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.

Emily Gruber

I co-founded Apliiq in 2009, when I was 22 and still naïve enough to believe that starting an apparel company was a perfectly reasonable idea. Despite plenty of people telling us it was impossible to make and deliver one-of-one custom apparel, we managed to stitch the business together. Apliiq is a custom-apparel platform that combines online design, on-demand manufacturing—including printing, embroidery, and relabeling—dropshipping, and warehousing. Read more>>

Ryan Longnecker

Sure. I grew up in a small town in Central California, surrounded by the beauty of the Eastern Sierra. If you’ve ever smelled the air after a summer rain, you know just how sacred that place can feel. Read more>>

Dea Galore

I grew up around music and in music. My parents played a lot of gospel and my dad played a lot of others genres such as classic soul, R&B , yacht rock with a tad bit of jazz sprinkled in there. Read more>>

Sumer Durkee

We started Mid East Eats kind of by accident. I had been working as a house manager for a Hollywood producer, and I was let go from my job. I started cooking privately for another family, and the mom really loved my falafel. She always told me that I should sell my falafel. Read more>>

Rayna Verdine

I am an independent filmmaker based in the Long Beach area. I was introduced to the arts through my church expanding my creative knowledge, understanding and passion for creating something with my words, my voice and myself. Read more>>

elaine arevalo

It all started with me living with my roommates at the time in our apartment in Fremont , Ca needing more out of life from myself and for myself . I wanted something to call mines & so I began making chocolate covered strawberries . Read more>>

Erianna Jiles

I’m Erianna, but professionally, I go by “E.” I’m originally from Minnesota and have a background in audio journalism and podcast production. I found my way to LA after deciding I wanted to move my career more toward entertainment and get into video podcasting. Read more>>

Chelsea Freeborn

For the last several years, I’ve built and operated my own experiential marketing, production, and consulting business, working with companies across technology, entertainment, hospitality, and professional services. I started very entrepreneurially, building relationships, winning clients, managing teams and vendors, and ultimately being responsible for everything from strategy and budgets to execution. Read more>>

Danielle “Stoni” Clark

I started juicing after my mother’s cancer came back for the 2nd time. I wanted to be able to help in some way since chemo was so hard on her the first time. So I did a little research and found juicing to be beneficial for her to get the nutrients her body needs. Read more>>