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.
Benjamin Stranger
I’ve spent the better part of my life chasing songs and the rest chasing stories. As a songwriter, screenwriter, videographer and director, my topographical biography has been marked by where I’m performing, what I’m writing about, and where the story I’m searching for is hiding. Baltimore. New York. DC. Philly. Canada. Texas. Tucumcari. Macon. Los Angeles. Italy. Nashville. Read more>>
Corbin Bentley
I think my story isn’t much different from some others around here. I grew up in a house filled with music. My parents would constantly have some CD playing whether it was in the living room stereo, in the car, on our way to school. I think the first album I can remember listening to was The Beatles #1s compilation album. Read more>>
Christine Bauer
Thank you for this fun conversation together! I am a self-taught singer-songwriter and guitar player with over 200 songs written to date. I started writing songs as a teenager and released my first EP in 2013 after virtually connecting with Paul Ray (Australia). Read more>>
Kenitra ROWAN
My purpose started with a vision. I was 23 years old, a single parent without a high school diploma. I dropped out in the 12th grade, and I knew I wanted a career, but what could I do without a high school diploma? I also knew I didn’t want to work for anyone else. Read more>>
Kelsey Wise
I’m originally from western New York and relocated to Nashville to get my undergraduate degree from Belmont University. In December 2015, I received a Bachelors of Business Administration with a concentration in the Music Industry and began a temporary position with Sony/ATV clearing and licensing karaoke uses. Read more>>
Jennifer Parker
Full Biography for Jennifer Parker, MEd Jennifer Parker, MEd is a transformational public speaker, Stage IV breast cancer survivor, heart transplant recipient, and 35-year healthcare veteran whose extraordinary journey through illness, advocacy, and resilience has positioned her as one of the most compelling voices in patient empowerment and human-centered healthcare today. Read more>>
The Southern Tiers
Michelle was born in New York but raised in a small town in Kansas, where her passion for music began at an early age. She started playing guitar in middle school, took voice lessons, and quickly discovered songwriting as a creative outlet for navigating the challenges of growing up surrounded by family addiction. Read more>>
Jersey Jas
Im originally from New Jersey. I moved to Nashville at first to be with family . As years went on I started explore the music business field and loved it . I put a plan in place and took action . The south has become a second home for me . Read more>>
Satu Ketellapper
I grew up in the Netherlands and started dancing at a young age. What began as a hobby quickly became a passion, and over the years I dedicated my life to competitive country dance. That journey eventually took me all over the world, competing, teaching, and judging at the highest level of the sport. In 2016, I met my dance partner, Mike Wagner. Read more>>
RYAN SCHACKOW
I was born and grew up in Bowling Green, Ohio. I started recording and making music in 2011. I scraped together money to get myself Recording equipment and a home studio set up. Within a few months of recording a few rough raps, I was already taking on friends and clients to record in my hometown. Read more>>
Suzanne Grzanna
My musical journey began at the age of five, growing up in a musical family. My parents, Don and Maureen Grzanna, are both professional musicians, so music was always being performed in our home. I would attend their concerts, watch them work, and see firsthand the dedication and discipline it takes to build a life in music. Read more>>
Courtney Eagle
Eagle & Co Weddings really grew out of a combination of things I’ve always loved: creating beautiful spaces, bringing people together, and figuring out how to make a hundred moving pieces somehow feel effortless. Entrepreneurship has been part of my life for a long time. Read more>>
Alexis Rakun
I never meant to be an artist, professionally, I was studying to get my Psych D and masters with a minor in a neurology. I wanted to conduct experiments on an individual’s self-efficacy (self-belief) with the support of expressive/intentional writing. I called myself a ‘spiritual psychologist’ at the time. Read more>>
Christin Baker
I started Tello Films 19 years ago, which makes us the oldest LGBTQ streaming platform out there — and honestly one of the oldest streaming sites of any kind. I built it because I saw a real need to support lesbian stories, and specifically independent lesbian stories. Read more>>
Brandi Lynette
My journey has really been about turning lived experience into strategies that help people build a better life—and ultimately, a legacy. I started my professional journey in financial services and became a licensed insurance professional. I spent years in that industry, learning about money, protection, and the importance of planning for the future. But my understanding of those things didn’t come from business alone. Read more>>
Jana Orr
My baking journey really started from a love of being in the kitchen and wanting to create something homemade that people could genuinely enjoy. What began as simply baking for myself, my family, and friends slowly turned into something much bigger than I ever expected. Sourdough especially became a passion of mine. Read more>>
Laura Cheadle
Laura Cheadle + The Girls are an electrifying all-female Pop, Soul, and Rock band led by Philly’s own acclaimed singer-songwriter and guitarist Laura Cheadle. Based in the Philadelphia region, the group has quickly established itself as a powerful force blending soulful vocals, infectious energy, and uplifting messages of empowerment, equality, and authenticity. Read more>>
Natasha Jo
My creative journey has never really followed a straight path – and honestly, I think that’s what makes it mine. I’ve always been drawn to creating things with my hands and bringing ideas from my imagination to life. Over the years, that creativity has taken many different forms. Read more>>
Jason Keil
I grew up outside Nashville and got into payments almost by accident — a lunch conversation with my father-in-law’s golfing buddy introduced me to credit card processing, and I dove in headfirst with basically no experience. The early days were genuinely hard. We bootstrapped on my wife’s frozen yogurt job income, were on food stamps and WIC, and had no discretionary income. Read more>>
Adina (artist name ADIINA) Korn
Looking back, my life has been shaped by a series of moments where I had to make a leap before I knew exactly where I would land. I grew up in Brooklyn in a religious Jewish environment, surrounded by family, tradition, community, and a pretty defined idea of what life was supposed to look like. Read more>>
Kyla Phakhailathavong
I attended art school at Nossi College of Art for Commercial Illustration and graduated in 2015. In my senior year, my art started to take a spookier vibe, which was a huge difference in theme and changed the course of my future artwork and business. After a short break post-graduation until 2017, I started preparing to sell at markets and conventions. Read more>>
Jason LeVasseur
My story starts in two places at once: a classroom and a stage. At Wake Forest, I student taught 11th and 12th grade English, and I loved every minute of it. But music was pulling hard, so instead of taking a classroom job, I took the stage. Read more>>
Ben Plotnick
I was born and raised in Calgary, AB, to two classical musician parents. Music was always nearby, and I wanted to play as soon as I could talk. My parents bought me my first violin at age 5, and it’s been my priority basically ever since. Read more>>
Lauren Dibb
I’m Lauren, a freelance graphic designer working out of Durban, South Africa, under the name Pook & Poodle. I came into design sideways. My background is in Fashion Design and Merchandise Buying, which taught me to read a colour palette, a texture, a trend and more usefully, to notice why one thing on a rail catches the eye and the thing next to it doesn’t. Read more>>
Daniel Guess
I’m from Louisville, KY. I’ve been rapping and performing for decades. I’m a lifelong purveyor of all things hip hop. I’m a devoted wordsmith with emphasis on cadence, multi-syllable rhymes and wordplay. I thrive over soulful gritty production. I incorporate a lot of 90s pop culture, braggadocio and sophomoric humor in my music. Read more>>
Savanah “Vanah” Blankenship
Hi! I’m Savanah Brook Blankenship, also known as Vanah. I’m 26 years old and Nashville born and raised. I grew up in a small unincorporated town just west of the city called Fernvale, and as I got a bit older, I discovered an interest in a notepad, a camcorder, an upright piano, and a bookshelf full of fantasy. Read more>>
Mikesha Hooper
I think I got to where I am today truly by just being myself. I believe I have a people person out going personality and will make the chaos of situations into pure magic by the end because that’s what my clients deserve . Read more>>
Ella Grace Troutt
My name is Ella Grace Clayton Troutt, and I’m a Nashville girl through and through — born, raised, and still here. I grew up surrounded by women who understood that a home isn’t just a house. Read more>>
John Snow
I had a pretty interesting start, I always loved the way guitar sounded sonically. I would play guitar hero with the settings to where the guitar was louder than everything else. I ended up getting pretty good and just figured I could play a real guitar. Read more>>
Bryan Carleton
I started taking photos as a hobby 10 years ago at car shows because I grew up loving cars. I started taking photography more serious 6 years ago when I was hired by a friend of mine to take photos of his band he was just starting. That’s when I fell in love with portraits and documentary style photography. Read more>>
Yazka Cantu
Padrino’s Pops is truly a generational business. My great-grandfather had the opportunity to purchase a paletería in Mexico in the mid-1970s. At the time, his family was living in extreme poverty, and he saw the paletería as an opportunity to build a better life for them. My grandfather, Geronimo, was one of 13 children. Read more>>
Kyla Rawlins
It all started back in 2010 when my best friend and I decided to bring Buddha-full to life. We wanted to build more than just a place to grab great plant-based food and drinks, we envisioned a vibrant community hub. Read more>>
Erica Kesse
My story began with a foundation shaped by both adversity and resilience. I grew up with two mothers, a reality that taught me to be profoundly open-minded, community-centered, and family-oriented, largely because I witnessed the harsh violence and rejection my parents faced from their own families and society for being in a lesbian relationship. Read more>>
Mel K. Wilkinson
Greenmade goods started in my Nashville kitchen in 2020 with $500 and a simple frustration: I couldn’t find a cuticle oil that was genuinely clean, actually worked, and felt like a little luxury instead of a chore. Read more>>
Matt Brown
Risk has been a recurring theme in my life. Brand has been the compass. I took on a lot of responsibility pretty young. I was part of the first class of split-option soldiers in the Army National Guard, which meant I went to Basic Training before my senior year of high school. Read more>>
Yexxy Sulbarán
How Cevinash Began Cevinash was born during the 2020 pandemic, at a time of great uncertainty when I didn’t know exactly which path to take or what to do next. It was precisely in the midst of that situation that the idea arose to start a business based on something I was passionate about: gastronomy—and, specifically, the flavors of the sea. Read more>>
Ramona Amos
I began my career in student affairs, where I developed a passion for helping students grow in and beyond the classroom. I loved watching college students discover their strengths, build confidence, and grow as leaders. Read more>>
Delanyo Mensah
I learned to read when I was three, sounding out road signs from my car seat on the way to hospital appointments. A lot of waiting rooms and long car rides with my parents reading to me the whole time. I grew up in Athens, Ohio as the daughter of Ghanaian immigrants. Read more>>
Patrick and Heather Slender Dan
Slender Dan started with the two of us playing together in a band called Tiger Rider in Seattle. Patrick had been making electronic music on his own for years, and during the lockdowns he asked me to listen to some of the tracks he had been working on. Read more>>
Ashlei Brown
Back in 2022, I joined an online community called Quirkies. It featured a unique collection of artwork with traits inspired by food, action sports, and a beautiful pastel color palette. One of those food traits was a donut, which I had acquired as my profile picture. Read more>>
Gregory Mayo
I was born in a small, industrial town in the Midwest – Warren, Ohio. I developed a great interest in show business from watching television and going to the movies at the local theater. After high school graduation, I went to college in Ohio @ Denison University and did another year of graduate study in philosophy @ The George Washington University. Read more>>
Nicki Johnson
The road continues to be winding, but I was warned as such when delving into the non-profit space. These kids and their families deserve better than what academic medicine and American healthcare are giving them, so I am trying to figure out a better way or at least ways to make improvements alongside the failing system. Read more>>
