Jeanine Hattas Wilson
I grew up painting alongside my identical twin sister Julie. Since were were both artistic, Iʼve always been a part of a collaborative artist team. Living in the country (just outside Chicago), we drew everyday, filling sketchbooks with portraits of each other, pictures of our dog Toto, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As we continued through our art education, we would challenge each other to paint specific subjects. Read more>>
Nargiza Babadjanova
In 2007, my twelve-year old son and I arrived in the USA. I was full of hopes implementing my childhood dream to find myself in this country, expecting that I will be able to change my fate and to realize all my “great plans”. As you can suppose, from the very first days of my staying here, my life became full of the reality, which does not always and in everything correspond to the pictures that are whirling in the head of a young dreamy woman. Read more>>
Ehja Kang
For me, creating art is like breathing oxygen. I can’t live without it. I think I was born to be an artist. Even before kindergarten, I would constantly draw things that I saw or imagined. In elementary school, my classmates would form a small line at my desk and ask me to make drawings (e.g. a drawing of a doll, a princess, or a truck) before the teacher arrived in class. Read more>>
Ahjalia Hall and Jennifer Maples
Ahjalia: My mother owned a dance studio when I was growing up and I have been dancing since I was 2 years old. Growing up in dance is a wonderful way to build confidence, self-esteem and mental and physical strength. I went to UCLA at the age of 16 and once I moved to Los Angeles I started dancing, performing and teaching as much as possible. Reason more>>
Jessica Lewis
I started spinning in 2010 after a foot injury running the Nike half marathon in San Francisco. After just a few classes, I was hooked! The music, the workout, and the camaraderie were everything I was looking for and more. A few years into spinning, a new instructor joined the studio I belonged to. She and I hit it off immediately, and my love for spin grew even deeper. Read more>>
Joe Bautista
About 10 years ago, Professor Dave Moon and at the time Adjunct faculty Joe wanted to provide an experience and opportunity to their creative students beyond the classroom. They also wanted to challenge themselves to research and learn new methodologies in design that they knew they were not going to be able to do by just teaching classes. Read more>>
Aliona Radzinsky
It all started when I answered a job ad for a receptionist position at a local optometrist’s office. At the job interview, I met one of the doctors who was in his late 80s. He had the opportunity to retire long ago, but he continued to work part-time because he truly loved his job. Read more>>
Bozenna Bogucka and Lukasz Bogucki
We are both professional designers, with master degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. It was tough school, five years of very strict and demanding programs but learned a great deal. We came to America some thirty years ago and always worked in different fields of design: interior, graphic, industrial, exhibit design, even couture collections. Read more>>
Pamela Hayes
I consider myself an artist and always have. I was first introduced to the idea of Art Therapy when my high school art teacher, Mr. Hoffman, took our entire class on a field trip to a gallery exhibit of artwork, not by artists, but by people suffering from migraine headaches. I was entranced by the creative representation of their suffering. Read more>>
Michele Guzy
HYPNOSIS! There I said it. When I am asked what I do for a living, it is this “one-word answer” that has people stop dead in their tracks and stare at me with a curious wonder. It is my sound bite in Los Angeles. I am a Certified Hypnotherapist specializing in Past Life Regression therapy. For the past 26 years, I have used hypnosis and guided imagery in my clinic to help people achieve their personal and professional goals. Read more>>
David Lee
Started in late 2008 when a friend moved out to New York City to start a frozen yogurt store which eventually became a franchise chain. We immediately sourced a couple paper cup and spoon suppliers overseas in Taiwan/China. Then we began supplying his frozen yogurt stores with eco-friendly paper cups and spoons. Read more>>
Kristin Pitts
I supposed I was always in the business of acting, so to speak. I was a competitive figure skater from the age of four. I always liked and respected the competition, but what I loved was winning. Soon after college, I started acting and modeling. Read more>>
Richard Rose
Build My English was founded in August, 2012, by Richard. He was an ESL teacher at West Valley Occupational Center (WVOC) and other adult schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He saw that these schools focused on grammar and that the classes were so large that students didn’t get enough personal attention. Read more>>
Jonathan Keri
In June 2007, I was approached by one of my mom’s clients. He was in search of a project manager for his web development firm in Beverly Hills, California. After a brief phone conversation, the CEO of the company asked to interview me. Before I knew it, I had landed myself a job alongside one of the top web development companies in LA. Read more>>
Peter Sherayko
My career was in show business, mainly as an actor. For the first 10 years, like everyone it was a struggle. The next five years were pretty good, but it’s a business of flavor of the week. All the while my hobby was collecting the West. Totally fascinated with the history of the frontier. Read more>>
Scott Page-Pagter
I started making wine in 1996 with a friend. I decided to make the winery commercial in 2013 so I could sell the wines easier. My friend didn’t want to make the jump then so I got my brother, Gib, to invest so we could get the ball rolling. I have always sourced my grapes from vineyards where I love the wine that is made from grapes that come from there. Read more>>
Elisabeth King
D Pet Hotels Los Angeles opened in 2016 and is the fourth of five locations for the group, who’s original location opened in 2008. Elisabeth and her husband Joshua have a profound love for dogs and decided to open the franchise as to them, there’s simply no better job in the world than to look after people’s children. Read more>>
Kirk Nishikawa
We (Sherwin and Kirk) became friends way back in high school when huge baggy pants, Cool Water cologne and Tommy Hilfiger Jackets were still in fashion. We quickly discovered a shared love for cars and disobeying our parents. Sherwin was known as the “go to guy” when it came to fixing our friends cars, and I (Kirk) was always there to help with stubborn rusty bolts and stuck axels. Read more>>
Jen Spencer and Jessy Raspiller
Jessy: VPUY came to be, very organically. About 3 years ago after going through my teacher certification, I was required to give 8 hours of Karma yoga classes to an underserved market. I knew my friends would be the perfect candidates as they were always intimidated to try the local yoga studios with me. We started “popping up” at the local parks around my work schedule. Read more>>
Mo Southern
I grew up in Texas in a small town that doesn’t lend itself to the arts or tattoos. We had one tattoo shop in the whole town and it was ‘old school’ where you pick something off the wall. Once I started my own tattoo collection my interest grew rapidly for the craft. Read more>>
Aileen Nealie
One of my graduate school classes divided us into groups in order to present our thoughts about Thomas Moore’s book: Care of the Soul. As a group, we came up with the idea of conducting a guided visualization piece to summarize the book. I was chosen to be the voice. When I presented to the class, since they were instructed to close their eyes, everyone thought it was a recording from a professional. I was quite flattered. I guess it was a talent I did not know I had. Read more>>
Tnah Louise
Ceremony has always been part of my life, even when it was stripped from my early years when my father decided to convert us to Jehovah Witnesses through my most impressionable years, however what it taught me down the line was that life is a ceremony, not the holidays that are so consumed with materialism. Read more>>
Steve Stephens
I’ve been a studio musician and a drummer for big artists for quite a while and decided to start my own band about 6 or 7 years ago because I had studied the people I was playing with and wanted to put what I learned to the test. Because I’ve been lucky enough to play all kinds of music, I wanted to try and find a way to mix all of it together in one cohesive package, hence BrokenToiz! Read more>>
