Every day we have a choice. We can support an up and coming podcaster, try a new family-run restaurant, join a boutique gym started by a local fitness champ or we could keep giving away our money to the handful of giants who already control so much of our commerce. Our daily decisions impact the kind world we live in; if we want a world where small businesses are growing and artists and creatives are thriving then we should support them with our time, money and attention. We’re proud to highlight inspiring creatives and entrepreneurs each week in Hidden Gems series. Check out some of our latest local gem features below.
Rand Taylor
More than a decade ago, I, alongside my son Alec Taylor, established Industrial Sustainability Group (ISG) dba The Fuel Ox® here in New Jersey with a clear mission- to provide consumers nationwide (and now, globally) access to high-quality fuel additives that improve efficiency while cutting down on dangerous emissions harmful to humans, animals, and plants. Read more>>
Grizel Ubarry
For over four decades, I worked as a community development practitioner supporting nonprofit organizations engaged in revitalizing economically marginalized communities. My work focused on strengthening local capacity, advancing equitable development, and supporting community-driven solutions to social and economic challenges. During my early college years and after graduation, I worked both in the nonprofit sector and in government. Read more>>
Abhishek Tuiwala
My journey as an artist has been shaped by movement, observation, and a gradual commitment to listening closely to both material and experience. I did not arrive at my practice through a single defining moment but through a series of questions that kept returning over time. Questions about identity, belonging, and how personal history quietly informs the way we move through the world. Read more>>
Alexis Collins
I’ve always been passionate about reading and writing since I was a small child. My parents said they would read to me when I was still in the womb, and that even as a baby, I had an interest in books, with my favorite book being Mickey’s Alphabet Soup (I could recite it by heart). Read more>>
Bhavna Rajesh Devnani
My journey began in India, where I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy. From very early on, I wasn’t just interested in learning protocols—I was fascinated by people, movement, and the impact thoughtful rehabilitation could have on someone’s entire life. Read more>>
Peter Favilla
I’ve been drawn to music for as long as I can remember—honestly, since the moment I had any real sense of consciousness. I grew up in a place that didn’t offer a clear or traditional pathway into a life in music, so my upbringing was unconventional. It was full of interesting people, strange turns, and a lot of figuring things out on my own. Read more>>
Chris Rockwell
Growing up, I was purely into visual art. Drawing on scraps with cheap pencils and markers, stealing spray paint for graffiti, using the family camcorder to record stop motion animation movies. I’ve always loved art and cinema, even from when I was real young. I always borrowed tapes and DVDs and books on the making of monster movies from the library. Read more>>
Ashley Conyers
As a Licensed Social Worker with a background in mental health, my journey has been one of transformation and obedience. There were seasons where I felt lost, unsure of who I was, and chasing purpose in all the wrong ways. Read more>>
SONJI GRANDY
My journey has never followed a straight line, and that has been by design. At the heart of everything I do is my calling as a minister. Ministry shapes how I serve, how I lead, and how I build. Long before titles like author, consultant, or founder came into view, I was walking alongside individuals and families through faith, transition, leadership, and restoration. Read more>>
Juan Salinas
I started P-Nuff Crunch as a solution to a problem I personally experienced. I grew up in Honduras and came to the U.S. with limited English and big ambitions. After learning English quickly enough to enter college, I initially pursued engineering, but soon realized my true passion was science — specifically how food impacts performance and health. Read more>>
Heather Feliciano
Hey everyone, I started my business Pynk House in 2021, it’s something I always wanted to have I feel like I manifested it long before it happened. I love fashion, makeup and hair, I really manifested everything. I’ve always been a d.i.y. girl. Read more>>
Stuart Heir
I started as a Photographer’s Assistant at 18 years old In NYC after trying college for a year. For the next five years I worked in various well known studios and at 23 started my own successful Advertising Photography studio in NYC. I continued this for the next 32 years and was itching for a more creative outlet as the world of Photography turned digital. Read more>>
Ace Bundy
I’ve been drawing for almost 20 years, now. From a 6 year old drawing Sonic characters on poster boards, to a 25 year old freelancer and character designer. I got very far, but there’s still so much I want to branch out and do! Read more>>
Zollyann Howell
My story really began right before the pandemic. I started my very first business, ZAM Learning Academy, with so much hope and excitement. I invested everything into it, my time, my money, my energy, and my heart. It was something I truly believed in, and I was proud of myself for taking that leap. And then the pandemic happened. Read more>>
Victoria Marmet
I’m originally from France and moved to the United States in 2018. Baking has always been a passion of mine, and after arriving here, I taught myself the craft through hands-on experience, persistence, and a lot of learning along the way. What started as a personal passion gradually grew into a profession. Read more>>
Sabrina Cosentino
I am a certified Integrated Health Coach and received my credentials from IIN (Institute of Integrated Nutrition in New York City). My background is in the medical industry with over 15 years of experience working with physicians and medical staff. I specialized in pharmaceuticals, specifically areas in Dermatology, Oncology and Psychiatry. Read more>>
Patrick Hogue
My story is one that starts similarly to others. I grew up as a kid who loved/was raised on movies and has spent his entire life heading trying to recapture the magic I felt watching Jurassic Park for the first time. That has lead me down a path of so much self-discovery. Read more>>
Kaitlin Mahony
My journey started as a little girl dreaming of becoming a Fashion Designer. As I entered high school, it was still something I was passionate about and wanted to pursue. I began heading into NYC every weekend to take classes at Parsons School of Design and FIT where I really versed myself in the art. Read more>>
Emily Tucker
I am originally from LA, but I moved to the east coast to pursue musical theater. I had spent a couple years working for Disney Cruise Line as a performer in their MainStage shows straight out of high school. I had completed my time at sea, and was deciding whether I wanted to go to school. Read more>>
Edward Tadiello
From the time I was in high school, I found myself captivated by the power of images—magazine illustrations, movie posters, and the names behind them: Robert Peak, Mark English, Bernie Fuchs. That fascination led me deeper, into the golden age of illustration, where artists like Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth, and Gil Elvgren shaped the visual language of an era. Read more>>
Kristina Fitzpatrick
I started my career very early, long before I knew I would one day run a design studio in New York. I grew up in a small town in Russia, near Kazakhstan, and at 19 I co-founded my first advertising agency. I was always drawn to building things from nothing – ideas, projects, teams, opportunities. Read more>>
Adityabarna Banerjee
My name is Adityabarna Banerjee, and my professional identity sits at the intersection of finance, strategy, and luxury fashion. Read more>>
Kerri Brown
Our business began in 2020 while I was home with my kids during a season that changed everything for so many families. I taught myself to sew during that time, looking for a creative outlet and a way to bring a little joy into everyday life. Read more>>
Mark E. Menzie
I grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and creativity became my safe place early on. Fashion, especially, felt like a language I instinctively understood — a way to express my confidence, rich culture, and strong identity when words didn’t cut it. Long before I had the tools or the terminology, I knew I wanted to create clothes. Read more>>
Maymunah Kelly
In terms of photography, I started off in college registering for a beginner class my sophomore year. I didn’t like the homework of “bring 180 images every class”, so I ended up dropping the class after the first day. I wanted to experiment and learn at my own pace, without the pressure of showing my work to a room of people twice a week. Read more>>
Nitin Kamath
I’m from Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Because of my parents’ jobs, we moved often, which gave me the opportunity to live in and experience several states across the country. I spent my early school years in Northern India, absorbing different cultures, languages, and ways of life without realizing how much they were shaping me. Read more>>
Kathleen Little
I am a passionate metalsmith with more than 10 years of experience in creating wearable art with passion & skill. Join me in my journey as I transform sterling silver into one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. Each piece of jewelry reflects creativity & skilled craftsmanship. I use the time honored skills of a metalsmith, including sawing, soldering & setting stones. Read more>>
Twyla Grider
I started by career as an assistant to the owner of a men’s wear atelier, Everette Hall in Washington DC. From there I continued as a stylist to Washington, d.c. elite. I went back to school at Drexel University for post grad work in Fashion Design, interning for Michael Kors and Tracy Reese. Read more>>
Jessenia Cosme
My journey started long before I ever imagined owning a business. Creativity has always been part of my life, it runs in my family, and I’ve been crafting and creating for as long as I can remember. The real spark, however, came in 2018 when I became a DIY bride. Read more>>
Naadier Riles
I started this brand in New Jersey with nothing but a vision and a lot to get off my chest. Growing up, I saw firsthand how life can hit hard and how often people are expected to carry that weight in silence. Streetwear became my outlet—a way to turn real emotions, struggles, and everyday battles into something you can wear with pride. Read more>>
Steven Cuoco
Thank you, for the question. I am a two‑time award‑winning publicist, nationally recognized radio host, and media personality who thrives where storytelling, strategy, and spontaneity collide. I bring the energy of someone who’s spent decades elevating artists, shaping narratives, and keeping audiences hooked, whether I’m behind the mic or behind the scenes. Read more>>
Malcolm Chavis
My name is Malcolm A. Chavis, I’m an actor, writer, director, model, videographer, and personal trainer. There was always a mix of each of these things i’ve been interested in. The acting took place after completing school and really getting my feet wet with it all. I attended Monmouth University and went to a program taking place in New York right after graduating. Read more>>
Tereill Peay
I started my career in corporate America more than 25 years ago working for one of the top banks in the country. By the age of 19, I became the youngest manager in my region, running a multi-million-dollar branch and leading teams twice my age. Read more>>
Alexandru Czimbor
I grew up in Transylvania, Romania, during the final decades of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s communist regime. That upbringing was a singular experience that shaped the way I think about power, freedom, and human behavior. Read more>>
Lauren Soto ~ MSAN, CNC
I’m Lauren, founder of Ladies Lifestyle with Laur (LLL), a mindset-based wellness coaching brand that helps women rebuild trust in their minds, bodies, and diets while finally ditching the all-or-nothing cycle of restriction. I combine evidence-based nutrition with lived experience to provide clients with a 100% personalized and sustainable approach to reaching their goals. Read more>>
Lauren Turk
In 2018, I decided I was ready to leave my job of 9 years and pursue something new. I gave my boss a full year’s notice and started quietly collecting handbags, accessories, shoes, and clothing from friends and family. When I finally left, I knew resale was where I belonged. I’ve always loved fashion—every decade of it. Read more>>
Ax Shannon
I’ve been creating for as long as I can remember. Art always came first for me. I gradually started drawing, experimenting, teaching myself and over time that instinct eventually led me into graphic design, where my curiosity turned into real opportunities. I learned by being in the room, by saying yes before I felt ready, and by going through experience rather than comfort. Read more>>
Annette Mashi
Born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, I grew up working at my dad’s hardware store. It was there, surrounded by paint cans and building materials, that I first fell in love with the design industry. That led me to Drexel University, where I pursued degrees in both computer science and architecture. Read more>>
Bill Boronkay
I was moving up the ranks in television sportscasting. When the career stalled, took a stand up comedy workshop and fell in love with it. Started performing on the side, eventually going full time and moving from Cleveland to NJ. Read more>>
Shannon Mulligan-Mayernik
Before Mayernik Kitchen, I spent several years in the familiar 9–5 grind. One evening, a coworker invited me to take an herbal class at a local apothecary in New York State. I had never worked with plant medicine before, but I never turn down a night out with a friend. That class, taught by my now dear friend and mentor, Robin Rose Bennett, changed everything. Read more>>
Arlen schumer
My “big break” after graduating from Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Graphic Design was getting to work for one of my childhood idols, the legendary comic book artist Neal Adams (1941-2022) at his New York City agency/studio. Read more>>
Sarah Carvalho
I’m a freelance beauty writer and yoga teacher based in the NYC area, but I’ve had many careers prior to landing here! I graduated from Boston University with a degree in Communications and started my career in Film and Television before moving into Publishing, Sales, Advertising, and SaaS. I later received my Masters in English Literature from the University of Westminster in London. Read more>>
Georganne Youngclaus
I didn’t wake up one day and decide to start a business. I built mamas play because I needed it to exist. When I was pregnant with my son Leo, I lost my dad to suicide. A few months later the pandemic hit, I gave birth, and suddenly I was a new mom in complete isolation. No village. No safe space. No community. Read more>>
Katherine Stancoff
there is purpose in this pain began its journey in February 2022, created by a friend of mine who shared similar passions as I did: destigmatizing mental illnesses and deconstructing stereotypes surrounding people with mental illnesses. We both desired to publicly speak about what we cared for, so she opened a public account and shared the login with me. Read more>>
Melissa Elder
At a young age, I would write poems for cards, notes and encouragement. It seemed to be the cheaper option rather than buying something. Poetry has always felt more like a doodle, rather than something I could take seriously and do as a career. Read more>>
Mary Spinelli
Hyssop Beauty Apothecary was born from a simple desire for authenticity. Founder Mary Spinelli, a lifelong enthusiast of crafting homemade masks and beauty treatments, grew frustrated with the industry standard. She found that products labeled ‘all-natural’ were often filled with the very synthetics she tried to avoid. Read more>>
Alexandra Alvarez
My story began in my home country, Venezuela, where creativity and the arts were always present in my life. I was the typical student who filled the back pages of notebooks with drawings and was often chosen to design logos or create visual concepts for school projects. From an early age, art became my natural language of expression. Read more>>
LaToya ‘Toi’ Powell
I’ve always been a builder—of ideas, of teams, and of experiences that help people feel something and take action. My background is rooted in marketing operations and program/project leadership, where I’ve spent over two decades leading creative work at scale: managing cross-functional teams, building systems that keep work moving, and translating strategy into execution across multiple brands. Read more>>
Urvi Shah
Hi, I am Urvi Shah, Founder and CEO of Inner Serenity LLC and a spiritual coach/healer supporting women who are on their motherhood journey (from fertility to postpartum). I have been running my coaching practice for 5 years now – evolving over time as I evolve spiritually and expand my consciousness. Read more>>
Robert, Anthony, Joel, Thomas, Matthew
Dead Within Days started around two years ago and began as nothing more then a determination to keep doing what we love. A few of us have played in bands before and this was a chance to do it the way we’ve always wanted. Rob started with a facebook ad and not after too long the line up was set. Read more>>
Yvana Romelus
I’m a multidisciplinary creative, educator, and community builder originally from Long Island and raised in Elizabeth. I grew up loving dance, storytelling, and creating things from nothing — whether that was choreographing, filming videos, or finding ways to bring people together. Creativity has always felt like both my outlet and my responsibility. I started by teaching myself everything. Read more>>
Jamie Baldanza
You ready to go down this rabbit hole? I always felt like my life was running on two parallel paths that I kept bouncing between. I was raised at the Jersey Shore, moved to NYC at 18, and climbed the corporate ladder like I was supposed to. But when I hit 30, something shifted. Read more>>
Kinjal Shah
My journey into entrepreneurship wasn’t accidental—it was shaped over time. My father started our company years ago, and from early on I was exposed to what it truly takes to run a real business—not just the technology, but the responsibility of serving customers, delivering consistently, and staying steady through new challenges. Watching that up close gave me an early respect for execution and trust. Read more>>
Iliana Guibert
After being laid off from my corporate job some years ago, I found myself at a crossroads. Do I stay in the same industry, or completely reinvent myselt? I chose reinvention. What started as a train derailment quickly revealed itself as a gift. That layoff became the push I didn’t know I needed to revisit a childhood fascination with the entertainment industry. Read more>>
Amanda Gyetvay
I’ve loved photography for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I was always the one carrying around a disposable camera (and then digital camera) capturing family gatherings, friends, everyday moments. I took classes as I got older, but never thought my love for it could become a business! In 2020, I lost my job during COVID, and everything shifted. Read more>>
ROBX
Play Factory began as a two-man collaborative brand between Julian Jones and I (ROBX). Julian specialized in videography and music videos, while I focused on photography and concept art. We built the brand to merge our skills and create work that lived at the intersection of photography and filmmaking. Read more>>
Michelle Johnson
Serene By Nature was birthed in my townhome where I decided that I wanted a peaceful place where people could go to relax feel peace and get their hair done. even if they weren’t being serviced they would sit around and enjoy the atmosphere. Read more>>
Stefani M.C. Janelli
Well, my love of music started back as far as I can remember. Listening to The Doors and Beatles records with my dad. I took guitar lessons growing up, played the flute in band, and eventually began to teach flute and guitar lessons. Read more>>
Regina Viqueira
I went to graduate school in NYC for Fine Art. It was expansive and inspiring, but also exhausting. By the end, I found myself questioning whether I wanted to stay in the city. When I had the opportunity to take a winter rental at the Jersey Shore, I followed the curiosity. Read more>>
Reema Issac
I always say that Premier Events began with my own wedding. I was married in New Jersey in 2015, and while the day itself was beautiful, what stayed with me most were the florals. I became completely immersed in the process the textures and the way flowers can transform a space and evoke so much emotion. Read more>>
Andy Morales
While poetry has always been my lifelong passion, my journey as a content creator truly began on Instagram in 2018, following the passing of my father. With my wife’s encouragement, I launched a podcast during the 2020 pandemic, which served as a springboard for expanding my creative reach. Read more>>
Diana Vander Valk
I spent 18 years working in education, and at my core, I’ve always been passionate about helping people grow. Helping students learn, build confidence, and discover who they were was incredibly meaningful to me. But my path to health coaching was shaped by my own personal journey—especially my struggle with infertility. That experience changed my relationship with my body and my health. Read more>>
Sona Lee
I was born in Korea, and I began painting at a young age. Naturally, I grew up dreaming of becoming an artist, and that dream has led me to where I am today. I completed both high school and my undergraduate studies in Fine arts in Korea, and later decided to move to New York to pursue my master’s degree. Read more>>
