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.
Catherine Murcia 
It all started in 2024, after I had my firstborn son. I never imagined myself owning a business. It was never part of some big plan I had for my life, but looking back, I truly believe God was opening doors for me before I even knew where they would lead. Read more>>
Gabriel Winters 
G Beats Records was founded in 2019 when I was 12. First was started by I, Gabriel Winters. Then in 2022, my friend Atlas Hubbard joined and became the Co-Founder. G Beats Records is a Christian record label in Roseburg, Oregon. We still don’t have a physical location but we do have plans for the future. Our studio is basically, our bedrooms or the outdoors. Read more>>
Lora Hurt 
We’re Casey and Lora Hurt, and we’ve both always been creators. Casey is a musician and songwriter, and Lora is a songwriter and artist, so in many ways Art & Music has become a natural extension of who we are and what we love. Read more>>
Kathi Barguil 
I grew up feeling like I was “ni de aquí ni de allá.” I was born in Cartagena, Colombia, part of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, and grew up in the most diverse place in the world, Queens, NY. Read more>>
Tobias Ryan 
I am a writer and psychologist in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. It is a great privilege to be asked to share my story with the Voyage Washington Magazine. When I was contacted in July 2026 and asked to participate in a profile on my work, I felt humbled at the opportunity. I started writing essays, poetry, and stories in elementary school. Read more>>
Erin Wood 
Flowers have always had a special place in my life. As a child I would make little arrangements out of the fallen azalea and rhododendron blooms that grew around my childhood home. My sisters and I loved gathering wildflowers in the spring around our parent’s rural property and presenting them to our mother. I also loved singing and classic musical productions. Read more>>
Shane Hayes 
I never set out to start a marketing business. I simply kept noticing the same problem: local businesses and organizations had incredible stories, but many didn’t have the time, resources, or expertise to share them effectively. Read more>>
Ron Berrett 
A Los Angeles native, I grew up in the 1970s in the Pasadena area but also spent a lot of time at the beach and the Irvine/Newport Beach area where my father lived. Everybody in LA aspires to be an actor or a musician, and I dabbled in both. Read more>>
Amy Stewart 
Our Story A Family Trade. An Artist’s Eye. A Craft Refined Over Generations. The story of Exquisite Plaster & Design began long before it had a name. At just 12 years old, I started working alongside my dad in the contracting field. I grew up learning how homes were built, painted, repaired, and transformed—not from a textbook, but by being there and doing the work. Read more>>
kirsten appel 
I’ve always been driven by a passion for creating beautiful spaces, solving problems, and making things work. Before moving to Bend, I spent 12 years building and running a successful business in the trendy Northwest Portland area, where I developed a strong foundation in design, construction, and client service. Read more>>
Allison Gilmore 
Okay…we are going to start way back. I was born on Mother’s Day…JUST KIDDING. Though, we are going to start in grade school. When I was in grade school, I felt the call to missions. I always imagined I would find myself living somewhere overseas, serving others. I was ready to go whenever the door opened. Read more>>
Jill Amy Sager 
I received my first Tarot reading from a friend in the late 1970s. I had no idea what Tarot was or what it could do. I remember sitting on Janet’s bed, watching her as she laid out the cards. The pictures were strange, but the cards seem to know me. During that initial reading, I felt validated, understood, and supported. I was hooked. Read more>>
Karen Baltz Gibbs 
I knew exactly what I wanted to do at sixteen years old, standing in the career office at my high school in Ronan, Montana. I opened a booklet, found the page describing Physical Therapy, and felt something click — this was how I wanted to help people. Read more>>
Michelle Simmons 
I’ve been a “creative” as far back as I can remember. An empath, too. Feeling what others feel, putting words to it when they couldn’t find their own, and singing, drawing, and writing to make sense of the world. And when I got my first camera at age 9, it became my new favorite way of remembering. Read more>>
Thurman Willis 
I’ve been involved in music since childhood in St. Louis, MO. Music has always been apart of my life no matter where life has taken me. I started to take music seriously in the summer of 2020, while moving to Las Vegas where I started producing & recording multiple artist full time. Read more>>
Austin Gurley 
My journey started at six years old when my biological father gave me my first drum set. What began as a childhood hobby quickly became a passion. I wrote my first song in sixth grade and by sixteen, I was recording music and building with my childhood best friend, chasing the same dream together. Read more>>
Sally Golden 
I am a homegrown, hometown girl raised in Springfield, Oregon by a humble milkman father and an in-home daycare mother, both of whom prioritized my education and development and gave me a childhood of dreams. For 22 years I have taught special education in the same district that helped raise me! Read more>>
Joy Gregory 
After 18 years in Radio Broadcasting (Portland, Eugene, Bend, Monterey CA) I started my second career as a Graphic Designer in 2007. As a single mom, my 5 year old son and I moved from Eugene to Lincoln City in 2010 where I started producing ads for the local newspaper and volunteer designing for the Oregon Coast Community College Foundation. Read more>>
Leiken Pollock 
What got me to where I am today? I got pregnant at 20 and I worked in the medical field from 2015–2022. I’ve always loved helping people and making them feel cared for. At the end of 2022, things weren’t working out with my job, and I also found out I was unexpectedly pregnant. Read more>>
Sienna Skinner 
I first started film back in high school, and have been a huge fan of it since then, specifically horror films. For the past 3 years, I have been putting together & funding a short film titled Camp Carnage, inspired by the 80s horror films that I grew up on. Read more>>
Amber Ferguson 
Rogue Food Unites (RFU) was formed in 2020 in response to the dual disasters of the Labor Day Fires and the impacts of COVID-19 on local communities in the Rogue Valley. Read more>>
Katelynn Walters 
My journey into wedding and event planning really started with a love for bringing people together, creating beautiful spaces, and being the person behind the scenes making sure all the little details come together. Read more>>
Ishaan & Neev Kodarapu 
Chess has been a big part of our lives for as long as we can remember. We grew up playing tournaments, working with coaches, traveling to competitions, and experiencing our fair share of wins and losses. Then COVID happened, and almost everything in the chess community shut down. Read more>>
Olivia Ontkean 
Before this, I was merely a competitive dance coach with a love for almost all animals. I found myself in the business of breeding jumping spiders after making a personal choice to tackle my lifelong arachnophobia through education and exposure therapy. Read more>>
No Face 
I began my project NoFace in January of 2025 but the actual story begins a few months prior. I was at a house party with some friends and someone brought out a DJ deck and I was immediately hooked. I watched that DJ all night trying to figure out how they were doing transitions and doubles and chops. Read more>>
Shane Watterson 
Level Beer was founded by Geoff Phillips, Jason Barbee and Shane Watterson. We opened in 2017. Geoff was the owner of Bailey’s Taproom, Jason and Shane met working at the Deschutes PDX Pub in 2007 and worked together for 3 years. Shane took a brewing job at Laurelwood in 2010 and worked there until 2016. Read more>>
