Nashville’s Most Inspiring Stories

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.

Maria Sesay

The simplest answer to both how I started and how I got to where I am today is merely through prayer and hard work. I have always had a courageous and fearless spirit. My parents played a vital role as I grew up seeing my parents in the forefront. I will say I am a mix of them both: My father was a preacher, and my mother loved to sing. They, too, had gifts of using their voices in different ways. Somehow, I found my own unique voice between the two of them. My voice is a gift from God that I have been able to use in various ways on various platform; from singing to interviewing to hosting and more! Read more>>

Merna Lewis

I truly feel like I’ve still got a long way to go to be considered high up in the ranks of some of my heroes, and that makes me keep working at it. Just today, I picked up my mandolin and guitar for the first time in a few months… because I got really heartbroke when I lost an artist gig – that I thought was IT! I thought I had achieved that big step – and then got shot right back to the bottom again. Because I need to work harder. I need to work more. I need to practice more. I need to WANT it more. A lesson I think I’ll never stop learning. So, there’s always going to be struggles, or, challenges, but aren’t those things what make us better? Read more>>

Erin Judge

Growing over the years has also come with challenges. I once thought I wanted to scale my team and be a major practice, where I would truly become the CEO versus a practitioner in the practice. However, I learned that a team meant more sales and more of my time was required, and I’d be filled with more pressure to help every team member get to the place they wanted in the practice. This wasn’t what I actually wanted in my life, personally, so I learned and shifted my goals. This was challenging for my ego and was also a test of my leadership skills. Read more>>

Chris Tees

With Tennessee becoming a Permitless Carry state in 2021, I created Tees Tactical Training (T3) to provide proper firearms training to local Tennesseans. I’ve talked to countless people asking for training with firearms that want to become comfortable with shooting/ carrying a gun and to prepare them for the enhanced carry permit class. My Basic Handgun Course is perfect for those that do not know anything about a handgun, to individuals wanting to increase their shooting proficiencies. I am currently working on more advanced handgun and rifles classes that will be pushed out in the future. Read more>>

Patricia Havlat

I never planned on being a candy maker, but life is a bit like fudge. It is messy, sweet, and full of surprises. I was 34 when my husband, Ricky, died in a boating accident on the Buffalo River. He was my first love, a Vietnam vet, and the center of my world. Suddenly I was a widow with four kids. Jeanna was 14, Krys 13, Bob 10, and baby Jessica just 14 months old. We had no house, no insurance, just a whole lot of prayers and a family who stepped in. I moved to Portland to be near my sister Shirley, and we started a little curtain business called The Window Box. Funny enough, we even made a burlap shower curtain for Dolly Parton’s replica cabin at Dollywood. Read more>>

Olivia Robinson

My journey into social media began organically through my teaching career. I began teaching at my school in Nashville in 2022, and this fall will mark my fourth year as a first-grade teacher. Prior to that, I completed a full year of student teaching in kindergarten, and I’ve always felt that education is my calling. In today’s world, teaching requires a deep sense of purpose—something beyond the tangible rewards—because, as many of us know, the return doesn’t always match the investment. Read more>>

Candace Mooney

I really want to do my best to reach everyone so I also provide a blog on my website for people that can learn more about how nutrition and kidney disease are related with a how-to, step by step approach on how to determine your best course of action with kidney disease. Read more>>

Rachel Beechboard

We offer hair and skin care services. Our speciality is blonding services and color services in general, haircutting, facial treatments and full body waxing. I can’t believe I personally have been doing hair for 18 years and I get the honor to teach on stages and in salon throughout the U.S. for Joico and help uplift other stylists and salon owners. And I really can’t believe it’s only been 10 years of owning my salon and making an impact on our industry and in the lives of stylists and estheticians! I feel like we are just getting started and I thank God daily for the honor of carrying out my purpose He has given me and the legacy that I get to carry with me from my Grandparents family owned business. Read more>>

Levi Allen

Anyways, music and writing were the driving forces behind most of my hobbies in high school and throughout college thus far; I ended up finishing that trilogy of books I started, and I want to say that I’ve played with a total of nine artists(mostly on bass) from high school to now. Saint Stranger kind of came about because I’d been writing a handful of songs since the start of college, and eventually there were enough of them that I felt the urge to put together a band. It’s a fun balance because I also am the President of our student record label here at MTSU, so I get to play on both the artist and the business(albeit in a student org capacity) sides of the proverbial musical fence. Read more>>

Jennifer Lake

Your healing journey will be far from smooth lol. I have experienced a lot with my personal discoveries as well as being there with my clients as they discover theirs and I am grateful to have the heart I was given to push through and keep going. I’ve been shocked at some of my own revelations, head-hunted by those I thought were friends and family because according to them, who am I to be able to perform these miracles and do these things? I’ve had to put on blinders and continue to follow my Divine guidance without fail. I might go kicking and screaming but I will go. Read more>>

Siah Kent

Jake Ferguson & I (Siah Kent) are both from Tampa, Florida. We met in high school while I was a junior and he was a freshman. During those couple of years, we were both in the men’s and ensemble choir together and would teach each other chords on the guitar during lunch. After we’d both graduated and left town for college, we spent years (independent from each other) honing our craft as musicians and songwriters. Jake would grow tremendously as a producer and when he moved back to Tampa we’d get together to write songs, purely out of our love for creating music.  Read more>>

Stuart McClean

I started BaQ-Bone BBQ in 2021 as a concept and officially launched in 2022. In 2023, I took the leap and went all in on the business, focusing fully on catering. I partnered with Fooda to serve lunch pop-ups across Nashville, and it blew up we were killing it. But eventually, I realized I wanted more autonomy over my book of business. So, I stepped away from the pop-up circuit and turned my attention to a bigger goal: launching a food truck. Read more>>

Brooke Elliott

I thought it would be so much fun to be a professional photographer. I reached out to that same photographer a couple months after my roommate’s wedding asking if she’d be willing to teach me some camera basics. She was kind enough to agree, so I would go to her house once or twice a week on my lunch break to learn the basics of my new camera. Fast forward four years, I am now shooting 15-20 weddings a year and it’s my full time career. I love everything about wedding photography, and I’m so grateful to that photographer who taught me back in 2020. Now, she is a very dear friend of mine, and we enjoy shooting together when we can. Read more>>

Julia Pavlicas

Now, I’m two days away from finishing nursing school. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. And when I look back, I don’t see someone who barely made it—I see someone who never stopped fighting for the life she knew she was meant to live. I’m proud of the woman I’ve become. Through heartbreaks, setbacks, long shifts, lost sleep, and every single tear—I proved to myself that I was meant to persevere. And I did. Read more>>

Jake Peluso-Harper

I think my biggest decider for choosing acting as my career was Tennessee Governor School for the Arts. I tried for two years to get into the Theatre program, and on my second attempt, I actually managed to do so. The audition was pretty challenging, but well worth it. I’m met so many wonderful and talented young artists that were just as passionate as me. We went through everything together and even with the ups and downs, we stayed strong and became closer. I had never felt so accepted doing what I loved. The students and staff also encouraged me to aim for college, and after a whole month of a “college type” experience, I knew this was a world for me. Read more>>

DJ Gemini

I will be in a barbershop at my friend J Rob would tell club owner who is my also my friend Marcel that I DJ so from there I started doing live clubs up until date. that was around 2001 2002. I remember not even being old enough to get in the club. I wasn’t even legal, but I was still go to the club and rock and play music. if it wasn’t for my guy, J Rob, I probably would’ve never DJ live in the nightclub cause I definitely wasn’t gonna say anything. I just had a lot of other things going on at the time and DJ was just a hobby, but I was good at it. Read more>>

Kenny & Kellie Sallis

She got her real estate license in 2019 and her real estate broker’s license in 2023, allowing us to start our own company, Sallis Realty Group. We now have 7 agents and an executive assistant on our team. Our office is located on the historic Lebanon square. We love to give back to the community by supporting schools, youth sports, historic preservation, and local churches. We also own and have renovated a few buildings on the square and are active real estate investors with flips, new constructions, and buying long term and short term rentals. Read more>>

Jillian Breen

Our rental model makes luxury floral accents accessible to a broader range of clients who want that high-end look without the premium fresh flower price tag or the waste that comes with single-use arrangements. They are really dynamic pieces – perfect for weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, corporate gatherings and more! Read more>>

Brian Wooden

My work is split between experimental graphic/illustrative work that includes large scale murals and installations and sculptures, and my studio work which focuses mostly on canvas pieces with more classically rendered subjects and motifs. I’m very proud of both sides and enjoy being able to switch my brain from one to the other on occasion Read more>>

Kyleigh Jehlicka

I still have that notebook to this day of the very first songs I’d ever written. It wasn’t until I was about 17, 18 that I really realized that I wanted to take songwriting seriously, and that my life purpose and passion was in story telling on stage. By the time I was ready to graduate high School I knew I wanted to start a career in the music industry which is what led me to Nashville where I went to college to study Music business and continue working on my craft of making and performing music. Ever since then I’ve been working to create the project that you know today as Kyleigh. Read more>>

Dexter D. Evans

My story starts in Muskegon Heights, Michigan—a place people called “the hood” without apology. But here’s what most people don’t know: at twelve years old, I was already getting paid $50 every two weeks to lead afterschool programs for 125+ kids, teaching them acting and choreography. I wasn’t just some kid playing mentor—I was learning that leadership starts when you decide to care about something bigger than yourself, and that even the smallest communities have unlimited potential when the right resources show up. Read more>>

Kristin Gore

Over the years, I’ve had extensive training in pre/post-natal yoga, yoga for seniors, and children’s yoga, as well as meditation and yoga nidra. While I teach a variety of styles, Gentle Vinyasa and Yin Yoga are my favorites. I have been a lead instructor at the Music City Yoga Festival as well as Nashville’s International Day of Yoga. In addition to in-person private and group classes, I have also created an online monthly membership platform called the KGY Studio, which houses an ever-expanding library of on-demand yoga classes and meditations. Read more>>

Clark McLane

After every gig we say “We Win”. I believe to this day we are undefeated, with the exception of getting robbed in Philly. I would call that a tie. We get to play what we want. We have survived many strange venues in northern PA (snake hunts, fire hall pot lucks, chili cook offs, etc.) and genuinely enjoy playing together. I think you develop thick skin playing originals and obscure songs in dive bars. They are sometimes heckling “freebird” before you are even set up. Read more>>

Blake Stafford

But I also know I’m not the only one. There are people living through worse, carrying heavier things in silence. I’d be lying if I said I had it all figured out, and I’d be ignorant if I pretended I’ve suffered the most. I’ve been given opportunities I don’t take lightly. And if there’s any purpose in surviving the hard parts, it’s to help someone else do the same. Read more>>

Eva Stabenow

Initially, words and language won out, and I immersed myself in a career as a translator and medical writer. But movement wouldn’t let me go. After I relocated to Nashville in 2003, I started teaching yoga and dove into exercise. In the early 2010s, around age 40, all the long hours at my desk and lifting caught up with me in the form of chronic shoulder pain that radiated into my arm and hand. Read more>>

Brad Sanders

Legion Dog and Cat Supply started with a loss that changed everything. When we lost our young mastiff to lymphoma, we were devastated — and we began asking hard questions about what we were feeding our pets and the products we were using every day. That journey opened our eyes to how much misleading, low-quality pet care is out there, even on store shelves that seem trustworthy. Read more>>

Christa Coppin

The life I intended to live and planned to live with the person I poured all my heart into, sacrificed for, did not turn out how I had imagined. This will be the story of how I came to realize my situation and the healing journey up to present day. I am many years removed, and am still rebuilding my life, my identity, my heart, my mind and my dreams. I will take you through my experience with hope that my story will resonate to someone wondering if they can do the same. And the answer is: yes. You absolutely can. Read more>>

Sarina-Joi Crowe

Eventually by the time I was a teenager I was beginning to write my own music and so we moved on to auditioning for various talent agencies and recording original music to hopefully acquire some sort of record deal. We were mostly just looking for any opportunity to jumpstart my career outside of my hometown. That opportunity came in the form of American Idol. I auditioned for the first time at 15 and made it not only to Hollywood, but into to the top 100 contestants of Season 10. I actually ended up returning to American Idol for three more seasons – 12, 13, 14 – and during the 14th season, when I was 19 years old, I made it to the top 12 contestants on the show! Read more>>

Zac Miller

I graduated high school in 2015 and moved to Murfreesboro to study film at MTSU. Eventually, I shifted paths and earned an associate’s degree in business instead. While in school, I started freelancing on the side filming weddings and working with friends on projects hoping to one day turn my love for video into a full-time job. Read more>>

Neely Roberts

That passion eventually became the foundation of my photography business. Today, as a Nashville luxury photographer, I create more than just portraits—I craft experiences. From personalized styling sessions and professional hair and makeup to designing heirloom albums and wall art, my goal is to help families and seniors preserve their stories in a way that feels effortless, meaningful, and truly unforgettable. What began as a childhood fascination with holding onto memories has grown into a career helping others create theirs. Read more>>

Sophia McCoury

I’m a photographer based in Nashville, TN! My journey started back in high school when I took a digital arts class. I wasn’t great at drawing, but I loved taking photos and making iMovies. Thankfully, my teacher let me swap the sketchpad for a camera, and I started using my mom’s old DSLR. From there, I began photographing family and friends—and it just took off! Portraits became my thing. I eventually became president of our photography club and even won first place in our annual art show. Read more>>

Sheila Funkhouser

My love for Polish Pottery over the years has been the driving force behind my decision to start a business bringing these stunning pieces of art to my community. Preston retired from the Army in 2013 after serving 20 years. We decided to retire back in my hometown and ultimately opened our little Polish Pottery store in 2023. Read more>>

Dr. LaToya Dudley-Watson

Today, Triple Threat Shot Photography serves the Clarksville and Nashville areas with everything from sports and portraits to lifestyle and religious settings. What sets us apart is our versatility, we don’t just take pictures, we capture purposefully. Whether I’m courtside at a game or in a quiet studio with a family of five, I bring the same level of care, creativity, and intentionality. My background in leadership and organization helps me run the business with excellence, but my heart is always rooted in storytelling through imagery. Read more>>

Joey Ramon

Middle Season is one of my more recent projects—I’ve been writing, recording, and releasing music under that name. I handle all the arrangements, recording, and mixing myself, although sometimes I collaborate with other musicians (drummers, bassists, keyboardists) who also believe in the vision behind the project. Read more>>

Kylie Sackley

There have been more “no’s” over the span of my 22yr career than will ever be ‘yes’s”, but the ‘yes’s’ taste so much sweeter when they happen. I have walked through a time that wasn’t as ‘pro women’, and had to navigate that to the best of my ability, it was hard. That said, as i say to every new artist that i share a writing room with – this is any man (or woman’s) game, show up, work your ass off & be good to people. As for the women facing challenges, listen to your gut always & know that the body you were born in is a superpower, not a disadvantage. They’ll soon know… Read more>>

Laura K. Allen

That conversation lit a spark. I bought a beginner DSLR. I spent every free moment learning my craft, photographing anyone who was willing, and soaking up knowledge from online resources like Creative Live. One of the most pivotal influences in my journey was Sue Bryce- her teachings on women’s portraiture completely transformed the way I see and photograph people (especially brides). I quickly began 2nd shooting for other wedding photographers, gaining experience and confidence along the way. 13 years later, I’m still in love with this work and feel incredibly lucky that my “dream job” IS my job. Read more>>

Corrie Liotta

working at a real estate office as agent support (essentially a secretary), and working as a barista for five years. While working a more-or-less dead end desk job at the real estate office, I began offering the realtors I worked with illustrations of the homes they sold—watercolor paintings or drawings—and slowly began to carve out a little niche for myself to find paid work as an illustrator. Fast forward ten years, one crowdfunded children’s book, and a stroke of luck finding remote freelance illustration work through a friend at the end of 2020, I’m now illustrating or doing design freelance work nearly full-time, with plenty of room to grow! Read more>>

John Behrens

These days we have a full roster of narrators, director/engineers, manuscript preppers and post-production editors, all focused on the peculiar craft of producing great audiobooks. I’ve also been able to get “on the other side of the glass” as a narrator myself, and now have over 50 titles to my name. The company has produced hundreds of books, and these days we find ourselves more focused on working directly with authors who want to record their own books, coaching and directing them to bring out engaging performances and execute their vision for their audiobooks. It is a joy and a privilege every time we’re trusted with someone’s “book baby!” Read more>>

Lesley Neely

I am a professional background and session vocalist, and an artist developer and mentor. I am best known as Coach Lesley, mentor to music creatives. I am most proud of the catalog of music that I’ve been favored to vocally participate in. The artist and songwriters are renowned and their work is well loved. I’m also proud to have mentored amazing independent artists and watch their careers evolve. My uniqueness is in my versatility of roles in the music industry. I can sing, write a book, contract vocalist, serve as road manager and serve administratively for an artist. Flexibility and attention to detail are my greatest assets. Read more>>

Jessica Foster

That all changed when I started working part-time as a banquet server at the Opryland Hotel. I had no idea that job would shift the entire course of my life. It exposed me to the world of large-scale hospitality and high-level cuisine from around the globe. I found myself more interested in the dishes being served than the homework waiting for me at home. That’s when I realized it was time to follow my passion. I changed my major to Culinary Arts and went on to earn an A.S. in Applied Science with a concentration in Culinary Arts from Nashville State Community College. Read more>>

Sheena Nicole

I started my journey off with a lengthy retail career that further more strengthened my wardrobe stylist skills. I grew up loving everything fashion from pattens, fabrics and colors. I loved being able to put pieces together and see the outcome. I am now a 3xs award winning wardrobe stylist who has been blessed to style movies, music videos, red carpets, and photoshoots. I am looking forward to expanding my brand and gaining more clientele. Read more>>

Ayanna Jahneé

I am currently working on building a show for that album to come back much stronger while still writing music I plan to release in the future. I have recently started a show on YouTube that I want to take to radio called Let’s Talk About It Radio where I discuss thought provoking topics for creative of all mediums and share my music as well as other independent artist music. My mindset is much different from when I first started I’m no longer waiting to be given the opportunity I’m just taking the risk and making my own opportunities. Read more>>