South LA’s Hidden Gems

Nancy Easton

I started in the creative field as a graphic designer. I spent years working alongside professional photographers- retouching their photos, etc. I quickly became jealous they were working at gorgeous venues with couples in love while I spent much of my time behind a computer. I gradually made the switch. Not even sure how it happened to be honest. My husband and I were moving from Las Vegas back to our hometown (Kansas City) at the time and it seemed like the perfect time to try a new career since we would have the support we’ve always had in the community we’re from. I experimented with being a photographer of everything at first to see what felt right. After photographing my first wedding, I was hooked! My obsession with weddings continues to grow and it’s now 99% of my work, with the occasional family portraits peppered in when time permits. Read more>>

Katrina Michelle

I am a Los Angeles native. I am a mother of two wonderful children, ages 21 & 16. Both of them are part of my catering business… My business was started with my family in mind. I call myself a serial entrepreneur. I started my first business in 2011 as a hospitality consultant for independent and boutique hotels. I’ve been in the hospitality industry for 29 years. It was second nature to open my catering business during the pandemic when the hotel industry was shut down. During that time I also opened a fitness business OMT Fitness by K Michelle with daily zoom workouts and weekend hiking club. After spending most of my life severely overweight in 2015, I adopted a healthy life active lifestyle. During that year, I lost 150lbs. I was known for all of my homemade meals I would post online while reporting to my followers my many weight loss updates under the advice of a close friend and regular person eating my food. They would always say people would pay to eat this good. That inspired me to start my business K Michelle’s Kitchen Catering. I made a name for myself quickly under my brand Katrina Michelle (K Michelle). I have cooked for celebrities’ events including Offset’s sneaker ball party, Kurupt press day, Soulja boy birthday party, DJ Battlecat, Sweetie, Amina Buttafly and BET. My catering company has been featured on the news for taste of soul media day. We are a small business that does events of all sizes from weekly appearances at Fr3eSpace, formerly (the savoy) Inglewood. We cater corporate, private events, brunches, private chef, meal preps and more. We have participated in pop-up events like Inglewood Jazzfest, Taste of Inglewood, Taste of Soul and Rolling Loud Inglewood. Read more>>

Ashley Capreé Morgan

Innovative Bling, surprisingly, has stemmed from numerous amount of casual conversations. I would listen to others talk about their struggles with specific smoking aesthetics like lighters, rolling trays, and anything used as an ashtray. Those conversations ignited my creativity due to the lack of customized smoking essentials, which sparked my entrepreneurial thoughts that if more people could customize smoking accessories, they would be less likely to lose them. Read more>>

Santini Anguiano

I’ve always had an interest in fashion since a very young age. I started working at Pacsun where I would style people and quickly realized it was something I wanted to do professionally. I then started working at Neiman Marcus which gave me the opportunity to make new clients and also dip my feet into the high fashion world. Definitely wasn’t easy. As much as I love what I do, it’s hard work. The whole process of reaching out to people and networking is tedious but it’s a crucial part of the business. Read more>>

Nadia Alamah

How far back do we go? I appreciate the question. I’m a second-generation Lebanese American writer and artist originally from Michigan — and I didn’t start truly becoming the person I am now until I left school and met my multidisciplinary and welcoming creative community of artists, writers, musicians, theater people, entrepreneurs in Flint. (The one and the same. The water-Flint, the Michael Moore Flint, is quite full of a warm and welcoming and inclusive creative types and a resilient and pioneering community of folks who stand for home). Read more>>

Sharondra Marks

I originally started in January 2005 as Shady Lady Fashion Accessory. It was my love for dressing up outfits just by adding accessories. I took a five years hiatus starting in 2008 up until September 0f 2013. During that five years, all I could think of was how I could brand myself and come back stronger plus more professional. I was hit with a tragedy in 2012 which delayed the process by a year. I returned with a slight name change as Shady Lady accessory bar or S.L.A.B. I sold from the trunk of my car, vended at special events, and rented spaces in different parts of the city throwing pop-up shops featuring myself and other vendors and eventually launched my website in 2016. Read more>>

Eric Daniel

Born and raised in Los Angeles, I began exploring my artistic side very early. In fourth grade, there were classmates that would ask me to draw their favorite cartoon characters on their paper at school. Over the years I realized how easy it was for me to create and began trying my hand at different mediums besides paper and pencil. In ninth grade, I began cutting hair after school for ten dollars. I began to get noticed around the city and at one point had up to ten clients. Even then, I grew tired of cutting hair and tried my hand at graphic design. 2012 is where I honed in on graphic design and videography by creating my Lvl Headz brand. Collaborating with photographer Dionna Smith from 2012-2016 was a great learning experience that pushed me to become better by challenging me on my creativity and hustle acumen. Currently, I am working on Lvl Headz Clothing LLC while still finding time to make videos for Lvl Headz Films. Read more>>

Denise Reynaga

I was born with a disability by the name of Spina Bifida and I have a brain injury caused by a car accident when I was seven years old. I am 49 years old and currently live with my whole family in Montebello, CA. When I was young I didn’t know that there was others like myself I was very shelter when I was a child. When my mother passed away in the car accident that myself and my whole were in we moved to Montebello from Ontario and I started Elementary School in Downey, CA. Read more>>

Anna Greer

In the winter of 2020, my friend Sachin came to me to ask if I’d like to lead the marketing team and be a co-founder for a nonprofit he had been thinking about creating called Cathartic. After hearing his pitch, I almost immediately answered yes– because I believed so strongly in the idea, its impact, and its potential. Cathartic aims to be a matchmaker between companies with health and hygiene products and community organizations that work with people who face health inequities. Those groups typically include very low-income or unhoused individuals who cannot afford basic health and hygiene products such as soap, sunscreen, socks, menstrual products, etc. Access to these products is essential for helping prevent serious health issues down the line, which can even be fatal for those that are unhoused. Read more>>

Jor-El Caraballo

Me and my business partner Rachel started Viva a few years ago as we felt that mental health care was still difficult to access for a lot of people. As we continue to grow our team with new providers in new areas all over the country, we continue to prioritize individualized mental health care with trustworthy therapists, flexible scheduling and reasonable fees. Like most companies, we’ve certainly faced some challenges, particularly over the past few years. Dealing with COVID, both administratively and just as people, has been hard. We’ve had to be flexible and be sure to continue to listen to what our clients are telling us in what works for them in accessing therapy support. Read more>>

Keesha Clark

At the height of the pandemic and worldwide uprisings, I had become a first-time mom to a beautiful, Black baby boy after a traumatic childbirth experience and the loss of my mother-in-law on the very same day. The world had suddenly become a very dark and scary place on the day I had expected to spend in celebration and rest. While I was relieved and happy to have created life as I had planned for so long, I was left grieving, confused, anxious and angry. As a Social Worker and Therapist, I was reminded by loved ones, colleagues and my own therapist that I needed to honor myself, my emotions and become intentional about self-care. Read more>>

Brittanica Young

My name is Brittanica Young. Where do I start?! Let’s take it back… I was born and raised in Quincy, Illinois, a small town in the Midwest. My hometown is one of those places where everybody knows EVERYBODY! I love home for that reason, however, I always had an itch to get out and explore the rest of the world, which is what would eventually land me here in LA! I was raised by both parents, shout out to my mom & dad! My parents worked hard to make sure my brother and I had the majority of our needs met. Back in those days, therapy wasn’t something black families discussed, and anything mental health meant you were crazy. So, feelings and emotions didn’t get processed too often. Read more>>