It’s more important to understand someone than to judge them. We think the first step to understanding someone is asking them the fundamental questions about who they are and how they became the person they are today. Understanding and empathy are essential building blocks for a better, more compassionate world. We’re incredibly fortunate to be able to ask these questions each week through our interview series. Below you’ll find inspiring interviews from in and around the Valley.
Ruthie Garibay
When live music shut down during the pandemic, we started to explore midi sounds. As our music evolved from mostly analogue to now including midi, we still haven’t figured out how to perform them in a live setting. It’s hard trying to convince people to join your band these days without be backed by a label or a trust fund. So, if you know anyone, please let us know Read more>>
Panchito Ramirez
Throughout high school, I was determined to achieve my dream of playing college soccer and becoming a professional soccer player. However, my dreams of playing collegiate soccer and playing professionally were put at risk! During my senior year of high school, I broke my fibula, dislocated my ankle, and tore several ligaments. I had to get a plate and 10 screws, putting an end to my high school career. I was devastated, but it only made me more resilient! Read more>>
Yukari Watanabe
I established my restaurant in 2010 December. I started with one employee at beginning and after 15 years I have 6 part time employees. We serve unique kushiyaki and many small appetizers at Gotetsu. My goal was to make the restaurant like being in Japan kind of atmosphere in Ventura country. Read more>>
Erik Desiderio
I’ve been fascinated by music for as long as I can remember, constantly making up melodies as a kid. Even as I was falling asleep, I’d find myself improvising full orchestral pieces in my head, long before I had any way to capture them. Read more>>
Bruce Goldberg
I started out as a dentist with a separate practice in past life regression hypnotherapy. I discovered and am the originator of future life progression hypnotherapy and wrote the first book on that discipline in 1982, published by Ballantine. Read more>>
Justen Best
My story really started with a deep love for sound — not just music, but the feeling it creates. I grew up inspired by hip-hop and R&B, drawn to how artists could turn real-life experiences into something powerful enough to move people. That passion pushed me to start recording and experimenting with production early on. Read more>>
Shelby Parker
I graduated in 2015 with my bachelor’s degree in communications; an emphasis in journalism. I had the idea and hopes of getting into the entertainment industry, whether that was Los Angeles or Nashville, but that just didn’t work out. But, I did get a job right out of college that opened so many doors for me professionally. Read more>>
Jessika Grewe Glover
I have been a writer my whole life, from poems scribbled on Pan Am cocktail napkins, to telling scary stories at Girl Scout camp that got me kicked out of my tent. I graduated from the University of Miami (Go ‘Canes) with a degree in creative writing, but it took until 2018 for me to be ready to take my writing to a professional level. Read more>>
Nicole Martinez
I’ve had a camera since childhood – I started with film and eventually started using digital. At first photography was a hobby. I would take photos on self timer with my cousins, of the scenery during our family trips and later families and friends who reached out. Read more>>
Alegre Ramos
I’ve always had a lot to say. My mom has a video of me at five where I keep waving at the camera and saying, ‘But I have six more songs to sing!’ as she politely tries to shoo me away so my younger brother could have a turn. Read more>>
Donnie Jarman
At the age of twenty, I moved from Tacoma, Washington to LA to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and begin a career in acting. I was in class with French Stewart and we did a few acting scenes together. After finishing the acting program there, I found an agent and began auditioning, and also joined several different theatre companies. Read more>>
Julia Morrow
I’ve owned a mobile massage and Lymphatic Drainage therapy business for 21 years. My first career was as a Sign Language Interpreter. As my interest in that career was waning, I looked around for what else I wanted to do and finally remembered being a young teen and telling my friend that one day I was going to be a massage therapist. Read more>>
Orlando Adrian
I always felt I was from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I was a first generation American, Mexican, born in TX, moved to KY and grew up in Las Vegas, NV. All the big moves happened before I was 8. My family grew up traveling across the US. After getting accepted into college as an engineer, I felt something was off. Read more>>
Sandy Fisher
I believe the drive to create is something you carry with you—one of those quiet urges that shows up early and stays with you. Growing up, art was always around me. My father, Richard Earnest, taught at LA Trade Tech and came home with show‑cards and images that hooked my curiosity. Read more>>
Jennifer Velasco
My story, just like many Angelenos, started off in a very traditional manner. I attended a private High School in Glendale, I then attended Cal State University Northridge for my under graduate in Health Sciences, and lastly I attended USC for my Graduate Degree in Public Health. Read more>>
Kennedy Hibbert
I was born in California but grew up in a small town in Arizona called Flagstaff. I have one sister and four brothers – two of which are my biological cousins that my family inherited after a tragedy caused by mental illness. Truth is, my family has had a long line of mental health issues that have deeply impacted my life. Read more>>
Christina Kissick
I graduated from Vidal Sassoon in 1988, and have been a hairstylist ever since. Over the 30+ years I’ve been in this industry I’ve worked at a handful of salons and have been a hair color educator. Read more>>
Daniel Zevallos
I grew up in Pomona – Diamond Bar area of Los Angeles County, Shortly after starting at Diamond Bar High, my pops got a job and house in Phoenix and I relocated to Arizona. You do not appreciate or love Los Angeles until you live outside of LA. Read more>>
Alycia Conrad
Well I grew up as the youngest of 3 in NJ/FL and always new I wanted to perform/work in entertainment and be a storyteller. I grew up as a competitive dancer and switched over to a focus on acting and never looked back. Read more>>
Nicole Garcia
I’m 25 years old, a professional model from Los Angeles, born and raised in a well-known city called Pacoima, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. My story really starts with my mom she had me at just 14 years old and worked two jobs all the way up until the day I was born. Read more>>
Brandonn St. Regis
I started out in Atlanta, just a kid who took fashion way too seriously and somehow made it make sense. Before I ever styled anyone famous, I was a personal shopper helping people find themselves and their style through clothes. It taught me that style isn’t just what you wear, it’s how you carry your life. Read more>>
Alexis Alfred
I grew up in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by a community that valued hard work, faith, and family. From a young age, I was drawn to movement and storytelling, first through dance and later through writing. Dance taught me discipline and expression, while writing gave me a voice. Those two passions have guided me through every chapter of my life. Read more>>
Maurilio Moreira Fondevila
As a visual artist, my journey has been a constant exploration of the intersection between human emotion and visual expression. I was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1965 and completed Primary, Secondary School and two years of Law College. I moved to the USA in 2014, Worcester, Massachusetts, and after four years I moved to my dream destination, Los Angeles, California. Read more>>
Jason Konopisos-Alvarez
I grew up in Sugarland, Texas after being adopted by my maternal grandparents – I was born in Virginia Beach, VA when my grandfather worked 29 years in the government but retired to Texas to be by family. From a young age I loved film and telling stories, and I grew up in a very loud, gregarious and funny Greek family. Read more>>
Sofia JoAnna
It all started in my childhood living room at age 4. I did a community theater production of ‘Annie’. I loved doing the show so much that every morning for months I would wake up and rush to the living room to watch the full length recording and act out every single part. Pretty on brand for me lol. Funnily enough, I just knew. Read more>>
Shamonte Jackson
In 2016, I was feeling hopeless and unsure of what direction to take my life. I didn’t have a clear plan, but one thing that always brought me peace was traveling. That year, I found myself exploring beaches all over California, just trying to reconnect with life and figure out who I was meant to be. Read more>>
Jazmin Rojano
Menos Más Refill Market began in the San Fernando Valley in 2022, sparked by a simple living room conversation about how we could leave the Earth better than we found it. Growing up as a first-generation Mexican American, I watched my family repurpose everything, cookie tins became sewing kits, sour cream containers held salsa, nothing went to waste. Read more>>
Ashlee Barrera
I’m originally from Chicago, IL – born and raised – and I’ve always had a passion for entertainment. Singing is my absolute first love and it has always been a dream to be able to do that professionally; to perform, write and record music, and be an artist. Read more>>
Graciella Morales
From a young age, I’ve always known I was meant to build something of my own. Something meaningful, beautiful, and created with purpose. Through every experience, I’ve learned to stay grounded in perseverance and faith, and to trust that every moment, whether clear or uncertain, was guiding me toward my purpose. Read more>>
Julienne Irons
I grew up in New Jersey in a very religious household, and while there was love, there was also a lot of complexity. My mom emigrated from Jamaica and opened our home to foster kids constantly. That taught me early what compassion looks like in action—you help because someone needs it, not because it’s convenient. Read more>>
Michelle Winkler
I started playing golf at the age of 9 and became efficient enough to earn a D1 Scholarship to Xavier University. After graduation, I started my journey to become a Class A PGA Professional and spent 10 years teaching at private golf courses in CT. Read more>>
Drew DeBakker
I grew up in Winter Park, a small ski town in Colorado. I’ve always had a passion for art, even from a young age. Dinosaurs were the thing that inspired me the most. I loved getting lost in Paleoart books and could spend hours looking at them, learning all about these incredible extinct creatures and the world they inhabited. Read more>>
Amy Boyer
I guess the question is – where am I today? I find myself here: forty one years old, jobless, and orphaned. I started my adult life with a plan. I wanted to be an interior designer. It was the early heyday of design TV. Trading Spaces was king and HGTV was queen. Read more>>
John Hyland
I’ve always been drawn to the process of building — not just businesses, but people, ideas, and possibilities. My journey started in the creative world, helping brands and talent grow online, long before social media became what it is today. I didn’t have a roadmap — just curiosity, grit, and an obsession with figuring things out as I went. Read more>>
Grey James
My name is Grey James, and I am a gay trans man in Glendale, California. I also am with the group glendaleOUT, the grass-roots organization dedicated to building, evolving, and moving forward queer voices in the narrative that is Glendale. At the moment, glendaleOUT is dedicated to PROJECT:PRO+ECT. Read more>>
Tamela D’Amico
I have always been a storyteller who refuses to live in one lane. I grew up in a big, loving New York Italian family that taught me to be generous, relentless, and never bashful about going after what I want. There were hundreds of us. Our third cousins felt like first cousins, and dinner was a full-scale production. Read more>>
Evelin Garcia
If you would have told me where I’d be, I would have had a difficult time believing you. As an immigrant to the United States, being raised by a single mother, and living under the poverty level when I was younger, it is a statistical miracle to be where I am now. Being called ‘Dr. Read more>>
Lauren Olipra
I’m a Michigan native who traded snow for sun in Clearwater, Florida. After college, I packed my bags and headed to LA, laser-focused on the movie business. A brief stint as a paralegal kept me afloat while I dove headfirst into theatre, eventually leading to some cool work in film, TV, and commercials. When the pandemic hit, it was time for a plot twist! Read more>>
Jerumel Laygo
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. a city that has shown me every layer of life. From the glittering highs to the quiet lows, from standing among dreamers to walking beside the lost, I’ve seen it all. I’ve moved through every circle, every rhythm of the city, searching for what it truly means to arrive as a man. Read more>>
Chris ‘Ralski’ Amesquita
I have an eye for the abstract, shapes and colors merged into a body of work that needs to be interpreted. That is how I speak, that is how I create and live my life. Music, art, literature; all aspects of my creativity revolve around the obscurity that I live in and the energy that I absorb. Read more>>
Renee Stenback
When COVID hit, the world stopped—and so did my career. I was an artist working in the entertainment industry, chasing dreams I’d spent years building, when suddenly everything I knew collapsed. Like so many others, I lost my job and found myself staring down a mountain of student loans and bills, unsure of what came next. But losing work wasn’t the only thing that unraveled. Read more>>
Artur Aslanyan
Art House Bakery grew out of a turning point for our family. After facing a serious health challenge, we began looking at food in a new way and started baking as a form of healing. What began as a few kitchen experiments soon became a passion for creating breads that were both healthy and exciting. Read more>>
Lisa Donmall-Reeve
I am originally from the UK. I moved to New York in early 2012 with my green card and a desire to continue my (then) long and successful musical theatre career onto Broadway. Read more>>
