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.
Holly Flowers
Lavender Vale Farms has really been a labor of love. My family moved to our property in 2018 with the dream of creating something beautiful that we could share with others. What started as a small lavender planting has gradually grown into a destination where people can slow down, reconnect with nature, and make lasting memories. Read more>>
Heidi Bannon
I was interested in writing and photography when I was in high school, but I fell away from it when I moved from Montana to Virginia when I graduated. I joined the Air Force, and as kismet happens, my career field was Combat Photography and Photojournalism. Time and technology fast forward with some well timed luck and here we are. Read more>>
Dezerae Jobe
I started photography 12 years ago with a dream of building a life and career around something I truly loved. At the time, I was working at a plywood mill and taking on other jobs while building my photography business from the ground up. I worked incredibly hard to make it happen. Read more>>
Morgan Glass
I have always had a love for as long as I can remember. I just turned it into a job in this last year or so. My granny got me into it. There’s a picture of me, as a kid, standing behind her old camera in my pink and white striped Winnie the Pooh swimsuit. She was such an amazing woman! Read more>>
Katrina McGiffin
I never set out to be an energy healer, but there are some callings in life that relentlessly call you forward, no matter how many times you try to reroute or take a path that makes sense. I spent my childhood steeped in the deep woods of Southern Oregon, a place of real beauty that was also marked by moments of trauma. Read more>>
Aidan Jenkins
I fell in love with performing during my fifth-grade play about colonization, where I played Sir Francis Drake. I thought the script could use some touch-ups, so I ended up rewriting my lines to make them funnier. I made my parents buy all these crazy costume pieces and did my best British accent. Read more>>
Anastasiya Dezhnyuk
I have always been fascinated by plants. As a child, I collected and pressed flowers and leaves, and by high school I had decided I wanted to pursue naturopathic medicine to study the medicinal value of plants. Instead, I chose to study Botany at Portland State University, where I earned my degree. Read more>>
Vaja Alaya-Maitreya
I grew up in a huge family filled with interesting characters, and I have always enjoyed interacting with people and celebrating the various ways we all find a sense of self in the world. A fashion school dropout, I ended up studying vocal performance and ethnomusicology, again drawn to the human aspect of expression and connection. Read more>>
David Lee
I spent years working as a professor of geriatrics and clinical pharmacist. Day in and day out, I kept seeing the same heartbreaking pattern: aging parents taking 10, 12, or 15 different pills, while their adult children sat across from them completely overwhelmed by a kitchen counter covered in pill bottles. Read more>>
Hannah Mapes
I’ve been working in the fitness industry for the past 14 years. I started out teaching group fitness classes, and I quickly realized that what I loved most wasn’t just exercise, it was bringing people together to build community and improve their health. That passion led me to become a certified personal trainer and Pilates instructor. Read more>>
Hans Dietrich Messerschmidt
I was raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, from the age of four, with brief periods living in Pullman, Washington, Washington, D.C., and Calgary, Alberta. Growing up surrounded by the Himalayas, ancient cultures, and international perspectives had a profound influence on how I see the world and ultimately shaped both my creative career and my lifelong curiosity. Read more>>
Ryan Fidrick
My creative path started early — I was twelve when I found myself on a film set, helping out as a camera assistant on an indie project. That experience opened the door to years of work as a cinematographer and director of photography on film, commercial, and television productions, where I learned to think visually and turn ideas into images. Read more>>
Mae Yuuki
When people think about architecture, many may picture beautiful homes. I also think about how those homes feel to live in. Can you breathe easily? Do you wake up feeling rested and restored? Does the space help you feel calm, energized, and connected to nature? I grew up in the Pacific Northwest surrounded by forests, mountains, rivers, and the Oregon coast. Read more>>
David Masters
Oh man, how to begin? I hope you have an editor ready to go. The journey into our current business was anything but linear. We moved to Southern Oregon from Cleveland, Ohio, in September 2014. It was never the plan. In fact, we were planning to move to New York before we found out we were expecting. Read more>>
Sabrina Rempp
As a young child I discovered that I could see spirit in form after experiencing a visitation in the night from my deceased younger sister who had recently drowned, I have always been very in tune with my surroundings and the energies present. Read more>>
Cheryl Reinhart
My sister and I started Sweet Life as a home business when we were in our mid-twenties. We had bought a house in Eugene in 1992, and in 1993 we converted our one-car garage into a tiny commercial bakery. Our vision was to make decadent cakes that not only looked beautiful, but were made with the best ingredients, using organic local and GMO-free ingredients. Read more>>
Dr. Brianna Husby
Charles Dickens wrote in Great Expectations, ‘Imagine one selected day struck out of your life, and think how different the course would have been. Read more>>
Lydia Jackson
I started my nonprofit The Leilani Foundation based off of my own lived experienced. I’m a women of color who lost their infant due to concerns not being heard or taken into serious consideration days before my daughters Leilani’s due date. She was pronounced dead Nov 7th 2022 I delivered vaginally Leilani was (stillborn) at 39 weeks. Read more>>
Tanner Taylor
My name is Tanner Taylor, and I’m the owner of Taylor Pro Exteriors in Southern Oregon. For years, I worked in sales and business development, helping other companies grow while carrying a dream in the back of my mind that someday I would build something of my own. I’ve always believed in hard work, serving people well, and doing things the right way. Read more>>
Faith Talbot
My name is Faith. I grew up in a big family located primarily in the Midwest but moved around regularly for my Dads job. When I was 6 I had my first pony ride and the rest was history from there. My teens years was spent involved in 4-H, FFA, rodeo and anything horse related I could get myself into. Read more>>
Jess Beers
When people ask what I do, the answer is usually, ‘A little bit of everything—and I wouldn’t have it any other way!’ I found speech-language pathology as a second career, and one of the things I love most about this profession is how many different directions it can take you. Read more>>
Karrin Shriner
I’m a person who wears multiple hats. I model/ make content which I started in 2020, I am a Turo host (started in 2022), a full time mom and a life coach for athletes! Every single one of those hats I love and enjoy for different reasons. Read more>>
Kim Clark
My journey into aesthetics was never just about skincare—it was about creating a better life for my daughter, Reese, and me. In 2012, I opened my first business, in Seaside OR while going through a divorce, during one of the most uncertain seasons of my life. It took resilience, determination, and a willingness to bet on myself. Read more>>
Holly Marie
I grew up being constantly sick. I had horrible digestive issues, extreme depression and over-all body pain. I would experience tonsilitis over and over, too. I tried conventional or allopathic remedies, which failed. I tried alternative therapies such as Chinese herbs, acupuncture and a high dose of probiotics, which definitely helped quite a bit but there was still a major missing piece. Read more>>
Paula Prober
My first job out of college was teaching sixth grade in a middle school. I was one of those teachers who didn’t follow the traditional path of worksheets, textbooks, and lectures that were popular at the time. My classroom was project-based, interdisciplinary, and often noisy with students working together reading and researching from newspapers and library books on current events and personal interests. Read more>>
Tara Ferrara
I started ‘procrasti-baking’ in college while I was studying psychology and philosophy. Specifically when I couldn’t pay attention to another word on the Socratic Method and needed a break. I baked random cupcake recipes from baking books my friends and I had thrifted. I tried new recipes and loved the act of frosting and decorating. Read more>>
Dr. Linné Linder
It didn’t start with a five-year plan. It started with watching my mom get real results from an herbalist—the kind of results conventional medicine hadn’t been able to give her at the time. I remember telling that herbalist, ‘I want to do what you do.’ She looked at me and said, ‘You’re young. Go further than I did. Go to medical school.’ So I did. Read more>>
Isha Lerner
I grew up in the 1950s in a family that did not resemble the traditional white-picket-fence ideal. And yet, it was perfect for the life I was meant to live. I was raised within a household of strong and unique individuals; my mother, sister, grandfather, and aunt, each of whom played an enormous role in my life. Read more>>
Jen Keady
Forrest and I made the decision to move our family of five to Burns, Oregon, full-time in the fall of 2013. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Forrest has always had an incredible eye for creativity and detail. Read more>>
Vivian Hensley
My Story I was born in Santa Cruz, California, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area by an incredible single mother. She raised five children—two boys and three girls—with determination, resilience, and unwavering love. She worked a variety of jobs throughout the years and, at one point, even became a hypnotherapist. Read more>>
Liz and Clayton Hoff
Our journey to Vida Baking started years before we ever imagined calling Ashland home. We met while working at the C&O Trattoria in Venice Beach, California. From the very beginning of our relationship, we would talk about one day opening a breakfast place together. Read more>>
Erika Copeland
Our story began in a place most entrepreneurs rarely talk about openly: survival. In 2020, my life unraveled in ways I never could have prepared for. I lost both my father and my sister. Read more>>
