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.
Lexi Lew
Born and raised in Douglasville, GA on a small 40 acre farm. After graduating High School in 2012, I decided to attend Belmont University in Nashville, TN where I studied Audio Engineering. During college I was blessed to have an awesome internship at a studio in Berry Hill, called the Rukkus Room. There, I learned most of what I know about being a studio Engineer. Read more>>
Cheleina Ramey
Breaking Barriers Protective Services was founded in November 2020, but my journey in the security industry began several years earlier, in 2017, and completely unexpectedly. At the time, I was working three jobs and still trying to figure out what direction I wanted my life to take. Read more>>
Jessie Leigh
Music has always been a part of my life— my mom says I would hum before I could talk. Starting in Kindergarten, I sang in choir, school musicals, took piano lessons… but I struggled with major stage fright. Fear of messing up and being judged for something I was so passionate about gripped me until I was in my 20’s. Read more>>
Anna DiCarlo
My main story for the business starts as many businesses do, because of my child. My youngest had chemically induced eczema and so I worked with my pediatrician (who was also a holistic practitioner for his family) to create product that would be safe for her little baby skin. As she grew, so did my business. Read more>>
Ivana Johnson
My early childhood, even though today I am thankful for who I’ve become because of my childhood, it was very sad and tumultuous. My mother suffers from several mental illnesses and ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always felt a sense of responsibility for making sure my mom was okay. Read more>>
KRISTIN SEIBOLD
My degree is in Graphic Design and Digital Art, but for years, I worked in corporate America. At 42, I finally took a leap of faith and started pursuing the dream I had always carried—to become a full-time artist. Read more>>
Harrison Hall
I first began with my creative endeavor of projection mapping and live VJing during the pandemic. I had a lot of time on my hands and took the money from the stimulus checks and bought Resolume a video software based out of the Netherlands. Next, I needed a projector and a laptop that was powerful enough to run the software. Read more>>
Mike Bright
Absolutely. I have been dancing for as long as I can remember. Taught myself how to ‘moonwalk’ when I was 9 years old, and I never looked back. I would always dance at any school related event, usually off and away from everyone else who was too cool to dance. Read more>>
Jason Shrum
Rock Oracle began as a passion project and it really still is. I was a journalism major for a bit in college and even did some writing for the school paper but then I hung up that dream from nearly 30 year before I decided that this is what I really want to do. Read more>>
Jonté Mayon
I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I sang my first solo at two years old and began performing professionally at four, growing up in New Orleans in a family deeply rooted in gospel music and the church. Read more>>
Kim Tingey
Katie and I have always been organized, but like the rest of the world, everything changed for us during the pandemic. In the midst of being stuck at home with toddlers, incessantly watching the news, and washing our groceries before we brought them inside, we started organizing our homes and our lives to bring some sense of order to a chaotic time. Read more>>
Lainey Webb
Every time people ask me my inspiration for starting Music Sippy Social, I always say motherhood. I studied Biology Education at Lipscomb University and after graduating, I spent the next few years teaching middle and high school science. No real business background whatsoever. I gave birth to our first daughter in September of 2020. Read more>>
Amber Cowan
What began as a lighthearted conversation in a teachers’ lounge eventually became something we never could have imagined. Read more>>
Diego Carrillo
We started Elite Concrete Contractors of Nashville back in 2017 with a pretty simple goal: do good concrete work, treat people right, and build a business through word of mouth. In the beginning, we were taking on smaller residential jobs and doing whatever we could to earn the next customer and build a good reputation around Nashville. Read more>>
Scott Reall
In 1988, Scott Reall was hired as a Senior Wellness Director for the YMCA. His primary role was to assess and prescribe exercise programs for YMCA members, a critical task at that time. The YMCA was deeply rooted in its mission of changing lives, guided by leaders like Clark Baker, the then-CEO, and Bill Lee, the head of the Christian Influences Committee. Read more>>
Jessica Taylor
I was naturally shy when I was younger and found myself nervous to speak to people. I grew up in a family that was involved in the church. Both sides of my family served in the church musically at some point, either playing or singing. Read more>>
Andres Sanchez
My earliest memories of listening to music are at my grandparents’ house, listening to vinyl records on their sound system. I remember being fascinated by the magic of it all, wondering, “How is this possible? How are records made?” When I was seven, my parents gave me a mini keyboard for Christmas. Read more>>
Ryan Argast
I’ve been singing and dancing as early as I could walk and talk. I’ve always had a passion for music and performance. In 2011 after my contract expired from a production deal I help found the band Marina City which all of the original members were the backing band for my former solo project. Read more>>
Johnny G
I grew up much of the time in the “suburbia” of Northern NJ, but spent a significant amount of time at the New Jersey Shore and the woods of Clay County, Alabama. I grew up hunting and fishing, but also playing guitar. I started learning the guitar at 10 and quickly joined garage bands with my brother. Music has always been my passion. Read more>>
BLEStD
I started this brand in 2014 when I learned how to print my own apparel. BLEStD started in my garage and it was based on the premise of underground, rap shows, and pop-ups. I would have a show and sell out my exclusive merch and I will print on the spot at some events. From there, it just grew into a whole movement. Read more>>
Steven Adams
Started writing music album reviews in 1986, in 2020 Started my own online radio station www.soundwaveoneradio.com Where I continue to write reviews and do a live radio show featuring an interview with a independent music artists and many mainstream music artists I’ve been in the music industry for 45 years. Read more>>
Cristan Hooks
My journey into baking started as a child, watching my grandmother make her famous caramel cake and my Granny make her 7-Up Pound Cake. As I got older, they began allowing me to help in the kitchen, and those early experiences sparked a passion that eventually became the foundation of my business. For me, baking initially served as a form of therapy. Read more>>
brandon northern
I was born and raised here in nashville tennessee and my father Micheal Northern was and still is a musician and record producer. He also had a local tv show here in nashville called “mic-check” and also co-produced a show called “Cashville live” with his long time business partner and friend Marcus petway . Read more>>
Elizabeth Gregory
The Jennifer Green Foundation started out of the loss of my older sister, Jennifer Green, who passed away in 2012. Jennifer had a heart for people, especially children, and after she died, I wanted to find a way to keep that part of her alive. I didn’t want her story to simply end with her passing. Read more>>
Olivia Harms
I was born and raised in Canby Oregon on a century farm. That was Homestead by my great great grandfather in 1872, but along with growing up on a farm and loving all things, Cowboy, my mom has been a successful, traditional country, singer and songwriter for the duration of her career. Read more>>
Jess Miller
Man, my story. I don’t even know where to start. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had this deep, dark voice inside of me that told me I didn’t belong here. That I was a burden. That I got in the way. My childhood helped create and reinforce those beliefs. Because of that, I became a notorious people pleaser and overachiever. Read more>>
Becky Nielsen
I was born in Texas, but raised in Switzerland and North Carolina. After college I moved to New York City and then Los Angeles for work, and then finally landed in Nashville, TN five years ago. All of those locations and moves have really shaped me as a designer. Read more>>
Jonathan Neira
My story started in my grandmother’s kitchen in Santiago, Chile. I was a little kid playing drums on her Tupperware until I broke them all. Instead of getting mad, she bought me my first drum set when I was 9. That was the beginning of everything. By 16, I had my first real band and we were already playing festivals and clubs in Santiago. Read more>>
Stephanie Collins
I’m a Nashville native and have worked in the events industry for nearly 20 years. I began my career planning large-scale events for the Westhaven community in Franklin before starting my own company, Socialize Event Co., where I was fortunate to spend the next 15 years producing events across several U.S. markets. Read more>>
Ian and Lindsay White
Safe House Tattoo began in January 2012 as a private Nashville tattoo studio called Ian White Tattoos, located in Edgehill Village. After nine years of working long, late, and inflexible hours, Ian believed working independently was the next right move. He wanted to be home in time for dinner and build a career that made room for family, rest, creativity, and longevity. Read more>>
Colton Steele
I started at around age 7. My parents bought me a little cheap guitar and I taught myself chords and have been playing ever since. As a small child I would sing for family members and put on little “concerts”. Later I played guitar for a gospel group “the glory land quartet”. Read more>>
Leigh Achenbach
I started Suddenly Simple Organizing out of a desire to use my gift of seeing the potential in overwhelming spaces to help others. I saw how much our homes can affect the way we feel and function every day. Read more>>
Stacey Powell
I came out at 43. Before that I had spent 23 years married to a man and raising three awesome kids, and that was the whole shape of my life. Being a hands-on mom was my dream, and I got to live it. But it also meant no college degree, no resume, and no work history outside of motherhood. Read more>>
Michelle Renae
Music has always been a part of my life. My mother started teaching me piano when I was 4 years old, then I joined choirs all throughout school. I started songwriting at 13 and tried my best at scoring sheet music. Read more>>
Lauren Cochran
My love for art started in elementary school when I decided then and there, I would become an art teacher; not an artist but someone who would celebrate and champion the creative process for others. Flash forward, I received my Bachelor of Arts focusing on Printmaking at Auburn University, went on to get my master’s in art education to start my teaching career. Read more>>
Antonio Diaz
Photography first entered my life as a lifeline. In the midst of a difficult period of depression, a close friend handed me a camera and introduced me to the transformative power of the medium. What began as a personal project—a fresh perspective to view the world through—rapidly evolved into my true purpose and lifelong passion. Read more>>
Marla Cannon-Goodman
I grew up in a music household. Always had someone singing in the basement. I wrote poems from about 11 years old. Became a nurse. I started dabbling in songwriting cause a whole lot of my friends were in music because my dad and sister both did it. Read more>>
Chaz Mazzota
I started performing when I was about 16, and for most of my life since then I’ve been finding different ways to make a living by being creative. Music was always at the center of it, but I’ve never been very good at staying in one lane. Read more>>
Jaevonn Harris
My name is Jaevonn Harris. I’m from the Eastside of Detroit. I’m an attorney, visual artist, music artist, author, and just an all-around creative. I’ve been creating for as long as I can remember. Read more>>
Anissa Stewart
My journey really started with me learning how to turn life experience into purpose. I have a background in social work, and I’ve always been drawn to helping people, understanding human behavior, and creating spaces where people feel seen and heard. Over time, that naturally began to show up in the content I created online. Read more>>
Scotty Fraizer
I got started in music relatively early into my teenage years. I had first learned how to play guitar right around when I was 14 years old, then a few years later got involved in my church’s youth group praise band and just kept going from there. Read more>>
Manuel Ramirez
From a very young age, my mother noticed something different in me. Every time music was playing, or whenever someone gave me something to play with, I would immediately start hitting it or using it as if it were a musical instrument. As I grew up, I started to realize that I experienced and felt music differently from most people. Read more>>
Eleanor Brooks
Feast Vintage began in 2013, although I don’t think I could have articulated then what I was building as clearly as I can today. I simply knew I loved old things—particularly the things that had been part of everyday life. Dishes that had been set on someone’s table, glasses raised at celebrations, linens unfolded for company, and objects that were beautiful without necessarily being precious. Read more>>
Kristen Kukta
I have spent 20+ years building brands and helping companies grow through marketing, digital advertising, and public relations. I have always been a fixer. When I see a problem, I cannot get it out of my head, and before long I have thought of six different ways to solve it. Read more>>
Martina Shenoda
Scents N Shades began from my love for fragrance, beauty, and creating personalized experiences. As a wife, mom of two, and full-time software engineer, I started the brand in 2025 as a creative passion that quickly grew into something much bigger. Read more>>
Kelly Putty
My name is Kelly Putty. I am Founder and Executive Director of Ordinary Hero Foundation. My husband, Shane and I founded Ordinary Hero in 2010 after the adoption of our son, Nathan, from Ethiopia. Read more>>
J- Ideas
My name is J-Ideas. I have been making beats for over 15 years and have worked with many artists in the Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky area. I am also a director and have made 13 music videos, 2 short films and just finished shooting a 3rd with the hopes of turning it into a full feature. Read more>>
Emily Ciecka
I have always been an artist, though it has expressed itself differently throughout the years. When I was a kid, I loved to draw. I would often create bookmarks for people and sell them for a nickel to save up money so I could get a dog (spoiler: I got the dog). Read more>>
Carey Bringle
When it comes to BBQ, few names carry the weight of Carey Bringle-award-winning pitmaster, entrepreneur, and Nashville native. The Bringle family has called Tennessee home since 1827, and Carey was born into its rich food culture. Read more>>
Jade Harrison
My interest in holistic health is deeply rooted in my upbringing. I grew up in the country with my grandparents, where much of the food was home or locally grown. Due to this and being on various cheer and dance teams, I was always very health conscious. Read more>>
Nick Bentley
For the past 4 and 1/2 years I have been pursuing music as both a songwriter and an artist playing shows (mostly solo) across Tennessee and the Southeast. Read more>>
Randella Duh
My career has been built around creativity, fashion, beauty, and the ability to transform a vision into something unforgettable. I began as a platform artist for TONI&GUY, where I developed my skills as a hairstylist and learned to create bold, editorial looks in front of an audience. Read more>>
Jake Watts
I moved to Nashville after graduating college to pursue music, with the idea that I’d also go to law school. Like so many people who end up here, life had other plans. While working at a restaurant, writing songs, and chasing a career as an artist, I unexpectedly fell into the world of investment real estate. What started as a business became another creative outlet. Read more>>
