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.
Norah Bass
Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a family of musicians, sound engineers, and passionate music lovers, so I was surrounded by live music from an early age. Whether I was watching local bands perform or listening to my favorite artists, music always felt like home. Read more>>
Sarah Force
A lot has changed since I last shared my story with Nashville Voyager in 2023! At the time, I was really focused on figuring out where my passion for social media could take me. Looking back now, I had no idea how much that passion would evolve into the career I’m building today! Read more>>
Kanika Jones
Some people are born into leadership. Others are pressed into it by life. I was both. I was raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a city small enough for people to know your family name but big enough for your dreams to feel impossible if you didn’t learn how to fight for them. Read more>>
Cheryl Woodley
I got the event planning bug from my mother and aunts back home in Mississippi. I would be the little helper with coronations and weddings. I would do anything from placing decorations to lining people up in their respective spaces. When I moved to Nashville, I found an avenue to continue my love of events on a broader scale. Read more>>
Lili Venus
My journey really started with me just being somebody who always had a lot of gifts and never wanted to put myself in one box. I’m Lili Venus, an artist, entrepreneur, healer, doula, massage therapist, Reiki practitioner, and the owner of Essence of Inanna LLC. Read more>>
Courtney Glenn
My journey has always been rooted in one thing: helping people feel seen, confident, and empowered. I began my career as a licensed cosmetologist, where I discovered that doing hair was about so much more than beauty. Read more>>
Angela Maiers
I am actually a medical school dropout. I began college believing medicine was going to be my path, but while putting myself through school, I worked four different jobs, all of them in some way connected to children and families. Read more>>
Sadie Cannon
I grew up in Ocala, Florida, and always knew that music was the thing I couldn’t live without. After moving to Nashville by way of Los Angeles, I began building my career as an independent artist, songwriter, and producer, blending pop music with Southern influences to create what I like to call “dance-pop with twang.” Like many independent artists, my path hasn’t been linear. Read more>>
Jo Dinero
Before I was rapping, I was singing. Before I was singing, I was whistling & humming. Musical vibrations have always resided deep in my spirit. Read more>>
Shawntay Moody
After 30 years in event planning and marketing, I began trying to create my dream job. I had always wanted to have my own venue for my event ideas, but where and what type of venue illuded me until covid struck. Suddenly, I longed for a barn dance venue I’d only seen on TV. Read more>>
Nessie Siler
Nashville Voyager Hello, I’m Nessie Siler. The journey to my successful editing business began when I was eight years old. My favorite subject in school was spelling, and I remember being so excited to read in elementary school when they announced a contest saying students could win a T-shirt if they read 100 books. Read more>>
Danielle Medwed
My journey as an F45 coach actually began as a member. I was attending classes multiple times a week, drawn not only to the challenging workouts and the convenience of having the programming done for me, but also to the incredible community. The coaches consistently pushed me beyond what I would have accomplished on my own, celebrating every milestone right alongside me. Read more>>
Nicole Mattingly
I started as an herb farmer back in 2010 and I fell in love with the smell of plants. I ran an herbal based skin care business for 10 years and through this, my passion for scent grew. In 2024, I completely switched gears and decided to follow my true passion, perfume. Read more>>
Darlene Dubreuze
MY NAME IS DARLENE DUBREUZE, THE OWNER OF ISLAND BREEZE BISTRO. THE WOMEN BEHIND THE RESTAURANT ARE A GRANDMOTHER MARIE LOURDES, MOTHER DARLENE AND DAUGHTER GABRIELA GONZALEZ. THE CONCEPT BEHIND THE RESTAURANT IS THAT I AM HAITIAN AND GROWING UP MY MOTHER OWNED A RESTAURANT BACK HOME, SO CREATING DELICIOUS DISHES IS IN OUR DNA. Read more>>
LaTica Evans
Just a single mother who wants the best life for her and her daughter. We started doing content right around COVID and continued to do so afterwards. I saw how you could make money by just being yourself online and I love to make people laugh. Read more>>
Isaiah Brooks
My journey as Springhill Spider-Man began during the COVID-19 pandemic with one simple goal: to bring joy to children during an incredibly difficult time. I started dressing as Spider-Man and standing on street corners, waving to families and creating moments of happiness for kids who had been isolated for months. One day, someone took a photo of me on the sidewalk and shared it online. Read more>>
Ansley Goodheart
I grew up going to open houses and watching HGTV with my mom. I mentally moved into every house we toured, imagining what our family’s life would look like there—and I was always genuinely confused when we walked out and my mom said we weren’t buying it. What could she possibly mean?! Read more>>
Virgil Cash
My whole career started with peer pressure. Basically after high school, my friends wanted to rap. I had the computer and a cheap ten dollar mic. I said I would engineer, they said nah you are rapping and it put me on the path to be who I am today. Read more>>
Bam Rich
Whew…The Nashville Soundz Party Band was founded based off filling in for another band!!! I’ll never forget…I was playing in a band and the leader had surgery and couldn’t perform so the club manager asked me did I have any bands in mind or could I throw a band together. Read more>>
Camarie McBride
I first fell in love with photography as a sophomore in high school over 20 years ago. I always knew photography would be a part of my life in some capacity, but I never could anticipate that it would become my full-time career. I went to college, got a teaching degree, and believed that photography would be my side hustle. Read more>>
Nere Vargas-Ortega
When I left Venezuela, I thought I knew exactly what my future would look like. I earned my degree in Architecture, and like many immigrant parents, mine dreamed of seeing me continue that career in the United States. But life—and God—had a different plan. Like so many immigrants, I arrived with little more than hope and a willingness to work hard. Read more>>
Tawnya Reynolds
Born and raised in New Mexico. Music was always my path. Nashville was always the intended goal but it wasn’t until after attempting the Austin, TX music scene, I realized it was truly where I needed to be. I moved to Nashville in 2002 and it really began an entirely new chapter. Read more>>
Robin Sanders
Around freshman year of highschool, it had come down to deciding my future career. To this day, I cannot explain to you why or how I chose cosmetology but it was almost like Someone was guiding my hand as my parents and I filled out the paperwork. Read more>>
Hunter Best
No making countless phone calls to reps trying to get there brand in my store was challenging instead of them trying to sell to me I felt like I was trying to sell them on the brand I am building Read more>>
Kellie Musick
I never expected to start a nonprofit. My background is in nursing, and for many years my focus was raising my two boys as a stay-at-home mom. My divorce became an unexpected turning point in my life. As I sought God’s direction for what came next, He began placing the issue of human trafficking on my heart in a way I couldn’t ignore. Read more>>
Santio Chen
Like most people who work in animation, I have loved drawing since I was a child. If my story with animation has a specific beginning, it would be the afternoon of July 9, 2008. That day, at my best friend’s birthday party, I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time. I was immediately captivated by its strange and enchanting imagery. Read more>>
Nakessa Fields
I started very young, singing around the house with my family and then at church, in the school choir, that sort of thing but I have always been a lover of music. Read more>>
Daniel Crandall
1Train1 gives the creative training and support you need to write, design, and publish with authority. One on one training and creative human connection drive me to help people tell their story! An outgoing leader, artist, and tutor throughout school, I studied engineering in my early college years while in the summers I directed youth camps, led wilderness adventures, and coached soccer. Read more>>
Matthew Cole
I taught myself to play piano and sing when I was just four years old, and music has been a part of my life ever since. Growing up, I spent countless hours writing poems and stories without realizing they were the foundation of something much bigger. It wasn’t until high school, when I discovered country music, that I finally found a home for those stories. Read more>>
Shannon Kelley-Curry
Getting into a hired car with a stranger can be intimidating, especially for women. Heather Lehrmann understood this, so she founded Nash Pink Ride in 2023 to offer a more personal, safe, and comfortable alternative. Read more>>
Larrisha Fletcher
Fashion has always been a part of who I am. Growing up, I was fascinated by clothing and the way it could make people feel confident, beautiful, and seen. Although I briefly attended Middle Tennessee State University, I ultimately decided to teach myself how to sew and design through countless hours of practice, trial and error, and determination. Read more>>
Desi Serna
When I was 18 years old, after one semester of community college studying marketing, I decided I wanted to make a living as a musician. My plan was simple: perform, teach, and eventually create instructional materials that could reach more people than I ever could through private lessons alone. Read more>>
Ivy Manfredi
My career has always been rooted in people, relationships, and creating memorable experiences. I started in marketing and sales in early 2015, where I quickly discovered that I loved the intersection of creativity and connection. Read more>>
Ninmah Askia Wallace
I became a small business owner in 2022, and I wish I could tell you that we went from surviving to thriving overnight—but that’s simply not our story. I’ve always had a desire to create something meaningful—to serve others, make an impact, and leave people encouraged. I just didn’t know what that ‘something’ would be. Graceful Threads became the answer to that prayer. Read more>>
John Heithaus
Relocated to Nashville in 2013 for a second career in the music business. Started an experiential event management company as well as a independent record label. Based in Franklin been involved in artist development, production, songwriting, recording marketing promotion working to learn the whole streaming universe and the complexities of the modern music business. Read more>>
Kimberly Daniel
For over three decades, I immersed myself in the vibrant world of art education, shaping young minds and kindling creative sparks in classrooms. Those years as an educator gave me a deep appreciation for the transformative power of art. A decade ago, I began painting en plein air, capturing the beauty of the world in real-time. Read more>>
Laurier Tiernan
I was born on April 5th, 1973, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to two parents who could barely make ends meet without a child. And, growing up, my mother always told me my dreams were ‘expensive’; which, in her mind, meant ”impossible’; be it piano lessons, guitar lessons, or basically anything else I dreamt of doing. Read more>>
Ashley Settles
My name is Ashley Settles. I am 24 years old, and I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. I started baking as a kid. I always enjoyed helping my mom in the kitchen, and family dinners and holidays were my time to shine. I read cookbooks looking for new recipes. Read more>>
