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.
Sara Brennan
My husband and I founded Trail Distilling nearly ten years ago, inspired by a shared passion for spirits and a desire to create something meaningful in our community. Read more>>
Jud Turner
I grew up in Eugene, Oregon, and I’ve been making things for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t start out with a clear plan to become a professional artist. I studied Sociology and Fine Art at the University of Oregon and worked in social services for a number of years. In 1995, I took a Welding for Artists class at Lane Community College, and that really changed the direction of my life. Read more>>
Carolyn “Cat” Dooley 
My journey as a business owner has been shaped by resilience, faith, hard work, creativity, and a genuine desire to serve others. I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset. I enjoy seeing possibilities where others may see challenges, and I have never been afraid to work hard, learn as I go, and build something from the ground up. Read more>>
Nicole Kennedy 
I was raised in a family of entrepreneurs, so building something of my own always felt natural. My mother has been a real estate investor for decades; she purchased her first home at just 19. My father owned a sports retail store in Mall 205, and my stepfather ran a thriving meat market that, in the ’90s, served the best fried catfish in town. Read more>>
Jared Lombardo 
I grew up in Sacramento with the persistent dream of living creatively. This is why I have had a camera in my hand since the fourth grade. Growing up, my friends and I would make short films on our summer vacations. Read more>>
Selena Lopez 
My story as a make up lover begins as early as I can remember. Being named after the iconic “Queen of Tejano Music” Selena Quintanilla-Perez played an important role. Outside of her beautiful voice she was known for her dazzling style and iconic red lips aka makeup! As a first generation Mexican-American I grew up mesmerized. Read more>>
Annie Berry
Growing up, I always gravitated towards doing anything visually creative that I could. Whether it was hot gluing together a new dress for my Barbie or creating a drawing for my school’s yearbook cover, I loved the process of brainstorming and bringing something to life that didn’t exist before. Read more>>
Cat Dossett 
I was born and raised in Alaska and was an artist from a young age. Once I got my first camera in middle school I really never stopped clicking. Read more>>
Martha Morales 
Pura Vida Mobile Bartending Services started from a simple idea in 2024, and my first event was that summer. In the beginning, I was learning not only the bartending side, but also everything that goes into running a professional business — communicating with clients, preparing for events, working with venues, handling insurance requirements, and making sure all the details were taken care of. Read more>>
Acoustic Minds 
Acoustic Minds, also known as The AM, is a Portland-based band fronted by identical twin sisters Amanda and Jenni Price. The twins began singing with their father at just two years old, starting a lifelong musical journey that has taken them around the world and led them to lend their signature harmonies and vocals to hundreds of songs. Read more>>
Manuella Dourado 
I like to joke that since I was 18, I’ve been eating blueprints for breakfast! Or even before, when I was a kid and would spend afternoons at my uncle’s engineer firm, drawing at the drafting table! My career started in Brazil, where I’m originally from. I spent 6 years at architecture school at a University there. Read more>>
Maegen Hindson 
Cascades Cannery really started with a simple observation: Central Oregon grows an incredible amount of beautiful food, but our growing season is short, and not everything grown here has a clear path to market before it spoils. Read more>>
Mitchell Peterson 
I’m Mitchell Peterson, owner and operator of Blue Collar Detail Co., a mobile detailing business based in Junction City, Oregon. Before starting the business, I spent years working in scaffold erection, carpentry, welding, excavation, septic work, the tire industry, and other hands-on trades. That background taught me how to show up, work hard, solve problems, and stand behind anything with my name attached to it. Read more>>
Zoe Shepard 
My story starts in 2021. I had spent the previous seven years working in restaurants, and after the pandemic took such a toll on the industry, I found myself wondering what I wanted to do next. The answer came in a pretty unexpected way. I was out to dinner with my aunt when someone complimented my nails and asked for my nail tech’s number. Read more>>
Hattie Kirby 
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a deep connection with animals. My family would always joke that I was going to be a veterinarian someday, and that’s still the ultimate goal! As soon as I was old enough, I started volunteering and looking for any opportunity to get involved in animal rescue. Read more>>
Christina Gomez 
Gomez Getaway started in the most unexpected way; I wanted another puppy! Instead of immediately bringing one home, like I normally would do, I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll just babysit my friend’s new puppy and get my puppy fix that way.: Pretty quickly, I realized… wait, I’m actually really good at this. Read more>>
Erik Abel 
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an artist. There never seemed to be another option. Art has been a part of my life from the very beginning. Art is my purpose. I painted and drew heavily throughout childhood and high school, illustrated a children’s book when I was 16, and started my own commercial mural business in 11th grade. Read more>>
Cris Cordero 
I started writing music and playing instruments around the age of 11 or 12. Shortly after that my parents bought me a 4 track tape recorder and I started developing an interest in recording. Throughout my teens I used the 4 track to record my songs and other local bands that I knew. Read more>>
Cara Villarreal 
My story really starts with my tias. Growing up, I was always surrounded by their stories, their wisdom, their ways of caring for family, and those little pieces of cosmic and herbal relationships that stay with you. I didn’t fully understand how meaningful it all was when I was younger, but I knew there was something special about the way they moved through the world. Read more>>
Allie Parkin 
I started my pottery journey in 2015. I had been attending classes at our local community college and all I had left was electives for my associates degree, so I used up all of my elective credits in the pottery studio. It was a pretty incredible space, they had everything! Read more>>
Kaleigh Llama
I have painted and drawn since I was two years old – it’s been a steady thread through my life. I feel deeply connected to nature, including animals, trees, birds, oceans, and mountains. My cross-country journey first took shape in my mind while attending Fine Art College (FIT) in NYC as a teenager. Read more>>
Melissa Contois
It all started for me walking into that metaphysical shop as a young girl. It opened a sense of wonder and belonging in me. I always stood out, and being in a small town in Eastern Oregon, that wasn’t always a good thing. I always felt like I was too much. Read more>>
Adam Mazzaferro 
Growing up, I always had an interest in healthcare and knew from a young age that I wanted a career where I could help people. Chiropractic care was a big part of my own life growing up, helping me feel my best and recover from sports and motorcycle racing. Those experiences ultimately inspired me to pursue a career in chiropractic. Read more>>
Sarah Swoffer 
I’ve always been an artist and a teacher. During COVID, when everything moved online, I started teaching backyard art classes which turned into my business: Lets Paint, LLC. We were literally creating art in the garden (painting while kids picked raspberries, strawberries and cherry tomatoes). Over the next few years something became really clear to me: people didn’t just need something to do. Read more>>
Silas Randles 
For me it started with a GoPro back in eighth grade. I thought it looked fun and my friends and I started messing around while mountain biking. We’d make bike edits and posted them to YouTube, and something clicked, it was just really fun and fascinating. That led to yearbook class, borrowing the camera for the summer, then eventually buying my own. Read more>>
Destin Cramer
When I was a kid, I was sent to therapy for a traumatic situation that occurred and deeply affected me, I struggled a lot with anxiety, depression, and ptsd throughout my childhood and didn’t know how to verbalize what I was experiencing. Read more>>
Adrienne Lambing 
I started Painted Petal Gardens in 2025, but I have always had a garden and have grown flowers, fruits and vegetables. I’ve actually lived on this property since 1976, when my parents purchased the land and built the house. Read more>>
Adam Shumaker 
Adam has been a certified personal trainer since 2013. With a background as a visual artist, musician, professional copywriter and English Teacher, Adam loves to bring creativity, humor and abstract thinking into his sessions. Read more>>
Nash Anderson
I’m Nash Anderson, I run Trans Medic Transmissions in Gresham. Before this, I spent more than a decade in tech running global operations and supply chain — big budgets, complex systems, diverse teams. I was good at it. I wasn’t present enough for my family. About four years ago I decided to change that. Read more>>
Dezarea Strauch 
My path to entrepreneurship actually started long before SalakSolutions. My first job was as a Visual Merchandiser for Tilly’s, a retail chain, where I managed everything customers saw in the store: window displays, dressing mannequins, wall displays, and mixing and matching clothes and accessories to create a specific vibe. Read more>>
Melody Jordan 
My path to becoming a creative agency owner has been anything but linear, although creativity and technology have been the thread running through almost all of it. I’ve been interested in media production, photography, web design and creative direction since I was a kid. Read more>>
Katlyn Louthan
My journey into makeup began long before I ever imagined it could become a career. Growing up in the pageant world, I discovered my love for makeup and beauty and the way makeup could transform not only how someone looked, but also how confident and beautiful they felt. Still, I never imagined it could become a career for me. Read more>>
RACHEL LONDON
Topsy Blends really started because I was trying to solve a problem in my own life. For years, I dealt with chronic stomach pain and nausea on an almost daily basis. I had been to doctors, changed my diet, tried different exercise routines and home remedies, and nothing seemed to make much of a difference. Eventually, my sister introduced me to essential oils. Read more>>
Darren Peters
I dunno, I really haven’t thought about my personal story. Would probably be a better thing to talk about. I also really have a story more for DJ Disco Dino, as they are kind the persona I use for DJing. I tend to focus more of the music, persona, and dinosaur aspect of DJ Disco Dino, rather than my actual self. Read more>>
