The Most Inspiring Stories in Utah

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.

Nick Joiner

At Slap Yo Mama, the menu celebrates the soul food tradition featuring tender smoked meats, creamy mac & cheese, savory collard greens, hearty turkey with rich gravy, and more all crafted from family-inspired recipes that evoke warmth and nostalgia. Whether you’re grabbing a casual meal or booking catering for your next event, the team brings flavor, Southern hospitality, and memorable meals to every table. Read more>>

Dennis Lifferth

TechCharities is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit company that provides affordabe computers and access to the internet. Since 2013, we have been providing refurbished computers for households and students in need. When I retired a few years earlier I felt inclined to do something to keep me from drifting into old age with nothing to do. Read more>>

Amy Olson

Like many mothers, I had my first baby in a hospital setting with a nurse-midwife. I prepared carefully, including taking a Hypnobirthing class, but the birth ultimately did not unfold as I had envisioned. My next two children were also born in the hospital, and those experiences were significantly more positive—interestingly, in both cases, the physician was not present at the moment of delivery. Read more>>

Kathleen Leavitt

Kathleen Leavitt’s career is rooted in people, service, and community leadership. She began her professional journey in the restaurant industry, where several years as a waitress gave her a strong foundation in communication, relationship-building, and understanding what it truly means to serve others — lessons that continue to shape her leadership style today. Read more>>

Lily Hansen

I got engaged and then two months later found out we were pregnant. I decided that I didn’t want to be pregnant in my wedding dress so we waited until I gave birth. I planned my whole wedding while pregnant, did a ton of DIY decor and still had a beautiful wedding! Read more>>

Elissa Sump

My story is about how consistent hard work, even when progress feels slow, eventually adds up. I began college at 21 as a broke student still trying to figure out what I wanted to study and what direction my life should take. Read more>>

Brittany Johnson

321 Click Photo Booth started because I genuinely love the nostalgic, traditional photo booth experience. There’s something special about stepping into a booth, being silly with a few friends, and walking away with a photo strip in your hand. Read more>>

Tyler Andrus

I got started on my path as a therapist when a new friend on mine in college opened up to me about many of the personal issues she was facing. It hit me like lightning that I had a strong value for being therapeutically supportive of other people and that I could see myself offering support and understanding to people professionally. Read more>>

Alisha Gowen

My story has been an adventure full of learning, growing and sitting with others in some of the hardest times of their lives. I have dedicated my career to working with vulnerable populations impacted by trauma and abuse. Read more>>

Bill DeLeon

From the beginning, Mountain Wine Storage was designed as a full-service operation. In addition to climate-controlled storage built to the same standards Bill relied on in California, the business launched with concierge services as a core offering—inventory management, receiving, cellar organization, and personalized support for both private collectors and trade professionals. Read more>>

Matt Gaudette

Our story isn’t just about cleaning yards; it’s about restoring freedom and peace of mind. We started Yard Scooping Services on the belief that your limited free time is too valuable to spend on a thankless, messy chore. The idea sparked during a family barbecue where the conversation, yet again, turned to the hassle of dog waste. Read more>>

Carrie Hill

I didn’t start my career with a perfectly mapped-out plan — I started with real responsibility and a deep drive to create stability. As a single mom, I had to rebuild from the ground up, and there were seasons where the focus wasn’t “career growth” — it was simply making life work and showing up for my kids. Read more>>

Tara Hansen

I have always had a knack for numbers. In high school, I took Accounting courses and participated in Business Professionals of America competitions at the national level. I graduated from Utah State with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting. Read more>>

Joseph Olson

I am a third generation optometrist in Brigham City. My grandfather, Edwin Harrison, opened his practice in the 1940’s, and continued to practice for a short while after his son and my Uncle, William Harrison took over in 1984. I was blessed to join the family practice in 2012. Read more>>

Randy Gibson

For me, getting into the field of public relations was an accident. I was in high school and needed a class to take in the second semester of my junior year, and one of the few that were available was journalism, so I took it. My teacher was also the public relations director for the school system. Read more>>

Brian Straley

I grew up in northern Utah, in the Logan/Cache Valley area, and I’ve lived here most of my life. I had a pretty normal upbringing in the 90s. My dad was a huge baseball fan from Ohio and my brothers and I grew up playing baseball. Read more>>

Kristi Edwards

I always dreamt of being a florist. Some of my favorite memories as a child were looking at all the flowers in my grandmas yard and walking to the local flower shop in her neighborhood where I admired all the the arrangements and asked a million questions. Read more>>

Kandis Bennion

When I graduated from BYU, I started working in sports marketing and was teaching tumbling as a side gig at a dance studio. I’ve always enjoyed teaching. In fact, my senior project in high school was teaching a class of gymnasts basic dance skills to help them improve their floor and dance routines. Read more>>

Al Richards

April of 2021 I had Malory Jacobs on my podcast, AR-The Other Side of Addiction, we became instant friends. One day Malory called to share an idea she had. After she was done sharing this idea of her’s, my response was, you have got to be kidding me? Her response, so it’s stupid? Read more>>

Luis fernandez

I started NXGEN Concrete with one clear mission: build a company people could trust, one that shows up, communicates, and delivers work that looks good and lasts. In the beginning, it was just me wearing every hat. I was finding the work, bidding it, coordinating materials, and still being on site making sure the prep was right and the finish was clean. Read more>>

John Harvey

Ogden city’s police chief, John Griner, came through Memphis in 2011 and I was system manager for the Memphis Police department’s real-time crime center. I did a presentation of the programs I had developed and wound up consulting with the Ogden Police department and helping developed programs for their real-time crime center and help design it. Read more>>

Royce Porter

I graduated from the University of Utah in 2014. My family and I moved to Roosevelt to start working at Uintah Basin Medical Center. After 10 years it felt like it was time to come home. While out there, I learned I loved growing programs and helping people gain access to healthcare that typically wasn’t provided. Read more>>

Morgan Simkins

I have loved flowers since I was a little kid and spent a lot of time in my great grandparents’ rose garden. When I was 16, I pursued my first job in the floral industry and worked there until I was 20. I absolutely loved it and decided to start my own small floral business in my early 20’s. Read more>>

Katie Green

When Barber J and I met on August 1, 2013, he had been cutting hair for 11 and a half years, and I had been styling hair in Las Vegas for 13 and a half years. Our shared passion for the beauty industry sparked an immediate connection, and just three weeks later, we were engaged. By October of that same year, we were married. Read more>>

Magnus Niles

I began cutting hair at the age of 12, and became a professional barber in 2014 I have a passion for craftsmanship, culture, and creating a space where people could feel confident and respected. What started as a skill I wanted to master quickly became a purpose—serving my community through precision cuts, classic techniques, and modern style. Read more>>

Craig Lee

Make Creative Design was founded in 2021 by my partner and me, built from our shared love of creativity and design. While I had always been passionate about designing, creating, and interior design, my partner pursued a career in graphic design, bringing our skills together naturally. What started as a few balloon garlands for family celebrations quickly grew through word of mouth. Read more>>

Taylor Apolonio

I grew up in the Salt Lake area, where a love for the outdoors not only accompanied my hobbies and interests but also a rich source of inspiration. My earliest memory of being drawn to design dates back to third grade when my curiosity was sparked by the attic access in my bedroom. Read more>>

Kade Beatty

I started working in the construction industry back in 2004 for an MEP engineering firm here in Southern Utah. During the 17 years I worked for that firm I learned a lot about construction and design and how things work during the construction of a new building and its various systems. Read more>>

Jaleigh Jensen

In ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ Robin Wall Kimmerer said, ‘This is really why I made my daughters learn to garden—so they would always have a mother to love them, long after I am gone.’ When my parents died three and a half years ago, I started Silo and Seed as a lifeline. Read more>>

Meadow

I had sold my last few personal items, there was no more food to feed my three tiny kids, it was time to check into a women’s shelter. Magically a box of high quality food arrived from a friend who knew I had moved yet again. Even though I hadn’t told her the gravity of my situation, her intuition was to nourish. Read more>>

Damean & Kira Lyon

The Willow started as a passion project between the two of us, blending a love for craft cocktails/mocktails, thoughtful design, and bringing people together. With Kira’s background in curated salon experiences and Damean’s work in media and entertainment, our combined skill sets naturally led to building an experience-focused bar that felt intentional and elevated. Read more>>

Joshua Davis

I am the Owner and Medical Director of Trilogy Veterinary Medical Center and bring over 16 years of experience in small-animal general practice. I earned my undergraduate degree from Westminster College, where I played collegiate basketball, before completing my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Washington State University in 2009. Read more>>

Chloe Ball

As a child I remember going through towers of magazines that my parents had piled up in the corners and shelves of their sunny office. Sundays were all about setting myself up in a cozy chair and just reading for hours on end. From Vogue to junk mail magazines, I poured over them all. Read more>>

Shauna Powell

I have always admired fine art and wished I had the talent to create it. I even took an art class in high school and was quickly discouraged by how bad I was. Read more>>

Diana Olaya, Zayra Mendez N/A

Bee Grazing officially began on January 2, 2024, but our story started years before that. We’re Diana Olaya and Zayra Méndez, originally from Colombia, and we moved to the United States looking for a new opportunity to grow—professionally and personally. We’ve always been entrepreneurs. Read more>>

Leya Czupich

My dad started A Shade Above in his garage in 2001, as I grow up I would always come to the shop to help Dad. I started to like it and get more involved with the business when I turned 15-16. Read more>>

Kathryn Pagano

About 15 years ago I began studying herbal medicine out of a desire to have more control over my health and the products I put into my body. As time passed I realized my own dry skin issues could be due to the ‘natural products’ I was using. Read more>>

John Qualls

In 1994 I started working as a carpet cleaning technician for a friend while I tried to figure out my next step after years of managing fast food. During that time In 1997 we bought our first van and franchise. Read more>>

Yvonne Song

I moved to this city alone to attend NYU, coming from the UK and Shanghai, and started out not knowing anyone here. In my first semester, I was lucky to meet a wide range of creative people who introduced me to their circles and helped me find my footing in the scene. Read more>>

Bryan Butas

Back in 1989; after high school I joined the Marine Corps to serve my country and do my part. The one thing about the Marine Corps is that you are taught discipline, extreme discipline in everything that you do; In the Marine Corps you do two thing really, really well, and the other is cleaning, white glove cleaning, attention to detail cleaning! Read more>>

Izzy Worthington

I started my journey by following my passion for skiing which then came with creativity, which naturally led me toward leadership and building community. Growing up in Park City, Utah, I was surrounded by the ski industry and learned early on the value of hard work and discipline. Read more>>

Tyler Moore

Tyler and Spencer became friends through skateboarding in 2019. When we were first getting into it, we spent time at skateparks around Salt Lake City, but we didn’t feel like we fit in. Everyone seemed incredibly good and already so close-knit. Honestly, we felt out of place. You know that feeling when you walk into a room and feel out of place? Read more>>

Lucas Cooper

This band started as a simple concept when I was all the way back in the eighth grade. I knew that I wanted to write and create music, and that I wanted the things I was feeling to be shared out into the world because I knew somebody out there could relate. Read more>>

Sue Banerjee

I began my professional career as an attorney in Washington, DC. When I moved to the Bay area, I joined a legal technology start-up. After that start-up sold, I intended to take a short sabbatical to think about what I wanted to do next, but the pandemic upended those plans. Read more>>

Max Krytskyi

My name is Max, and I’m a co-founder of Euromax, a custom cabinetry company based in Utah. Before starting Euromax, I spent over nine years building and operating a cabinetry and millwork shop in Europe. That experience shaped how I approach design, manufacturing, and quality — and it’s the foundation of what we offer today. Read more>>

Kevin Ballard

I spent more than two decades learning and maturing professionally at the center of Utah’s tech scene with MasterControl – a local life sciences software company. I joined shortly after college as a Technical Writer and quickly moved to various leadership positions across Software Quality, Engineering, Program Management, and Product Management. Read more>>

Ryan Cooke

When my wife and I moved to the beautiful Heber Valley we discovered something rather extraordinary. One of the first mornings in our new home, we heard a strange noise outside our bedroom window. Opening the shutters to investigate, much to our delight, there was a hot air balloon gently floating past our home. Read more>>