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.
Hananiah Hardin
I started doing photography in 2023 as a hobby after a breakup. During that time, I haven’t done a lot in my life since COVID, so I wanted to join and be a part of the Kalamazoo community I have seen from afar for many years. Read more>>
Dr. Marcus Collins
My story is one that I think a lot of people can relate to in some ways – it has had plenty of twists and turns along the way. I started out in engineering, which is interesting because it was not necessarily my calling. Like many people, I went into it because I was good at it, not necessarily because it was my passion. Read more>>
Keia Barlow
Starting an interior decorating business as a young adult with no entrepreneurial experience while being a full-time student and stepping away from a full-time job has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding journeys of my life. Throughout this season, I’ve been navigating life, discovering who I am, strengthening my relationship with the Lord, and overcoming unseen obstacles. Read more>>
Yolanda Pope
My story really starts on the floor. I spent years working as a Licensed Practical Nurse in senior living and post-acute care — bedside, in the trenches, watching what happened to people when the system ran out of room for them. I saw seniors discharged from hospitals with nowhere safe to go. I watched people lose their housing because no one was coordinating their care. Read more>>
Nevaeha Bledsoe
My name is Nevaeha Bledsoe, and I’m the founder of Narvae, a fitness and lifestyle brand inspired by discipline, confidence, and becoming the best version of yourself. I originally created the idea for my brand in 2023 during a season where I felt very lost and was still trying to figure myself out. Read more>>
Caitlin Eyk
I started my career in hair in Royal Oak right out of high school. I then moved to Grand Rapids in 2011 after meeting my now husband at Electric Forest Music Festival. I was young and crazy but it’s panned out well. I worked at a series of somewhat traumatizing salons around the city before I took my career into my own hands. Read more>>
Pam Lenning
In 2019, we started a women-owned and operated family business based on my dad’s family recipe that comes from Tennessee. Accordingly, we named our product ‘Sherman’s Tennessee Hot Crackers.’ We got started out of our home kitchen using the cottage law. The whole family got involved and we joined local farmer’s markets & events. Read more>>
sara bain
Growing up with my mom who was a hairstylist, I was enthralled from a very young age by the beauty industry and dreamed of one day becoming a stylist myself. What started as foiling Barbie heads eventually turned into a beloved career after graduating cosmetology school in 2013. Read more>>
Anthony Swint
I was born and raised in Newark, and photography has been a passion of mine since I was young. I really found my love for it in high school when I photographed my first fashion show in 2009. That experience opened my eyes creatively and inspired me to take photography more seriously. Read more>>
Bailey Hill
I started photography because I loved the feeling of capturing people as they really are. The connection, the emotion, and the moments that matter most. What began as a creative passion slowly turned into something much bigger as more people trusted me to document some of the biggest days of their lives. Read more>>
Jim Schatz & Peter Souza
When we started, we were simply making objects we believed in. Forms that felt honest. Pieces meant to be held, used, lived with. We didn’t have a long-term plan so much as a deep curiosity — about material, process, and how handmade objects could quietly shape the spaces people call home. Read more>>
Justine Altman
My journey into wellness didn’t start in a classroom. It started in the waiting room. By the time I hit my twenties, I wasn’t just “tired”. I was drowning in a sea of diagnoses. We’re talking PCOS, infertility, obesity, acne, chronic headaches, IBS, diabetes, and debilitating panic attacks. Read more>>
Bradley Goff
My journey with art began in high school, where I immersed myself in every art class available. That passion led me to Central Michigan University, where I earned my BS in Art Education. While I spent a few years teaching high school art, I eventually realized my true calling was in the practice of art rather than the instruction of it. Read more>>
Breeann Stallings
My name is Breeann Stallings, founder of Bree Dion Doula Services. I am a certified birth and postpartum doula serving families throughout the Metro Detroit area. A doula is a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support throughout pregnancy, labor, birth, and the postpartum period. Read more>>
Rachel Villegas
I started making earrings in 2019 part-time to pay for my daughter‘s braces. I started out with leather earrings and then transitioned to polymer clay in 2020 and most recently laser-cut acrylic and wood to have more creative options. I started out doing small local craft shows. It wasn’t easy at first, the sales weren’t the best. Read more>>
Gabrielle Caruthers
As a mother, a wife and creative entrepreneur, my goal in life is to find a balance with my craft and build my podcast community. For 20 years, my work bridges cultural arts, education, and storytelling, to inspire communities as a dance educator, podcast producer and digital media enthusiast. Read more>>
Samantha White
My journey with Massage started back in 2018. A little before that I had been very sick in the hospital for a few weeks and nobody could figure out what was going on with me, but I will never forget the care I got from the nurses. Read more>>
Emily Hager
I first started in 2000 as a school based community mental health social worker in Columbia. TN. I was very green and had hope for the world, I trusted all my training from school, I soon learned that what was taught is very different from the reality of being a front line provider. Read more>>
Sarah Qasem
I’m a marketing student who is passionate about capturing meaningful moments and helping businesses grow through authentic storytelling and authentic/ creative content. My interest in marketing started from seeing how genuine brands can connect with people and create lasting impressions. Read more>>
Leanna LaCross
I’ve lived in Northern Michigan my entire life, and animals have always been part of my world. I grew up around horses, dogs, and country life, so that connection with animals has always come naturally to me. Other than my time away for military, college, I’ve never really gone through life without a dog by my side. Read more>>
Matthew ‘Mo’ Gerhardt
I’m a lifelong Michigan State Spartan, a former longtime MSU staff member, and someone who has spent my entire life navigating the world with muscular dystrophy and using a wheelchair. A lot of my story really centers around community, inclusion, and trying to create spaces where people feel seen. Read more>>
Katie Crosby
I’ve spent most of my life highly curious, wanting to understand people, and especially children. Long before becoming an occupational therapist, I was the one babysitting constantly, nannying, volunteering in various kid settings and domestic violence shelters – overall naturally gravitating toward children and families. Read more>>
Kris Leipprandt
After three decades away living in New York, California and North Carolina, I have returned to the familiar embrace of my childhood hometown in Michigan’s Thumb, where memories of warm summer days by the lake still resonate. Read more>>
Emily Pearl Reist
How to Handyma’am is a podcast and education arm of our main construction business. Samantha Pearl (my mom) and I started working on the house her and my dad bought in 2020. It was an old house from 1856 and needed a lot of work done to it. Read more>>
Anison Roberts
I am the Impaler. The lead singer of N2 submission (A goth electronic band) and Dangerous Pleasure (old school hard rock band) I also do some solo stuff. All of us have music on you tube and CD baby. I am also the host of horrorcity Detroit, available on youtube. Read more>>
