from the rest? What drives the people who put their whole hearts into something? How does passion change them? And how can we infuse our daily lives with that same fervor? How might doing so change us?

Through stories and actionable takeaways, On Fire explores these questions while bringing to life the most fully alive people on the planet. It aims to demystify the spark behind some people we already know and love, while amplifying others who are hiding in plain sight.

Whether you sign up for a free or paid subscription, I hope you’ll join me.

Free subscribers have access to

• Profiles of the world’s most passionate people

• Personal essays and scientific insights

• Article voiceovers

Paid subscribers

• All free content plus…

• Heartfelt gratitude from me for supporting passion-related journalism :)

Either way, welcome and thank you! I’m so excited you’ll be joining me on this journey, where we’ll get inspired together and rekindle our passion for life, one story at a time. 

About me

I’m Krista Stryker, and I’m your guide through the extraordinary lives of super passionate people. I’m also pretty passionate myself — I’m a writer, jiu-jitsu blue belt, bookworm, cold brew fanatic, traveler, animal lover, psychology nerd, EDM junkie, productivity dork, and handstand fanatic. But what I’m really passionate about is passion.

I’m passionate about passion in part because I know how empty life can be without it. After graduating college, I felt stuck, the spark I’d felt in childhood long gone. But then, while out of a job and unsure how to move forward with my life, I fell in love with fitness — more specifically, high-intensity interval training. That led me to create 12 Minute Athlete, a global platform dedicated to helping people discover their inner athlete through intense, efficient workouts — in 2013.

And since one passion almost inevitably leads to another, my focus on nurturing athletes led me to discover my interest in the broader question of how people nurture their potential. Now, I’m also Chief Performance Coach at the Center for Human Potential, where I get to guide people on their journey toward self-actualization — helping them find their deepest strengths, values, and their sense of why they’re here on this planet.

When I’m not writing, competing in jiu-jitsu, or doing handstands around the world, you can find me nose deep in a book or hanging out with my cat and dog. Say hi @12minuteathlete.

With fire,

Krista Stryker

PS. Know a super passionate person whose story must be told? Point them my way! Suggest someone I should profile here.