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.
Troy Michael 
I have been really into music as long as I can remember. I sang in choir as a child and was the lead singer of a band for a few years in high school. in 2010 I attended my first big electronic music show and I was instantly hooked. in 2016 I took a chance and bought DJ gear. Read more>>
Nicole Loyd 
It started with a quiet knowing that followed me slowly, softly and persistently. ‘What about being a therapist?’ I would think as I stared off into the distance at my retail job. And just as quickly the thought would drift away. What I did not realize until later was that quiet voice was actually part of my deeper intuitive wisdom. Read more>>
Arielle ‘Ari’ Jerdan 
I’m originally from the East Coast – Grew up in Southern Jersey just outside Philly, but Denver has become home in a way I don’t think I could have anticipated when I first moved here. Read more>>
Corina Black 
Having started my taekwondo training in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1985, I was unaware at that time that I would continue this journey when I relocated to Lakewood, Colorado in 1988. I opened my school in September of 1990 with 15 students from a part time club I started in 1989. Read more>>
Isabella Voldman 
# Old World Soul *European Heritage, Timeless Elegance, and a Life Inspired by Nature and Culture * For Isabella Voldman, founder of ISABELLA V., beauty has always been found in the details — the movement of a silk dress, the texture of fine linen, or the quiet artistry behind a beautifully crafted garment. Read more>>
Tyler Ryan 
Before diving into chocolate, I spent a decade in the Navy working as a nuclear plant operator and supervisor on submarines. That world taught me discipline, systems thinking, and a respect for technical precision. When my service wrapped up, my high school sweetheart and wife, Megan, and I chose Northern Colorado to build our next chapter. Read more>>
Patti Rother 
I’m the daughter of an immigrant single mom. That’s where my story starts, and honestly, it explains most of what came after. I grew up watching someone build a life with no safety net. When my dad died, she took on supporting the whole family and was wildly successful in her career. I didn’t plan on franchising. I studied psychology and art in college. Read more>>
Thanh Huong Nguyen 
My Life Story — Interview Article (English, first person) From a Muddy Road in Vietnam to the Mrs. Vietnamese California Crown I am the youngest of ten children. My father was a teacher, and my mother was a small street vendor. After the Vietnam War ended, life became extremely difficult for our family. Read more>>
Rube Zilla 
I started making art as I was approaching 30. I’d just left the Marine Corps and didn’t know who I was or where I belonged. I got obsessed with creating characters, my ‘faces,’ with the goal of making them as recognizable as Mickey Mouse or SpongeBob. I believe in manifestation, so I visualized it and chased it. Read more>>
Nancy Rimington 
It all started with me making sweets, cookies and desserts for family and friends. All asking if I would make extra, so they could gift to there friends and family. Read more>>
Kayla King 
My story has been quite a journey. Right out of college, I launched a SaaS platform to help people with food allergies find safe restaurants. Along the way, I built relationships with CPG brands and restaurants, and I turned to social media to spread the word and grow a community around the platform. Read more>>
Stephanie Stover
I’ve never had a carefully mapped-out career plan. In fact, most of my opportunities seem to have found me rather than the other way around. But looking back, I can see one thing that’s been pretty consistent: whatever job I’ve had, I’ve usually found a way to make it something more than what was written in the job description. Read more>>
Chris Raulf 
I got into search by accident. In the mid-90s I was working in Zurich for the European office of an American financial company, and our US colleagues launched a website with all the German content buried inside images. I remember looking at it and thinking, how is a search engine supposed to read that? This was the AltaVista era. Nobody called it SEO yet. Read more>>
Shane Wells
My professional journey started when I graduated from Chiropractic College in 1998. In 1999 I moved to Milan, Italy to work in my first clinic. It was a multidisciplinary clinic focused on pain and musculoskeletal issues. Since it was subsidized by the national health care system, it was very inexpensive and even free in many cases. Read more>>
Gabriela Martinez 
I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Meoqui, Chihuahua, Mexico. I studied fashion design at Universidad Regional del Norte in Chihuahua, and when I returned to the United States at 28, I brought my education, my creativity, and the determination to build a future doing something I loved. In 2007, I founded Gabriela Couture. Read more>>
Shannon Bison
My work in wellness started when my body began whispering for my attention. In my twenties I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia. A few years later, it was screaming: twenty pounds in six weeks and a gluten intolerance I couldn’t ignore. We treated the symptoms, but the underlying cause wouldn’t reveal itself until years later, after a lot of research and experimentation. Read more>>
Rob Halgren 
Funk Hunk started as a hobby in 2010 while living with a band mate and best friend. Both of us were born in Denver, and grew up together in Westminster. Early in life, I had ambitions to play collegiate sports. After suffering a devastating injury, I moved downtown to the Cheesman area. Read more>>
Andrew Selby 
I’m originally from Michigan and moved to Colorado Springs in 2014. A year later I photographed my first wedding, and I’ve been telling couples’ stories ever since: more than 100 weddings and hundreds of portrait sessions so far. What drew me in was story. I’ve always been a movie buff, and I love how good filmmakers build a theme into every scene. Read more>>
Josh Zendehdel 
My brother and I purchased the business in 2018. Before that, I had spent about eight years in the automotive industry operating as a used car dealer, so the van rental business was closely related to what I was already doing and felt like a natural next step. Read more>>
Beth Knox 
My story has grown out of a desire to help people feel more at ease in their bodies, alongside my love of plants and nature. Massage became a way for me to help others through touch and working with the nervous system. Yoga brought another dimension through its powerful, transformative effects. Read more>>
Jenny Marie 
## My Story: From Survival to Creating the Life I Truly Wanted My journey has been one of loss, reinvention, and learning to trust myself. I lost my mom when I was 25, and that experience shaped me in ways I didn’t fully understand at the time. I escaped into work, adventure, and achievement. Read more>>
Tyler Hurula 
My wife introduced me to Andrea Gibson when we first started dating in 2013 by taking me to one of their poetry shows at the Mercury Cafe in Denver. I had never been to a poetry show and I was completely captivated and awestruck. Read more>>
Mindy Strawn 
My journey into esthetics wasn’t a straight path straight out of high school – it was an intentional pivot in my mid-30s. For years, I worked in administrative assistant roles, which gave me invaluable organizational and client communication skills, but I always felt pulled toward hands-on wellness and skin health. Read more>>
Rebeca Elizabeth
My journey has been anything but conventional. I’ve been a clinical researcher, educator, author, real estate professional, U.S. Army soldier, and entrepreneur. While those paths may seem unrelated, they’ve all been driven by the same curiosity: understanding how things work, why they break down, and how to make them better. Read more>>
Grady Ferrick 
I think my story really started when I got cut from my high school basketball team my freshman year. At the time, it was one of the most disappointing moments of my life. Basketball was something I loved, and being told I wasn’t good enough was tough to accept. Read more>>
Jaime Fiske
I’m passionate about finding tranquility through adventure and connection with nature. I grew up in Aurora and moved to the Roaring Fork Valley in 2009, where I found a community that encouraged me to lean into cycling, paddleboarding, yoga, and helping others get outside. My first triathlon was the Glenwood Triathlon in 2011, and later I joined the Roaring Fork Women’s Triathlon Team. Read more>>
Louise Cutler 
I started much like many people do, by following the path of my life, one step at a time. I have been an artist since I was young. I didn’t always know exactly where that path would lead, but I kept following it. Read more>>
Chris Musial (Soul Puppets) 
Soul Puppets is actually based on Fort Collins. Wade and I met when our daughters were on the same cheer team, and quickly bonded over playing music in our spare time. We both had musical backgrounds and tried the serious band thing when we were younger. Read more>>
Jose Morales 
My journey into social media content creation began as a personal diary—a way to document my journey toward self-love, self-discovery, and personal growth. In the beginning, I was simply being myself, exploring my identity, learning to understand who I was, and finding ways to appreciate and love myself. Read more>>
Kristin Loughmiller 
Olive Bloom Social really started out of my love for photography and storytelling. I’ve always been a creative person, and I loved the idea of using that creativity to help businesses share who they are and what makes them special. What I didn’t realize at the time was just how much that passion would grow into something I get to call my career. Read more>>
Geli Nicole 
I have always had a passion for fashion since middle school. I used to buy iron ons and put them on my clothing so that I would be unique and stand out. That continued through high school where I eventually started sketching cool designs and actually thinking about designing and sewing clothing from scratch. Fast forward to October of 2017, I discovered Project Runway. Read more>>
Corey Donahue 
I have always enjoyed film, but the idea for Colorado Films came about while I was assisting legendary Argentine filmmaker and Senator Fernando “Pino” Solanas and Proyecto Sur with their cannabis legalization initiative in Argentina. I had the opportunity to work alongside a filmmaker whose work had made an international impact. Read more>>
Kristina Corcoran 
When Tim Zeman and I created TRIBE Networking in 2021, we had a simple vision: We wanted to change the way people network, build relationships, and grow their businesses. We believed networking should be about more than exchanging business cards, attending meetings, and hoping someone sends you a referral. Read more>>
Nedret Andre 
My love of painting began in elementary school in London. I still remember how tempera paint felt as I brushed it onto paper. Our teacher, Mrs. Graham, encouraged us to mix colors and paint whichever animal we chose. I painted a peacock and was thrilled when the finished picture actually looked like one! Read more>>
Niya Nolting 
Liquid Animal is a collective of merry artists designing eclectic, heart-holding music with a philosophy of free flow, creating from source; Translating through open, unrestricted musicians in flux with their environment and other sentient beings, like the octopus, their mascot. They focus their talents on the premise of fluid love, a love that flows freely. Read more>>
Dr. W. Garrett Goggans 
My path into leadership and culture consulting began with questions I needed to answer in my own life. I had earned a doctorate in Computer Science, but there was a period when what looked like success from the outside didn’t match how I felt about where my life was going. I hadn’t always been on an academic path, either. Read more>>
Michael Nakagawa 
I grew up in a diverse and loving home with a Mexican mother and a Japanese/Brazilian father. We immigrated to the U.S. when I was four and assimilated through music and pop culture, while still maintaining our cultures at home. Music was always on and as a Gen X kid, I grew up on MTV and was always intrigued by DJ culture. Read more>>
KIRA CORBIN 
I have been a prop and interior stylist for the past fifteen years, shaping imagery for a wide ranging list of international advertising clients, premier publications, and celebrity food personalities. I have styled countless editorial spreads for premier publications, such as Food & Wine and Bon Appetit, and cookbooks for renowned food names like David Tanis, Scott Conant, Marc Forgione, and Padma Lakshmi. Read more>>
Kye Edwards 
Little Root Traders started, funnily enough, with Dungeons and Dragons. When I started running D&D games for my friends, I realized how expensive miniatures were to buy, so I bought the smallest, cheapest resin 3D printer I could find and started tinkering. Read more>>
MaKena Onorato 
Six years ago, I picked up a camera, never imagining it would turn into something so much bigger than a hobby. I took a chance on myself, put in the work, learned through trial and error, and built Wyld Things Photography from the ground up. Read more>>
Liz Ferron 
It’s a long road, this life. After experiencing so much, I decided mental health matters & decided to build a podcast here in Eagle County in the Rocky Mountains, where mental health is a huge issue. Read more>>
Sam & Mackenzie Reti 
I had hyperemesis gravidarum through my pregnancy, which is a condition that affects somewhere around one to three percent of pregnancies and is often confused with bad morning sickness, though it’s really nothing like it. In my case I couldn’t keep anything down at all, including water, and it got worse rather than better as the weeks went on. Read more>>
