Portraits of Nashville

It’s more important to understand someone than to judge them. We think the first step to understanding someone is asking them the fundamental questions about who they are and how they became the person they are today. Understanding and empathy are essential building blocks for a better, more compassionate world. We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to ask these questions each week through our interview series. Below you’ll find inspiring interviews from in and around Nashville.

Tammy Friedman

My path to Choice Cremation grew out of my background in social work and my experience working in the funeral profession. Both shaped the way I look at what families need when they’re going through a loss. Over time, I began to see how overwhelming the process of making funeral arrangements could be. Read more>>

Brad Ramsey

My path to interior design was not exactly a straight line, but creativity has always been the common thread. I began college studying landscape architecture, changed my major to drawing and painting, and ultimately earned a degree in music with a focus on vocal performance. Read more>>

Cory Ponder

Marching band pulled me into rudimental drumming, which sharpened my drumset playing and opened the door to music outside pop and rock. I stayed in marching band and jazz band through high school. My junior year I made Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps and marched there for two years. I later marched Carolina Crown in 1997 and the Cavaliers in 1998, and I performed with the JSU indoor drumline in 1996 and 1998. In college I focused on classical and rudimental percussion. Drum set didn’t become my primary instrument again until after school. Read more>>

Latina Unique Hair

Creatively leaving a bit of sparkle everywhere I go. ✨ Read more>>

Sophia Eisenbart Macias

I have always been someone who makes things. Art became my way of documenting my life… preserving memories, emotions, ordinary objects, and experiences that might otherwise disappear. I earned my BFA from Austin Peay State University and eventually became an art teacher, which allowed me to help young artists discover their own creative voices while continuing to develop mine. Read more>>

Marty Dodson

I grew up in Nashville. I started playing guitar and writing songs when I was 11, but my family was not in the music business and I didn’t know how or if you could make a living writing songs. So, I went to college at Lipscomb University, got a degree in Psychology and worked for 10 years as a youth minister. Read more>>

michelle falco

After my own struggles with behavioral health, I became deeply inspired by the simple, beautiful practices that genuinely helped me heal—and I wanted to share them with others. The most practical and transformative tool for me was mindfulness, especially creating small “mindfulness touchpoints” throughout the day. Read more>>

Tish Yates

Raised by parents who worked in the music touring industry, life on the road was familiar to me from an early age. It felt natural that I would eventually pursue a career in costume design and wardrobe for large-scale tours. While earning my degree in costume and fashion design, I was already flying around the country to work on small productions. Read more>>

Jeremy Cowart

I started out wanting to be a painter. I wasn’t a very good one. Photography was almost an accident. I picked up a camera, figured out I could make the images that were already in my head actually exist, and never really put it down. Thirty years later I’m still doing it. The work took me places I never planned on. Taylor Swift. Dolly Parton. Read more>>

Clay Lee

My story really starts in Tennessee. I began playing trumpet in middle school, and that passion eventually took me to Tennessee State University, where I became part of the Aristocrat of Bands. Music taught me discipline, preparation, teamwork, timing, and how every person contributes to the overall experience—lessons that would later become just as important in hospitality. Read more>>

Tzion Achvan

Moved to Nashville 10 years ago, without knowing anyone here. Started my full time real estate career, was rookie of the year, started to do residential and commercial deals and broke records around town. Quickly became well known. Now I do everything; represents: buyers, sellers, investors and developers with new construction products. Read more>>

Myiesha Robinson

Hey. My is Myiesha but everyone calls me MyMy. My story is simple. I started from scratch with my journey. My life has been nothing but a circus but I am not the clown. I love helping others become successful. Becoming a Loctician saved my life. I have never felt so mentally, emotionally, physically, or financially stable. Read more>>

Christina Gaudet

Christina is a protégée of Allen Toussaint and the New Orleans Rock/Blues/Americana sound. She is an award-winning, Producer, Recording Artist, award-winning Songwriter/Composer, and Actor, with many Film, TV, and Broadway credits. Musically she has written and produced many full-length albums and singles, in worldwide releases. Read more>>

Dr. Katherine Y. Brown

Thank you for that question. There are so many parts of my journey I could share, but the work I am most passionate about right now is equipping people to help save lives. Through Learn CPR America, LLC, we educate and empower corporations, organizations, families, and communities by providing the lifesaving skills and lifesaving equipment they need to recognize and respond to a cardiac emergency. Read more>>

Terry Toran Jr

I wanted to find a way to help people overcome the battle of driving there kids or themselves to the gym after or before a long work of day. I decided it would be a lot more convenient if I could bring the gym to their front door. Read more>>

Kory Brunson

Most music artists are struggling. Thousands. Most are very talented and are working hard, grinding away at the thing they love. The thing they are passionate about. Music. But very few are able to break into a full-time lucrative career, and there’s a big, haunting reason why. Artists only see (or are only shown) two extremes. Grinding in bars forever, or world wide fame. Read more>>

Ryan Bronson

Ryan Bronson is an independent artist blending hip-hop roots with the massive hooks, guitars, and nostalgia of ’80s and early-2000s rock. His music lives somewhere between rap records, stadium anthems, and the songs you’d hear blasting through the speakers on a late-night drive. Read more>>

Robin Tinholt

With a voice that sounds like it was born in the heart of the American South, Robin Tinholt is a modern country artist from Norway redefining expectations. Rooted in Nashville-inspired storytelling and driven by a lifelong passion for music, Robin has been singing and writing since the age of 14 carrying on a deep-rooted family tradition. Read more>>

Marie Hines

I grew up in Upstate South Carolina and started playing piano at age 4, writing songs at age 12. Music very quickly became my identity as a teenager, and I knew that I wanted to pursue a life in music. I moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University as a commercial voice major/music business emphasis and it was a very formative time for me. Read more>>

Myah Kimbrough

Hi, my name is Myah Kimbrough & I am the owner of Luxe Lashes By Myah J. From the Windy City 312 , I started my lash brand during my undergraduate studies at the illustrious Tennessee State University. I’ve always been passionate about uplifting women while making them feel beautiful, confident, and empowered. Read more>>

Katie Boeck

I was born in Central California and grew up there most of my life. I was born with a cleft palate but had a natural love for singing. A surgery when I was 3 corrected my severe speech impediment and I started taking voice and piano lessons at 4. Read more>>

Hannah Schneider

I actually got my start working in restaurants, and I quickly learned that I loved hospitality at a young age. I started my first social media company when I was eighteen years old, and I was working at a fine dining steakhouse in San Diego. They ended up becoming one of my first clients. Read more>>

Michelle Gonzalez

I began my journey in the lash industry in 2017. At the time, I was 21 years old, a new mom, and working six days a week at a nail salon. I had already been doing nails for about four years, but I was beginning to realize that it was no longer something I truly enjoyed. Read more>>

Jasmine Chievous,M.Ed

Education has a deeply personal meaning in my family. My great-grandfather could only write an “X” as his signature, and my grandfather had to leave school before reaching his teenage years. Yet, their limited access to formal education never reflected a lack of intelligence, vision, or belief in what future generations could achieve. Read more>>

Andy Peake

I am the son of a preacher. At age 13, after church one day, the choir director (who also was our small town H.S. band director) overheard me tell a friend that I owned a snare drum. Read more>>

Sherry Deutschmann

As a single mom with only a high school education, I was a maid – and worked with my sister to clean gas station bathrooms before moving to Nashville to pursue a career as a singer. Read more>>

Tyler Logan

Beau and I met on a job in East Nashville in 2017. We had both been referred to the same client through a local paint retailer and, in a funny way, we both essentially got the job. We ended up working side by side on a historic renovation for about six months, and the project ultimately received a historic preservation award. Read more>>

Amy Edwards

Things really shifted for me when I went to the Oregon Coast for my cousin’s wedding. It happened to fall on my 31st birthday, so I decided to spend some extra time exploring the Willamette Valley and visiting some of the wineries there. I immersed myself in the experience, talked to as many people as I could, and really fell in love with wine. Read more>>

Nadia Ibrahim Mossburg

Writing has been my lifeline since I was a teenager. Born with cerebral palsy to Middle Eastern immigrant parents, I watched them tackle challenges with an unwieldy amount of grit and determination. Putting pen to paper became the primary way I processed the daily realities of living with a physical disability. Read more>>

Kendall Lawless

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had a passion for the beauty industry. I was around 12 years old when I did my very first acrylic French-tip nails on my sister. Read more>>

Brittany Worden

The journey to opening Lil Brit Vintage began far from Tennessee. Born and raised in New York, I discovered my passion for fashion while studying at Orange Ulster BOCES from 2013 to 2014. It was there where I first fell in love with the art of styling and the timeless appeal of vintage clothing. Read more>>

Sami Myrick

I’ve always been a documenter of sorts. For as long as I can remember, I’ve written poems, songs, and forced my friends and family into taking photos of everything we do! I’d always been interested in diving more into photography but it wasn’t until three years ago that I picked up a professional camera. I don’t think I’ve put it down since! Read more>>

Heidi Easley

Bankruptcy to business owner before the age of 30. Before the age of 30, my husband, Bobby, and I found ourselves overextended, lost our jobs, and went through bankruptcy. I felt ashamed, embarrassed, broke, and alone. I didn’t want my friends to think differently of me, so I kept my struggle a secret. We lost our cars, our home, and just about everything else. Read more>>

Kayla Snyder

I graduated from Nossi College of Art with a Bachelor of Graphic Arts in Graphic Design in 2020 but have been pursuing creativity since childhood! What started as a college internship became a long-term job and I have been working with Becky’s Graphic Design since 2018—a company originally specializing in branding and small print jobs. Read more>>

Danny Valdes

My path has been anything but conventional. I was born in Memphis. I left school in the tenth grade and went into construction, so I did not begin with a clear roadmap into media, business, or the arts. At seventeen, I experienced a personal and spiritual awakening that completely changed how I saw myself and what I believed my life could become. Read more>>

Logan Allan

Growing up I’ve always been involved with music in some way shape or form. Whether it be plays, musicals, or just standing on the coffee table playing fake guitar in front of my family singing my heart out, I was always performing. If there is anything that has stayed constant, it’s my family always being there to support me. Read more>>

Ben Stauffer

I started Counterpart Music, first as an artist release strategy company, in February 2020, after seven years running Finance for an independent record label and music publisher in the Nashville area. Before that, I worked as a CPA in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, and doing some other smaller music business jobs in Nashville. Read more>>

Mya Byrne

I started out as a child pretending to play guitar on a tennis racket, when I was in high school I figured out that I liked writing songs and I started doing it. I worked in recording studios in my late teens into my early 20s, and then moved into beautiful full-time songwriter life when I was about 25. Read more>>

Brady Haston

I am from Spencer, Tennessee and through many turns and twists have ended up calling Nashville my home for 19 years now. Read more>>

Brett Lionheart

I’ve been writing songs since I was a kid, but the real story starts around 2019 when I made a decision that changed everything: At the time I had felt cutoff and hidden from the world for years, like the real me was in an abyss somewhere totally cut off and disconnected. Read more>>

Robbie McMillan

Ten years ago I joined the United States Army as a vocalist. I attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, GA and Advanced Individual Training at Camp Little Creek, VA. My first duty station was Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I was there almost three years and that’s where I learned how to front a band. We played everything from “Ain’t No Sunshine” to “Fire”. Read more>>