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.

Antwon LeMonte Smith Brown  –  Blaquestar ALSB

Happy Fashion Week, LA Voyager Magazine readers, followers, fans, and World!! OMG, Hollywood! If you don’t know me, my name is Antwon LeMonte Smith-Brown. And I go by Blaquestar ALSB as a professional recording artist, music producer/composer, writer, and reconstructive designer. Read more>>

EVERYDA3

Music has always been the goal for me. When I started the journey I also learned how to record and mix my own music and got really good at engineering myself. As I got better at mixing my own music, I started engineering for other artists around me too, and that’s when I realized audio was something I had a real skill and interest in. Read more>>

Lisette Elhayani

I’m a first-generation Moroccan-Israeli, born and raised in Los Angeles, and the daughter of a caterer…so you could say events were less of a career choice and more of a family inheritance. Read more>>

Angie Rojo

Like many, I was born to teenage parents in the heart of South Central, LA. I come from the school of thought that we choose our parents before we come into this life, and I chose mine so that I could stay so connected to my spiritual family. Read more>>

April Bugarin

I started off as a raver myself, I fell in love with the music and always appreciated the DJs and their art in music but it wasn’t until Tiesto Horizon set in San Diego 2024 where it hit me. I felt a fire inside of me telling me I need to start learning how to Dj and it went off from there. Read more>>

Julia SH

I was born in Sweden in the 80s. One of my earliest memories is being pulled out of a sandbox and told I couldn’t have blueberries because of the Chernobyl fallout. I grew up an anxious kid, a bit of a hypochondriac, and I never really knew why. What photography gave me was a reason to look outward instead of inward. Read more>>

Patrice Lejeune

I grew up in the suburbs of Paris. My father was a harpsichord maker, so I grew up with the smell of wood in the house, and I never really considered doing anything else. I went to École Boulle in Paris at fifteen. Read more>>

Shonda Scott

When people ask me how I became an entrepreneur, an author, and someone so passionate about helping others embrace change, I always go back to where my story began—Oakland, California. I was born and raised in Oakland, a city that taught me resilience, innovation, and the importance of community. Read more>>

Jordan Danielle

I discovered my passion for curating events and bringing people together shortly after graduating college. I was fascinated with the idea that I could take a vision I had in my mind and bring it to life for people to experience. From curating poetry events, art shows, and an annual holiday toy drive, event curation quickly became something I envisioned myself doing long term. Read more>>

Angellena White

I was born in Oregon and moved to California with my mom and three brothers when I was four years old. I grew up in a family where creativity was basically the family business—there was always something being made, painted, designed, or dreamed up. Read more>>

Patrick Flores

My story actually starts with a completely different career. After graduating from college, I did what a lot of people do: I took the first job that offered me a steady paycheck, and healthcare. I ended up working in sales and project management. It wasn’t a bad career by any means, and it taught me a lot about people. Life was solid. Read more>>

Andreana Tkachenko

My career as an entrepreneur and the founder of Andres Couture began quite recently, although its roots go back to my childhood. Today, I am developing three interconnected areas of my career: modeling, content creation, and entrepreneurship. I began working as a model at a very young age, and at 14, I walked my first major runway show. Read more>>

Lale Boz

I was born and raised in Istanbul, and retail was part of my life long before I ever thought about building a business of my own. My family was in the fashion retail industry, so I grew up around stores, customers, merchandising, and the constant movement of that world. Read more>>

Gene Contreras

Well my fashion story started in Shanghai, where i spent over a decade immercing myself in the cities culture, language, art, fashion, underground, and its creative energy. From the moment i landed it changed the way i saw life, and genuinely gave me the inspo to start drawing and designing. Read more>>

Alixe Turner

I was born in France, grew up as a foreign service brat between Russia and Austria, and worked in the Middle East and South East Asia for about ten years before becoming a painter. I never thought I’d be a visual artist – I was talented musically and it was an easier language for me to communicate in when I was younger. Read more>>

Ruth Fleury

My journey to creating Flourish with Ruth began with my own desire to grow, heal and understand myself more deeply. I’ve spent many years working in education, supporting children and families, while also raising five children and building my own publishing company, Scholars Of Tomorrow Publishing. Read more>>

Rock Zehler

My name is Rock Zehler (they/them), and I am an independent interior designer based in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown neighborhood, not Pasadena, even though people sometimes connect me to Pasadena because of my work on the Showcase House there. Read more>>

Carlos Ordonez

# **From Moviegoer to Filmmaker, Carlos Ordonez Jr. Is Still Chasing the Dream** **LOS ANGELES —** Long before Carlos Ordonez Jr. thought of himself as a filmmaker, he was a moviegoer. He watched films with his father, absorbing stories without yet knowing how they had been made. At libraries, he read comic books, spending time with characters and worlds that existed entirely on the page. Read more>>

Colleen Corcoran

I grew up in Houston, Texas in the 90s, and because my parents worked at lot, I often took my bike or the Metro bus to get where I needed to go. Houston is a place, like Los Angeles, that is very decentralized, with immigrant communities from all over the world. Read more>>

Henry Oh

My artistic journey started during the pandemic. Although I’m realizing my life experiences before COVID also influence my current practice, I never pursued making or being an artist until about 2021–2022. I was working as a commercial film producer for Korean clients and agencies, and then the pandemic gave me the unique opportunity to really think about what it is I wanted to do. Read more>>

Andrea Martis

Hi! My name is Andrea Martis. I was born on May 10, 1981, in Turin, Italy. I started playing guitar when I was 15, and from that moment on, I always knew that music was what I wanted to do with my life. In 2001, I formed my Italian band, MEDIA SOLUTION. We released five albums and toured across Europe and the United States. Read more>>

Esperanza Garzon Cortes

My name is Esperanza Garzón Cortes. I’m a Colombian tattoo artist who moved to Los Angeles three years ago with a passion for art and a desire to create something that truly felt like my own. Today, I specialize in color tattooing, a style that has allowed me to feel free and express my thoughts, emotions, and creativity through every piece I create. Read more>>

David Blue

One of the first things I do each morning is make a cup of coffee! Then I go to my desk to start research and writing. I am a playwright. At any given time I’m usually writing two full length plays while researching ideas for plays yet to come. Read more>>

Dhamar Lambaren

Being Mexican American has also played a huge role in my journey. Growing up between different cultures and having lived in Mexico, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I’ve always felt connected to both sides of my identity. Over time, I realized that my perspective was something worth sharing not just as a creator, but as a storyteller. Read more>>

CC BOOM

After 20 years in Sweden, born and raised on meatballs, ABBA, and among a nation of suspiciously good-looking but very reserved people, I moved to the U.S. because American pop culture had been selling me a very convincing trailer. I was ready for a country where enthusiasm is allowed before the third drink. Read more>>

Maria A. Schneider

I am an Argentine artist currently based in Los Angeles. My relationship with art began very early in my life. I started studying drawing at fourteen with Eduardo Pardo, a master of charcoal and pastel, and at fifteen I participated in my first group exhibition. Read more>>

Amy Turk

Watching my parents, who never waited to be asked before helping others, shaped my understanding of service from an early age. They simply saw needs in their community and did what they could to meet them. Their example inspired me to pursue a career dedicated to helping others. A volunteer experience during my freshman year of college ultimately defined my professional path. Read more>>

Andrea Oviedo

My relationship with photography is deeply connected to my relationship with the body. I photograph to capture the essence of a person and a moment that can never be replicated. As women, we do not always fit or feel like we fit the conventions of what we are told is beautiful or sexy. The women I photograph are all different. Read more>>

Danyol Jaye

I started in music and theatre at a very young age. Probably seven or eight. I’ve always wanted to be in the entertainment field and pursued it heavily, both as a singer and an actor. However, at the core of who I am, I think that I have always been a storyteller. Read more>>

Miriam Cervantes

I’ve always been interested in the arts ever since I could remember, the visual arts specifically have always been the most prominent in my life as an artist. The world of performing arts was something of interest, but I did not venture into them until college. Read more>>