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.
Rahsona Elder
“I was just a kid from Paterson, NJ with a big heart and dreams. We started with two students in 1998. Last year we serviced close to 2,000 in multiple locations. Through out my career we serviced over 10K children and families. I am humbled. Grateful to God for the journey..” – Rahsona Elder (Smith), Founder Read more>>
Zeynep & Tara Khaleesi
My career has never followed one predictable path. Read more>>
Cassia Thompson 
Words have always been my first love. I began reading early, speaking even earlier, and have always held a fascination for arts and language. From a young age I was encouraged to learn as much as I can and to lean into my creativity. I was also encouraged to find ways to connect with others. The latter part has always been a struggle for me. Read more>>
Ryan Huban
What do improv comedy and creative strategy have in common? It comes down to human connection. I graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Communications Design, but it’s fair to say I minored in comedy. I never understood how one of the top-ranked art schools in the world could lack a theater program, but that gave me an opportunity to fill the gap. Read more>>
Dan Newmark
I create multimedia AI talking head video presentations for the web and PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Apple Keynote presentations for laptops to jumbo screens that intrigue, entertain, and motivate prospective customers or investors into action, featuring high-end design, advanced animation, video editing of video & audio clips, and precision formatting. Are your presentations painful? I am the doctor! Let me be your storyteller. Read more>>
Salahuddin Holmes 
My journey in stand-up comedy began over 20 years ago, but my love for making people laugh started long before I ever stepped on a stage. Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, I was always the funny kid. From elementary school through high school, I was known as the class clown and often voted the most humorous. Making people laugh came naturally to me. Read more>>
Lillian Pagano 
I am a retired teacher and enjoyed a wonderful teaching career in Ridgefield, NJ for 33 years. I’ve always loved reading and writing and have kept journals since I was a child. I have four adult children including a set of triplets. Read more>>
Stephenie Zapata 
I’m a Jersey City native, and my journey with Tiny Artisan Studio really began long before I opened the doors to our physical space. I’ve worked in early childhood education for over 10 years, and throughout my career, I developed a deep appreciation for how children learn through creativity, exploration, and hands-on experiences. Read more>>
James Kimball 
I grew up as a gamer kid, interested in fantasy and Lord of the Rings. Academics was never really a strong skill of mine and my grades in school were average or below. When given the chance to go to college, I went only for a year before talking to my parents about dropping out and starting a business. Read more>>
Alex Christopher 
Black Moon began with a simple vision: to create a piercing studio that felt like more than a place to get pierced. I wanted to build an environment where body piercing, fine jewelry, artistry, and self-expression could come together. Read more>>
Kathleen Benjamin 
My interest in beauty started as a child with my own dry, curly hair and growing up in the 70s, straight hair seemed to be the look everyone wanted. I was naturally drawn to learning how to straighten and style mine.That personal curiosity became the beginning of my lifelong interest in hair and beauty. Read more>>
Maria Polychronis 
My journey as a content creator actually started pretty unexpectedly. I was bored at home one day and decided to start posting videos on TikTok just for fun. I never imagined it would turn into something bigger, but my videos quickly started gaining attention, and I began building a following. Read more>>
Spencer Kinnard 
My name is Spencer Kinnard, tattoo artist, piercer and owner of New York Tattoo Collective located in the East Village (Manhattan) area of New York City, NY. A lifelong artist, and graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College, I began tattooing in Flatbush (Brooklyn), in the mid 2010s. Read more>>
Lori Richardson 
My story has taken quite a few twists and turns, but looking back, I can see how everything I’ve done has somehow led me right back to where I started: being creative, expressing myself, and telling stories. Apparently, creativity wasn’t going to leave me alone. 😂 I’ve always had a creative streak. As a teen, I wrote poetry and books, and I mean actual books! Read more>>
Deirdre Palm Adams 
My journey has been anything but ordinary, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! I’ve spent more than 40 years in the fashion industry, building a career that began with my love of fashion and evolved into a passion for leadership, personal growth, and empowering others. Read more>>
Corinne Messina 
Since I was a young 3 year old child, I knew I wanted to be a. part of the dance world. By the time I was 15, I knew I wanted to make an impact on the dance world and open my own studio. Read more>>
Nicholas Duers
My interest in photography began in Seattle, Washington, where I grew up and where I began my photographic pursuits . My mother had been a photographer herself, and introduced me to the work of Minor White, an influential 20th-century American photographer whose abstract images had a profound impact on me. Read more>>
Krissy Sliwoski 
Travel was always a passion of mine. So, when I left my career as a teacher to raise my kids it became something we did more frequently. Over time I went from planning small weekends trips to massive 15 people vacations to Europe all with private tours and experiences. I started making connections with small businesses and then began helping others create vacations. Read more>>
Ricardo Petroni 
I (Ricardo) started brewing in 1998, in a small apartment out of Boston MA, while doing a masters in environmental engineering at MIT. My friends gifted me a home brew kit for my birthday which quickly became part of our daily life as it sat bubbling and fermenting underneath our dining room table! Read more>>
Skylar Feldman 
At 18 years old my life took a turn. I was diagnosed with Celiac disease 7 days before my sophomore year at Penn State. I didn’t even know what this meant for my future or what I was allowed to eat from now on. I quickly removed gluten from my diet but beyond the bread, pizza and pasta, thought I was fine. Read more>>
Carolina Barreto 
For most of my life, I was never the super-organized person. That was my mother and my sister! They were both teachers and naturally amazing at keeping things organized. For me, organization was just something I did to get through everyday life. It was never something I thought much about. That changed when I became a mom. Read more>>
Felicity Lin 
We started Supermoon because of a problem we had ourselves. We wanted more protein in our day, but every shake we tried was thick, chalky, and too sweet. What we actually loved drinking were the fruit teas we grew up with at Taiwanese tea shops: light, refreshing, not too sweet. So we asked why protein couldn’t taste like that. Read more>>
Maryam Simon 
Hi, I am Maryam Simon, and along with my team, we are here to provide expert gardening advice to support you in your project. As a mother of 9-year-old twin boys, I have a passion for gardening and personally take care of my veggie garden and our yard. You are welcome to visit! Read more>>
Mary Kate Santulli 
I feel blessed to be the owner and caretaker to two amazing sister businesses. The Curious Heart Apothecary & Spiritual Boutique in Downtown Cranford and The Curious Heart Spiritual Healing Center in Fanwood, NJ. Both businesses grew out of my original business Little Flower Essential Oil Blends which is a Reiki imbued natural body care line. Read more>>
Rachael Benjamin 
I was greatly influenced by my grandmother Glaydes, she was a social worker in my small town where I grew up in eastern Kentucky. She worked for the red cross and the foster care system in the county and always brought curiosity and warmth to people she met. Read more>>
wende matejek 
I have always loved animals and wanted to work with them, but my start as a pet professional was not exactly planned. Life pushed me in different directions. my path led me to working as a project manager with an IT company. It was a business that was growing and evolving, but also often restructuring. Read more>>
Erica Ellis
I started For The Girls Who Vibe ( FTGWV ) an intimate NJ wellness and social club for women in March 2025 as it has always been an idea and dream of mine to create my own space and community for women to celebrate themselves. Read more>>
Shannon & Alfredo Echeverria 
Our journey began in 2013 when we decided to turn our love for entertaining and bringing people together into a business. As a husband-and-wife team raising three daughters, we wanted to create something special that would allow us to work together as a family while bringing happiness and unforgettable experiences to others. Read more>>
Nicole Schules 
It actually started before I even declared my college major. I took a forensic photography class that sparked my interest in photography, and shortly after, I declared my major in Fine Arts with a minor in Art History, focusing primarily on photography. I graduated from Stockton University in December 2013 knowing I wanted to be a photographer, I just wasn’t quite sure what kind yet. Read more>>
Nyssa Wiener 
I actually spent 14 years in special education before any of this. I got my Master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis and worked as a school-based BCBA, and I loved that work. I still use so much of what I learned there every day. Calligraphy happened kind of by accident. Read more>>
Chantel Richardson 
My journey really started with humble beginnings at SUNY Oswego, where I began developing my voice, figuring out what I wanted my future to look like, and realizing how much I enjoyed connecting with people and hearing their stories. Read more>>
Jamal Sahler 
My culinary journey began in Morocco, where I grew up around farming and the food culture as the son of a Moroccan professor father and an fashion designer American mother. That blend of cultures have shaped my early connection to food, leading me to begin my professional career at just 14 years old in New York City. Read more>>
Lee Angerstein 
Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be an artist. It probably all started when my mom gave me a Spider-Man comic and I immediately wanted to draw what I saw. I started drawing all the time, cartoons, comics, anime. Everything I liked I drew. Read more>>
Heather & Marie 
We are educators who went into teaching as eighteen-year-old bright eyed students who wanted to desperately make a difference in the lives of children. After over 20 years of teaching thousands of kids in various settings, it was abundantly clear that we wanted to do more. Read more>>
Nabi Jung 
When we came to Astoria, my sister and I (our names are Nabi and Dali, respectively), had just decided to move out of Arverne, Queens, and settle into a more commutable neighborhood. It was just as lockdown was ending during the COVID-19 pandemic. After a year of living in Astoria, we knew we found something special. Read more>>
Dr. Nan Wise 
I am a licensed psychotherapist, certified sex therapist, board-certified clinical hypnotherapist, certified relationship specialist with four decades of experience. I have always been fascinated by psychology and how the brain works and wanted to figure out how to help people better manage their moods and live more effectively and joyfully This journey has been one that is both professional and personal. Read more>>
lala la 
My journey has always been rooted in entrepreneurship. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and have been involved in several businesses throughout my career. I’ve never been afraid to create something, take a risk, or start over when I felt it was time for a new direction. My journey in the beauty industry began because I wanted to see more faces like mine represented. Read more>>
Shaleah Peyton 
I started my journey in the beauty industry, doing hair and makeup and modeling, without fully knowing where all of my talents would eventually take me. Beauty taught me how to work with people, build relationships, understand presentation, and create an experience but I always knew I wanted to be part of something bigger. Read more>>
Nick Schluth 
Before I ever had a real camera, I was taking pictures on whatever I had, usually my iPod or iPad. I always liked capturing things, but it wasn’t until high school that it turned into something more. A friend introduced me to wedding photography, and I was hooked pretty quickly. It didn’t happen overnight, though. Read more>>
Manuela Rios 
The Story of MAX Doula “MAX really started with my own experience as a parent. I became a mom at 19 and then again at 24, 1st generation immigrant Latina first daughter . I had two C-sections and two completely different experiences. With my first, I didn’t really have that village. I experienced postpartum depression, postpartum rage, exhaustion, and breastfeeding was extremely difficult. Read more>>
Skylar Marcoux 
https://fearlesslywalkalone.com/#our-story A terrifying personal experience turned into community impact. A few years back, I was followed home from the train one night. Luckily, I had my head on a swivel and the physical ability to protect myself and get to safety, but the aftermath was tough. I didn’t feel safe going out at night or taking the train alone. Read more>>
Stacy Niewinski 
I have always loved animals especially dogs! I knew one day someway somehow I would make my dream a reality. I started working and Fetch family pet resort part-time, checking out over 90 daycare dogs a day! I witnessed many stressed out pup parents struggling to make it their on time to pick up their pups. Read more>>
Nkasi Akpaka 
I worked for an organization that claimed to advocate for Black women, yet I was treated differently and denied opportunities because of the color of my skin. I felt used as a token to create the appearance of diversity while being silenced, belittled, and overlooked within that same organization. Read more>>
Melanie Wilson
Life and Soul began with loss. My dad, Tony Wilson, was truly the life and soul of the party, and losing him, along with my grandparents, my Uncle Tommy, my friend and colleague Aimee, and even a beloved stranger, showed me how much grief shapes a life. Read more>>
Barbie Patel 
I actually started my career in the corporate world, but I always knew I wanted to build something of my own. My journey into the beauty industry started when I was planning my own wedding and struggled to find hair and makeup artists who understood my skin tone and hair. Read more>>
D’Andra Henriques 
I have been a hairstylist for over 20 years, and wanted to pursue my dream opening a cafe. But I wanted it to be more than a cafe, I wanted to create a community hub for people to gather. So I began the journey of creating P23 cafe. Read more>>
Maurianna Dinkins
Where to begin! I’ve always been a creative person. Growing up, I was the kid who was constantly drawing, making something, experimenting, or finding any excuse to turn an idea into something tangible. I loved taking an idea that existed only in my imagination and bringing it to life. Looking back, I probably should’ve known then that I’d eventually end up in a creative career. Read more>>
Chandni Mistry
My passion for wedding planning began in 2010, when I planned my sister’s wedding. Somewhere between managing vendors and coordinating multiple days of events, I realized I loved every minute of it. But I set it aside, went to college, and finished my higher education first. Read more>>
