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.

Richard Tamaki

I was born in Torrance, California, and raised in Orange County. I graduated from La Quinta High School in Westminster then continued on to earn a degree in Agricultural Business Management from Cal Poly Pomona. Read more>>

Monte Jackson

I’m Monte “Bang Jackson,” founder of Five6ixteen Sounds, a DJ collective, booking agency, and record label based in Los Angeles. I started out as a recording artist under the name Bangloose, which gave me my foundation in music and the industry. From there, I transitioned into DJing and eventually moved into the business side, working in marketing, promotions, and artist relations. Read more>>

Jimmy Perez

Hi, I’m Jimmy Perez, born and raised in South Los Angeles, California. Growing up wasn’t easy the environment I was in came with a lot of challenges and distractions. But those experiences taught me discipline, resilience, and the importance of building something better for myself. As I got older, I realized I wanted a different path. Read more>>

Blanca Guerra

My love for brows actually started super young. When I was about 13, I shaved off my eyebrows because of the chola style, and I would draw them on every single day. That’s when I started getting compliments—people loved how I shaped and styled them. I didn’t realize it then, but that was the beginning of my journey. Read more>>

Anissa Zermeno

I’m in a band called Dangerousbeauty, and I also own a clothing brand called Little Delinquents, both go hand in hand, I feel. I’ve always been drawn to music, even when I didn’t fully understand what I was expressing at the time. As I got older and went through real struggles, especially with my mental health, those early words started to make sense. Read more>>

Anton Kellner

Music was all around me my entire life. I was born in Maryland and lived with my Dad, who is a session bass player. I grew up playing West African music in a band that my Dad was in and was able to perform at pretty established venues around Washington DC (Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, etc). Read more>>

Luis Reyes

I was born and raised in the SGV to two Mexican parents, being the oldest of three. I was always a bit of an odd one it seems. My parents like telling this one story about them taking me to a children’s therapist as they were taken aback by my habit of talking ad nauseum about my interests. Read more>>

Rome Ardell

My story starts in Los Angeles, specifically the Westmont area of South Central, where I was raised in an environment surrounded by gang culture and constant pressure to conform. Growing up in that space, it would have been easy to let my surroundings define me, but even at a young age, there was always something in me that resisted becoming a product of that environment. Read more>>