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.
Elin Kanchev
I was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1985 and have been involved in sports for as long as I can remember. I started swimming in 1992, began practicing martial arts in 1997, and throughout my life athletics became much more than a hobby, it became a way of life. Read more>>
Reshu Jain
I truly believe that the universe has a unique plan for each one of us. Our role is to trust the divine, have faith in its timing, and continue moving forward with sincerity and purpose. Looking back, I can see how every experience in my life was preparing me for the journey I am on today. Read more>>
Shay Gist
ShaCa Gurus started as a blend of friendship, purpose, and the skills Cara and I already found ourselves using to help people around us. The name itself is personal — “ShaCa” is a combination of Shay and Cara, and it’s also a fun play on Chaka Zulu, with “Gurus” representing how people already saw us: as trusted go-to resources for tech, websites, and digital support. Read more>>
Andrea – volunteer at King Street Cats
King Street Cats (KSC) is Alexandria’s only no kill, free roaming, volunteer run cat rescue. All of KSC’s funding comes from donations. I started volunteering in 2015, initially as a caregiver taking care of the many kitties in residence. I eventually started fostering both kittens and older cats. Read more>>
Maya Griffin
I’m Maya Griffin, a graphic designer and fine artist based in Arlington, VA. My creative journey started at a young age, spending a lot of time drawing and painting. Read more>>
JOSEPH Hicks
Joseph Hicks, PMHNP-BC Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner – Board Certified As a Board-Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC), I provide compassionate, evidence-based psychiatric care throughout the Hampton Roads region and across Virginia through both in-person and telehealth services. My philosophy of care is simple: I treat every client the way I would want to be treated. Read more>>
Britney Turnage
SoBeHer was launched in 2024 2 month after my first book release. I had been sober at the time for 2 years. God was calling me out of hiding to begin to share my testimony more about being free from alcohol addiction and that’s how my book was birthed. Sober Letters To The Nights I Can’t Remember. Read more>>
Jen Tal
I sang in church with my family as a child. My parents moved from Virginia to Wyoming, the church we found didn’t have a choir. My mom volunteered our family. Fast forward a few years, I started singing the national anthem for school events and semi-pro baseball (The Staunton, Virginia Braves). I wrote music through grade school. Read more>>
Robert Gochenour
We started Tempo Plumbing in 2015 after the lose of my grandfather. I knew we had to build on his legacy of helping home owners with plumbing need in the Valley. We took on new construction customers at first but we soon left that side of the business and focused on residential service and water treatment. Read more>>
Gabriele Tibbs
A Light in the Darkness: The Story of StreetLight Community Outreach Ministries Every Wednesday evening in Woodbridge, Virginia, something remarkable happens. People from all walks of life gather around tables to share a meal. Some come for fellowship. Some come because they are lonely. Some come because they are hungry. Read more>>
Enrique Mendez
I started the company because I saw a need for a marketing agency that offered more than just one service. This was about 13 years ago, when blogging and social media were really starting to take off. Read more>>
Martia Clark
I started my journey as a daycare provider, where I spent years caring for children and supporting families. During that time, I saw a need for a safe, fun, and confidence-building space where children could feel special and celebrated. That inspired me to open Unique & Special Kids Spa — a place created just for kids to enjoy self-care, creativity, and memorable experiences. Read more>>
Tiffany Fields
I didn’t find my way into accounting through a traditional path. It started much earlier, during a difficult season in my life. When my grandparents passed away, my aunt, who was raising me, suddenly found herself trying to manage the family business and needed help keeping things together. Read more>>
Lakesha Roney
My Journey to Founding Heart and Practice Inc. I grew up in Dinwiddie County, Virginia — a small, tight-knit community where the ties between neighbors were genuine, and families’ needs were real. It was there that I first witnessed what compassionate, accessible mental health care could mean for a person, for a household, for an entire community. Read more>>
Erin Warren
Really, for most of my life, my perception of accessibility to affordable fashion, especially for those in larger bodies, was basically non-existent; as an incredibly active teenager through high school, I always found clothes that either fit or went home with me, regardless of where I shopped. Read more>>
Sam Rippe
Following his service in the Spanish American War, Benjamin A. Rippe, a native New Yorker seeking his fortune in the reviving South, established with wife Annie the original Rippe’s Store in Danville, Virginia, in 1907. Read more>>
Loralee Clark
I became enamored with words in second grade–I thought homonyms, homophones, synonyms and antonyms were magical portals to other words (which, they in fact, are) and I began playing with language–fifty years later, I still am. Read more>>
John Everling
My wife Debbie and I started growing micro greens for restaurants in 2016 and expanded our production to include cold pressed, unrefined cooking oils in 2020. We specialize in making extra virgin Pecan, Sunflower, and Pumpkin Seed Oils using only US grown, non- GMO seeds and nuts to produce the highest quality oils for your home cooking. Read more>>
Catherine Patel
I worked as a software engineer for eight years at a tech startup. After my son was born, I realized I wanted more flexibility in my schedule so I could spend more time with him. I left my job and began working as an independent contractor for a few different companies. Read more>>
Esra Pozan Warren
My journey as a photographer began in 2008 in Türkiye, where I turned a lifelong passion for storytelling and human connection into a professional career. What started as a love for capturing meaningful moments quickly grew into a full-time business, and over the years I had the opportunity to photograph people, families, weddings, newborns, and businesses across different countries and cultures. Read more>>
Katie Kishore
The Kindness Origin Story – from website – posted in 2020 Hi, I’m Katie Kishore – founder of Kindness Cafe + Play and proud mama of these two sweet munchkins! I love road trips, so for spring break in 2017 the girls and I rented a minivan! I packed a cooler, a port-a-crib, and likely 1,317 other necessities for little ones. Read more>>
Emily Bender
I’ve been a Nurse since 2005, a Navy Nurse for 6 of those years. I fell in love with the mother baby bond, especially assisting mother’s to feed their babies. When I got out of the Navy, I became a mother baby bedside nurse. I earned my IBCLC (international board certified lactation consultant) after many years of training and taking boards. Read more>>
Billy Boylan
I grew up around construction and earthmoving. My dad was a Superintendent for an earthmoving company and whenever I wasn’t in school, he used to take me to work with him for as far back as I can remember. He would let me run heavy equipment everyday I was out there and I could never get enough of it. Read more>>
Stephanie Singletary
My journey with Executive Elevation LLC began in 2019 when I started working on the website of my spiritual mentor, LaOta Of The Sun. At the time, I was also working full-time supporting individuals with disabilities. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, I was laid off from my position and found myself reflecting on how I would sustain myself financially during such uncertain times. Read more>>
Tyler Hearn
I’m Tyler Hearn, the visionary behind Freestyle Strands Beauty Utopia. I’m more than a hairstylist—I’m a healer, creator, educator, and guide for people who are embracing their own journey of self-discovery. I’m a Navy veteran and Cincinnati native, and my passion for hair started when I was a child. My path, however, was anything but ordinary. Read more>>
Hadi Umayra
My journey as a writer began with a deep love for language and an enduring belief in the power of words. From an early age, I was drawn to poetry and literature as a way to understand the world, to process emotion, and to give voice to experiences that often go unspoken. Read more>>
Annie Schultz
Rick Sheridan and I met in 2017 in a grief support group after we both lost our spouses in 2016. Over the next year, our relationship developed and we are now domestic partners. Rick owns a building in downtown Roanoke and when he asked me to move in with him, I told him I needed studio space. Read more>>
Heavan Harris
The Historic Hattie House began its story in 1885 as the original Abingdon Hotel, welcoming travelers arriving by train to the heart of downtown Abingdon. Over the years, the building served many purposes before eventually sitting underutilized and in need of new life. Today, the Hattie House has been thoughtfully restored as a boutique inn that honors its historic roots while offering modern comforts. Read more>>
Brittany Clark
My path to Fairfax Pilates didn’t start in a studio — it started in airports. For years I was a consultant with one of the Big 4 firms, the kind of road warrior who lived out of a suitcase, ate most meals in restaurants, and spent whatever time was left hunched over a laptop. Read more>>
German Chicas Villanueva
My philosophy always is about if the job like me and I feel that is good I know that this project will like to the client and the people will feel comfortable too. Every time when I started to do something different the people referred me to another, and I’ve used that references to grow every day, trying to keep the people happy with my skills and showing a good behavior in theirs houses, not all has been happy but I can say that a 90% of my client are happy with their projects done. Read more>>
Kimberly Zettel
Our story actually started in the online classroom during COVID. Teaching online was incredibly frustrating and isolating, but we found our grounding by doing what we had always done—volunteering and fostering for local shelters. During that heavy time, we noticed a profound pattern: being around these rescue animals wasn’t just helping the cats; it was doing something deeply restorative for the people around them. Read more>>
