Mid-Wilshire Inspiration

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 Mid-Wilshire’s (and K-Town, WeHo, Mid-City) 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 Mid-Wilshire’s rising stars below.

Nick Engvall

I’ve been working in the footwear industry for over two decades. In 2018, I decided to start a consulting business and my girl and I moved to West Hollywood. I’d lived in the Fox Hills and Santa Monica areas before but had spent the last few years in Detroit working for a startup called StockX. They turned out to be one of my first clients. Read more>>

Ara Santos

I’m a Filipino-American Animator and Entertainment Designer. I grew up in the 2000s era of tv cartoons: Toonami, Hey Arnold, Rugrats, Avatar on Nickelodeon. As a kid, I was always glued to animation and video games. My childhood neighbor, he drew this sketch of the Titanic ship in front of me, that’s when I realized people actually make the magic I saw on tv! Read more>>

Bernadette Abasta

I began my career in Direct-to-Consumer marketing working for Ron Popeil, the godfather of direct response and DTC marketing. That experience became the foundation for a career spanning over three decades of building, managing, and scaling performance-driven marketing campaigns. Throughout my career, I’ve focused on helping brands achieve significant growth through the combination of media strategy, creative, analytics, and disciplined performance optimization. Read more>>

Judy Vaughan

My story is deeply rooted in all the communities that have helped to shape my life. These communities include my family, and the numerous other places I have lived and worked. I entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet after high school and initially taught elementary school children (1st – 3rd graders) in Lakeside, CA. Read more>>

Charlie Sputnik

Charlie Sputnik: The Multidimensional Musician A Foundation of Jazz, A World of Sound Charlie Sputnik (Charles Chemery) is a French-born, Los Angeles-based artist whose career transcends boundaries. As a vocalist, DJ, guitarist, producer, author, and educator, he embodies the rare ability to move seamlessly between genres, cultures, and artistic disciplines. Read more>>

Hakim Tafari

I was born and raised in Ipswich, Suffolk, UK. After high school, I went to art school. At 18, I left the UK for the US, and more than three decades later, I’m still here. A serious injury in the mid-’90s changed everything. It forced me to slow down and rebuild my relationship with my body from the ground up. Read more>>

Isabella Peng

I grew up in Taiwan, and because my parents worked in media, I was exposed to the beauty of communication and storytelling from an early age. As a kid, I was drawn to storytelling in every form—performing, dancing, acting, and singing—and eventually began working as a child actor on television. Read more>>

Robert Martinez

I had an ex who was a concert photographer (shouts out Bri) seeing them work to create art they were proud of and do what they love really inspired me to pick up a camera and just go for it. Read more>>

Alex Canter

I grew up as the 4th generation of Canter’s, the 95-year-old deli on Fairfax that’s been an LA institution since 1931. After years adapting the restaurant for a new generation of customers, I saw that restaurants weren’t set up to handle delivery through apps like Uber Eats, Grubhub, and DoorDash. Read more>>

Dakota Sage Matthews

My story with photography began when I moved to Paris to study Film Studies and Production. Inspired by the city, I started carrying a film camera everywhere, documenting the streets and my friends. After graduating, I moved to Los Angeles and began working in the movie trailer industry. Read more>>

Warren Jones

I grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC. In 2014 I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, and moved to Los Angeles the next year in 2015. I majored in Film with a minor in Africana Studies, and moved here with the intention of making a career as a video editor and writer. Read more>>

Brandi Harris

Fourteen years ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. It shook me. Three years later, I finally decided to take my health back into my own hands — I started looking at food differently, like everything on my plate could be working against me. Read more>>

Sheena Gao

I’ve always moved between different creative worlds, but music was really where it started for me. I trained as a classical violinist and have performed professionally for many years, both as a classical and electric violinist. More recently, I’ve also been exploring country music, which has been a fun new direction for me. My other great passion has always been fashion and visual design. Read more>>

Isabel Brinkworth-Martinez

My story has taken me through a few different chapters, but the common thread has always been people. I was born in Colombia and moved to Australia when I was 15. I spent many years there, and later my family and I moved to Los Angeles when our daughter wanted to pursue her acting career. Read more>>