The heart of our mission at VoyageDenver is to find the amazing souls that breathe life into our city. In the recent weeks, we’ve had the privilege to connect with some of the Denver’s finest artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and rabble rousers and we can’t begin to express how impressed we are with the city’s incredibly deep talent pool. Check out Denver’s rising stars below.
Julian Estrada Brier
I have been making stories since I was a child. Little comics being torn away by teachers’ hands in class. During school all I wanted to do was draw comics to tell a story. And as the stories buzzed around my head, my skills as an artist had grown- eventually leading to my parents enrolling me at Denver School of the Arts. Read more>>
Shannon Scott
I beame a first-time homeowner in my twenties, and I knew right then I wanted to help other people buy homes. Lots of life happened before I became a real estate agent — I walked through that door professionally in 2019, my lifelong dream became reality. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs who owned several companies. I’ve worked for many small businesses. Read more>>
Stephanie Lane
My journey in the beauty industry began in 2006, driven by a deep passion for helping women elevate their natural confidence and radiance. I spent my early career as an educator and photoshoot artist for premier brands like Bare Minerals and Jane Iredale before taking the leap into freelancing and launching Be Love Cosmetics in 2013. Read more>>
Terra Apothecary
Terra Apothecary was founded by Jessica Haley and Dylan McKay, a pair of friends that were unhappy working corporate jobs and wanted to step away to build something we were actually passionate about. We opened our first small location in 2017 and eventually moved to South Broadway in 2019, where we renovated the entire space from the ground up. Read more>>
Philip Goodlaxson
My wife, Autumn, and I came to Denver nearly 20 years ago after working for several years in Chicago with the intention of starting a coffee business. Here in Arvada, I purchased a small roaster on ebay in 2009 for a few thousand dollars, refurbished, and put in our garage. Read more>>
Ashleigh Antrim
When I was in the 2nd grade, I wrote a paper about three wishes I had and one of them was to be an artist. I dreamed of creating pictures about anything or anywhere and have it be my career. All my life, I’ve been creative. And without knowing it sometimes, that life has always chosen me. Read more>>
Yahya Ameen
My journey began as a server during high school, working in Mediterranean restaurants around Richardson, Plano, and Irving, Texas. Over time, I moved into management, helping in the kitchen and slowly teaching myself to cook. Dish by dish, I learned by doing, eventually running a restaurant named Sahara in Irving. It was busy, competitive, and exhausting work. Read more>>
Tanya Carter
I have spent my career in education, and while the roles have changed over the years, the thread connecting them has always been leadership and the belief that strong leaders can fundamentally change what is possible for students and schools. I began my career working directly in schools and eventually had the opportunity to serve as a principal in several Colorado school districts. Read more>>
Sandra Gaskill
As I see it now, my story begins in utero. My mother was in a bank robbery when she was about 6-months pregnant with me. Then, my parents were forced to leave me overnight, in the hospital, alone, the day I was born. Somewhere between the ages of 6-18 months, I started holding my breath. Read more>>
Mark Kondenko
I started working out in the gym in middle school and realized it was helping me improve as a person in every facet. It helped me be a better athlete and person overall. As I got older I thought I wanted to go downt the road of physical therapy to help others heal from their injuries and perform better. Read more>>
Antonio Barajas
My Name is Antonio J Barajas I am the owner of Tony’s Granite Inc . My uncle introduced me to the stone industry when i was only 15 years old as I gained experience and mastered the trade, I began to believe that I could provide customers with excellent craftsmanship and a better overall experience . Read more>>
Levi Morris
I started out simply by drawing and writing, and storytelling has really been the constant throughout everything I’ve done. Over time, I moved into making live-action films and experimenting with music, eventually combining those interests into the animated music videos and visual projects I create today. What I make now through Echochasm is a combination of music, animation, visual experimentation, and storytelling. Read more>>
Lindsay Gore
I started doing hair long before I ever thought of it as a career. I was the kid cutting my little brothers’ hair on the back patio and my best friend’s hair in the middle school bathroom. I dropped out of high school at 16, so my path into adulthood was anything but traditional. Read more>>
Madeleine Hasulak
I started Tonic Method in Aspen in 2018 with the goal of creating a workout that was incredibly effective and efficient, but also something people could genuinely build into their lives long term. I loved the principles behind Pilates, but wanted to create something more athletic and high intensity—combining strength, endurance, balance, and control into a full-body 45-minute workout on custom reformers. Read more>>
Chelsea Badjar
I have been behind the chair longer than I haven’t. I started back in 2003 because I honestly didn’t know what else to do. I jumped from salon to salon, sometimes because they shut down, sometimes because I knew I wanted something different. Read more>>
Christina Hunt
I’ve spent about fifteen years building brands — first in-house and agency-side at places like Kit and Ace and BOOM Cycle in London, then Under Armour, then a stretch doing paid media and lifecycle work for e-commerce brands here in the US. Read more>>
Jennifer Bohle
I think becoming a therapist was something that was taking shape in me long before I actually had the words for it. Even when I was young, I was often the person people came to when they needed to talk about something difficult. I remember people telling me that they felt better after talking with me, and there was always something really meaningful about that. Read more>>
Dontell Johnson
My cosmetology journey has been a journey of growth, resilience, and discovering my purpose. I began my journey at Paul Mitchell The School Denver with a passion for hair and a desire to turn my creativity into a career. What started as an interest quickly became something much deeper—I discovered how powerful beauty can be in helping people feel confident and seen. Read more>>
Andye Murphy
I was a psychic kid who never quite knew where I fit. I saw things others didn’t and knew things I had no way of knowing. Long before I had language for it, I was already in relationship with the Mystery and the unseen. An Akashic Reading in 2001 ignited my path into shamanism. Read more>>
Maricela Martinez
My name is Maricela, and I am 42 years old. My love for cooking, baking, and pastry began with my family and the environment I grew up in. I was born in Los Angeles, but I was raised in a small town in Chihuahua, Mexico. Like many traditional Mexican families, my mother cooked for us every day. Read more>>
Kelsey Rouiller
I grew up in Flagstaff Arizona and always had a desire to be in the beauty industry, even in high school I toured schools all around Arizona to see what my options were! Read more>>
Michele Snelling
I am a psychic/medium, an aromatherapist with a line of channeled essential oil and salt products, a Block Therapy instructor & a Fascia Alignment coach. I have been connected to the spiritual realm as far back as I can remember–seeing & hearing spirits and knowing things before they happened. My dad was sick and during this time I was drawn to take an intuition class. Read more>>
Sam Teferi
Sam Teferi is a transportation entrepreneur, cannabis industry professional, and longtime rideshare driver whose career has consistently centered around communication, mobility, and innovation. Before entering the transportation and cannabis industries, Sam spent nearly a decade working in radio and media, developing a strong foundation in communications, marketing, and connecting with diverse audiences. Read more>>
Luke Fraser
Bart Bridge was started by our owner, Luke, who originally began upcycling vintage clothing—old denim, overalls, military jackets and unique fabrics—into one-of-a-kind sports fanwear. He never liked the idea that being a sports fan meant wearing the same jersey as everyone else, so he wanted to create a more personal way for people to represent the teams and places they loved. Read more>>
Aidan Luc
My name is Aidan Luc, and my journey into finance has been anything but a straight path. Long before I understood financial markets or knew what I wanted to do professionally, I experienced a number of challenges that shaped who I am today. Read more>>
Yun Wang
I grew up loving getting my nails done. I took a break from college and started doing nails. I enjoyed it so much I started beauty school! Then over a decade later I am still in the nail industry! Read more>>
Alison Litchfield
I’ve been working with the body, movement, women’s wellness, and healing for more than 30 years, and the work I’m doing now feels like the culmination of everything that came before it. I moved to Boulder in 1990, and not long after, I began exploring yoga, natural health, and the relationship between body, mind and spirit. Read more>>
Bryan Lennon
Fitness has been a big part of my life for years, but Big Rig Fitness really started with me wanting to take something I was passionate about and use it to help other people. A lot of what I know started with my own fitness journey. I spent years training, trying different approaches, making mistakes, and learning what actually works. Read more>>
Tyler Vitello aka: Dittlo
The Department of Creative Pursuits really came out of a problem I kept running into as a filmmaker and photographer. I had spent years working with brands, agencies, and creatives through my production company, Dittlo Digital, and I kept seeing incredibly talented people working in isolation. Read more>>
Connie Desarden
I, Connie Desarden, am an internal medicine physician practicing here in Denver. I am a Nuyorican. I grew up all over Manhattan. I lived in NYC until residency which I did in Philadelphia. Afterwards I moved back to New York and practiced for 2 years in the Bronx. Read more>>
Denver Lanes
My name is Emilio Uc-Tun or like much of my friends and fans of my music call me, you can call me Lanes. I was born in Denver Co but grew up in Aurora until I was about 8yo I always had a taste for music, especially hip hop, rap and r&b. Read more>>
Bryce Reeburgh
My story starts as an athlete. I started running track and cross country in middle school. By the end of high school, I was being recruited by colleges around the country. I ended up running NCAA Division 1 track and cross country at Virginia Tech, a Power 5 school in Blacksburg, Virginia. Read more>>
Thom Rogers
A long time ago, in a career not too far away, I joined the Air Force as a lawyer, or what we call a judge advocate. I spent 26 years serving as an Air Force lawyer before thinking of doing anything else. Read more>>
Ashley Saupe
All through my 20s, I used to live in a van and go from climbing crag to climbing crag. I would read the book ‘Accidents in North American Climbing’ put out by the American Alpine Club annually in order to learn from other people’s mistakes. Read more>>
Joey Coleman
I was born and raised in Western Colorado, Grand Junction. My siblings and I would spend our weekends exploring the rising red cliffs and spires of the Colorado National Monument. It instilled in us a lifelong sense of adventure, and that drive took me around the world chasing the horizon. Read more>>
Beth Kreider
Beginning around age four, I would play ‘Hair cut chopper’ with my dad. He would sit in front of me with a towel cascading down his shoulders and would close his eyes and let me go to creative town on his hair. He didn’t curb my creativity with any rules. We used water, curlers, bows, clips, pony tails, brushes, unplugged curling irons. Read more>>
Anita Ashfield-Salter
I’m originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and growing up there I was surrounded by artisans and folk art. From an early age, I knew being creative and having a very imaginative mind was a big part of who I was. I especially loved visiting the Museum of International Folk Art on an elementary school field trip and all of its playful art and displays. Read more>>
Jessica Baumgart
I started my food tour business in Denver in 2027 after a year-long trip around the world where I fell in love with food tours. My husband and I toured food markets, spent time with chefs, and tasted local delicacies on food tours on 4 continents, and I was hooked. Read more>>
Simon Walker
I started as a graphic designer back in 2000 in Dallas, Texas. I worked at a couple of agencies there before moving to Austin to work at GSD&M in 2002. I was there for 12 years, and over that time developed an affinity for custom lettering and, eventually, font making. Read more>>
Christine Weber
Schapell Jewelers has been part of the Boulder community since 1964, and it has always been a family business at heart. I had the privilege of working for the previous owners, Frank and Jeneane Passarelli, from a very young age, so Schapells has been a big part of my life for many and many years. Read more>>
Craig Boyte
I started DJing in the late 1980s, originally playing hip hop, and began working professionally in the early 1990s. My first major chapter was at the Mall of America, where I DJed five or six nights a week. That experience taught me how to read a room, adapt quickly, and keep very different kinds of crowds engaged. Read more>>
Vira Aguirre
As an immigrant and someone who grew up in Ukraine with limited opportunities, moving to United States was one of the scariest and the best things I have ever done in my life. I have always been passionate about photography, modeling, acting. As a matter of fact I once wanted to become a model or actress myself. Read more>>
