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.

Annette Jensen

I was born and raised in Logan, Utah. I started playing piano at 8 after my grandmother gifted me a piano and guitar lessons at 13 after I was gifted a guitar by my father. I started writing music at 15, the first being written on the piano. Read more>>

Sergey Antonov

My life as a professional classical musician began at the age of 5 in Moscow, Russia, when my mother started teaching me cello. I was born into the family of a professional cellist, where my father was a cellist in the orchestra, and my mother was dedicating her life to teaching cello. Read more>>

Megan Warner

I started baking at home, like most of the bakers I know, and it turned into a career. I originally was going to school for chemistry, but dropped out and moved to San Francisco on a whim to enroll in pastry school. I have a very analytical way of thinking and so the processes behind different baked goods really interested me. Read more>>

Monica Tuttle

I grew up in Denver, Colorado, and made my way to Utah to attend Brigham Young University. Since then, I’ve had the chance to live and travel all over the world, including time in Spain, Mexico, Italy, and Australia. Read more>>

Jen Sivils

I started my cosmetology journey in summer of 2015 right after I graduated high school. I attended Hairitage Hair Academy until my graduation in 2016. Through the peaks and valleys of hair school you will learn how to become a survivor. From your first haircut to your last time clocking out it’s always an adventure. Read more>>

Kathryn Lane

After a wonderful international career in finance with Johnson & Johnson, I traded corporate boardrooms and airline travel for writing mystery novels. And I’ve never looked back! Moving from multinational finance to fiction has been an exciting adventure, allowing me to combine my love of other cultures, storytelling, and unforgettable characters that I’ve met along the way. Read more>>

Maria Oriol

Eight years ago, I made one of the biggest decisions of my life. I packed everything I owned into a campervan, said goodbye to my family through tears, and left home without knowing when I would return. That journey across Europe completely changed me. Read more>>

Malia Kealana Burgess

Official bio here: https://encircletogether.org/therapists I’m an LCSW, MSW, MFA. My journey to this role started after years as a therapist in private practice, where I worked intimately with young LGBTQ+ people. In that space, I saw firsthand both the immense resilience of these young people and the massive gaps in the systemic support available to them. Read more>>

Melissa Nash

I grew up trying everything. Gymnastics, tennis, basketball (I’m pretty sure I fouled out of every Jr. Jazz game I played in), soccer of course, horseback riding was my biggest passion. Then one day my friends took me to a lacrosse practice. Read more>>

Hillary Hansen

Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a hairstylist. My mom took me to our local salon, where the women seemed to have it all—beautiful, successful, and genuinely happy together. After watching Steel Magnolias, I knew I wanted a place where people came not just for their hair, but for friendship, laughter, support, and a sense of home. Read more>>

Anna Bouchard

I grew up playing in my grandmothers garden. I moved to Moab in 1992 and have been gardening in the valley ever since. Backyard gardening is a thing for Moab and people started asking for advice. I shared freely with knowledge, physical labor and abundance. In 2007 I bought 3 acres in Spanish Valley south of Moab and that was the start of the farm! Read more>>

Ruby Soto

My husband and I came up with the idea for our business after we moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. We are originally from Los Angeles,California, and we’ve always enjoyed dressing in Chicano style. Whenever we went out, people would compliment our outfits and ask where they could buy the brands we were wearing. Read more>>

Kara Makasziw

DO-U Events really began as two friends saying yes to something fun. What started as a creative outlet — helping people celebrate, decorate, organize, and bring their ideas to life — slowly became something much bigger. In the beginning, it was very hands-on and very personal. Read more>>

Riho Maruyama

Here’s a version that ties those chapters together and emphasizes perseverance: My story definitely didn’t follow the timeline I imagined. Going into my freshman year of college, I decided to try out for the BYU women’s rugby team—even though I had never played rugby before. It was completely outside my comfort zone, but it ended up changing my life. Read more>>

Jesse & Heather Gariepy

Our story really began long before Adventure Family Vlog ever existed. Jesse was serving in the military and had recently gone through a divorce after spending a year stationed in South Korea. When he was assigned to Hill Air Force Base in Utah, he thought it would simply be another assignment, another job, and another place he would live for a while. Read more>>

Chloe Chen

I’ve always been passionate about art, and that eventually led me to pursue an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing in New York. During graduate school, I developed a multidisciplinary practice that includes large-scale ink drawings, ceramics, and printmaking. My work explores how societal expectations, cultural conventions, and my own experiences shape identity, particularly through the lens of women’s sexuality. Read more>>

Ché Zuro

Ché Zuro, transplanted Utahn, mixes Beatle-ina pop with the acoustic grit of Led Zeppelin, mixing rock with folk, pop with country, shaking up a sound all of her own. With an angelic voice and rock star guitar chops, Ché brings the audience a joyous musical roller coaster ride at every show. Read more>>

Tara Zarbock

I’ve been pressing flowers my entire life, but have been doing it professionally for about the last six years, and my love for mother nature has always been instilled into my heart. So let me tell you about my story a little bit. Read more>>

Tamra Callahan

I had been a professional dancer and acrobat most of my life and had a child and got divorced and needed to sort of reinvent my life. I moved back to Utah when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Read more>>

Adaline Baron

I’ve always been the kind of person who sees the world a little differently. Ever since I picked up a camera over 15 years ago, photography has been my way of slowing down, finding beauty in everyday moments, and telling stories that words sometimes can’t. Read more>>

Garrett Poll

My mom instilled a love for movies in me from an early age, raising us on classic black & white films as well as musicals. At the same time, my dad was taking me on adventures out in the desert and forests of Utah on dirt bikes. Read more>>

Lukasz & Gabrielle Wozniak

After Lukasz and I got married we didn’t do traditional anniversary gift or parties. We decided to spend that money on traveling the world together. It started in the USA first and the shortly went overseas. We turned every trip into an opportunity to explore somewhere new together. Read more>>

Nayreth MONTIEL GONZALEZ

I started my family child care program in 2018 with the goal of creating a safe, nurturing, and educational environment where children could learn through play and exploration. As a bilingual provider, I wanted to support both children’s academic and social-emotional development while helping families feel confident that their children were receiving high-quality care. Read more>>

Hollie Choules

I’ve always believed that home is more than a place. Home is where the routines, traditions, and everyday moments that shape our lives happen. That belief eventually became Seven Sixty Home. Like many small business owners, my path wasn’t a straight line. Read more>>

Christine Otterstrom

I (Christine) have many years of barista experience and helping stray cats. The other owner (Jenny Wilcox) has many years of baking experience under her belt. I was working at and doing fieldwork for the Natural History Museum of Utah when Jenny asked me if I’d like to be her business partner in opening a cat cafe in Ogden. Read more>>

Yukio Leo

I started as an artist first. For years I was making and releasing music under the name OminousyL, learning production, visual art, and how to actually build an audience online rather than wait to be discovered. That last part turned out to matter more than I realized. Read more>>

Taylor Kane

Where I’m at is slowly coming out of survival mode, while simultaneously having an insane level of creative output with my fiction writing. I wrote over a thousand pages from Feb 13 until the end of April. I’m averaging a novel of material every month and a half. My life hasn’t been easy. I was born with the spicy combo of autism and severe ADHD. Read more>>

Zach Holt

Tan’s Treats was born from both heartbreak and hope. Our story begins with my brother, Tanner. He was the kind of person who quietly looked for ways to help others. When he was in elementary school, he would often come home hungry. Eventually, our mom discovered that he had been giving his lunch away to a boy who didn’t have one. Read more>>

Shannon Wilson

It definitely wasn’t something I ever planned—it felt like a very natural path that unfolded one unexpected step at a time. After the birth of my youngest daughter, I experienced debilitating anxiety and became determined to find the root cause instead of simply managing the symptoms. Read more>>

TESS Myers

I have been learning new crafts since before I could walk I think. I have always loved to learn new things. I love a good challenge. While driving school bus, I had split shifts. So, in between runs I would teaching myself new crafty things. I joined a quilting guild. Read more>>