Every day we have a choice. We can support an up and coming podcaster, try a new family-run restaurant, join a boutique gym started by a local fitness champ or we could keep giving away our money to the handful of giants who already control so much of our commerce. Our daily decisions impact the kind world we live in; if we want a world where small businesses are growing and artists and creatives are thriving then we should support them with our time, money and attention. We’re proud to highlight inspiring creatives and entrepreneurs each week in Hidden Gems series. Check out some of our latest local gem features below.
Connor McMurry
I was born and raised in a small town called Camden, AR. I moved to Nashville when I was 19 to pursue music and content creation. I studied film back in Arkansas, which landed me an internship to travel to Nashville as a videographer for a documentary. Read more>>
Carter Vandiver
I started Winslow House the summer after graduating high school. It was a weird transitional period where I wasn’t very comfortable with the past, present, or future. My first album, ‘Pilots and Postmen,’ was a product of that feeling. I got to talk to so many awesome creative artists because of the decision to put those songs out there. Read more>>
Sarah Scarborough
I grew up spending summers in central Finland where foraged in the forest, bathed in a wood fired sauna and swam in a glacial lake under the midnight sun. My maternal lineage taught me how to make medicine from ants and plants and how to live in connection with nature. Life there felt safe, happy and fully alive. Read more>>
Mary-Clair
I’m born and raised in Franklin, TN, and started writing music at a young age. My dad, Scott Brickell, is a manager for several christian artists, so growing up I was always surrounded by christian music. We would always be at the studio, or a concert, so I was exposed to so much at such a young age. Read more>>
Jenny Teator
Jenny Teator has spent the last eight years carving out her place in Nashville through relentless touring, powerful live performances, and a refusal to fit neatly into one genre. She has evolved into something deeper: a more mature, raw, and unapologetically honest version of herself. Originally from St. Read more>>
Hilarie Zimbicki
Priestley Miller Preschool has been serving families for more than 50 years, and it is an honor to be part of that legacy. My name is Hilarie Zimbicki, and this will be my fifth year serving as Director. Our story has always been centered on the belief that the early years matter. Read more>>
Crystal St. John
I’m originally from Colorado, where I developed an early love for the countryside, country music, and the kind of community that feels grounded and connected. For a time, I dreamed of becoming a country singer, but my own journey of healing, self-discovery, and working through childhood trauma during college ultimately led me in a different direction. Read more>>
Georganne Youngclaus
My journey to creating mamas play was born from one of the most difficult seasons of my life. While I was 20 weeks pregnant with my son, I lost my father to suicide. Not long after welcoming him, I experienced postpartum depression and anxiety, which made me realize just how isolating motherhood can feel. Read more>>
Nick Rose
I started loving making music ‘as early as he could hold sticks’ my dad would say. Read more>>
Sir Charles
Sir Charles is a Nashville-based artist channeling vintage British cool through cinematic indie rock, dreamy guitars, and emotionally honest songwriting. Drawing inspiration from The Stone Roses, Echo & the Bunnymen, David Bowie, The Verve, and early Coldplay, his music blends swagger, atmosphere, and reflection into songs that feel both timeless and deeply personal. Read more>>
Andrew Krichels
I danced in New York for 25 years touring internationally and performing in the city and destroyed my body. Read more>>
Matt Morrison
’m a photographer and videographer from The South Cumberland pleateau region of Tennessee, and a lot of my work started with simply paying attention to the places around me. I grew up in Grundy County, surrounded by state parks, small towns, backroads, trailheads, and people with stories worth remembering. Read more>>
Donna Wisener
I’ve had quite the journey to becoming a full-time artist. I’ll begin this story with my career history. I had a corporate career for 27 years. I began working for a company in Nashville many years ago as a clerk/typist in what was then called the data processing department, and I commuted from Columbia for most of those years. Read more>>
Lauren Higginson
I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 11 years old. At the time, I felt incredibly alone. I was embarrassed by my back, constantly worried that someone would notice it, and spent so much of my childhood trying to hide. Looking back, I think what I needed most wasn’t just medical care—I needed to know there were other kids who felt the same way. Read more>>
Everay – Ewelina Borkowska
I am Everay, a Polish award-winning singer-songwriter based in Devon, UK. My music is born from lived experience — from what breaks you, what rebuilds you, and what it takes to keep going when you feel like you can’t. I blend pop, rock, and country influences, but at the centre of everything I write is emotion, truth, and survival. Read more>>
Carrie Sengchanthavong
If I really think about it, I’ve always been creative. I just didn’t always have the language for it. Growing up as a first-generation Southeast Asian American, I learned early on how powerful stories, culture, and self-expression could be. Creativity became the way I processed the world and connected with people. Read more>>
Jamie Jones Bargatze
I have always loved to take photos for family and friends however I truly began my photography journey on a whim request from my brother to shoot photos for his Christian rap group, Season Of Change (David Manning, Jelly Roll and Steven North). Read more>>
Eva Leersnyder
I got started in dog training professionally in 2022; however, I have done dog training prior to that, which included training my own Diabetic Alert Dog and training my dogs in agility. While I was working as a veterinary technician in 2022, my manager, who also worked for a local dog training business, said they were hiring. Read more>>
Nader Bakier
I grew up in a household where music was always playing — everything from traditional Circassian folk melodies to classic rock and early hip-hop. My Grandparents played some instruments like Oud, and I remember being fascinated by how a few notes could completely change the mood in a room. That curiosity stuck with me. Read more>>
Thomas Tyznik
It all started one day working out in a garage. My business partner, Aiden, and I were training on a summer day and realized that we wanted to make something to help small businesses. It was 2020, and we felt so sad for all of the family-owned places shutting down because of lockdowns. Read more>>
Kimberly Daft
I moved to Nashville at the age of 19 with an already broad background in political work, healthcare and hospitality. I built on my creative freelance work while working at a local diner and eventually transitioned back to healthcare before working in Insurance for seven years. Read more>>
Mike Barlow
I was born and raised in Upstate New York. My mother is a pianist, and my father played guitar, so I have been surrounded by music my entire life. My mom started me in piano when I was about five years old, and I was classically trained all the way up until my senior year of high school. Read more>>
Bam Hendrixx
I am a Nashville native from the Antioch area. I moved around a little bit as a kid due to military family and most of my elementary school years is in another state, but we moved back to Nashville in 2001. Read more>>
Christian Koch
I grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, and from the time I was about 12 years old, music was everything to me. I loved to sing, and I taught myself to play guitar and piano. As I got older, I started writing my own songs, recording music, and doing everything I could to pursue a career as an artist. Read more>>
Arnesia Brown
November of last year I published a journal that i used during a very difficult time in my life. I created this journal as a safe space for me to release which brought so much positivity into my life at that time. This journal was created from my own journey of healing and self-discovery. Read more>>
Zach Wyatt
Pepperwood as an idea started when I was rewatching New Girl in 2018 – I always identified with Nick Miller, and when he actually went from underachieving bartender to publishing a successful novel, I thought “maybe I can do that to.” I met a bass player (Tyler) shortly after, and through a series of lineup changes and the Covid lockdown, we cultivated a revolving group of guys we like to create and play music with. Read more>>
Courtney Boucher
I discovered my love for fitness through dance back in Mississippi, where I first began teaching dance fitness. That initial step led me to pursue personal training certifications when I moved to Colorado’s vibrant fitness scene. After years of growth across gyms and studios, I now coach in Tennessee, holding multiple certifications. Read more>>
Keenan Schuck
Music has always been a big part of my life. My parents always have music on at home, and through them I was introduced to many of my earliest influences. My first musical hero was Garth Brooks when I was about 1,5 years old. We lived in Key Largo at the time. Read more>>
Benny La Mar
I grew up in the San Francisco, Bay Area. When I was 10 years old, my mom enrolled me in piano lessons. I was hooked immediately. I started singing and playing piano every single day for hours, at around 13 I taught myself to play the guitar. I turned into the kid that brought his guitar everywhere. Read more>>
Cliff Van Rickley
I spent 20 years in the Army most in the United States Special Forces as a Green Beret. Earned my MBA as I was retiring from the military. The army brought me and my wife to Tennessee where we’ve made a home and raised a family. After the military I began working in logistics. Read more>>
Preston Bearden
I started dropping music as Otlo in 2023 while attending a school in murfreesboro for audio production. I wouldn’t say I was always drawn to music as much as I am now, but at this point my life revolves around it. I went on tour after my graduation in 2025 and things have really started to ramp up since then. Read more>>
Jamison Braly
I had been in video production for 15 years before I turned the dial on my camera to ‘photo mode’. I was doing some short videos for local bands and was finding that musicians shared and appreciated photos more than videos. Read more>>
Allisha Gayapersad Chetty
My journey in media began in 2017 when I joined Hindvani Community Radio as a radio news reporter and anchor. It was there that I built a strong foundation in journalism—researching, writing, editing, and presenting news while learning the importance of serving and connecting with the community. Read more>>
Tyler Harder
I’ve always been drawn to creating things. Growing up, I spent a lot of time teaching myself design, experimenting with Photoshop, and finding ways to turn ideas into visuals. What started as a hobby eventually became a career. Read more>>
Natalie Yousefi
When I think back to my childhood, I remember being a little girl with a huge imagination. I loved playing outside with my friends, but I also spent a lot of time in my own world. As early as four or five years old, I was always creating something. Read more>>
Cynthia Henning
I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist and Perinatal Doula for four and a half years. I’ve always known that I’ve wanted to be a massage therapist, surprisingly since elementary school. Read more>>
Daniel Himes
I was born and raised in Nashville TN and I’m a 39 year old musician, booking manager, and local music enthusiast. I started playing and writing music when I was 14 years old and have not slowed down yet. I’m a part of the local music scene here in Nashville and currently a part of 2 different bands. Read more>>
Donna Frost
I knew from the time I was a little girl that music would be my life’s work. I grew up in a musical family. My parents had a gospel group when I was born. I was 2 and a half weeks old when I took my first roadtrip with them. I was singing as soon as I could talk. Read more>>
Breonna Logothetis Eaton
Looking back, I truly believe I was always meant to be a therapist. Even before I knew this would become my career, many of my life experiences were shaping the person and clinician I would one day become. Read more>>
Krista Nix
Nix Style Life People ask me what Nix Style Life is, and honestly, I never really know how to answer that. It started as a photography business back in 2008, but somewhere along the way it just became…our life. When we moved to our farm, I stopped trying to build the biggest photography business I could. Read more>>
Keith Trehy
When my wife and I graduated from business school we flipped a coin: one of us would get to start an exciting business and the other would go work in the corporate world. I ‘won’, as it were, and I got to start a franchise of Mad Science. I ran the business under that name for ten years, but the curriculum and scope became restrictive. Read more>>
Jordan Huffman
I’m a 7th generation Tennessean, originally from Greeneville in East Tennessee. I moved to Nashville in January 2012, and over the years this city has truly become home. My story has really been shaped by community, public service, and a desire to help people solve problems. Read more>>
