Kjerstin Kartrud combines grace, compassion and determination in the creation of her own future. Her profile is one of 200 “Meet a Scientologist” videos available on the Scientology website at www.scientology.org.

A dancer in the Norwegian National Ballet until she started a company of her own, Kjerstin Kartrud, 51, now runs three ballet schools near Oslo, Norway, where she loves to watch children discover the joy of dancing, as she did at age 11.

“They become eager and succeed more and more. I see children evolve from being a bit ‘sorry I exist’ to coming out on stage and just being there,” she says proudly.

Convinced of the benefit of dance to anyone and, as stated in the motto of her Norwegian Ballet Institute—“everyone's feet can dance”—her schools offer classes for every age group and span the spectrum from hip-hop and GaGa dance to formal ballet training.

A successful artist, teacher and mother of three, Kartrud found little wanting. But despite her thriving career and a wonderful family, a dull throb had developed over the years out of an urge to seize life and know more.

“I always knew I had the power to create my life as I wanted it to be. I knew that potential was there, but I didn’t know how to attain it,” she says. “That is, until I found Scientology.”

In 2001, a Scientologist friend toured Kartrud through a Scientology Church. Blown away by what she learned there of its humanitarian campaigns, she became interested in what Scientology had to offer her as a spiritual philosophy and practice.

She began by reading Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

“Wow, this is actually a science,” she remembers thinking, “not just the same ‘we think’ that I had gotten from all else I’d read.”

As she explored Scientology further, Kartrud discovered how well it aligned with her personal beliefs, which was confirmed by a session of Scientology spiritual counseling.

“You build life for yourself—that’s why I’ve created mine this way,” she realized.

Since then, Kartrud says learning and using Scientology has melted her stress away, given her the confidence to handle anything, and dramatically increased her level of responsibility for herself and others. She believes Scientology has provided her with the backbone to an already lovely life, and made everything simpler, easier and yet more exciting.

“It works,” Kartrud says. “Creating my future as I want it is my objective, and Scientology has permitted me to do just that.”

View the Kjerstin Kartrud video at Scientology.org.

The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, which has now been viewed by millions of visitors.