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.
Victoria Gabriella Gonzalez
I’m Victoria Gabriella, owner and Spa Director of Moon & Vine Spa in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. I’m also a mother of two, an herbalist, esthetician, spa therapist, educator and entrepreneur, but I’ve always considered myself an artist first. I simply work with a unique medium: the human body. With every treatment, I envision the skin and body as a painting, sculpture or musical instrument. Read more>>
Joanne Bish
Joanne Kohlhepp Bish returned to her hometown, DuBois, PA, after an exciting New York City-based culinary career. Drawing on the skill set developed throughout her career in hospitality and entrepreneurship, Joanne stepped into the role of an effective marketing director at DuBois Granite & Quartz and is now the owner and General Manager of DuBois Granite and Quartz, a stone fabrication company. Read more>>
Karen Fitzpatrick
Plant a Row Lehigh Valley, for which I am now the coordinator, was founded in 2016 by Joseph Martin. Joseph grew up gardening and began volunteering at an early age with his mom at food pantries. He was an Eagle Scout, a volunteer fireman, and a member of the Knights of Columbus. He continued volunteering throughout his college years at DeSales University. Read more>>
Kenneth Paulding
My Story: From the Motor City to the Lens My journey into professional photography wasn’t a straight line, but every single stop along the way shaped the way I see the world through a camera today. The Detroit Beginnings & Learning the Craft It all started back home in Detroit. I didn’t just jump into the business; I paid my dues from the ground up. Read more>>
Cote Tapia-Marmugi
I came to the U.S. from Chile when I was eight and grew up between New York, Lansdale, and South Philly. I’ve always loved making things with my hands but it wasn’t until my late twenties that I realized baking was what I wanted to do. Read more>>
Greg Kies
Fireball BBQ Co. started with a simple passion: bringing people together through great barbecue. I’ve always believed that some of life’s best conversations happen around a grill or smoker, and I wanted to create products that could be part of those moments. I was born and raised in sunny Southern California, but Pittsburgh eventually became home and the city that inspired my business. Read more>>
Edwin Feijoo
I learned the business from my grandfather and uncle before I was old enough to drive. They taught me how to test precious metals, negotiate fairly, and understand the value of what people brought through the door. Those lessons became my foundation. At seventeen, I took a chance that many people thought was crazy. I opened my first business instead of finishing high school. Read more>>
Zachary Rutter
Art has always been the thread connecting every part of my life. What started as a kid filling sketchbooks has grown into a career I never could have imagined. Today, I’m fortunate to spend my days in two worlds I love. During the school year, I teach high school art, helping students discover their own creative voices. Read more>>
Amadea Szamosi
When Jason and I first started talking about owning a business, we knew we wanted something that would allow us to build a future together while making a positive impact on our community. Painting with a Twist stood out because it combined creativity, connection, and the opportunity to help people make lasting memories. Read more>>
Jessica Johnston
I started my business, Salt and Light Web Design, my first semester of my junior year of college. My plan was to use it as a way to get work experience prior to graduation and help pay off my loans. Read more>>
Jason Beigh
When my partners and I set out in 2019 to open a distillery, we never imagined it would eventually lead us to opening a pottery studio. After an exhaustive search, we found the perfect property: a historic firehouse built in 1900. The plan was to convert the original brick firehouse into a restaurant and bar while using an auxiliary building behind it as the distillery. Read more>>
Maria and Ivan Cordoba-Paparoni
We are originally from Venezuela, where both my husband, Iván, and I built professional careers in the legal field. I worked as a criminal court judge, and we had established a life through many years of education, discipline, and hard work. However, circumstances connected to my work and the political situation in our country eventually forced us to leave Venezuela and begin again somewhere new. Read more>>
Kellie Belcastro
Photography has a unique story for my husband and me. We gifted ourselves a starter camera for Christmas in 2019 to take photographs of our daughter. At the time, I was a registered nurse working at a local level 3 NICU in Pittsburgh. COVID hit, but my husband and I had the idea to start offering outdoor sessions for family and friends. Read more>>
Alicia Stidfole
People often ask how I went from anesthesia to aesthetics, but my story actually started even earlier. I spent seven years as a cosmetologist before becoming a registered nurse in 2006 and then a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) in 2012. Read more>>
Vanessa Capozzi
My story starts in a place most people wouldn’t expect for someone who now runs a digital marketing agency. I’m a CODA, a child of deaf adults, so sign language and advocacy were part of my life before I even had a career. It felt natural to start out in the nonprofit world, working with people with disabilities, particularly the deaf community. Read more>>
Stefanie Allison
For much of my career, I worked for a large organization in marketing and retail. I loved the work, but it required frequent travel and long hours, and as a mom of three young children, I found myself wanting more flexibility and more time for the moments that mattered most. One day, I took our oldest daughter to Wine & Design as a customer. Read more>>
Tanya Baird
My journey began with a decision that completely changed the direction of my life. After years of working in corporate America, I reached a point where I knew I needed something different. I wanted to discover who I was outside of my career, my responsibilities, and the life I had always known. Read more>>
Chad Isaiah
The creative gene runs in my family — my grandfather was an avid hobbyist photographer, my uncle played accordion, and I spent my high school years at a piano. Photography got serious in college where I was one class short of a photography minor because of a scheduling conflict, and for years after that it stayed a hobby. Read more>>
Clayton Kurtz
I’ve been at WebTek since I was in high school, and that’s really where the story starts. When I graduated, I looked at the traditional route and considered courses through HACC and Berks Technical, but when I reviewed their intro curriculums I realized I’d test out of most of it. Read more>>
Galyna Kukhniy
I am originally from Ukraine and came to the United States 20 years ago with my two-year-old daughter to join my husband in Brooklyn, New York. We lived in Brooklyn for about a year, and during that time I gave birth to my son. Later, our family bought a home in Pennsylvania and moved there to start a new chapter of our lives. Read more>>
Sophia McClennen
Happy Valley Healthy Beauty grew out of two passions that have shaped my career: helping people and believing that science can improve quality of life. While my full-time career is as a professor at Penn State, I have always been fascinated by the intersection of health, wellness, and beauty. Read more>>
Swetha Talluri
My journey began in community mental health and later in a group practice setting. While I loved the clinical work, the large caseloads and systemic pressures led to burnout. I realized that to be the best therapist for my clients, I needed to build a sustainable practice on my own terms. Read more>>
Jonas Stirner
Jonas Stirner: Between Studio and Institution The distinction between artist and curator, maker and advocate, has long been porous. For Jonas Stirner, that permeability is less a strategy than a condition of practice. Read more>>
Mitesh Patel
I did my associates in IT. Then did my bachelor’s in Business and Finance. I always have fun with numbers so I did my master’s in Accountancy. During my master’s degree I got 2 scholarships, one to do CMA (Certified Management Accountant) from my university and other for CPA (Certified Public Accountant) from the state of Pennsylvania. Read more>>
Kateryna Yevtushenko
For several years, I was searching for my path. Before that, I worked as a professional esthetician in Ukraine. Although I enjoyed helping people, I always felt a strong desire to create something with my own hands. I was looking not just for a job, but for something that truly felt like my own. Read more>>
Ryan Anderson
Since I was 4 years old with a Fisher Price camera and some toys, I have known I wanted to tell stories visually. Although others may have had a hard time following the narrative at the time, I had it in my head. My interest in storytelling had bounced around over the years. Read more>>
Cedric Smith
I grew up in Lansdowne, right outside of Philadelphia. Penn Wood School District, I played football, typical DELCO youth. During the summer I was always looking for a way to make some extra money. My older brothers worked for an Electrostatic Painting company that had a garage right across the street from the house I grew up in. Read more>>
