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.
Nicole Contursi
My journey to becoming a cake designer has been anything but traditional. Long before Purple Cow Cakery, I spent decades working in finance. But even then, baking was always part of my life. Nearly twenty years ago, my husband owned a restaurant, and I started making desserts for the menu in the evenings and on weekends. Read more>>
Judith Lindenberger
I worked in human resources for about fifteen years, first working for the federal government designing and conducting EEOC training, then for a bank as the Manager of Management Development, and then for Brown-Forman Corporation as an international HR partner. I had always dreamed of owning my own business and had two mentors in my life who urged me to go forward. Read more>>
Connor Evans
I got involved in maintenance services at a young age during high school, working all day throughout the summers. I would typically work 40-50 hours a week almost every week during the summer for my family’s property management company. My pay was $8 an hour, and it increased $2 per summer. Read more>>
Steven Bridgemohan
My journey with Now Fitness began through two passions that have always been a major part of my life: fitness and entrepreneurship. Growing up, I was fascinated by working out and becoming a healthier, stronger version of myself. The gym became a place where I could walk in feeling one way and leave feeling better, both physically and mentally. Read more>>
Adeja Shivonne
Growing up in Piscataway as a first generation Jamaican American and the eldest of three, advocacy was practically in my DNA. Pair that with a lifelong love for cameras and the stage, and law school felt like the obvious path, until one month before I was set to leave for college. Read more>>
Michael Maroney Jr
My father started the company, Universal Mailing Service, almost 50 years ago. I began working at Universal (UMS) 47 years ago. We started by working in my dad’s garage, then moved into the back warehouse of a local printer. Today we are in an 85,000 square foot facility. We employ 85 full-time employees and a variety of temps as needed. Read more>>
Andrew Sherman and Ken Cairns
Andrew and I worked together as barbers before we became business partners. Over time, we realized we had a similar idea of what a barbershop should be. We wanted to create a better experience for the clients, but also a better place for barbers to work. Opening our first Philadelphia Barber Company location was where everything really started. Read more>>
YAFEI ZHANG
My journey into architecture stems from a conviction that spaces must be fundamentally human-centered—not static monuments, but living environments hyper-customized to fit the unique identity and daily rituals of each owner. After years directing landmark corporate developments and high-density urban projects at top-tier global architecture firms, I identified a critical industry gap: high-end design often sacrificed structural precision for aesthetics, or technical compliance for speed. Read more>>
Nicole Savkov
I was born and raised in northern New Jersey, but I always dreamed of building a life that was more connected to the land, animals, and nature. That dream led me to Cape May County, where I created Meraki Farm—a place that has become both my home and my passion. My professional career actually began in a very different world. Read more>>
Alex Cheparev
ThemeTown started with my wife Tara and me sitting at the kitchen table, house hunting, and drowning in browser tabs. We had listings open on one site, school ratings on another, flood maps on a third, and a spreadsheet trying to hold it all together. The homes themselves were the easy part. What we really wanted to know was everything around them. Read more>>
Sam Serkan Korkmaz
My story began far from New Jersey. I grew up in Turkey in a family that faced many hardships. After my parents divorced, my mother worked extremely hard to provide food and shelter for my siblings and me. Life was not easy, and I began working when I was only six years old. Read more>>
