Our goal at Voyage is to help small businesses, mom-and-pops, independent artists, creatives, makers and freelancers thrive. We think an important advantage small businesses have over larger businesses is the relationships they have with their clients and the community. Our hope with the Local Shoutouts series is to help foster a habit of shouting out local businesses that are doing great work. We hope more people will take the time to talk about small businesses they have had great experiences with both in daily conversations and online and elsewhere.
We present to you our first set of local shoutouts below.
Jo Ellen Fletcher
Starting off as a college student in the mid west, I wanted to study psychology and my father (1960s authoritarian mentality) ordered me to college to be a fine support to an executive husband one day. Even thought I pledged my alliances to the newly emerging women’s rights movement, I didn’t quite have the stamina to go against my father’s wishes. I attended a state school and studied fine arts, married a man and had a family as I was told. Read More >>
Kailin Scott
As a young girl, I was exposed to the pain of injustice and felt a sense of responsibility to help combat it. My first experience was in elementary school when I was asked by my 1st grade teacher to share about my hair, I had box braids. I lived in a city where there was only 15% black and brown people at this point in time of the 90’s. When I told my mother she immediately contacted the school to address the issue, there was no action taken on my behalf. Read More >>
Berry Stein of Art Life Practice
I moved to Los Angeles almost two years ago, after being in New York for close to ten years. While living in New York I went through two graduate programs in art and education (a lifelong learner’s dream come true), and subsequently taught at the Whitney Museum as well as day schools in the city. It was certainly a challenge to take the leap to move to the west coast (leaving family and my community there was incredibly difficult), but I have never looked back. I have an amazing community of friends and family and find that there are endless opportunities for fun and adventure here in LA. Read More >>
