Every day we have a choice. We can support an up and coming podcaster, try a new family-run restaurant, join a boutique gym started by a local fitness champ or we could keep giving away our money to the handful of giants who already control so much of our commerce. Our daily decisions impact the kind world we live in; if we want a world where small businesses are growing and artists and creatives are thriving then we should support them with our time, money and attention. We’re proud to highlight inspiring creatives and entrepreneurs each week in Hidden Gems series. Check out some of our latest local gem features below.
Jamie Gaston
My journey has been shaped by a passion for helping others heal from the inside out. I began in skincare and aesthetics, but over the years I realized true wellness goes far beyond what we see on the surface. That inspired me to expand my education and services, creating Wellness Enrichment by Just Jamie Skin Studio—a place where beauty, health, and holistic wellness come together. Read more>>
Svitlana Prystynska
I started my career in television in Ukraine, working as a journalist, video journalist, and entertainment show host. Storytelling has always been a big part of who I am — I love meeting people, asking the right questions, and finding the story behind what they do. When I moved to the U.S., the reality of immigration meant starting over. Read more>>
Avery Jacob
My journey has never followed a straight line. I’m a U.S. Army veteran, artist, educator, and community builder. After leaving the military, I got together wth some friends from High school and started playing in bands. The most active of them being The Smoking Joes, Stonewall BLVD and my solo project, Avery J & The BA. Read more>>
Corey Wilkes
My journey into photography started in 2019, initially as a creative outlet that quickly grew into something much bigger. I fell in love with portrait photography because of the ability to capture not just how someone looks, but their personality, confidence, and story. Over the years, I’ve invested countless hours into learning lighting, posing, composition, and retouching while developing my own style. Read more>>
Dana Sowards
As a youth athlete, I was misguided in what it meant to fuel as a female athlete. I became obsessed with food, exercise and ‘looking’ like an athlete and developed an eating disorder. In my recovery, I worked with a phenomenal sports medicine team and my dietitian completely changed my relationship with food. Read more>>
Kimberly Archuleta
My professional journey has always centered on people, education, and helping organizations navigate change. Over the years, I have built my company around understanding what businesses and their teams need to grow, adapt, and work more effectively. As artificial intelligence began changing the way we work, I became interested in something beyond simply learning new tools. Read more>>
Niko Cerza
Born 1992, I grew up in northeast PA in a small rural valley with a family that encouraged creativity – (particularly drawing/painting, my family doesn’t have many musicians) I think I was 8 or 9 years old when I discovered I wanted to be a musician. Read more>>
Charity Hendricks Rael
Great Lumbering Beast started as a way for me to turn my experiences, anxieties, and sense of humor into songs that felt honest. I’m Charity Hendricks Rael, a Denver-based songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, and what began largely as my own songwriting project eventually grew into a full band. Read more>>
TJ Anderson
My wife started her performance chef business for pro athletes in Denver in 2019. She had a lot of success – cooked for top players on the CO Avalanche when they won the Stanley Cup, then a few of her athletes got traded and requested our service in their new city. And that’s what led us to expand. Read more>>
Brianna Bartlett
For as long as I can remember, I have loved fantasy. I reached for it, escaped into it, and, in some small way, always hoped I might find a little magic hiding in our own world. I walked to Mordor. I fought alongside the rebellion against the Capitol. I stepped through the wardrobe. Read more>>
Heather Mullins
I’ve always been passionate about sustainability and finding creative ways to keep materials out of the waste stream. I have a knack for seeing potential in discarded objects that others might overlook, transforming them into something beautiful and meaningful. My background is in sculpture and woodworking, and for several years I managed and taught in a wood and metal shop. Read more>>
Abhishek Soni
As a child, I was naturally observant. I enjoyed watching how people interacted with objects, recognizing patterns, mentally connecting ideas, and imagining how things could be improved. That curiosity gradually became the lens through which I started understanding the world. I was fortunate to have a few teachers who recognized my ability to draw and encouraged my creativity. Read more>>
Justin Whedon
I’ve always been a “figure it out” person. I started designing professionally in the early days of the web, when there really wasn’t a roadmap for most of what we were doing. Over the next 30+ years, I moved through graphic design, web development, UX, digital strategy, technology, and eventually organizational strategy and systems thinking. Read more>>
Kelley Khoury
Operation Birthday started five years ago with a simple belief: every child deserves to feel celebrated on their birthday, regardless of their family’s circumstances. What began as an idea has grown into something we never could have fully imagined. Over the past five years, Operation Birthday has helped celebrate 1,500 children, that’s roughly one child every 30 hours. Read more>>
Hannah Koivu
I’ve always loved music. It’s the one thing that makes me feel most alive. I’ve been writing songs since I was about 13, and songwriting became a safe place for me to process what I was experiencing. There were people I couldn’t always share my feelings with, so I would write a song about it instead. Read more>>
Donnie Nielsen
My journey into being a barber started freshman year of high school. I had a genuine interest in barbering and a desire to build something of my own. Over time, I put in the work to improve my skills, learn from my experiences, and develop my own style. Read more>>
Michelle and Mike Dallas
We are Mike and Michelle, a father-daughter team from Cheyenne, WY with deep family roots in Central Montana. We began by cooking chili competitively in chili cook-offs around the Western United States. Read more>>
Demarcus Johnson
My grandfather had a huge photograph of my mother in his den and seeing that image felt like a calling. I was born on the south side of Chicago and that’s where my mother first introduced me to a camera around 9 years old. Read more>>
Katia Georgina Morales Hernandez
I am from Oaxaca de Juárez (la Tierra donde el dios nunca muere) in Mexico, the most beautiful state (for me) located in the south of the country. Growing up in my home state meant being surrounded by music, dance, and above all, deep-rooted traditions—it is truly one of the most culturally rich places in the country. Read more>>
Gerald Bray
I go by Boss Bray , im a signed recording and performing artist with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Records. I currently live in Colorado Springs Colorado. Im also the CEO of illuminated Concepts Music Group (I.C.M.G) . Being signed to the legendary BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY is a huge blessing and tremendous opportunity. Read more>>
Nessa Whitney, Namdev Palalay Singh, and Danielle Stratton
The Sáma-Sama Initiative began with a simple conversation about a much bigger dream. Danielle and Nessa were together at dance practice at the Filipino American Community of Colorado at dance (FACC) when we decided we would go hiking and collect plants and flowers. Read more>>
Gabriel Tarin
I’ve been a designer for a little over 15 years. My career started here in Denver shortly after moving from El Paso, TX with my wife. Over the years I’ve worked as a print designer, marketing specialist, brand designer and art director. I am currently working as a Digital Art Director for COHN Marketing and as an independent brand designer and creative strategist. Read more>>
Ravell Robinson
Last time we spoke, I spoke about when I was younger and I had a speech impediment. So art was my way of communicating. I think, I also spoke about my third grade year when I learned about Pokémon; and I started trying to attempt to draw the Pokémon Slowbro. I got introduced to dinosaurs long before that through JurassicPark. Read more>>
Mike Crofts
I’m Mike, owner and operator of Denver Auto Pro Detailing. I started working in the auto industry since 2014 and have been in since. Then started my own business back in 2022. I’ve gotten deeper into running my own business and learned more about cars along the way to become a better version of myself as much as possible. Read more>>
Irene Kaia
I started doing influencer work when I was 15, mainly working with fashion brands and eventually expanding into skincare. I had always wanted to become an influencer for Fashion Nova, so I spent about five years going through trial and error, studying their influencers and learning what kind of content worked for their brand. Read more>>
Ericka List
Like many parents, I first picked up a camera to capture the precious moments of my children’s growth and be able to share that with family. I discovered a powerful and unexpected artistic medium, allowing me to have an outlet and embrace my creative side. Over time, that personal archive transformed into an international body of work, showcased in global galleries and magazines. Read more>>
Gamal Jadue Zalaquett
Hospitality is in my blood. My grandparents owned and ran a hotel in Arica, Chile for over thirty years, and I grew up in and around it — watching how they treated guests, how they built something that lasted. My family operated hotels across Chile and Bolivia, and I took my first trip when I was thirty days old. Read more>>
Stacy Robinson
I feel as if I was born with a paintbrush in my hand. In fact, my hands have always been busy. I’ve explored many different mediums through the years including painting on canvas, jewelry making, wire sculpture, papermaking, clay and pottery and working as a muralist. Read more>>
Harriette Tsosie
I was born in New York City, raised in upstate New York and lived briefly in Cincinnati, OH and Charlottesville, VA when young. My family moved frequently as my Father’s electronics engineering career followed the industry’s consolidation after World War II. I graduated from a small Michigan liberal arts college (Kalamazoo) with a major in English and minor in art. Read more>>
Lauren Oscilowski
I moved to Montana in 2009 with a teaching degree and quickly realized how challenging it is to find secondary education teaching positions. I pivoted and took a job at a small distillery near Glacier National Park, and what I thought would be a summer of figuring out grad school quickly became a summer of falling in love with small business and distilling. Read more>>
Jordan Armijo
I grew up in a town called Pueblo, Colorado. There is a lot that I could say about Pueblo and the history there, but ultimately, nobody will know the hidden treasures there unless they’ve spent enough time exploring. From the outside, we all hear of the crime rate, and the other negative stories from the press. Read more>>
Jessica Craig
After spending the early part of my career in education, I found myself craving a different pace of life after the birth of my twins. Photography began as a creative outlet during the postpartum season—a way to reconnect with myself while preserving the ordinary, fleeting moments of early motherhood that I knew would someday mean everything. Read more>>
Justin Huffmon
Roots really started from a simple idea: create the kind of place we wanted to have in our own community. My wife, Nenada, and I have always loved coffee, plants, unique gifts, and the experience of discovering a great local shop. Read more>>
Anastasiia Pavlenko
I started my tattoo career working in traditional tattoo studios, where I worked on a percentage and was still figuring out who I wanted to be as an artist. Over time, I developed my own recognizable style, focusing on fine-line work, delicate details, and soft shading, and gradually built a loyal client base around it. Read more>>
Noah Kaufman, MD
I spent more than 20 years as a board-certified emergency physician. I went into emergency medicine because I loved being able to help people on what might be the worst day of their lives. I loved the problem-solving, the procedures, and the responsibility of making difficult decisions when the answer was not always obvious. Read more>>
Joshua Magee
I worked in fine dining for years. After my son was born, I realized that we would soon be on opposite schedules. I also knew that I had not much left to grow in that industry. I quit my long term job at the time and did some soul searching. on an intuitive hunch I went to massage school. Read more>>
Samantha Johnson
I started therapy as a client at the age of 20. I had quite a bit of trauma in my childhood, and needed some help processing it. The person I found was lovely – she used mindfulness to help me ground and opened my eyes to what healthy relationships look like. That journey has continued and blossom since. Read more>>
Christy Articola
I run a music publication – specifically, a fan magazine for fans of the band Phish. I started this publication in 1998, when I was 22, while living in my hometown of Latham, New York. This week, I turn 50. I never thought when I started it that it would be something I’d still be doing all these years later. Read more>>
Olivia Trujillo
Hi Lo started with a simple question: why are we doing this separately? Three designers. Different backgrounds, same obsession with great work. We met in grad school, went our own ways, and kept ending up on the same calls, helping each other out and pushing each other’s thinking. Until one day it was obvious: the work was just better together. Read more>>
Ashley Paige
Denver Pops started in 2021 when we wanted to start a business that allowed us flexibility with our daughters. We also wanted to provide a tasty cold treat with a quality we were proud of! Our popsicles are made with mostly organic ingredients, and no additives or dyes. Read more>>
Kieshia Mace-Pearson
My journey into real estate has really been about finding where I can make the biggest impact. I never wanted to be just someone who helped people buy and sell homes. I wanted to build a business centered around relationships, education, and helping people through major life transitions. When I started in real estate, I quickly realized that a home is rarely just a transaction. Read more>>
Cassie Thomas
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Fort Collins, CO, I founded Flourish Counseling & Wellness in 2022 as a private practice providing evidence-based mental health treatment to trauma survivors and gender expansive clients. My vision grew and Flourish expanded into a group practice in 2023. Read more>>
Zara Otaifah
Photography began as simple curiosity, but it quickly became the way I see the world. What sets me apart is my ability to find beauty in places others might overlook. One of my favorite photos from early in my journey was a single flower growing through a bed of rocks. Read more>>
Jasmine Nance
I’m Jasmine Nance MSC BSc, and I came into aesthetics sideways. My academic background is in Industrial International Management and Innovation Management. When I first encountered Fibroblast Skin Rejuvenation, that instinct took over. Here was a method that stimulated the skin’s own collagen and elastin production rather than introducing anything foreign to the body. No toxins, no fillers, no chemicals. Read more>>
Michelle Yoshinaka
Many Escapes was born from my love of wine, travel, and the desire to live with intention. What started as sharing stories from wine regions and European cities has grown into something more: a reflection on how we experience joy, connection, and place. Read more>>
Molly Dyer
I began in my career by going to school to become an acupuncturist. There, my training included both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Once I entered the herbal program, I realized that I was most passionate about herbal therapy. My father was a doctor, and I received excellent care growing up in a small town. Read more>>
Mike Ellison
For Colorado tinting, that journey began with Mike at just 17 years old. While most teenager were still figuring out what they want to do in life, Mike was already learning the art of window tint and paint protection film installation. From long days in the shop to countless hour perfecting his craft, he dedicated himself to mastering every detail of the trade. Read more>>
Marc Mount
I was born in Arvada, Colorado. I went to Arvada West and eventually CU Denver. I went to college for audio engineering and through that I discovered the love of producing electronic music, which I’ve been a fan of since like eighth grade. In my junior year of college, I got an internship at Beta nightclub to run sound/ lights and back line. Read more>>
Todd Waufle
I have always loved beer and especially craft beer. My wife found some home brewing equipment at an estate sale for a good price. She had no clue to what she was buying but said ‘you love beer so maybe you can try brewing sometime.’ It sat in my basement for two years collecting dust. One day I decided to try a brew. Read more>>
Stevie Selby
My story, like everyone else’s, is still being written. What I can say with certainty is that my life has been a privilege. One that has taught me awareness, patience, and responsibility. Somehow, I’ve built a life I genuinely love: one that constantly challenges me, teaches me, and asks me to keep growing. Read more>>
Beamchou
My journey as a content creator began in 2020, when I started sharing parts of my everyday life online. At first, I created content simply because I enjoyed connecting with people, sharing my experiences, and expressing myself creatively. I never imagined that it would grow into such an important part of my life and eventually become a professional career. Read more>>
Lorenzo Chavez
I grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a young boy I really enjoyed traveling around the Southwest with our family. I would spend hours looking out the window of the station wagon we traveled in, just enjoying the landscape scenery. At an early age I was drawing as much as possible. Read more>>
Colleen Hennessy
I was trained as a photographer, but began painting in 2005, while I lived in Honduras as a Peace Corps Volunteer. My inspiration in the jungle was the plants and the people, and I often used my photographs for reference. I moved from acrylics to oils when I returned to Colorado. Read more>>
Amanda Wagner
Hi, I’m Amanda the owner of Rocky Mountain Sleepovers & Events! I’m a full-time stay-at-home mom to my wonderful 3-year-old son, Kaden. I wouldn’t trade this season of life for anything, but I quickly realized I needed a creative outlet that would allow me to do something I truly loved. Read more>>
Zakk DeBono
I have been playing guitar since I was 4 years old, and music has always been my passion. I started playing bars at a very young age, and those early experiences taught me the value of hard work, dedication, and connecting with a live audience. I have dedicated my life to becoming the best guitarist, songwriter, and performer I can be. Read more>>
Angelo Lucero
I started making music and deejaying in 2011 in Ableton and Traktor. I’ve always had a passion for music, specifically the piano. I grew up listening to artists like Coldplay, The Killers and Linkin Park. I also always had a love for 80’s music, specifically synth wave. My favorite musician of all time is Michael Jackson. Read more>>
Cynthia James
My journey began long before I entered the corporate world. I grew up navigating trauma, fear, and instability, which taught me how to read a room, adapt quickly, and survive. Those skills helped me achieve professionally, but eventually I realized that surviving and succeeding are not the same as being whole. Read more>>
Carolyn Wentz
Like many folks at the ‘mid-point’, I have had a few pivots now. I started my career in sales, having graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in International Business. My primary goal was to make a living to support my travel habit. Read more>>
Arani Deva
If someone had told me years ago that I would become an author, I don’t think I would have believed them. My path has been anything but linear. I studied English literature before earning a law degree and spent many years practicing law. Read more>>
Kari Newsom
For as long as I can remember, I struggled with certain health issues. I had a low immune system, digestive problems, and migraine headaches throughout elementary school and into my late twenties, even after I was married. Eventually, I was introduced to a more traditional way of eating and preparing food—similar to the way our great-grandparents ate. That change completely turned my health around. Read more>>
Michael Pottern
As the song goes, it’s been a long, strange trip. Ten years from now I’ll probably tell it better, but here it goes. Before the Zen Den, I was doing what a lot of high-functioning people do. Holding everything together, running on busy, and calling it momentum. Read more>>
