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.

Joanna Kahn

Growing up in Vermont, I was influenced significantly by the perspective of my parents. They were both teachers, with a love for community, adventure, and travel. A persistent message was to find your joy and give it back to those around you. Even as a kid, I knew I wanted to help people. That thread never wavered. Read more>>

Melanie Webb

I’ve always had one foot in the fitness studio–and the other in the outdoors. My path to creating WebbWell and meeting injured or recovering power players and business people where they’re at started long before I entered the professional world. Read more>>

Sheena Rose

The Story of The Giving Grinch 💚 The Giving Grinch started with one simple idea… kindness should never be seasonal. What began as a small effort to help a few families during the holidays quickly grew into something much bigger. We saw a need, not just at Christmas, but all year long and we knew we couldn’t stop there. So we didn’t. Read more>>

Stephen Mack

It all started with my daughter Savannah. In February 2022, Savannah fell while playing and injured her head. She was three years old at the time. We rushed her to the emergency room, where she was terrified and nervous. The only thing she wanted was her teddy bear, which we didn’t think to bring with us. Read more>>

Tina McAlister

It all started with a vision. I am a psychic medium and often get visions from divine. I was shown Phillips Retreat and followed through. Phillips is my maiden name and I created the new branch on the family tree. I wanted to honor my ancestors and what we stand for hence our motto Promoting Hope In Learning Loving Inspiring People’s Souls. Read more>>

Vicki Stone

After watching so many life-changing events that trip, we returned back home and made preparations to return to KENYA the following year and build our first primary school. The original school the children were leaning in had no desks, no chock boards, no books, just a bucket of bottle caps that were divide among the children, where they would learn counting skills, and small motor skills by drawing in the dirt with the bottle caps. Read more>>

Christy McElhaney

Our Story Jeff and I are proud to call Moab, Utah home, both of us were born and raised here, surrounded by the red rock landscapes that make this place so special. What is now known as Angel Rock Rentals of Moab began as something much more personal, our very first home. Read more>>

Ramy Adly

As an entrepreneur, musician, and educator, my journey began in Egypt—where I was born and where my grandfather taught me the Oud at age 16. He was 92 then, still tuning his instrument until he passed at 98. That image of him never left me. Today, as an Egyptian-American citizen, I carry both cultures with me. Read more>>

McKay Whiting

Our story really started back in high school. We were a small crew of friends doing remodeling work, repairs, and odd jobs for people around the area. Read more>>

Seantae Jackson

My story is rooted in who I am as a lover of people and true connection, but wasn’t truly shaped until about 5 years ago. I had been an educator for a decade and loved connecting with students and helping them realize their incredible and unique worth. Read more>>

Chris Chavez

After building a traditional donut shop, I saw firsthand how many people were missing out because of gluten sensitivities and dietary restrictions. Friends, families and customers would come in excited- only to realize there wasn’t something they could safely enjoy. I never knew there wasn’t such a hole in the market for gluten free donuts. That never sat right with me. Read more>>

Stephen Hughes

In Jan 2021, our oldest son, Lucas was murdered in Cedar City, UT. We were surounded and supported by so many, from our neighborhood, church, friends near and far, the pickleball community all stepped up and helped us through those first day, weeks and months. From that experience, we learned of many other families that had lost someone too soon and Heavenly Hearts was born. Read more>>

Shanna Kuhn

Our story starts out with Virginia inheriting her grandmother’s rock collection and cabachon machine in 2018. We had all these rocks of Montana moss Agate, chrysacolla, etc., so we decided to take a silversmithing class. We took one class and then self taught ourselves the rest. Read more>>

Kandi Tesen

Eats was established in 2020 while working from home during the pandemic. After contemplating what I wanted to do after leaving the military; while stationed in Washington state we fell in love with coffee and I decided I wanted to open a coffee trailer. The plan was to attend a barista course in Portland to learn how to truly create amazing coffee. Read more>>

Andrea Hales

I grew up in a small town: Ferron, Utah. After high school, I went to BYU for a long time (BS, MPA, JD). After BYU, I worked in Washington, DC, for a year with the Navajo Nation Washington Office. It was definitely not my passion, so I came back to Utah, studied for, sat for, and passed the Utah Bar. Read more>>

Steven A Barben

My father and I started a rock, mineral, crystal, gem and jewelry gift shop in the University Mall in Orem, Utah in the early 90’s. It was relatively successful for 4 years. While spending much of my time in the shop, I learned to make sterling silver and gold filled wire wrapped pendants and sold them with all of the other items in the store. Read more>>

Kate Thomas

A lot of my story has come from curiosity haha I find myself in roles/doing things that I have no business doing and figure it out as I go. I grew up in a very musical household. Read more>>

AnaLeigha Meek

My story has been shaped by resilience, faith, and a desire to turn personal struggles into purpose. Growing up, I faced challenges that tested my confidence and strength, including navigating mental health struggles and learning how to overcome moments that could have easily defined me. Read more>>

Tyler Leonard

It started in 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina. I had just moved from Roanoke, Virginia with my adopted dog Willow and I was bartending, trying to figure out a new city. All I wanted was a place where I could bring her to run and play while I had a coffee or a drink and decompressed. Read more>>

Daisy Camarena Yulliana Camarena

We started young, with very little experience and no clear idea of where this path would eventually lead. What we did have was discipline, curiosity, and a strong willingness to work hard and learn quickly. Our real turning point came when we began working in tailoring and saw a clear gap in the market. Read more>>

Deon Thomas

I discovered a love for breaking at a young age. I remember watching the 80’s classic Breakin’ and I knew that was what I wanted to do. The only problem was that for a little girl growing up in Provo, UT there weren’t any studios that taught breaking. In high school, I was finally able to join a breaking crew. Read more>>

Phillip Pilanca

I come from a small farm town called Salinas, in California, also known as the Salad Bowl. Most people have never heard of it. Most, if not all, of the nations produce comes from there. My father has been a welder fabricator and Journeyman Ironworker my whole life so I was brought up around metalworking. Read more>>

Jared & Jordana Proctor

When my husband and I first got married, I started working in real estate because I grew up around it. My dad was a real estate broker, and I wanted to help support our family. At the time, Jared owned a construction business and worked as a general contractor. Read more>>

Lindsey Brown

My journey to creating Move Morocco started with a deep love for travel, movement, and personal transformation—but it was also shaped by some of the hardest seasons of my life. For many years I was doing what a lot of women do: pouring my energy into everyone else—family, responsibilities, expectations—while quietly losing touch with myself. Read more>>

Jon Conklin

Jon Conklin is the founder of Draw It Out® Horse Health Care Solutions, along with related brands including ShowBarn Secret®, K9 Advanced™, and Dalo Acres Animal Sanctuary. The company started from a simple belief: real riders deserved better products built for real barn life, not flashy marketing or influencer hype. Read more>>

Emilee Johnson

I am currently the executive director and I am the granddaughter of the founders, Alton and Cheryl Thacker. I have been a part of Tiny Tim’s from the very beginning. I helped them make some of their first toy cars and first quilts and gather the first eye glasses that got us started over 30 years ago. Read more>>

Nylene & Thomas Ward

After a surprising turn of events that resulted in us buying our first home last year, we realized that we would need two incomes to make it work (at the time, Thomas was employed while Nylene cared for our newborn son). Read more>>

Grace Maready

Over two years ago, I was working as a tour guide in Alaska when I kept getting this idea that I should design bandanas. I have always loved bandanas, and I saw people wearing them everywhere, but I hated how most of them felt like dish rags. They were all thick, stiff, and not something you actually wanted to wear all day. Read more>>

Chris Andrew

Years ago I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that put me in the ICU for about a week. I developed a personal interested in hyperbaric oxygen therapy for its role in suppressing autoimmunity and optimizing health. I now offer this modality to others in my clinic, Saint George Hyperbarics. The healing that I’ve witnessed from this has been incredible. Read more>>

Michelle Ferran

My journey began in 1998 when I was introduced to both reiki and tarot cards. My friend’s mother was a reiki practitioner and worked on me a little giving me some tools to use for myself. A few months later I was looking in the newspaper for a job and came across an ad for phone psychics ‘will train’. Read more>>

Hannah Buehner

(This is part of an article I wrote for our website) The Pass It On Swap began in a very ordinary way — with kids outgrowing clothes faster than we could keep up, and costs soaring higher every day. Read more>>

Jake Johnson

My parents bought a Canon AE-1 when I was in high school. It seems like we would take the film to the grocery store to get it developed. I sort of adopted it, mostly documenting mischievous acts of teenagers. Seeing the pictures always made my day. It wasn’t long before I took over on my dad’s first video camera as well. Read more>>

Stacie Lindsey

In October of 2005, my family gathered together at our brother’s request. Mark and his wife, Marianne, expecting their fourth child a few weeks later, told us that he had been diagnosed with inoperable, incurable cancer. Stunned silence was immediately followed by confused tears. Read more>>

Mary Burns

I started my Financial Planning practice under Northwestern Mutual in 2023. My vision was and has always been to make women a bigger part of the financial conversation. I worked with too many advisors who seemed to overlook what the female had to say in the conversations. In June 2024, my husband and I welcomed our first daughter. Read more>>

Amy Ewing

I wouldn’t say my path has been especially traditional or glamorous, but it’s been very real. A huge part of my story is being a mom and learning how to navigate life as a single parent while also managing a small local business. Balancing motherhood, work, and personal growth hasn’t always been easy, but it’s shaped me in ways I’m genuinely grateful for. Read more>>

Sarah Timothy

I was first introduced to the field of speech therapy when my nephew was diagnosed with epilepsy at a very young age. This diagnosis resulted in a delay in his speech and therefore a need for speech therapy. I attended one of his outpatient sessions and immediately fell in love with the occupation. Read more>>

Matthew Anderson

My story has two pretty different chapters. For a lot of my life I was a web designer and developer. I owned Oikos Designs and built websites and did hosting for clients all over the world. I enjoyed the creative part, but if you sat down with me for coffee, I didn’t really want to talk about work. Something was missing. Read more>>

Karah Kidd

From Struggles to Success: My Journey as an Esthetician Entrepreneur my name is Karah. I am the owner and operator of SkinKarah Llc And this is my story. Starting a new chapter in life is never easy, especially when it comes to pursuing a dream that feels miles away. Read more>>

Malynda Madsen

I was introduced to the Heart Walk Foundation—a nonprofit supporting the Indigenous Q’ero communities of Peru—in 2018 after completing a year-long course in Andean spirituality. Shortly after, I joined my first humanitarian expedition as a translator for a small team of volunteers and a board member. Serving as the translator meant I was present for nearly every conversation—between elders, weavers, field staff, and volunteers. Read more>>

Braden Webb

I’m a board-certified physician in anesthesiology and pain medicine and the founder of Deseret Rock Pain Specialists. My path to opening the clinic came from both professional experiences and very personal experiences that shaped the way I approach medicine and patient care. Read more>>

Adam Beck

I didn’t set out to be a CEO—I set out to build something meaningful. My journey with Beck’s Shoes started from a deep respect for hard work, people, and the idea that if you take care of your customers and your team, the business will take care of itself. Read more>>