The heart of our mission is to find the amazing souls that breathe life into our communities. In the recent weeks, we’ve had the privilege to connect with some incredible artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and rabble rousers and we can’t begin to express how impressed we are with the incredible group below. Check out our favorite stories from across the Voyage family.
Uriel Guillen Aranda
My father granted me the opportunity to co-own the business with him due to my experience in sales and marketing. At first I was scared since it was out of my comfort zone but the love and respect for him motivated me to make the decision of joining him. Read more>>
Octavio Sosa
I was born in Mendoza, Argentina, where I had a happy childhood filled with soccer, friends, and long summer afternoons. Around the age of four, I discovered drawing almost by accident. My parents wouldn’t buy me the action figures I wanted, so I started drawing my own, cutting them out with scissors, and inventing stories for them. Read more>>
Caleb Armstrong
Local Queer started in 2022, born out of a simple but urgent need: finding real queer community post-quarantine. As two trans men new-ish to Austin, we noticed that sapphic and trans folks often weren’t the primary focus of local LGBTQ+ events. Read more>>
Amber Stacey
I fell in love with flowers and floral design during a teenage job at a local flower shop where I grew up in Wisconsin. It stayed a favorite hobby of mine throughout my corporate career and motherhood. Several years later, while working weekends part time, I decided to freelance on my off days. Read more>>
Celeste Zarpas
My path to becoming a therapist was a nontraditional one. Before entering the mental health field, I had a career as a professional dancer, which gave me a deep appreciation for the connection between the body, emotions, and human experience. Read more>>
Crystal Galindo
My name is Crystal Galindo, and I am a first generation Xicana from California’s Central Valley. I come from a background of farm workers who migrated to California from Mexico. I grew up knowing I wanted to be an accomplished artist, though I was very shy to share all the work I had put into my craft. Read more>>
Aaron Rochlen
I’ve been a Psychologist and Professor at the University of Texas for approximately 20 years. I’ve always been a big music guy and spent years teaching counseling theory through music, discovering that songs often make complex psychological concepts more personal and relatable. Read more>>
Travis Brown
I grew up in rural Texas around tools and engines, and since my dad ran a shop, I learned early that you fix what’s broken instead of tossing it out. That mindset never left me. When we started Hometown Garages, it was me, my best friend Logan, and my wife Dominique. Read more>>
Carolina Fassi
We are a local, family-owned, woman-owned, and LGBTQ+-owned business, and we are excited to share our story and hopefully inspire others too! After years working in corporate operations, we wanted to build something of our own. We saw a need for reliable, straightforward cleaning for vacant listings and stepped in to fill that gap. We’re used to working on deadlines, staying organized, and following through. Read more>>
McKenzie Winkler
My story started 10 years ago when I first got into my professional cooking career. I started in banquets catering which I stuck with for about 6 years. Then moved on to working on to working on a commercial fishing ship in Alaska on and off for 3 years! We last year I’ve been in pastry and I’ve also been working as a personal trainer. Read more>>
Jeremy Porter
I’ve been chasing the same thing for about thirty years: making a pair of speakers disappear so all that’s left is the music. It started young. I was the kid taking things apart to see how they worked, and somewhere along the way sound became the thing I couldn’t put down. Read more>>
Zayan Beg
I’m currently studying Economics and Finance in England, and alongside university I’ve been building PlantRx, a natural wellness platform that started from a personal curiosity and gradually became something much bigger. The idea first came to me after experiencing challenges like brain fog, migraines, poor routine and weight management. Read more>>
Tommy Pisapia
I didn’t take the traditional path. Food has always been my love language, but over the years it became much more than cooking. It became a way to challenge people’s perceptions and show that compassion doesn’t have to come at the expense of flavor. Read more>>
David Hahn
I can point to 9/11 that sparked the unlikely journey from selling homes in the Hollywood Hills to hosting weddings in the Texas Hill Country. I had just adopted two amazing little boys from an orphanage outside Kharkiv, Ukraine a few months before when the real estate industry came to a standstill overnight after the day that changed everything. Read more>>
Valentina Quero
I’ve been baking since I was a little girl. My mom was a baker, so I grew up watching her in the kitchen and naturally fell in love with baking myself. For years, it was just a hobby that I enjoyed sharing with family and friends. During one of the hardest seasons of my life, baking became my safe place. Read more>>
Frank Felix
When people see me acting on a film set or releasing music today. They usually see someone who’s energetic, outgoing, and passionate about what they do. What they don’t always see is the journey it took to become that person. I grew up in a loving and supportive family that always encouraged creativity. Read more>>
Eric Allred
I grew up outside Chicago IL, and always had a passion for storytelling and filmmaking. After moving to Austin, I made a handful of short films, commercials and a feature entitled A LACK of FURNITURE. My first foray into comics was due to my writing partner, Ben Collins, suggestion. Read more>>
Katelyn Smith
My journey definitely wasn’t a straight line. When I was younger, I lost my mom when I was 19 years old, and for a long time I struggled with a lot of things that stemmed from that loss. Eventually, those choices led me down a path that resulted in an eight-year prison sentence. I served four years incarcerated and completed the remainder on parole. Read more>>
Jennifer Salazar
I started in the beauty industry because I was previously a photographer, and I was always inspired watching makeup artists and hairstylists work with their clients. I loved seeing the creative process behind every look, and it made me want to learn more about the beauty industry myself. Read more>>
Erika Carley
When I look back at my childhood, I realize I was always incredibly sensitive and empathetic. I also often felt like a bit of an outsider, like I wasn’t always understood. I think that experience gave me a heart for people who felt overlooked or on the outside themselves. I found myself naturally drawn toward them. Read more>>
Chloe Skelly
After a nearly 10 year career in the music industry project managing festivals such as Lollapalooza, and booking concerts at the legendary Fillmore in San Francisco, I found myself unemployed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more>>
Becky Chidester
After spending nearly 20 years in corporate leadership roles across strategy, consulting, and analytics, I realized I wanted to build something of my own that would have a more direct, positive impact on people’s lives. Read more>>
Amanda Dayton
Wild Chicken Branding Co. was born from a dream my sister, Ali, and I shared long before we ever owned a branding iron. We wanted to build something together that honored where we came from while creating a life that allowed us to raise our families alongside one another, embrace creativity, and stay rooted in the values we were raised with. Read more>>
ZOE COMINGS
My work began with a love of ceramics, spending time outdoors in the natural world around us, and an appreciation for design. Over time, I discovered that porcelain could become more than tabletop or sculpture—it could be worn. That realization led me to create a jewelry collection that blends the timeless elegance of porcelain with modern, minimalist design. Read more>>
NICK STEVENSON
I’d been painting since I can remember. When I was an actor I found it difficult to do both art and acting. I always doodled on the side. Always designing or sketching on the back of napkins, I didn’t want to go to art school as I thought artists were weird. So I went to acting school. That was worse! But I loved it. Read more>>
Darcie Beyer
My eyes were opened to alternative approaches to healing when I was in my twenties. At the time, I was searching for answers and discovered that there were many different paths to wellbeing beyond the ones I had previously known. That experience sparked a deep curiosity about the body’s ability to heal, adapt, and restore balance. Read more>>
Tony Stolfa
Growing up in Orange, Texas, my career began in local broadcast journalism. I started as a production assistant at the local NBC affiliate and, over the next few years, worked my way up to a multimedia producer role at the nearby FOX affiliate. Read more>>
Natalie Krein
I have been a freelance, on location hairstylist and makeup artist for the past 5 years. I specialize in wedding and event looks and also do house call haircuts. I love the flexibility of the lifestyle so much. Switching to freelance was a jump I had considered doing many years ago, but I wasn’t sure I had quite the skillset yet. Read more>>
Gracie Tuck
They say children of addicts are 8x more likely to become one themselves. & I was born into that statistic on both sides. I come from a broken and battereed family that was drowning in the struggles of drug addictions, alcoholism, crime, and just almost anything else you can think of. Read more>>
Katherine Shuler
Hi there! My name is Katherine Shuler, and I’m an artist, designer, and the owner of Rainey Studio. I sell my work as digital downloads and fine art prints, with original paintings coming soon. I’ve been drawn to art ever since I was a little girl. Read more>>
Sarah Evans
I didn’t set out to run a nonprofit. Read more>>
Sedric Acevedo
I grew up with a camera in my family’s hands before I ever held one myself. Home videos, photography, and storytelling became the way I made sense of the world. Read more>>
Melissa Armendariz
I didn’t plan on ending up in accounting—far from it. I actually started out in nursing school, but by my second semester, I knew it wasn’t the right fit. So I pivoted and took a job in accounts payable, which eventually led to a 10-year career as a senior bookkeeper for a pipeline company. Read more>>
Chinaza Okechukwu
My story begins in Nigeria, where I grew up with a deep love for language, people and the world beyond my immediate surroundings. I studied English and Literary Studies at Anambra State University, but it was in 2019 that my life truly took a new shape when I entered the aviation industry. Read more>>
Monica Tan
I grew up in Austin, went to UT and majored in Advertising. Coming out of UT, I worked for Indeed as a graphic designer, and moved to Washington DC after a couple years. I became an art director at a small advertising agency and worked on ad campaigns for a couple fun brands like Angry Orchard and Grand Marnier. Read more>>
Darin Pleasant
Grey Rock Tennis Club’s story is really one of dedication and community. Long before it became Grey Rock, many Austinites knew it as Circle C Tennis Club, and for the past 20 years Darin Pleasant has been part of that journey. Darin started as a teaching professional and spent years helping players of every age and skill level discover and enjoy the game. Read more>>
Bryan Hadley
I’d like to talk about my next film I’m making with the help of 9 other film actors/artists. The film is called EIRE 1974 and tells the very important story of the sad and tragic events of 1974 in Ireland, which were called The Troubles. Read more>>
Nico Larez
I’ve always been drawn to building things that solve real, everyday problems. My background is in sales and operations, where I spent a lot of time working with contractors and small businesses and seeing firsthand how much unused value sits in equipment, tools, and gear that people already own but rarely maximize. Read more>>
Katy Rox
My photography journey actually started with a minor family crime at the ripe old age of three! I managed to sneak my uncle’s camera and happily used up his precious film, capturing a deeply artistic, avant-garde shot of… a door. He wasn’t thrilled at the time, but who would have known that was the spark for my entire career? Read more>>
Sophia Croasdale
Art has been the center of my life for as long as I can remember. My earliest memory is from preschool; while the other kids would run off to the playground or the sandbox, I would stay in the classroom and paint alone. My aunt was also an artist, and I looked up to her so much at that age. Read more>>
Varsha Suresh
My story begins in Bangalore, a city that shaped so much of who I am today. I grew up in a family that valued culture, curiosity, and creativity. My mother still says that culture is not something to dilute in order to belong elsewhere — it is our identity, our inheritance, and what makes us distinct. Read more>>
Matt Montalvo
My name is Matt Montalvo and I’m a multi-award-winning photographer who specializes in wedding documentation. My company was established in 2007 and I have since photographed well over 1000 weddings as a lead shooter. I typically shoot between 55-70 weddings a year. I am based out of Austin but I shoot worldwide. Read more>>
Wolf Trax
Wolf Trax started in March of 2025 when Josh Field put out a call for musicians to form a band rooted in the blues. We started rehearsing some songs, and by May of 2025, we were out gigging. We’ve had some lineup changes along the way, but the core of the band solidified with Josh Field, Brandon Carroll, and Tim Hudgeons. Read more>>
John McElhenney
After a lovely start, my 10-year marriage dissolved against my will and effort. I began writing. Songs. Poems. And a blog. The Whole Parent was born, quickly picked up by Arianna Huffington for Huffington Post’s Divorce and Family sections. McElhenney continued to write about divorce, dating, co-parenting, and ultimately relationship-building skills, for keeping the love you find. Read more>>
Erin Crain
Horses have been a part of my life since I could walk. A second-generation riding instructor, I spent my earliest years around horses—often in a playpen beside the arena while lessons were underway. I began riding at five years old, competed in my first horse show at seven, and started breaking and training horses in 2004 before teaching professionally in 2009. Read more>>
Jillian Hawkins
Photography started as a creative outlet and passion project for me about four years ago. What began as something I enjoyed in my free time quickly grew into something I truly loved and wanted to pursue more seriously. Read More>>
Abigail Metsch
How did I get to where I am today? Well, I’m not really sure where I am… but I do know I’ve lived about five different lives to get here. When I was younger, I was very ambitious. Like, unreasonably so. I wanted to be a NASA astronaut, then the President of the United States, and eventually I settled on talk show host. Read More>>
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