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.
Gabby Shepherd
The Joe Beretta Foundation started with our founder, Lillian Beretta, and her husband Joe. In the spring of 2016, Joe suddenly went into advanced heart failure, and the only thing that could save him was an LVAD, a heart pump only a small number of hospitals in the country are equipped to implant. Read more>>
Kayla Romero
My journey into egg donation and surrogacy began in a very personal and unexpected way. Years ago, I worked as a nanny for a mother who had struggled with infertility and ultimately became a mother through egg donation . Watching her experience motherhood after everything she had been through truly touched my heart. Read more>>
Bella Miller
My story? It’s crazy to look back and see how little me already knew who she was. The story was just unfolding and still is. She was an anxious kid – asking deep questions about the meaning of life, purpose, and trying to figure out who she was. Read more>>
Zach Weaver
I laugh every time someone asks this question, because I went to college to study music as a drummer and left a film director. Ever since I have fallen wildly in love with storytelling in every format. From non-profit campaign work where I met my wife, to film photography of all kinds through our mutual love of documenting! I love it all! Read more>>
Julia Martin
I’ve been an active exhibiting artist in Nashville’s creative community since I was 19. In October 2026, that will total 30 years. In 2013, the opportunity presented itself to open a gallery space of my own, in the last intact L&N Railroad house in what had long been a warehouse-filled district populated with artist studios, maker spaces, record shops and fabricators… Read more>>
josh hailey
I’ve spent more than 20 years working as a photographer and mixed-media artist in New Orleans, so creativity has always been at the center of my life. A few years ago, I started feeling pulled toward something new—something that would still allow me to be creative, but would also let me work with people in a much more direct and meaningful way. Read more>>
Olivia Hill
I’m a fourth-generation Nashvillian, and Nashville has been home for almost my entire life. My path to public office, though, was anything but traditional. I spent ten years in the United States Navy, completing three deployments, including serving in combat during Desert Storm. After leaving the Navy, I built a career in utilities and energy. Read more>>
Teddy Jones
I’ve been drawn to music since a pretty young age, when my mom taught me some piano, and gave me my first few albums. When I was 11, I picked up the tenor saxophone, and instantly felt a deep connection to the instrument. Read more>>
Nathan Ramirez
Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I started playing drums when I was three years old, and by the time I was thirteen I had made my first little singer/ songwriter acoustic album. Read more>>
Josh Beer
Growing up in the rolling countryside of Devon, UK. My first dose of country music was sitting in a buggy as a toddler while my mum was line dancing to Tim McGraw. Read more>>
Lisa Valeri
I have always loved to dance and the whole idea of dance. When it felt like a dead end in the ballet world, I temporarily quit and worked in support roles around my hometown ballet company. Once I moved away for college I found myself back in dance class, which led to performing, which led to teaching and brought me back to performance. Read more>>
Nalani
I grew up in a small town outside of Boulder, Colorado, in a house where music was an essential and integrated part of my life. My dad is a singer-songwriter, so even before I was born music was in me, but my biggest musical influences came from what my mom exposed me to. Read more>>
Trevor Finlay
I was one of the lucky (or cursed) ones that knew what they wanted to do from a young age. Music, anything and everything to do with it. I started playing guitar at the age of 9, my first band was when I was 12 and my first professional gig was at the age of 15. Read more>>
Betsy Lindell
I am an artist who went to design school and graduated with an interior design degree and had high hopes of affecting change in our public spaces. Working as a designer in Minneapolis was a dream and I believe I would have continued on that path were it not for the timing of my career start. Read more>>
Steven Ferrand
Sure, so I moved to Nashville in 2020 right in the middle of the pandemic, with a dream of music on my mind, within a few weeks of living here I became friends with Joanne Cash which happens to be Johnnys sister, she’s been a great support in navigating show business, as well as just a great friend! Read more>>
Haley Wilkerson
I found my love for photography when I was a senior in high-school, I bought a used Canon camera for $200 and started practicing taking pictures. A year or so later I had saved enough money to get a Canon 90D camera and started doing photoshoots for people here in my hometown. Read more>>
Keaton Simons
I grew up in Los Angeles in a family where almost everybody worked in the creative arts and entertainment industry. So a life in the arts was never treated as a risk. It was just the family business. Nobody sat me down to talk me out of it. When I was seventeen I got my first real gig. Read more>>
Stephen Strickhausen
I moved to Tennessee almost 20 years ago, got my real estate license, and started practicing right away. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with all kinds of people, from first time homebuyers to professional athletes and well known celebrities. About three years ago, I had the opportunity to become the Director of Marketing for a large roofing company here in town. Read more>>
KOLI
I started playing music really young. Musical family translated to playing covers for my friends in middle school, and then writing some of my own in high school. The love of music took me to Belmont University in Nashville for a music business degree, which is where the path started to deviate from ‘linear’. Read more>>
Eastern Dreamers
In 2023 Evan DeNicola and I (Max Pachter) met at an open mic night. We both didn’t even get to play that night which we bonded over and Evan invited me to play with him at his local bar gig called Joes Place. I ended up coming every Wednesday and we would play each others songs, jam and harmonize, and occasionally have some others join. Read more>>
joerilla Drums
My story began with music, but it was never limited to music. As Joerilla Drums, I learned how sound, imagery, identity, and storytelling work together. When I had an idea but did not have the resources or the right person to execute it, I learned how to do it myself. That process led me into photography, design, video, branding, clothing, marketing, and creative direction. Read more>>
Karlie Tankersley
I’ve always known that art was more than something I just enjoyed doing. Creating is such a huge part of who I am, and I knew pretty early on that I wanted to build my life around it. Art was never a hobby or a backup plan for me. Read more>>
Emma Klein
I am originally from Bel Air, Maryland – a small town in Maryland about 45 minutes north of Baltimore. Growing up, I always knew I would be doing music for the rest of my life. I began writing silly songs from the minute I could form sentences and as I got older started taking piano, guitar, and voice lessons. Read more>>
Miranda Adams
I had just graduated from MTSU in 2015 with my bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and was actively interning at the Nashville Zoo. As we all know, interns do not make a whole lot of money, so I had to seek a job that would work with my busy schedule. Read more>>
Michael Patti
I was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1991 and I think it was around 1996 and my parents took me to the Kennedy Center one night to see the Phantom of the Opera. They chose me over my sister and two brothers, little did they know it was possibly the most important evening of my life as a kid. Read more>>
Tichina Burnett Caelum
I’ve been working in psychology in some capacity for 20 years and in the mental health field, specifically therapy, for 12 years. Both the maternal and paternal sides of my family have mental health difficulties ranging from addiction and abuse to abandonment and co-occurring disorders—all of which show up in either relational dynamics between parents and children or hierarchies between elders and younger family members. Read more>>
Cameron Bedell
Raised in Wichita, KS. Moved to Nashville in 2010 to pursue music and finish my college at Belmont University. In the Fall of 2013 I had a short stint on American Idol. Following that I was able to gain a handful of fans with my covers of ‘Issues’ by Julia Michaels and ‘Earned It’ by the Weeknd. Read more>>
Cortney McMahon
Hi I’m Cortney. My husband and I relocated to the Tennessee Valley area in 2015. I took a few years to assimilate to Southern culture and in 2021 I started my small business “Stars of the Morning Light” (SML). That has grown into a full spiritual resource platform for anyone seeking higher consciousness and empowerment. Read more>>
Will Francis
I started song and lyric writing when I was a student in college working on a bachelor’s degree in English with a focus on writing. I was influenced by various singer-songwriters from the sixties through the eighties and the Beatnik/existential writers of the fifties and late nineteen and early twentieth century (Tolstoy/Nitsche/Dostoevsky). Read more>>
Sarah Hutcheson
My story began as a child. Growing up, my great-aunt and my parents’ best friend worked in a salon for as long as I could remember. I found a fascination with the craft and with owning a business. I watched how these women made other people feel beautiful and valued and how they could change someone’s perspective with a new look. Read more>>
Erika Pareja
My journey in the beauty industry started about 17 years ago with a genuine love for making people feel relaxed and pampered. I initially began my career as a massage therapist, which gave me a strong foundation in caring for people and creating a relaxing, personal experience. Read more>>
Brea Pillow
My journey into the beauty industry honestly started in a very unexpected way. After graduating high school in 2014, I decided to take a gap year before starting college. I wanted the opportunity to work, gain some real-world experience, and truly figure out what direction I wanted my life and career to take. During that time, I started working with UnitedHealthcare. Read more>>
Xanthi Diamond
When I was a little girl I was obsessed with all things magic, nature, art and music. As life pulls us into the current of adulthood, we sometimes lose our north star. I am very fortunate to have found my way back to mine. I grew up in Clarksville, TN, a mid-sized town with a giant dose of Christianity, military and conservatism. Read more>>
Corrie Scott
Hi! My name is Corrie (although a lot of people call me Taylor accidentally thinking it’s my first name). It’s actually my middle name! I am wife to Travis Scott (not the rapper) and mom to 3 kids Jaxon, Sadie, and Ellie! I am the Children’s Church Director and my husband is one of the Worship leaders at our local church. Read more>>
Rose Falcon
I started in the music business really young. I signed my first record deal with Columbia Records when I was 14, so I essentially grew up making records, writing songs, and learning the music business as I went. Read more>>
Stephy Moore
I got started in Nashville in 2013, moving here right after graduating high school in St. Paul, MN, to pursue audio engineering. I was part of the first class at The Blackbird Academy, attached to Blackbird Studios in Berry Hill, graduating in 2014 and interning there for six months afterward. Read more>>
Eric Byford
My story has always been about taking an idea, believing in it, and finding a way to turn that idea into something real. I graduated from the University of Tennessee with a background in broadcasting and communications, but my career has never followed a traditional path. Read more>>
Kenzi Lewis
People see the music now. They see the stages, the cameras, the songs, and they assume I’ve always been confident. The truth is, music found me long before I ever found myself. My mom loved me fiercely, and my stepdad adopted me and raised me as his own. He gave me the stability and love that every child deserves. Read more>>
Ryan and Kathy Peck
We both grew up watching Star Trek reruns in the 1970s. By the 1980s, we had found out about Star Trek conventions and started attending them. We met at a Star Trek convention, Treklanta, in 2016. We got married one year later at the same convention. Our Star Trek wedding was a blast! Read more>>
Blake Burke
After graduating from Bowling Green State University with a degree in Film) Production, I moved to Cincinnati Ohio to start my work in the Film) industry and after two years I brought myself to Nashville, where I have now been for four years, working successfully in freelance in Film), television and other Production. Read more>>
