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.

Danski

I’ve been perusing art as a career since high school in China. I went to CalArts in 2016 to study Experimental Animation, where I developed my practice as an animation filmmaker and visual artist. Since then, my animated films have received recognition at international film festivals, and I’ve also work on a wide range of commercial projects. Read more>>

stephanie navarrete

I am a born and raised Los Angeles native , who comes from very humble beginnings. Being raised by my disabled & single mother, there often wasn’t much left after the bills were paid, many times we didn’t even have enough to cover our basic needs. As I grew older, my work ethic strengthened and learned how to make something out of nothing. Read more>>

Rin Nagaya

Hi! I’m Rin Nagaya, aka 123, an award-winning music producer, singer, songwriter, DJ, and dancer based in Los Angeles. I was born and raised in Japan and moved to the U.S. at 18 to attend Berklee College of Music, where I discovered my passion for music production and DJing. Read more>>

Desire Lacap

It all started in middle school, I was the kid with the camera just capturing memories and not thinking anything of it. Read more>>

Joanna Gates

The Mindful Mind and the programs I have created through it are much more than a business to me—they are the culmination of my life’s work. My journey began long before I ever imagined becoming a helping professional. As a child, I survived cancer and experienced firsthand the profound physical, emotional, and psychological impact of illness and recovery. Read more>>

Vivian Villanueva

My story has really been a journey of faith, loss, motherhood, healing, and learning to trust God even when I didn’t understand what He was doing. Before Crown of Faith Network, I spent years working in behavioral health and nonprofit/community outreach, serving people through counseling, support programs, and connecting them with resources. Read more>>

Elle O’Meara

The Idea for Anchors started back in 2024. At the time I was roommates with Shino Nakamichi (plays Rachel in the show) and we had both moved to LA to get out of our home towns and pursue acting. We were both 18 at the time and neither of us knew anyone in the city. Read more>>

Bridget Mendoza

My name is Bridget. I am a business consultant specializing in payment processing and merchant solutions. I entered this field because I am passionate about empowering business owners to succeed. By optimizing their payment infrastructure, I help clients improve their cash flow, reduce friction at the point of sale, and create better experiences for their customers. Read more>>

Cistain Alexander III

My journey began with a natural curiosity for harmonics. Even as a child, I was constantly finding ways to sing and harmonize with the world around me. As I moved into my teenage years, music became something almost spiritual, guiding me through experiences and answering questions for me. Over time, I found my own voice, embracing vulnerability in my writing and experimenting with different tones. Read more>>

Chizuko Richardson

**Chizuko** is a Bay Area–born R&B/J-Pop artist, actress, singer, songwriter, pianist, vocal producer, and dancer whose work blends raw emotion, real-life experiences, and striking performances. Read more>>

Kayla Mallari

I started dancing at a studio when I was 3 years old, following in the footsteps of my older sister. We grew up together training in ballet, jazz, tap, and contemporary, and competed and performed with our studio’s company. I started booking professional gigs when I was 15 years old, and when my sister decided to move down to L.A. Read more>>

Enrique Marcial

I’ve always been drawn to creative expression. Even as a kid, I had this belief that I was meant for more in my life and that I was meant to experience more. After high school, I started taking those creative interests more seriously. I had always known how to draw, but I also wanted to act and model. Read more>>

Sion Kwak

I’ve loved drawing ever since I was a child. My mother is a tattoo artist, so I grew up naturally surrounded by tattoos. When I started thinking about my future career in high school, I became increasingly interested in following the same path. Eventually, I realized that I wanted to become a tattoo artist myself and began learning the craft seriously. Read more>>

Handrew Navia

Hi! My full name is Handrew Alejandro Navia but I go as Kiba. I was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California. I started doing photography back in 2019 when I purchased a used Nikon 3500 DSLR camera. Prior to the purchase I was always chasing the best on phone camera trying to take cool pictures. Read more>>

JODI DENG

My love for cooking began when I was six years old, when I learned to fry an egg using a wok spatula that my late aunt gave my family when we first came to America in the early 1990s. I still have that same spatula today—it was eventually passed down to me by my mom. Read more>>

Melanie Moreno

I knew something photography was something that had always caught my eye, more so the feelings it invokes and I knew I wanted to capture that feeling in whatever setting that it may have been presented. Read more>>

Jason Arifin

For as long as I can remember, I have escaped into fantasies through cartoons, songs, and picture books. Born and raised in Indonesia, I was one of those kids who pondered alone and imagined stories using crayons. In third grade, I begged my sister to teach me how to draw my favorite manga and anime characters because I looked up to her drawings. Read more>>

Alan Mason

I grew up around music through my Godfather. I was raised by a single mother who was also an Entrepreneur, so I spent most of my early years being taken care of by my Godparents in El Monte, CA. They took me in at 3 days old so I consider both of them as my parents. Read more>>

Ozi Brown

I started off cooking for my friends and then celebrities then started a pop-up food business in Silverlake,CA. I built my brand from the streets and from that I got huge catering offers and providing food for different events. Read more>>

Dominic Penn

Global Entry started from a simple belief: great events deserve great storytelling. Almost three years ago we were a small media collective covering events around LA. Pretty quick we saw the gap between standard coverage and what it actually feels like in the room — the music, the conversations, the moments people still talk about the next day. That’s what we wanted to catch. Read more>>

Shelby Juan

My journey as a makeup artist started in 2014, when I was a teenager and my mom was beginning her own career in content creation. At the time, she started receiving PR from different beauty brands, and I became fascinated by everything that would arrive at our house. Read more>>

Paul Marotto

Interview Hello, My name is Paul Marotto. I’m 44 and I I’ve lived in and around Philadelphia for most of my life. These days I’m currently composing, recording, mixing, and releasing music all by myself, although I’d rather be making music with other like minded individuals and playing live shows instead. Read more>>

Sunny Lukas

’m a Hong Kong-born Chinese artist, and music has been the center of my life for as long as I can remember. I started by learning different instruments, writing songs, producing, and sharing my music online. I later studied Music Production and Engineering and Songwriting at Berklee, which helped me turn that passion into something I could seriously build a career around. Read more>>

Rocio Vasquez

Our Story CASA Renovations INC. is more than a business to us—it’s the dream we built together. We are Jorge and Rocio Vasquez, high school sweethearts who became teen parents and learned very young what it meant to work hard and provide for our family. Read more>>

Palma Esposito

I’ve always been a singer. I grew up with a very musical family in Orlando, FL. Destiny found me, however, when I moved to Jackson, WY in 2022. There’s a large Turkish population in Jackson and I was immediately drawn to the people, culture, and (obviously) music. Read more>>

Carrie Anne Hudson

I’ve been creative for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I was constantly drawing, making up characters and comic strips, and trying to recreate the cartoons I watched on TV. I loved art from a very young age, but it wasn’t until high school that I really started to consider that it might be something I could pursue as a career. Read more>>

Lita Monteiro

How I got here: I’m a multidisciplinary artist with a degree in Fine Arts and a particular interest in people and what makes us human. Private and public gatherings and celebrations have become a fascinating lens for me to explore that through, especially because they allow us to weave deeply personal moments together with cultural, historical, and artistic references. Read more>>

Ana Allen

I started my career in the beauty industry, working in sales, education and artistry with brands like Chanel, Dior and Clarins. Over the years, I went on to build my own beauty school, launch beauty brands, work in product development and consulting, and eventually create a career around helping brands tell their stories and connect with consumers. Read more>>

Isaiah Keaton

I started listening to music as a way to escape from everything that was going on in my life. Artists like J Cole, Drake, Tupac told my story. My family dealt with a lot of financial struggles. I dealt with a lot of heartbreaks. But through it all, I still felt this odd responsibility to try my best to uplift my community. Read more>>

Rohan Bonsu

My name is Rohan Bonsu, better known as RB Keys. I’m an award-winning Canadian record producer, Engineer songwriter, and pianist. My relationship with music began when I was eight and My mother bought me a toy keyboard. I found that I could quickly play the songs programmed into it just by listening. Read more>>

Muhammad Hassaan

My journey started at around 11 when my parents gave me access to a phone and I began teaching myself video editing, graphic design, and digital skills through YouTube. At 12, I started creating educational content online, which led me toward journalism. Read more>>

Keiyana Arnold

I’ve spent more than a decade in recruiting in big tech, and one thing has always been clear to me: talent is everywhere, but access isn’t. There are so many talented people doing everything they were told to do—getting the degree, applying to hundreds of jobs, updating their resumes, working hard—and STILL feeling stuck in their careers. Read more>>

Carla Silveira-Hernandez

Most good things in hip hop start with someone sharing music that moves them. That’s how The You in I started. I met Artson through the hip hop and breakin’ community in Las Vegas. By then he already had years of records under his belt and the respect of the community. When I finally sat with his music, I thought it was powerful. Read more>>

Shianne Schorr

I’ve always been interested in art, always doodling and drawing so when going off to college I knew I wanted to do something creative but I didn’t think there was ever a chance I could work for myself and make a living, especially in the art world! Read more>>

Adolfo Verdugo

A little over eight years ago, Adolfo and Catalina came together to set a bounch of songs to music and record them with musicians brought together specifically for the occasion. This material is rooted in Latin American folk traditions, while also drawing influence from North American folk music. Read more>>

Trinh Nguyen Georg

I was born and raised in Vietnam, where I built a successful career in international banking and business development. At 31, I moved to Germany with my husband and our six-month-old son. Almost overnight, I went from being an independent career woman to a stay-at-home mother in a country where I did not speak the language and had no family or close friends. Read more>>

Danette Batiste

My journey is deeply personal. As a young person, I witnessed the devastating impact that uncontrolled high blood pressure had on my father’s life. In his early 30s, he lost his kidneys because he was unaware of the damage high blood pressure was causing to his body. Read more>>

Iryna Pylypenko

This question actually stopped me in my tracks at first. What success are we talking about? I haven’t achieved anything extraordinary in my life. Read more>>

Ghislain Brind’Amour

My journey in music started at a young age. I was often forced to accompany my mom to church, and I found myself drawn to all the musical instruments. I would sneak over and play them whenever the opportunity was available (and sometimes when it wasn’t!). Eventually, the music director suggested putting me in organ lessons so I could actually learn how to play. Read more>>

Kaitlin Kerby

Hi there, my name is Kaitlin Kerby. I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of living by the ocean. I was always fascinated by the sea and knew I wanted my life to somehow revolve around it. Read more>>

Scarlett Brade

My love of books started very young. One of my clearest memories is being six years old and travelling to Canada with my mum. She bought me my first Harry Potter book for the journey, and I read it almost non-stop for the entire plane ride. I was completely hooked. Read more>>

Marina Efimova

I don’t think there was ever one specific moment when I decided, “That’s it, now I’m a designer.” It happened gradually. I’ve always had a strong need to create something visual, to come up with new ideas, and to build a beautiful environment around me. But for a long time, it existed more as an inner instinct than as a clearly defined profession. Read more>>

Jacinda MerChant

My journey into weddings began the day after I graduated from the University of South Carolina, when I started a wedding blog. I was drawn to the stories behind each celebration and the way thoughtful details could make a day feel deeply personal. What began as a creative outlet grew into a career in wedding planning in 2019. Read more>>

Sally Wielgus

My career in fashion started when I was still in college, interning in public relations for brands like Calvin Klein and Nanette Lepore in New York. I got to help style models and celebrities for events, red carpets, magazine shoots and advertising campaigns, which was a pretty incredible introduction to the industry. Read more>>

Barbie Mak

I’ve always felt a deep, natural calling toward artistic expression, but my journey really took off when I was 16. I started posting acoustic covers and original songs on YouTube, using the internet as a way to share my voice with a broader audience outside of Hong Kong. Read more>>

Alida Vincent

My journey began during the lockdown, with a strong desire to create and express myself through fashion. It became a form of art therapy for me a way to turn what I was experiencing and feeling into something tangible. As a self-taught creator, I learned through observation, experimentation, mistakes and constant practice. Read more>>

Berlyn Sharp

Rose to Light began with a loss that completely changed my life. On June 7, 2023, when I was 14 years old, my grandmother, Rose, died by suicide. She was an incredibly important person in my life, and at 14, I didn’t have the words or tools to understand the grief that followed. Read more>>

Amber Pugh

Where to start … Fitness has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up with a very fitness-centered mom and was always doing something active—basketball, karate, dance, and more. But I really started developing my own relationship with fitness in college at USC in Southern California. Read more>>

Sandy Kim

I didn’t grow up with someone teaching me about makeup or skincare. So when I got to my 20s, like so many others, YouTube became my teacher. I bought all the viral products everyone was recommending, thinking they would give me the same results. But my makeup looked patchy. My skin felt dry. Read more>>

Abigail Herrera

I’m a mom of three, and somewhere along the way, taking care of myself started to feel like one more thing I had to feel guilty about. I still wanted to feel like myself. I wanted to get my lashes done, have my nails done, take care of my skin—the little things that made me feel like *me* outside of being a mom. Read more>>

zishwan shao

I’ve been passionate about drawing since I was a kid. I think the real turning point was in high school, when I joined an art program and completed a series of twelve oil paintings, all built from my own ideas. Read more>>

Samuel Clare

I was born and raised in Utah in a small ranch. I rodeo & race motocross. Growing up always love to surf, make things with hands, fix bikes trackors etc. I spent 10 years in working professional in marketing and brand development.. when I had the business model of “SurfboyEra” come to me.. Read more>>

Stefan Schuch Kevin Tiell

About Smolotov LLC SH*T Bag by Smolotov is a premium pet waste bag company, combining political satire and pet care. Designed for responsible pet owners who care about democracy, quality, and sustainability, these pet waste bags help make the world a little less shitty. SH*T Bag is a critique disguised as convenience; performance art carried in your pocket. This product is not subtle. Read more>>

Alina Wells

I think my story really starts with the fact that I’ve always been a writer. Growing up, I was the kid who hid that she was reading books on her lap under her desk during class or was often caught scribbling something into a notebook that had nothing to do with algebra. Read more>>

Melis Ogut

My story pretty much began when my dad got me my first keyboard when I was six years old. A short time after that I decided to switch to playing the drums, and when I was 10, I started playing the guitar. Read more>>

Joyce Lee

We are Cup In Your Hand coffee shop on wheels! My name is Joyce Lee and I am the Founder and Co-Owner. The story starts in 2017 when I was left in the hospital for 2 weeks after having a near death sickness and flatlined. Read more>>

Ebony Omar

My story began on the east side of Detroit, where music, faith, and family shaped me from an early age. I began singing in church as a child and grew up surrounded by Detroit’s rich gospel and R&B traditions. Read more>>

Benedikt Sebastian

I started with stories and pictures long before I had job titles for either. My mother was a writer, and I remember drawing on the floor while she worked at her typewriter and, later, her computer. She told us stories and took my sister and me to the theatre. Read more>>