Inspiring Stories from South LA

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 South LA’s finest artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and rebel rousers and we can’t begin to express how impressed we are with our city’s incredibly deep talent pool.  Check out South LA’s rising stars below.

Valery Arevalo

Hi, I’m Valery, but you can call me Val. I’m a proud Gemini based in Compton, California, and my journey into spirituality honestly started in a pretty unexpected and very ordinary way. In 2020, I was at my grandma’s house because we were having an issue with our washing machine, so I went over there to do some laundry. Read more>>

Vanessa Solis

My journey with coffee started back in 2006, 20 years ago. I was 17 years old and landed my dream job at Starbucks where I worked towards becoming an Assistant Store Manager. When the 2008-2009 economic crash led to layoffs and store closures, Starbucks paused my development. I decided to step away and pursue a college degree. Read more>>

Nico Patino

My parents lived hard lives made beautiful. I was their four-year-old ring bearer when they married at the cabin-sized church down the hill from our home in New Hope, PA, an colonial-era colony of painters that by my time had become the hip yet secluded refuge for the aged-out New York and Philly artists of rambunctious decades-past. Read more>>

CARLOS SPIVEY

I didn’t take barbering seriously until my studies at California State University, Los Angeles came to a halt. I was a kinesiology major, doing well and a year and a half from graduating, but I couldn’t afford to continue. Leaving school and my friends was devastating. Read more>>

Irving Govea

We started TYF with the idea of creating events that we would actually want to go to ourselves. It started small with just a vision and a group of friends, and over time it grew into a real community. Two years later, we’ve been able to work with amazing artists, venues and collectives throughout LA. Read more>>

Catch Timbo

Yes my name is Timothy Grady jr A.K.A “catchtimbo” I’m a LA rapper born and raised but moved outside the city at a young age . I’ve been making music for about 6 years only a couple consistently.With last year being my biggest year with music with my single “outside ft chefboy” went platinum in every club/party/bar in Los Angeles last summer. Read more>>

Fito Abedoy

First of all, I would like to thank you guys for having me. It’s my pleasure to share my story. My name is Fito, and I grew up in a small equestrian community. I come from a long line of charros and horse trainers, a tradition started by my grandfather and carried on by my father. Read more>>

Crystal Irish

My story definitely hasn’t been a straight or easy road, but looking back, I can see how every part of it has shaped who I am today. I grew up in a lot of chaos. Addiction within my family was a big part of my childhood, and because of that, there were times when our home life was really hard. Read more>>

Erika Corona

As a child, everyone else’s comfort drink was hot chocolate, hot cocoa or some variation of it. Mine was hot coffee. Nothing was more comforting than a hot cup of café con leché, coffee boiled with milk, sugar and cinnamon. Read more>>

Rodrigo Occelli

I co-founded Veta Films in 2013 with Alex Montes, with a clear ambition: to create original content and tell stories that could connect with audiences across languages and borders. Since then, we’ve brought together a team of collaborators to produce films and documentaries in Mexico, the United States, and Europe. Read more>>

Joel Martin

Over the last 30 years I’ve been a bandleader, a freelance guitarist and pedal steel player, an educator, producer and made music for movies and television. Currently I lead the Grateful Dead tribute band Grateful To The Core and I perform solo shows all over the West Coast. I am available for live shows and recording (in-person and remote sessions) on pedal steel guitar ! Read more>>

Giuseppe & Giuditta Di bari

It all started when both Giuditta and I visited America for the first time—back then, we didn’t even know each other. My first trip was to Los Angeles, and I fell in love with the city immediately; for Giuditta, it was New York. Ever since we met, we’ve dreamed of America and returned there many times as tourists. Read more>>

Fernando ‘Bichopalo’ Domínguez

I’ve always been interested in both music and visual arts. For many years, I worked mainly in art direction, but at some point I decided to prioritize a more personal project where I could bring together different things I had always been passionate about: visual arts, sculpture, engineering and music — an area I particularly wanted to explore more deeply. Read more>>

Rochele Jones

My story is really one of resilience, reinvention, and purpose. I’ve experienced some things in life that could have easily defined me, but instead, I decided to use those experiences as a foundation to build something different. Read more>>

Laura H. Rubin

As a kid, I drew constantly and wanted to be an animator at Disney. Spoiler: Disney never called. To be fair, I never applied, so I can’t really hold that against them. xD I eventually studied Film and VFX at SAE Institute in Zurich. That’s where I had my first storyboarding classes and my first experience with drawing tablets. Read more>>

Alex Pratsyuk

My path into music and audio has been anything but linear. I’ve always been drawn to creating things, figuring out how things work, and finding ways to turn ideas into something tangible. Music eventually became the place where all of those interests came together. Read more>>

cody hopkins

I started tuning and waxing skis in a local ski shop in Newport Beach 24 years ago. I absolutely loved the job and the culture so I pursued it up to this point and beyond. Doing construction in the summer and working at the ski shop in the winter was the best! Read more>>

Caileigh Blake-Christo

Going to school for graphic design has allowed my creative work to cover industries from luxury to wellness and lifestyle to music media. My professional career started with freelancing as a Graphic Designer. Through networking, I added Creative Director, Social Media Manager, and Content Creator to my skillset. Within these industries, I noticed a pattern: these companies needed assistance in brand development and creative direction. Read more>>

Envy

I was born in St. Joseph, Michigan. Raised in a one-stop-light small town named Watervliet/Hartford, Michigan. I grew up around music, whether it was karaoke or singing in the backseat of my mom’s car or in the recording studio with my dad watching him record a song. Read more>>

camryn shonka

I didn’t choose this work. It revealed itself. At eleven I lost vision in my left eye after a traumatic accident. In one afternoon, something most people never think about became uncertain. I learned early that presence is not guaranteed. Memory is not guaranteed. Being seen is not a luxury. It is a necessity. That is the beginning. Read more>>

Constance Edwards Scopelitis

Constance Edwards Scopelitis graduated with a fine arts degree from Indiana University. She continued her studies with legendary American figurative painter Isabel Bishop. Further studies at the Art Students League in NYC set Constance on a career path of executing large-scale narrative figure paintings and realistic formal oil portraits. Her portraits are in the collections of major American corporations, Universities, and private individuals. Read more>>

Agnes Grumslys

My story really began long before Agnes Beauty & Wellness. I came to the United States from Lithuania in 2003, and I’ve now spent more than 17 years in the beauty and wellness industry. What started as a career in beauty slowly became something much deeper for me. Over the years, I realized that I didn’t want to simply perform treatments. Read more>>

Stevie Fernando

I grew up on Disney. Born in 1992, some of my earliest memories are of watching Disney animated movies on VHS. Disney was such a big part of my childhood, and those movies, characters, and stories had a lasting impact on me—not only as a fan, but also as an artist and creative. Read more>>

Freddie Moore II

My journey with FM2 & Intentional started with my love for choir music and ministry. In 2015, I stepped out on faith and formed FM2 & Intentional. FM2 comes from my name, Freddie Moore II, and Intentional represents our desire to be purposeful in everything we do. Read more>>

Lonnie Dangerous

Born In Chester, Pa. Traveled the U.S. as a kid. Spent a lot of my youth in Anchorage, Alaska. I always dreamed I’d be a performer in Hollywood. It felt like a distant dream until my girlfriend passed due to cancer. I realized I didn’t want to just exist, I wanted to live my dreams before it’s too late. Read more>>

Moda Guild Agency – Kathleen vitali, Viviana Garcia & Marisa Ritts

Moda Guild was founded by Kathleen Vitali, Viviana Garcia and Marisa Ritts, three longtime fashion industry professionals who saw an opportunity to create a different kind of resource for brands. Between the three of us, we bring decades of experience across creative direction, design, merchandising, product development, sourcing, production, PR and brand communications. Read more>>

Nicholas Markart

My name is Nick Markart. I’m a 30-year-old filmmaker and marketing director based in Los Angeles, CA. My career began in post-production at Warner Bros. Studios, and I’ve directed multiple human rights documentaries that screened at Cannes International Film Festival, including *Peacekeeper* and *Warriors: The Bernie Mac Disease*. Read more>>

Billy Kornfeld

Our company started 40 years ago, in 1986, to help me spend less time on the road as a Bekins driver. As our family grew, I wanted to be home more, so my wife and I decided that starting our own moving company was the best way to do so. We began with just one truck and an office in our garage. Read more>>

ALEO

I grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, and music was always the center of my life. I took drum lessons from 10 to 12, studied classical guitar from 16 to 18, and then picked up bass and keyboard before moving to the US. While I was still a college student, I performed a song I wrote at a talent show. Read more>>

Sierra Jackson

University of central oklahoma for fashion marketing and business sales did bachelor and bachelor in paradise while living in dallas worked in tech, OpenAI, left corporate in spring 2024 then moved to LA live in west LA Starting a korean skincare company for men and projected to launch spring of 2027 have a puppy named Tucker Read more>>

Haleigh Grundherr

I’ve always loved storytelling. I was always the friend in the group documenting our adventures, making little videos, and capturing moments that I knew we’d want to look back on someday. It wasn’t until I was 19, when my sister gifted me a Super 8 camera, that I really fell in love with filmmaking. Read more>>

Kade Martinez

I’ve always had that hustle in me. Even as a kid, I loved the idea of selling something and having money that I earned on my own. The first “business” I ever started was probably in second or third grade, when Rainbow Loom bracelets were huge. Read more>>

Franky Barrera

I started doing Photography two years prior to the pandemic. Once the pandemic hit, I started hitting the streets and capturing moments that probably won’t ever happen again. Sometime after that I was in introduced to portrait/model by a fellow photographer and since then I have spend time trying to capture different moments Read more>>

Andrea Serrato

My journey has never followed one straight path. I have always been a creative and deeply intuitive person with a love for singing, dance, art, fashion, culture, and simply experiencing the beauty of being alive. Read more>>

Ketevan Anasovi

I have always been an artist. For most of my life, creating was simply a way of existing, I never seriously thought about sharing my work with the outside world. That changed during the lockdown in 2020. Being confined at home created an unexpectedly strong desire in me to make my existence visible to reach beyond the walls around me. Read more>>

Destin’ee Browne

Destin’ee Nicole Browne is the Founder and Creative Director of DNB, a Los Angeles-based luxury couture label rooted in craftsmanship, sustainability, and high-fashion elegance. Browne began designing at age five, teaching herself how to sew by hand by making clothes for her barbie dolls out of old socks, in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Read more>>

Chantal Dodson

At 23, I made the courageous decision to leave a very controlling environment I had been raised in and start building an independent life for myself. I moved forward with very little, but I had determination, a strong work ethic, and a passion for flowers. I began my career as a florist in Los Angeles in 1993. Read more>>

Riley Bourne

I began dancing when I was 6 years old, I remember seeing dancers in music videos on TV and telling my parents I wanted to do that! My Mum and my Nana were both dancers and performers growing up as well, I guess it kinda ran in the blood. Read more>>

Elisa Cardenas

My story started when I was a child. My mom would do egg limpias for my siblings and me. She would cleanse our home with sahumerio de chiles, light candles for abundance, harmony, and health, and offer prayers. All of these curanderismo practices were evident throughout my childhood. Read more>>

Brian Ruffin

I’ve always had a passion for the arts, whether I was simply a consumer or actually creating something myself. It started with drawing in elementary school, where I realized I had a talent through art shows and being recognized as one of the best artists in my class. That acknowledgment gave me the confidence to keep creating. Read more>>

Sara Macias

I fell in love with art when I was only a child. There were many dark moments for me growing up, and art was my strength and my escape into a state of euphoria. I won several art contests growing up, so this helped boost my confidence, especially being introverted, and a bit of a loner. Read more>>

Alysse Keemara Speiginer

Creativity has always been a huge part of who I am. I grew up in Southern California and have been drawn to art, design, and especially lettering for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories of becoming fascinated with lettering was when my cousin in Panama drew my name in graffiti. Read more>>

Thomas Pettit

Music has always been in my life from when I was born escaping my crazy family especially my abusive drug user father. When my mom finally gave up on him and moved away things changed. My step dad came into our lives. Eventually I move with my step grandpa in Redondo beach. Read more>>

Anthony Cabrera

Anthony Cabrera, also known as Bboy Omen, is forty-two years old. Both of his parents are of Dominican descent, and he lived in the Dominican Republic for about six years before moving to the United States, where he grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts in the early nineties. At that time, Lynn had a heavy gang presence in the community. Read more>>

Chelsea Martens

I grew up around people who made things for a living. My dad was a Disney Imagineer, and my mom was a scenic artist, so creativity was a very familiar part of my world. I always loved fashion and design, but I didn’t actually start sewing until after high school. Read more>>

Tori B

My journey has really been centered around creativity, helping others, and continuing to grow. I started creating content in 2018, primarily in the beauty space, and over the years I’ve developed my skills in makeup, video production, photography, and editing. Creating content taught me how to be adaptable, and comfortable learning new things. Read more>>

Manuela Vitulli

I’m Manuela Vitulli, and I come from Bari, in Puglia — the heel of Italy’s boot. Until a few years ago, it was a place most people outside Italy had never heard of, but it’s becoming known worldwide now, including in the US, where more and more travelers are discovering Puglia for their vacations. Read more>>

KING PERRYY

My name is King Perryy. I’m from Enugu State, Nigeria, but I was born and raised in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. My journey has been anything but straightforward. Before music became my career, I spent four years in the seminary with the intention of becoming a Catholic priest. That experience shaped me deeply and gave me a strong sense of purpose, discipline, and spirituality. Read more>>