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.
Bre Rose
My story is really one of faith, purpose, and learning to say yes even when I didn’t feel completely ready. I’m a wife, a mother, a corporate professional, and the founder of Protect Her Women’s Collective. Professionally, I’ve spent much of my career in corporate America, where I’ve grown in business, leadership, relationship-building, and strategy. Read more>>
Danny Pittas
I accidentally stumbled into the landscape industry. When I turned 14, I wanted to get an after school job to save money for a car. The grocery store around the corner never replied to my multiple application submissions. I guess, my neighbor heard about this and felt sorry for me. He offered me a job cutting his lawn. That was my first client. Read more>>
Toyin A
Yeah just to summarize my long traumatic experience up until now I’ll just say I have been blessed and keeping God First is number one for me. I started my clothing brand in the year 2021 while recovering from being hit by a car. Read more>>
Arianna Gillison
My story really started with dance. I’ve been dancing for most of my life, and as I got older, I realized it was more than just something I loved to do. Dance helped shape my confidence, discipline, work ethic, and leadership. Eventually, that passion expanded into fitness, choreography, coaching, and helping other people become more confident in themselves. Read more>>
Sam Vanloo Sr
I left the twin island a Trinidad and Tobago to support my mother is the US. My mother left to make a better life for her kids since I was 4. Raised by my Dad I envisioned structure to achieve a stable foundation and I wanted to support my mom. Read more>>
William Johnson
I’m A Upcoming Entrepreneur & Independent Music Artist I Go By The Stage Name Ym Philll I Used Too Go By My Nickname And Stage Name Lil Will In My Early Years Of Business Becoming An Entrepreneur/Motivational Speaker Coming Straight Out Of Baltimore Maryland I Was Born & Raised In. Read more>>
Nadia Lezcano
I started making art here and there as a kid to have fun and used to love drawing everywhere I could. It wasn’t until high-school where I first started sculpting and working with 3D materials, that I got to experience more of the physicality of art making and fell in love with that process. Read more>>
Clay Smith
My journey to becoming a tattoo artist started at Carver center for arts and technology in Towson where I graduated from the visual arts department. Shortly after graduating, I found myself suffering from homelessness after the housing bubble popped, while apprenticing under a private artist, to learn to tattoo. Read more>>
Noc Beteck
I was born in Cameroon, Africa and moved to the US when I was 8 years old. I began doing music in high school but soon realized my music didn’t gravitate towards the locals. At the time, coming from the urban area of Salisbury, MD, the music scene was heavily based on gangster and street music. Read more>>
Free Palmese
In 2016 my son Aaron came home crying saying we could not go outside because someone was trying to kill him. He was hysterical, he begged me for protection. Read more>>
Tyler Smith
I started out playing guitar and bass in a heavy metal band called Gravity Sleeps from 2001-2004. In 2004 I started writing and recording on Pro Tools. I was apart of a 3 man group called Eucalyptus which I split from in 2007. 2008-2011 was spent creating my first album “Battery Acid” and my first mixtape “Suburban Legend” was released in 2012. Read more>>
Donovan Ewell
It’s hard to pinpoint where things started, I feel like God saw it in me to be a creator and then it manifested. Whether it’s photography, videography, directing, music, drawing, graphic designing. I wear many hats. Read more>>
Rhonda Jackson
My story didn’t begin with a business plan, a coaching title, or even a clear picture of what I would eventually become. It began with a journey. I grew up in a large family of eight siblings, and much of my childhood was shaped by being raised first by my great-aunt and later by my mother, who raised us as a single parent. Read more>>
Robert Cullen
When I was a kid, bringing our pets to the vet meant that we were going to be taken care of, our critters were going to be pampered, and that I was going to learn something new. From there, it as only a matter of time before I realized that this is what I wanted to do with my life. Read more>>
Rashed Ahmed
My story began in August 2014, landing as an immigrate in the United States with my family, a lifetime of savings, and a dream. Like many immigrants, I came with hope, determination, and the belief that hard work could create new opportunities. Read more>>
Jimmy O’Brien
Vortex really started with my own children. I spent 23 years in the Marine Corps, where physical fitness, discipline, resilience and leadership were part of everyday life. Outside of that career, I spent nearly a decade coaching youth sports—including football, track and field, cross-country, soccer and baseball. Read more>>
Alayah Hightower
My path actually started in engineering. I did my undergrad in Chemical Engineering at Howard, which gave me a rigorous, problem-solving foundation. But as I got further into it, I realized what actually energized me wasn’t the technical work itself, it was the strategic layer around it. Read more>>
Atousa Raissyan
I was born in Tehran in 1972 and came to the United States in 1984, by way of Germany, during the Iran-Iraq War and the aftermath of the hostage crisis. I was twelve. I didn’t speak English. And the country I arrived in wasn’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat for Iranians. But that isn’t where the fear started. The fear was already there. Read more>>
Tonia Akapo
My husband and I started this home health care business because we had a shared vison. I witnessed firsthand the challenges that many families face when trying to access quality care, resources, and support. We saw how difficult it can be for individuals to navigate healthcare systems, advocate for themselves, and find the services they need to live safely and independently. Read more>>
Ayobami Akindele
I started my journey over 13 years ago as an event planner and interior designer. Along the way, I discovered a deeper passion for floral design and event décor, which gradually became the heart of my creative work. Read more>>
Iesha Finney
I’m originally from East Baltimore, and my journey has really been about transition, growth, and becoming. My childhood wasn’t always easy or consistent. Read more>>
Tammy Stigall
My love for animals started when i was a kid. I was a vet tech at a local animal hospital in early 2000’s , I started taking care of people’s older special needs pets for them as they traveled. I would sometimes go to their homes or they would bring them to my home to keep while they were away. Read more>>
Maggie King
Maggie King is a professional destination makeup artist based in the U.S., just a few hours from New York City and Washington, D.C. With over a decade of experience, her work is rooted in a skin-focused, refined approach — enhancing natural beauty rather than covering it. Read more>>
Tiffany Maddox
My journey into entrepreneurship has been one of faith, resilience, purpose, and transformation. Two years ago, I took one of the biggest steps of my life and signed the lease for what would become Mi’Chelle Premier Salon & Wellness Spa. Read more>>
Sarah St Jour
Honestly, Mother of Stories kind of grew out of my life. It started after I lost my firstborn son. I self-published a children’s book called Majestic Cosmic Babies in dedication to him, and through that experience I officially became an SEL author. Then life kept happening. Read more>>
The Nook Tattoo Studio
The Nook Tattoo Studio started after our two co-owners, Faith and Kar, saw a need in the tattoo industry. Faith lives with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. She knows what it’s like to be getting tattooed and have a rib dislocate because the artist is leaning too hard. Read more>>
Nicole Fischer
My story starts in my childhood with a deep love of animals. I grew up with an assortment of furry, feathered and scaled friends, and I never backed down from encouraging friends, family and neighbors in their adoption and care of their own pets. Read more>>
Daniela Godoy
My love of painting came very early on in my life. My mom says it happened when I was three and I had begged her to take me to one of her teachers’ workshops. She reluctantly took me. But once I got there, she says that she has never seen a kid that small sit so still for so long, watching a painting demo. Read more>>
Samantha Basham
The Village really started after I had my daughter in 2020. I became a first-time mom in the middle of COVID, had a really difficult pregnancy and transition into motherhood, and struggled with postpartum mental health issues that I didn’t even recognize for what they were at the time. Read more>>
Lou Foxwell
Father Fish is the creation of Louis Foxwell – pastor, educator, entrepeneur, and tropical fish enthusiast. The YouTube phenomenon, Father Fish, has become a hallmark for Natural Aquariums. This is fish keeping to the max, with aquariums that are stable, healthy, and long lasting. The Father Fish experience went viral on YouTube with more than 350k subscribers to date. Read more>>
Cynthia Ruane
From the age of 5, I knew I wanted to be a Chef. It was at that age that I attempted to make my grandma’s spaghetti sauce recipe for the first time. The smiles on my family’s faces and appreciation for my efforts instilled a feeling of joy and pride. Read more>>
Celina Omenankiti
Since I was a child, I always knew I wanted to become a clinical counselor. I would openly express my desire to become a “psychiatrist,” not fully understanding the distinction between psychiatry and counseling, but understanding what I truly wanted to do: help people who were struggling with life work through their issues, pain, and trauma. Read more>>
Chauron Cottie
I spent most of my adult life in healthcare. I started working in the industry around 19 years old and held several different roles over the years. For a long time, healthcare was what I knew. It was stable, familiar, and provided for my family. Then COVID changed the way I looked at everything. Read more>>
michael blackburn
I got started working with a guy named Jimmy Day, who really became my mentor. He took me under his wing and taught me pretty much everything I know today. He was primarily a carpet installer, but he also did all kinds of tile work, bathroom remodeling, and insurance restoration work. Read more>>
Flora Bonilla
Our story began in 1997, not with a business plan or financial backing, but with a family doing everything possible to build a better future. My mom, Flora Bonilla, came to the United States from Mexico, and my father, Raul Bonilla, came from El Salvador. Read more>>
Daniel Mayo
I never for a second thought to myself that i would try to pursue music so consistently back when i first started. Read more>>
Alison Pack
When I first moved to Baltimore, I didn’t know many people and decided to join my first gym and to be honest, I was intimidated. Like a lot of people, I worried about not being fit enough or knowing what I was doing. But from the moment I walked into my first group fitness class, the instructors and members made me feel welcome. Read more>>
Ta’Jah Fleming
A lot has changed since I first shared my story with Voyage, but I think the biggest change has been understanding the deeper meaning behind work I had already been doing for years. My path has never been perfectly straight, but hair has always been the constant because it has always been my passion . Read more>>
Jennifer Hernandez ‘JennyTheVoice’
My story began in Guatemala, where radio has always been a very important part of my life. Read more>>
Eric Zelik
My real estate journey started about twenty years ago. I earned a degree in Information Technology and began working for an IT company, but I knew I wanted to build something of my own. After reading everything I could about real estate, I decided it was time to stop reading and take action. Read more>>
Jenn Schlosser
Growing up I’ve always loved playing around with photography! I was the friend that always brought along her little digital camera when hanging out with friends and have countless of cheesy photoshoots with them in the archives of Facebook. After I graduated college, I started charging people for any type of photoshoot they wanted, just trying to get lots little photoshoots by word of mouth. Read more>>
Hannah Surratt
I’ve been cooking for as long as I can remember, always helping my mom in the kitchen. HANmade, LLC developed in the beginning of Covid in February of 2020 simply as a means to make money. I quickly started connecting with people from all over the DMV and the business just rolled from there. Read more>>
Silk Davis
My journey started when I was 16 years old, but barbering was already in my blood. My father was a barber, so I grew up around the culture. What started as me learning how to cut hair eventually became something much bigger than I could have imagined. Read more>>
Shawn Brown
My name is Shawn Brown, and I’m a School Psychologist in Baltimore City Public Schools. I grew up in Baltimore County, in the Woodlawn area. I was always a bigger/heavier kid but eventually turned to sports and fitness to lose weight. Sports and fitness have since become a passion in my life in which I continue to enjoy. Read more>>
Diana Christadore
I got into fitness in my teenage years for the same reason many young girls did in the ’90s: I wanted to be skinny. For years afterward, my purpose in the gym was almost entirely about shrinking my body. Read more>>
Steven Smith
I started making music in High school. Around 2015. I was really into playing football and went to a really good sports oriented school, but I wasn’t really a huge fan of studying and homework. Read more>>
LaTia Few
Two months before my 40th birthday, my life looked completely different than I thought it would. My 16-year relationship ended, eventually leading to divorce. Just months earlier, we’d been in Aruba celebrating our love. Then suddenly I was sitting at my kitchen counter, exhausted, unhappy, and honestly asking myself, how did I get here? Read more>>
Lashel Wilson
My life has always revolved around creativity. Whether it was music, movies, or art in general. I gravitate towards mediums that allow me to express myself. And I think because of that, opportunities have always just found me when I wasn’t even looking. That’s how I got into acting. Read more>>
Kasey Reinhardt
Let’s go back to January 2025… I had been looking for a ‘side hustle’ or project for some time that I could call my own but was unsure where to start. I stumbled upon a reel of someone making photo magnets. I instantly thought that was something I could do. I have always love taking photos of family, my daughter, dogs, etc. Read more>>
Daniela Godoy
My love of painting came very early on in my life. My mom says it happened when I was three and I had begged her to take me to one of her teachers’ workshops. She reluctantly took me. But once I got there, she says that she has never seen a kid that small sit so still for so long, watching a painting demo. Afterwards, I had declared to her that I was going to be a painter when I grew up. Read more>>
Cindy Huang
Growing up in China, Cindy’s mom prioritized her English language learning, strongly believing in the opportunities it could bring. Cindy began learning English in kindergarten, and as a result, her speaking skills flourished, eventually leading her to present at the US Model UN during high school. Her language abilities opened doors to internships in Romania, Morocco, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Read more>>
