It’s more important to understand someone than to judge them. We think the first step to understanding someone is asking them the fundamental questions about who they are and how they became the person they are today. Understanding and empathy are essential building blocks for a better, more compassionate world. We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to ask these questions each week through our interview series. Below you’ll find inspiring interviews from in and around Austin.
Yvette Strange
Spoon Mountain Glamping was born from a dream my husband, Ken, and I shared of creating a place where people could slow down, unplug from the distractions of everyday life, and reconnect with the people they love most. We have always been passionate about serving others and creating meaningful experiences, and we wanted to build something that reflected those values. Read More>>
Jennifer Jones
The Mission To democratize access to high quality psycho-education to decrease intergenerational trauma. It was love at first sight when Chris and I met later in life. Blending our professional talents, my almost 30 years of being a psychotherapist, specializing in relationships and couples, and his lifetime of being an industrial and fine artist, alongside our romantic relationship, our business became an organic result. Read More>>
Raegan Raguse
I grew up in Georgetown and came to acupuncture first as a patient, not because I planned to work in healthcare. As a teenager, I tried acupuncture for digestive issues after being hesitant about the treatment itself—I’ve never loved the idea of needles. What stood out to me wasn’t just that it was comfortable, but that it actually helped. Read More>>
Juan Martinez
I got my start listening to dance music as a 10 year old with unsupervised access to the internet. I would watch video after video of Tiesto performing and people rave dancing to electronic music. I just always wanted to dance with them. I was born in Long Beach, CA. Read More>>
Tanis Herndon
When I was about to turn 13, I spent the entire year asking my parents for one thing: a CD player. Over and over again. At one point I casually mentioned that a sewing machine might be nice, but quickly returned to my regular refrain: ‘CD player, CD player, CD player.’ So naturally, my birthday gift was a sewing machine. Read More>>
Kerry Morrison
My story started with a passion for helping people feel confident in themselves. I entered the beauty industry several years ago as a lash artist, and what began as a creative outlet quickly became something much bigger. I fell in love with the connection I built with clients and the impact that even small services could have on someone’s confidence. Read More>>
Paul Schlesinger
Early Beginnings I was born in 1970, and grew up in Taylor, Texas. As a young boy, my mother signed me up for piano lessons, where I learned music. I later played the euphonium in the high school band. Read More>>
Charmeka Shontay
My story is one of turning pain into purpose. I am a nurse of more than 30 years, a licensed esthetician, entrepreneur, mother, grandmother, and woman of faith. While nursing has always allowed me to care for people physically, my journey into esthetics came from a much deeper place. Read More>>
Alysha Aganon
My journey into this industry wasn’t a straight path. I graduated from nursing school in 2019, but after years of bartending and becoming a mom, life took me in a different direction. Like many women, I found myself searching for something that allowed me to be present for my family while still building a career I was passionate about. Read More>>
Cameron Lagrone
I have been an avid reader since childhood. I was the typical kid who fell asleep listening to books on tape – flipping the tape in my boombox each night to continue to the next part. Read More>>
Arriana Martinez
My love for hair started about 12 years ago. It started with wanting to learn how to braid hair and just expanded from there. Soon I’d find myself lost in hair tutorials on YouTube which led me to committing to going to cosmetology school my senior year of high school. Read More>>
Valerie Wilmot
I grew up around tools and construction taking every opportunity I got to go to job sites with my dad and learn various trades. With a love of art and a family that enjoyed making things together, creativity has always been deeply woven into the fiber of my being. Read More>>
Josh Brainard
In 2016, I married a florist and like most husbands who marry florists, I learned fast that my real job title was ‘on-call assistant.’ I wasn’t gifted at floral design, so my work was the heavy lifting: moving pedestals, building arches, setting out candles, and after every wedding, scraping dried wax off the holders until 2 a.m. Read More>>
Alyssa Cornejo
I’m a first-gen college grad who started out studying history, but midway I felt that creative spark pulling me elsewhere. I shifted into Digital Media Innovation, where I focused on social media, AI promoting, and UX/UI design. During college, I freelanced for small businesses in my area, learning the ropes through internships and short-form content. Read More>>
Francheska Martinez
I grew up as a dancer, beginning at the age of three. At nine, I sustained my first injury—a sprained knee—and was told by a doctor that a muscle imbalance was the underlying cause. Minor injuries continued throughout my dance training, but I didn’t think much of them at the time; instead, I learned to push through the pain. Read More>>
Noor Qoulaq
I always knew I wanted to be a designer. What I didn’t know was where that path would take me. My early career was in luxury interior design, working with clients who had one thing in common: they never wanted what everyone else had. Every brief came down to the same thing. Make it mine. Make it different. Make it feel like me. Read More>>
Andrew Trevino
I started DJing right out of high school. I think I used a tax refund when I was 18 or 19 to buy my first set of turntables and a mixer. I’ve always been obsessed with music, so DJing was something that appealed to me from the time I was a kid. Read More>>
Synina Villalon
I’m a Texas native, born and raised. My roots run deep here. I began my spiritual journey over 10 years ago and started practicing more as I began to feel comfortable with my beliefs. I grew up Catholic and watched my grandmother and great mother practice Catholic Folk magic but at the time they didnt label it like things are labeled today. Read More>>
Caitlyn Bologna
My journey into healing began with five years of formal study in homeopathic medicine, followed by further education in nutritional therapy and sound healing. These early years grounded me in a holistic understanding of the body and the deep connection between physical, emotional, and energetic wellbeing. I learned the power of vibrational medicine and was able to make connections between these modalities and quantum science. Read More>>
Melissa Bellz
I started my DJ journey in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2015 with a passion for music and a desire to bring people together. I taught myself how to DJ, invested in my craft, and began taking every opportunity I could to perform. Read More>>
Rachel West
My story is a bit unconventional, which is fitting, because I’ve never been particularly good at staying in just one lane. I was born and raised in Chicago, where I spent my childhood writing short stories about talking cats, watching musicals with my mom, and signing up for every choir and theatre activity I could find. Read More>>
David Castro
Honestly, it started with seeing a problem I thought I had a solution to. Growing up, I was around entertainment a lot. Read More>>
Benjamin Pedraza
My story began with me teaching guitar lessons in high school. I really wanted to do something in music, but was always told it wasn’t practical. So I thought I could keep a hobby and side hustle in music. But as the years went by, I started doing more music projects. I started and played in bands, and did solo projects. Read More>>
Umy
Many years ago, I had a back injury that rendered me immobile for months. After I finished the entire catalog of Netflix, I discovered Masterclass on Magic taught by Penn & Teller. At the end, Penn Jillette said, Do you know why we do magic? Read More>>
Ashlie Marques
Thanks for being here and letting us share what we’ve been building! My path wasn’t exactly straight—I spent years in accounting and property management, learning the ropes of running a business the ‘traditional’ way. But honestly? Life has this beautiful way of bringing you back to what you’re meant to do. Read More>>
Jonathan Davis
My story began long before JAD Creative, education, or any of the work I do today. I was born and raised in Austin, Texas, by my mother, Chandra Davis, and my father, Jonathan Henderson, who instilled in me the importance of respect, integrity, faith, and representing myself and my family well. Those values have remained at the center of everything I do. Read More>>
PATRICK St. Cin
Where to start… photography has been woven into the fabric of my life for decades. I still remember being an adolescent, fiddling with my dad’s Kodak Brownie, trying to figure out how to create depth of field. I didn’t know what it was called, but I had a hunch the camera held the key. That curiosity never left me. Read More>>
Sarah Azzopardi
My journey into the dessert industry started with a love for baking and creating meaningful experiences for others. From a young age, I was drawn to art and design, always enjoying opportunities to create and express myself through different mediums. Read More>>
Susan Binkley
My career as a massage therapist began over 30 years ago. I was working as a day-care assistant and I oversaw a class of about 20 two-three year old children. Anyone with a 2-3 year old can attest that they can be a real handful! One day, at nap time, my co-worker went to lunch and left me with all the kids. Read More>>
Sharyon Blackgrove
I grew up in Aotearoa New Zealand and have always been fascinated by the human body and how it moves. Being active myself through marathons, Ironman events, cycling, and strength training, I became really interested in recovery and helping people feel their best. That passion led me to study at Boulder College of Massage Therapy. Read More>>
John Oliver
The story of John Oliver is, born July 8th, 1988. I was raised by a single mother of two (myself and my older sister) while she served in the Army for 26yrs. She taught us the value of working hard in life, discipline and compassion. Read More>>
Antionette Mack
My journey into content creation started from a genuine love of capturing memories. I’ve always been the person documenting special moments for family and friends, and over time I realized there was a growing need for couples and event hosts to have someone dedicated to capturing the candid, behind-the-scenes moments that often go unnoticed. Read More>>
Christina Swanson
My photography journey began at just 13 years old with a Canon camera in my hands and a curiosity for capturing the world around me. What started as a creative outlet quickly grew into a lifelong passion for preserving memories and telling stories through photographs. Today, I’m a wife, proud mom of two amazing children, and the heart behind Christina Swanson Photography. Read More>>
Adesuwa Ebomwonyi
My journey into event planning started in a place many people wouldn’t expect, the world of college athletics. Before launching DAEPlanners, I served as the Director of Basketball Operations for a women’s college basketball program. In that role, I was responsible for coordinating team travel, managing schedules, managing logistics, and ensuring every detail was executed seamlessly behind the scenes. Read More>>
Paul Smith
My name is Paul Smith. I was born in Abilene ,Texas in 1972. I was a child of the 70’s, a young adult in the 80’s, a 20-something in the 90’s and now an old man in the 2020’s. I am a professional tattoo artist with 26 years experience. I’ve tattooed my entire career in Austin, Texas. Read More>>
Stacy Jane Kluck
My story falls in the genre of dark comedy. A funny, painful, absurd series of synchronous twists, leaps, and loops that eventually revealed itself as spiritual. From the moment I entered the world, I was obsessed with magic, energy, movement. I came out kicking. I never stopped. I let the world boldly know who I was. Read More>>
Stephanie Ramirez-Pelletier
I was shot in the face at 17 while holding my baby. That was the beginning, not the end. I spent the next 20+ years spiraling , in violence, addiction, poverty, trafficking, and loss. I was a mother of three trying to survive trauma I couldn’t outrun. I lost people I loved. I hurt people I loved. Read More>>
Craig Vanis
My education and professional life started at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. My major was mechanical engineering with a concentration in manufacturing and material science. While in school, I had internships in Boston and Cincinnati with GE Aircraft Engines, and worked at the Metal Processing Institute assisting research on advanced metal casting techniques. After graduating, I ended up taking a job at a small oil company in Houston, doing some labor in the field, as well as engineering work in the office. Read more>>
Larry Wallace Sr.
After completing high school, I attended Career Academy in Milwaukee and graduated with a Certification in Dental Laboratory Technology. Faced with the daunting challenge of financing my higher education, I did not permit financial constraints to hinder my dreams and worked multiple part-time jobs while balancing my academic responsibilities and the need to fund my education. I worked nights cleaning offices and took temporary jobs to help me realize my goals. Read more>>
