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.
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>>
Sir Cluren Williams
Cluren Williams is a 4th Generation Austinite, Author, Motivational Speaker, and Revolutionary Activist that has gotten the attention of many as the ‘Voice of The People’ in Central Texas. He has a taste in Design and fashion and also owns his own Music Label called K.K.M.G (Killa Klick Music Group Inc.). As a Revolutionary Activist, Mr. Read more>>
Beau Briar
Being raised by two musician parents, I lived my whole life singing and playing piano, in addition to always writing music. I took an interest in jazz specifically when I got to college. After an interesting few years – changing schools and majors, I found myself studying jazz piano while professionally working as a jazz vocalist back in my hometown. Read more>>
haider kayamali
I came to college and had little to no idea what I really wanted to do. I didnt get into the mccombs business school so I was trying to get in, but failed at calculus and had to drop that. At the time, i had started making content where I interview strangers about their life. I would ask them deep and vulnerable questions. Read more>>
Matthew Iommi
I’ve always been interested in building businesses and figuring out how to solve problems. Fetii came out of seeing how difficult group transportation could be. If you had a larger group, there really wasn’t a great, easy option..you were usually dealing with multiple cars, complicated logistics, or traditional charter services that weren’t very flexible. Read more>>
Luz Plata
My passion has always been teaching. In Mexico, I taught English and earned a certificate in teaching a second language. When I moved to the United States 14 years ago, I began teaching Spanish, and I quickly realized it was an even better fit for me because Spanish is my native language. Read more>>
Gina Christopher
I have been a stay at home mom for 17 years. I was previously an operations manager for 8 years. Over the last five years I have painted hyper realistic reborn dolls. I more recently began creating UGC content. I also run a program at Christmas time called Dripping Springs Cares that provides Christmas gifts to local children. Read more>>
Joey Garcia
I’ve always like dancing and always liked hip hop culture since I was little, but never knew exactly what it was It wasn’t till 2013 when I was 16 or 17 years of age, when I got into my first hip hop competitive team. Read more>>
Natasha Byrne
I spent 12 years with Hooters, started as a Hooters Girl in Austin, Texas. My career there gave me the opportunity to travel throughout the Midwest, meet so many incredible people, and grow both personally and professionally. I worked my way through different roles and eventually ended my Hooters career as an Assistant General Manager in North Kansas City, MO. Read more>>
Brian Maass
I am a native Austinite, who was actually born in Austin, lived in College Station, and then moved back to the Austin Area after college. Eleven years ago, I met an amazing woman, fell in love and got married in 2019. Currently, I work for the State of Texas in Tourism, and I have been a contributor for Texas Lifestyle Magazine for about eight years. Read more>>
Stony SOS
My story is really about turning struggle into purpose. I’m Stony SOS, an artist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of SOSA Entertainment Group. Music has been a part of my life for years, but my journey has never been a straight or easy road. Read more>>
Carol Zatt
At 33 weeks pregnant, I left Bellingen, a beautiful country town in Australia with a population of around 3,000, and moved to Austin, Texas. I had no idea how much the move would change me. Coming from Brazil, I had grown up with a strong mentality of working hard and building something for yourself. Read more>>
Brandon Schrichten
I was in my early 20s, making a living with a pretty generic 9-to-5 job, but I wasn’t doing anything I truly loved. Then a major life event left me with my back against the wall and, honestly, nothing much to lose. That was the push I needed to take a chance on something different. Read more>>
Trey Abraham
I’ve always enjoyed both the experience and the act of creativity. As a kid I would pass time by pouring endlessly through my mom’s art history books and by raiding the boxes of buckles and hardware in my parents’ shoe repair shop (perhaps to their chagrin) to make robot dolls. Read more>>
Dede Roberson
I was always the girl in school that did her own hair & people loved my hair & how I dressed. I actually got in the hair game on accident it wasnt my actual dream. I always tell people the hair game chose me I didn’t choose to be a hairstylist! Read more>>
Joycelyn (JOY) Paige
I think to really understand my story, I have to start with where I come from. I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and I’m Mexican American. Read more>>
Payton Thomas
I started my business in 2021 when I was a college student at Texas Tech University working towards my bachelors degree in Human Sciences. I have autoimmune diseases, and the 9-to-5 jobs I tried would just take a toll on my health and weren’t working for me. Read more>>
Estella York
My path has never been linear, but every chapter has shaped the way I see opportunity and community. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Global Studies, along with the Business Foundations Program: McCombs School of Business. Through UT’s exchange agreement, I spent time studying at Sciences Po in Paris. Read more>>
Maria Pena
Fall of 2022, our daughter Aubrie (13) was diagnosed with a rare sarcoma cancer, CIC-DUX4. The beginning of 2023 she began her chemo journey. 11 cycles, 5 weeks of radiation and surgery to remove the tumor from her lower back. Aubrie fought so hard to be here. After almost two years of battling she passed away May 9, 2024. Three months before her 15 birthday. Read more>>
Emily Thomas
I have always loved entertaining. I grew up in a home where family and friends were constantly coming in and out, and my parents were always the hosts who made everyone feel welcome. Watching people gather, connect, and enjoy themselves, and seeing how much joy can come from making people feel at home, really stuck with me. Read more>>
Sarah Brightly
My path to real estate wasn’t exactly a straight line, though looking back, I think every step was leading me here. I studied art education in college, with a real love for art history and architecture, the way a space can tell a story, the way light and proportion shape how we feel in a room. Read more>>
Caleb Fleischer
Indoor Creature began as a bedroom project. I was eager to beef up the production and happened to meet Travis Kitchen working at a now closed Japanese restaurant called Banzai. I was training him for the job and during the down town of tasks struck up a conversation about music. Read more>>
Clay Spence
Mr. Pimento was founded in 2022 from an idea to bring to Jamaican barbecue flavor to Austin. We started by doing pop up events all around Austin and the outer cities at any place that would give us the chance. Read more>>
T’Aira Jones
T’s Hot Pot LLC began as a small dream in 2018 when I was 20 years old, serving active duty in the Army and living in Killeen, TX. What started as a hobby—making holiday cakes for the DFAC on Fort Hood—quickly grew into a side business. Assigned to the baking team, I discovered my passion for baking and cake decorating. Read more>>
Floridon Frangu
I’ve always had an entrepreneurial side to me. Over the years, I’ve started businesses, tried different ideas, learned a lot through both successes and failures, and honestly just kept going. I don’t think my story is one of having everything perfectly figured out. It’s really been about being willing to take chances, work hard, learn as I go, and trust God with what comes next. Read more>>
Cassandra Louden
# How I Got Started Austin Cart Co. started with one simple idea: purchasing a champagne cart to rent for baby showers, bachelorette parties, weddings, and luxury events. What I didn’t expect was how much a single cart could completely transform a space. I quickly realized it wasn’t just about serving drinks—it was about creating an experience and becoming part of the event’s design. Read more>>
Tanya Walker
My journey started with a simple but powerful desire: to create spaces where Black and Brown women could experience adventure, connection, and new opportunities without feeling like they didn’t belong. In 2018, I founded Black Women Who after recognizing how rarely I saw women who looked like me represented in outdoor and recreational spaces. Read more>>
Erin Vyhanek
I started Live Organized by Erin somewhat accidentally. When my third child started kindergarten in the fall of 2022, I suddenly had a little more space in my days for the first time in years. I found myself helping friends with their homes, figuring out why certain spaces weren’t working and creating systems that made everyday life easier. Read more>>
Jessica Cohn
My journey into holistic health and wellness has really been a process of learning, experiencing, and becoming more intentional about how I care for my own health and the health of others. I became a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner because I wanted to understand the body beyond simply treating individual symptoms. I became fascinated by the connections between digestion, nutrition, stress, inflammation, detoxification, and overall wellness. Read more>>
Amber Gutierrez
I grew up in South Texas (the Rio Grande Valley to be more specific.). Being an only child allowed me a lot of time to myself. I gravitated towards music and singing in particular. I remember being too shy throughout childhood to develop a true sense of direction with music. I didn’t excel in much of any way in high school. Read more>>
Zakk Emery
Grew up in a sheltered Mormon Household. My heart always longed for the opposing world of hard rock and heavy metal with the accompanying sound, chaos, and freedom it promised. I played in bands all through high school and my late teens/early 20s. Soon I became infatuated with the EDM, more specifically Heavy Bass Music. And the way it paired harmoniously with Heavy Metal. Read more>>
Shauné Smith
In high school I had a desire to stand out. Everyone and everything felt so boring, my town, the people, trends, so I wanted to do something about it. I was in drill team and became our team’s social media coordinator and from there a fire lit under me with passion. Read more>>
Gene Griffin
Before any of this I was in the music industry running an artist services company, and I still DJ under ‘Regal Eagle’. From there I moved into auto refinance, a brokerage shopping lenders on a borrower’s behalf, just with car loans instead of houses. I refinanced over 7,000 loans in that space. I was good at it, and I hit a ceiling. Read more>>
Jennifer Holbert
I’ve been interested in real estate in one way or another for as long as I can remember. Even as a kid, I loved looking at houses, noticing what made each one different, and thinking about how spaces could be designed or improved (The Sims, anyone?). At the time, I never really thought of that as something that would become a career. Read more>>
Beauregard Elliot
I started drag in 2022. My first ever time performing in drag was at this old gay bar in San Marcos, Texas called Stonewall Warehouse (may she RIP). But before I started drag, I was already a performer. I was raised in a very religious household. My dad was a pastor and he had his own church. Read more>>
Steve Russom
Honestly, it started the way most koi stories do — one pond, one fish, and then suddenly you’re completely hooked. I’ve always loved the hobby, and at some point the passion just outgrew being a hobby. Read more>>
Poet Hawkins
I have been writing songs for many years. Moving to Austin was one of the best decisions I could have made. The city is so welcoming to artists of all genres. I have written some of the best songs of my career here over the last six years. The artist community very supportive and inspiring. Read more>>
Joy Noguess
As I was finishing a degree in media arts and animation, I began experiencing pain in my right arm 24/7. I couldn’t stand to use the computer mouse any more and after going to the doctor, I learned that I had developed cubital tunnel syndrome from too much time spent working on the computer. Read more>>
Claudia Pakes
My path into interior design was a little unconventional. I started my career as a Realtor in the late ’90s, working alongside investors who were buying and flipping homes. I was immediately fascinated by the remodeling side of the business—seeing what a home could become and how thoughtful changes could completely transform a space. Read more>>
Brady Knippa
My dad had been a drummer his whole life and introduced me to the kit with a VHS copy of Dave Weckl’s ‘Back to Basics’ at the age of three. We’d watch that tape over and over for weeks and months on end, and I’d try to follow along with chopsticks on my mom’s pots and pans. Read more>>
Rashmi Pottekatt
Hi, I’m Rashmi, the artist and owner of September Magic, where I create stained-glass-style hand-painted glassware and other art-inspired pieces. I’ve always been a creative person. As a child, I was drawn to the creative side of everything—whether it was drawing, painting, decorating, or simply finding ways to add my own personality to things. I never really thought of art as a career, though. Read more>>
Marjorie Nelch
My story started in a rural town in western Washington. I was raised with the same kids from kindergarten to senior year of high school. I enjoyed a childhood of simplicity- riding bikes, picking blackberries, raising animals. In college my life became more complicated with realization that I wanted my world to be bigger than the simple dream of having a family and a house. Read more>>
Daniela Taran
My name is Dana, and tattooing isn’t just my job—it’s how I connect with people. My own story took a sharp turn two and a half years ago when my husband and I fled the war in Ukraine and landed straight in Austin, Texas. Read more>>
Louis Obadal
In 2013 after fighting for my life and getting diagnosed with luous . It inspired me to do something better for the chronic illness community and spread awareness of the struggle we go through Read more>>
Cody Bolden
Cody’s appreciation for the playing country music emerged nearly a decade ago, when he saw live country music performed at a new small room listening in Woodstock, Georgia. He began playing the acoustic guitar in 2017 and established his band, Cody Bolden and the Roadhands, in 2018. Read more>>
Clare Shapcott
I actually came to photography through traditional art. I studied art at college and completed an Art Foundation degree, and before photography became my main creative outlet I spent a lot of my time painting and drawing. I think that background still has a huge influence on the way I approach photography now. Read more>>
Joff Bermoy
When I was around 12 I started cutting my own hair. This was the late 80’s in Waianae, Hawaii, where I grew up. West side of the Island. My mom would cut all of our hair, I’m the youngest of 3 boys. We would wait for the next one to be up next. Read more>>
Pam Delahoussaye
PetVet365 is locally owned by veterinarians. Dr. Pam Delahoussaye is the Austin area veterinary owner. Each hospital is led by a veterinarian partner from the local community who is a partner to Dr. Pam. Dr. Jennifer Moon in Leander and Dr. Morgan Heller in Georgetown. PetVet365 is a small network of hospitals found in various communities in the United States. Read more>>
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