Inspiring Stories from DTLA

The heart of our mission at VoyageLA is to find the amazing souls that breathe life into our city. In the recent weeks, we’ve had the privilege to connect with some of the LA’s finest artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and rabble rousers and we can’t begin to express how impressed we are with our city’s incredibly deep talent pool.  Check out DTLA’s rising stars below.

Kerry Simester

My love affair with music started pretty early, probably when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I grew up listening to rock radio with my brother, and then one day a friend of his introduced me to Earth, Wind & Fire when I was about 12. That opened up a whole new world of music for me, and I was hooked! Read more>>

lance skundrich

My creative path started long before photography. In high school, I was constantly drawing, which eventually led me to study graphic design in college. After graduating, I worked as a designer for about a year before taking a completely different turn and joining a large-scale mechanical union. Photography entered the picture almost by accident. Read more>>

Lindsay Carlisle

I started my portrait journey back in 2014, when I photographed beauty portraits for women in Oakland and the rest of the East Bay. After a lot of cold calling and knocking on doors, I had some local business owners that took a chance on me as a brand new artist. Read more>>

Amani Bryant

I’ve been fascinated by fashion for as long as I can remember, and I think a lot of that love began with my grandparents. I used to have fashion shows in their closets, trying on their clothes and paying attention to all the little details that brought an outfit together. Read more>>

MarQuita Leonard

“My story is shaped by loss, but it’s also shaped by the women who raised me and the strength they left in me. I lost my mom to breast cancer in 2007. My grandmother, who helped raise me, was one of the most important influences in my life. Read more>>

Princess Isis Lang

I grew up dancing, singing, and acting- so I knew what I wanted to major in. Musical Theatre was the only place for me as I wanted to perfect my skills equally in singing, dancing, and acting. While applying, I realized an HBCU wasn’t the exact place for me and that’s okay. Read more>>

Mingyue Qu

I studied interactive art at Pratt Institute, where I explored how people interact with physical objects. I made projects ranging from distance-sensing glasses for people with visual impairments to shoes that responded when the wearer bounced a leg. Read more>>

Maxine Harris

I fell in love with basketball when I was really little. I remember watching people dribble the ball, and to me, it almost looked like a magic trick. I couldn’t figure out how they made the ball move like that, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to learn how to do it too! Read more>>

Luciano Alcorta

My brother Pablo Alcorta and I, Luciano grew up in Patagonia, Argentina, in a region near the Atlantic Ocean where food has always been about much more than what is on the plate. It is about family, friendship, hospitality, and the joy of sharing a meal. Read more>>

Sarah Limone

My passion for fashion began when I was a child. My grandmother was a seamstress, and she passed down her love for sewing and creating to me. As I grew older, I decided to pursue this passion by studying at the Fashion Academy in Naples, where I developed my creative vision and built the foundations of my journey as a designer. Read more>>

Alan Earwood

I started playing guitar at around 5 years old because my dad played music and had all this guitar gear around. When I was 10 I got a 4 track cassette recorder and started writing/recording my own songs. I found it was more fun to write and record my own stuff than just do covers. I later got a laptop and loved garageband. Read more>>

Swooli

My story starts off with Haitian immigrant parents getting hip. My dad being a disc jockey for a Haitian radio station who doubled as a magic 106.7 parent on the mornings to school. My mom used to get all types of cd’s sent to the house from; Sisquo, Backstreet Boys , Carlos Santana to Eminem, 50 Cent, Jay Z, Outkast. Read more>>

Bill Cormalis Jr

I grew up in Southern California, in a city called Monrovia. My mom is from Monrovia, while my dad is an immigrant from Argentina. I was exposed to creativity from my mother at an early age. She would draw comic book characters and cut them out for me to play with. My dad exposed me to skateboarding and motorcycles also at an early age. Read more>>

Kim Watson

‘I’m gonna be an artist!’ I made that declaration as a child growing up in St. Albans, Queens, New York. At the time I couldn’t have imagined the many directions that declaration would take me, but looking back, I realize that the desire to express myself and create something meaningful about the human experience has been the thread connecting everything I’ve done. Read more>>

Yao Wen

My path into filmmaking began with visual art. I double majored Film Production and Studio Arts at Brandeis University before continuing my filmmaking education at USC. Those experiences brought together my interests in art, culture, and storytelling, and led me into production design and directing. Working on films, commercials, and music videos taught me how much a story’s environment can communicate. Read more>>

Saul Rodas

My Story: From a VHS Camcorder to Chasing My Dreams! Growing up, I was always fascinated by the arts, especially film, television, music, and the magic of storytelling. I didn’t necessarily know exactly what I wanted to become, but I knew I loved creating things, using my imagination, and finding ways to bring my ideas to life. Read more>>

Shiva Shamooil

After the revolution of Iran in 1978, my family moved to Milano, Italy, the capital of fashion. After studying in high school and college and working there for a few years, I decided to move to Los Angeles. Soon after that, the rest of my family decided to join me. Read more>>

Ria Dolly Barbosa

I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 23 years and I can honestly say that it still makes me as giddy and gives me as much joy as the day I walked into my first kitchen job. I attended the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena right after high school in 2001. Read more>>

Phoebe Sifan Liu

I think my journey into filmmaking began long before I even realized it. My mother is a filmmaker in China who specializes in sitcoms, so I practically grew up on film sets. As a child, I was fascinated by the magic of filmmaking. Read more>>

Felicia Edelman

I started my career as a lawyer fighting for people who were about to lose their homes. I worked at Orange County Legal Aid Foundation, volunteered doing eviction defense in Inglewood, worked at Bet Tzedek, and later built my own real estate practice. For about 25 years I practiced landlord-tenant and real estate law in California. Over and over I saw the same thing. Read more>>

Grace Chim

I grew up in a traditional Asian family, no one was an artist, everyone was either a banker, lawyer or in the medical profession. So in order to please my parents, I did the traditional route, and pursued a Bachelor in Business as my first degree, I even landed a great corporate role after graduation. Read more>>

Adrian Colesberry

The three co-founders of Buoy are myself, Adrian Colesberry, the angel investor and operations lead, Pascal Schaller, Buoy’s designer and Anouk Zisa, who leads marketing and strategy. The story: Buoy was founded in 2019 by a photographer, a designer, an entrepreneur and a marketer. Read more>>

Bryant Vu

I started my photography journey in 2013, simply taking photos and learning more about the craft as I went. In 2016, I began working with models, which became a major turning point for me and helped me discover the direction I wanted to take my photography. Ever since then, I haven’t looked back. Read more>>

Jordan Dunn

My name is Jordan Dunn, and I’ve lived in Los Angeles for nearly 10 years. I am a stained glass artist, and work full time as a marketing professional in the architecture & design industry. My stained glass practice is called Grunge Glassworks. Read more>>

Damian Pelliccione

I started out acting and producing new media projects, where I learned everything I know now about working in digital entertainment. What kept nagging at me was that LGBTQ+ audiences were massively underserved: our stories were treated as niche, and brands had no reliable way to reach the community authentically at scale. Read more>>

Gary Brewer

I began making drawings at a young age. In high school I had the good fortune to have an inspiring teacher who recognized my talent and encouraged me. After high school I decided that I would dedicate my life to the pursuit of art. I did not go to college or art school. Read more>>

Lisa Kastner

I had been in the creative writing world for quite a bit and I was incredibly frustrated. I knew all of these fantastic writers who couldn’t get a book deal and I didn’t understand why. I was hanging out with the gentleman who later became my husband and I shared this with him. His response was, ‘Why don’t you start your own press? Read more>>

Tajuan Netterville

My photography journey started with something simple: attending my girlfriend’s little brother’s youth football game. I brought my camera, started taking pictures, and quickly realized there was something special about capturing those moments on the field. What began as a casual experience turned into a passion I never expected. Not long after, I had the opportunity to shoot my first wedding for a friend. Read more>>

Jordyn Flynn

My journey has been anything but linear, but looking back, I realize that every chapter has played a part in shaping the woman I am today. I grew up in Watonga, Oklahoma, a small town where I graduated high school with just 36 people in my class. Read more>>

Sasha Daniel

As a small child I grew up being pretty creative. Whether it was crafts, drawings, or paintings, as most children are; I was just always creative. As the years went on and I grew from my adolescence to young adulthood, the craving to create again had reappeared. I was about 20-21 years old and working at a hot chicken job when this feeling had risen. Read more>>

Dr. Sharnay Hearn Davis

First and foremost, I want to express my deepest gratitude to VoyageLA for this incredible hidden gem spotlight. When my big sister and executive coach Kibi Anderson recently asked me, ‘What part of your life do you want to share?’, it became the ultimate guiding question for this interview. Read more>>