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.
Kara Karnovsky
Fineweld really started with a bracelet I wasn’t planning to get. I was in Asheville, North Carolina, for a bachelorette weekend when our group decided, completely on a whim, to get permanent jewelry. I’d been following the concept since the early days, but experiencing it myself made something click. Read more>>
Marlene Jorge
My story has never followed a straight line, and I think that has become one of its greatest strengths. I am Dominican, an artist, writer, and multidisciplinary professional, and much of my life has been shaped by learning how to bring together parts of myself that once seemed unrelated. Creativity has always been one of the ways I understand the world. Read more>>
Rachelle Penny
My name is Rachelle Penny, raised in Austin Texas. For more than 10 years I have been a multi-passionate artist, yoga instructor, DJ, dye artist and full time dental assistant. I love to create in many ways. I have always had a deep love for Art, Music and Yoga. Read more>>
Samantha Turner
Bright Imaginations was created from a dream that was placed in my heart after moving to Texas a few years ago. I was a work from home Mom with a 2 year old in a new place with no friends and no time to travel with my Son into Austin or New Braunfels to be able to play indoors with him. Read more>>
Adriana Sanmiguel
I grew up in Los Angeles, California, in a family where food was simply a part of life. My Grandmother born and raised in Mexico moved to the U.S. with a dream of owning her own authentic Mexican restaurant. She opened her first Taco Village in 1974 which grew into a chain of restaurants through out the Los Angeles area. Read more>>
Ashly gonzalez
I moved from McAllen 6 years ago and it was my favorite decision ever. The amount of opportunity in the city of Austin is endless it feels like. Since moving here I’ve been able to network with some great friends that got me into the EDM scene with paid photography gigs. Read more>>
Yenis Monterrey
My journey has always been a combination of media, entertainment, creativity, and connecting with people. I started in entertainment journalism and digital media, where I had the opportunity to interview personalities, cover major entertainment and cultural events, and build relationships within the industry. Read more>>
Jeremy Young
I started cooking at fast food and family restaurants as a means to pay my way through college. I quickly fell in love with the craft and began looking for ways to further develop my skills. As I worked my way through culinary school and higher caliber restaurants, I began to develop my own personal style of cooking and leadership. Read more>>
Sabrina Nickerson
Sabby’s Sojourns actually started with restaurants, not travel. After going through a divorce, I found myself rebuilding my life in many ways, and one thing that stuck with me was how much I loved discovering good local food, no matter where I was. Read more>>
Charles Wiedman
My name is Charles Wiedman, and I’m an award-winning filmmaker, actor, and founder of RuffHouse Studios based in Austin, TX. Our latest project is a vertical micro-drama series called ‘The Hand’ – starring Katherine Willis, Arya, and Mike Davis. Our initial 12 episodes will be available on Instagram, YouTube, and streaming on Velvet TV starting August 22nd, 2026. Read more>>
Leah Turner
I started my career in higher education and after I finished my Ph.D., I worked directly with students and communities focused on workforce and career development. Over time, my work expanded from running programs to building the partnerships, funding strategies, and organizational infrastructure that allow those programs to thrive. Read more>>
Lizelle Villapando
I started out as a maker. After a fire damaged the bulk of my photography work in 2000, I shifted my focus to crafting and sewing, making small accessories and designing dresses with my friend, Talena. She would drape and sew, using my drawings as references. We would design and sew daily, and eventually get jobs at the fabric store, Hancock Fabrics. Read more>>
Briana Reynolds
Table for One TX started during a season when I was single and learning to genuinely enjoy my own company. There can be a stigma around doing things alone, especially dining out, grabbing coffee, or exploring somewhere new and I wanted to help change that perspective. Read more>>
Anil Kashyap
Today, I am a board certified plastic surgeon who has opened a concierge practice focusing on aesthetic surgical treatments for patients to make them feel as beautiful on the outside as they do on the inside. This was not how my story began. Read more>>
Amanda Soto
My journey into mediumship was definitely not something I ever expected. I grew up in Mercedes, a small town in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border, in a very traditional Catholic family. Religion was a significant part of my upbringing—I attended church, completed CCD and confirmation, and even played flute in the church choir. Read more>>
Ahmed Hassan
My story began in science, before I understood that science was also teaching me how to see. I am an artist of Iraqi origin based in the UAE. I graduated with honors in Petroleum Geosciences from Khalifa University, then pursued advanced doctoral research and teaching in Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Read more>>
Sofia Alexandria
I’ve been creating art my whole life , I became classically trained in drawing and painting when I enrolled in Chicago’s first public art high school, originating in the south side of Chicago, shout to Chi-Arts class of 2014! Read more>>
Michelle Early
I didn’t take a straight path into esthetics, and I think that is a big part of what makes Belle La Vie Esthetics and Wellness what it is today. My story of independence and resilience began long before I became a business owner. I spent part of my childhood in foster care and eventually aged out of the system. Read more>>
Sharon Khen
My path to Take The Lead has been anything but linear, but looking back, it makes perfect sense. I began my professional journey as a social worker, then became a psychotherapist, and eventually transitioned into life coaching. For more than 15 years, my work has centered around understanding human behavior and helping people recognize patterns, develop practical skills, and create meaningful change. Read more>>
Bowen Ross
My creative journey started early on, in various ways, but I’d say it took hold in earnest when I began my professional life as an advertising creative. Over the past 30-plus years, I’ve essentially had three overlapping and intermingling careers—as an art director/designer, commercial photographer, and copywriter. Within this environment, I was surrounded by countless forms of creativity and an extraordinary concentration of talent. Read more>>
Christian Helms
I grew up in a small North Carolina mill town long before the internet and today’s design culture. I had no idea brand design was a career. But I could write, so I studied writing and art at UNC Chapel Hill. Late in my time there, I found brand design— a perfect marriage of the two things I’d studied. Read more>>
Daniela DaSuta
I was 15 when my mother moved our family to Texas to start a winery outside the Hill Country. I spent my teenage years alongside a large crew planting grapes, managing vines, and helping with winemaking after harvest. At the time, I had no idea that wine would eventually become my career. Honestly, I was mostly just excited about the paycheck. Read more>>
Ruby Cloutier
I’ve always been interested in how people express themselves through what they wear, collect, and surround themselves with. My path into interiors wasn’t completely linear, but looking back, there’s a very clear thread through all of it. I studied fashion design and spent about seven years working in luxury retail and styling. Read more>>
Patricia Bauerlein
Like many small businesses, we started by taking on the projects we could get. In the beginning, we built a lot of decks, pergolas, carports, and handled smaller remodeling jobs. Every project mattered to us, no matter the size, because we knew each one was an opportunity to earn someone’s trust and build our reputation. As the years went by, our customers kept coming back. Read more>>
Dre Nuzum
I grew up without the stability and support that every kid deserves, which forced me to grow up quickly and learn resilience through adversity. In 2018, my life changed when I shattered my leg into seven pieces in an accident. Doctors questioned what my future would look like physically, but that setback became the catalyst for a new purpose. Read more>>
Kathryn Reid
The Story of SewHampton SewHampton began with a little time off, a love of creativity, and an unexpected invitation from my daughter. For many years, I had worked as a Live Event Producer and had built my own event production company. I loved the excitement of creating experiences, bringing ideas to life, and figuring out all the details that make an event come together. Read more>>
Daniela Vargas Calvo
I’m Daniela Vargas Calvo, a Latina artist — a dancer, choreographer, and dance educator based in Austin, originally from Costa Rica. Moving to a new country meant starting from zero: rebuilding a career, a community, a sense of belonging, in a new language and a new context. Read more>>
Kelvi Wilson
Kelvi Doviar Cosmetics was founded in April 2020 during the pandemic. What started as a small idea and a passion for beauty quickly grew into a brand that I was truly proud to call my own. I started with a vision of creating affordable, quality beauty products that would allow women to feel confident, beautiful, and unapologetically themselves. Read more>>
Crystal Edwards
Over the last couple of years, I have been a vendor at many markets for my other business, Crystal’s Creations. During these markets, I built a network of other vendors and event coordinators. As my network grew, so did the urge to want to put together my own vendor market. Read more>>
Mark Stephens
I began drawing as a child and have never stopped. In fifth grade I started drawing regularly and a teacher encouraged me to start painting and taught me basic oil painting techniques. Read more>>
Melissa Tammarine
In 2009 I was living in Orlando Florida, and working in the corporate world after graduating college. Around that time I started seeing a hairstylist who would ultimately become my inspiration for becoming one myself. Over the next couple of years, little seeds were planted during each appt. Read more>>
Julie Fischer
We are located in Marfa, a very small town in far West Texas. Marfa, known as an art colony, is a popular destination for artists and Big Bend enthusiasts. Read more>>
Terrence Mombrun
I moved from NYC to Austin on July 2020 to pursue acting. It was a Saturday when I told my mom I was leaving and she didn’t believe me so by the time Tuesday came I had my bags packed and I told her I was leaving and she was like “so you really want to pursue this, I was like yeah and left”. Read more>>
Honey Ant
While living in Austin in 2020 during the pandemic, I began writing music in my free time. I put out my first project in 2021 and I’ve been releasing since then! Now I’ve moved to LA where I’m pursuing to be a songwriter and artist. Read more>>
KardiGaN BLaQ
I’ve always been a creative person, even when creativity wasn’t necessarily my full-time job. My path has taken me through a lot of different worlds, from culinary arts and the military to audio production, podcasting, visual art and eventually producing events. Through all of it, creativity has always been the thing I kept coming back to. Read more>>
Mel Villarreal
My story with Paw Shots actually started during the pandemic. I’ve been a photographer since 2004, and when the pandemic happened, photography suddenly became very different. We couldn’t go out, we couldn’t photograph people the way we used to, and I was looking for a way to keep creating. So I started photographing my cat, Nasa. Read more>>
Addison Ferullo
I’ve always been a creative, curious spirit. It must be the West Texan in me. As a child, I loved learning instruments and performing, filming homemade commercials, reading, writing, and most importantly, daydreaming. My passion for photography flared in my tweens, and I followed that spark all through college, experimenting whenever I could. Read more>>
Dead Dumb & Blind
Dead, Dumb & Blind started off as a crappy two piece, only guitar and drums that only did covers in a hot stuffy bedroom. Over time, we expanded with a new lead guitarist and vocalist. Cycled through some bassists and then found a new drummer. We all had a love for 90s slop and reflected that for our first year together. Read more>>
David Mills
I’ve been making art for more than thirty years. My path hasn’t been particularly linear. I’ve painted, drawn, sculpted, worked with wood and metal, built installations, designed commercially, taught art, and spent years experimenting with different materials and ways of making. What has remained constant is my curiosity and my need to understand things by making them. Read more>>
Harry B
I Originally started modeling at 6 years old, however took a hiatus until 15 when I booked a teen summer catalog once I was 23 I became a model full time through an agency Read more>>
maggie pagel
oh gosh . . . bought a donut shop, three years ago. It’s been a HUGE learning curve. I was an artist and school teacher before all this. We have turned this run down shop into a local hit and tourist destination. Breakfast is hot made to order on the black top. coffee is the best in town! And the donuts. . . Read more>>
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