Hidden Gems: Local Businesses & Creatives You Should Know

Every day we have a choice. We can support an up and coming podcaster, try a new family-run restaurant, join a boutique gym started by a local fitness champ or we could keep giving away our money to the handful of giants who already control so much of our commerce. Our daily decisions impact the kind world we live in; if we want a world where small businesses are growing and artists and creatives are thriving then we should support them with our time, money and attention. We’re proud to highlight inspiring creatives and entrepreneurs each week in Hidden Gems series. Check out some of our latest local gem features below.

Aphrodite Varis

I started with The Fairytale Foundation when I was 14 and a Freshman in High school. My enthusiasm quickly allowed me to become a manager. Me and a fellow volunteer, Elizabeth Kibbey, ran the company when Stephanie went to study abroad, responding to booking emails, creating new costumes and wigs. Read More>>

Jh’ayona Stennies

My journey has always been rooted in service, leadership, and a desire to create opportunities for others. I began my career in healthcare and became a Registered Nurse, where I developed a passion for education, patient advocacy, and helping people navigate critical moments in their lives. Read More>>

Rita Johnson

I’m Rita Johnson, daughter of God, wife to Ben, homeschooling mom of 6 amazing kiddos, and the owner of Divine Mercy Nutritional Care. I help women take their health back into their own hands using dietary changes, lifestyle and mindset work, and at home lab testing. Years ago, I struggled with my health. I felt worn out, exhausted, and like I couldn’t remember anything! Read More>>

Sheila Buettner

I’ve always loved to travel. Some of my favorite memories have been made exploring new places with my husband and our children, and over the years I became the person everyone came to when they needed help planning a trip. I genuinely enjoyed researching destinations, comparing options, and putting together itineraries that fit each person’s interests and budget. Read More>>

Ileana Molina

I received my esthetician license in 2017 and then my intructors license in 2020. I always saw myself as only a service provider focusing on makeup artistry, eyelash extensions, and waxing but then became so passionate about education and training and mentorship. It was so fulfilling to show other esthetic students the journey that they’re able to take throughout school. I loved filling others cups. Read More>>

Stephanie Marshall

I was born in Lafayette, Indiana to two immigrants from South India (Kerala). My father was completing his postdoc training at Purdue. From there, we relocated to Chicago and then, Bombay. I had my first memory in Bombay standing at the top of a high rise apartment looking down at a slum. Read More>>

Tempestt Kelly

In December 2016, I had officially resigned from my career with the federal government and moved to Cleveland, Ohio from Portsmouth, Virginia. This sudden change shook everyone close to me at the time, but should not have as I had always said I wanted more than what my stable career and comfortable hometown could offer me. Read More>>

Nick Manos

I began homebrewing in 2014 with one of my best friends. We had a passion for craft beer and had to try our hand in making some at home. I spent months pouring over books, videos, and internet forums in an effort to make the best possible beer we could on our first attempt. Read More>>

Loren Coontz

I grew up in Ohio and always knew I wanted a career where I could make a meaningful impact on people’s lives. That passion led me to pursue medicine and eventually become a Physician Assistant in the United States Navy. Read More>>

Susan Pilato

My journey began as a commercial interior designer with a passion for creating spaces that positively impact the people who use them. At 26 years old, I co-founded PC&A Business Environments, and over the past 25 years I have had the opportunity to help grow the company into one of the region’s leading commercial interior firms. Read More>>

Maria Houston

I started Beck Boards out of grief. Over the last several years, I experienced the loss of multiple family members, including my father. As a psychologist, I often encourage others to find healthy and meaningful ways to cope with difficult life experiences. I realized that I needed to take my own advice and find a creative outlet for myself. Read More>>

Kelley Freeman

My first step as a fiber artist was in high school, when I learned how to crochet from my high school boyfriend’s mom. In my late twenties, I picked up spinning yarn and then knitting. Read More>>

Becky Grace

I developed a love of baking as a child. I come from a large family and individual time with Grandma was hard to come by. She always baked on Sundays while everyone was at church and as often as I could, I would stay home with her to bake. I think it was my sneaky way of getting one-on-one time with her. Read More>>

NancyAnn Wartman

I started with PaperPie 31 years ago as a stay-at-home mom looking for a way to help financially while also filling our home with great books for our kids. My husband, Tom, and I were raising our family, and we loved the idea of building something flexible that fit alongside family life. Read More>>

Joan Smith

I met with a friend of my sisters who had a small gallery to ask questions about how to get started in the business. We talked a lot and one day she asked if I would be interested in buying her shop. So I did. I purchased her gallery’s inventory from Mt Vernon, Ohio in August 1996. Read More>>

Austin Qualls

It started on Packard Dr. I was raised there by my mother and grandmother, my mother single and pregnant with my younger brother. Shortly after he was born, my grandmother passed tragically. We moved. What we had left was small but mighty: a support system held together by women who refused to let us fall through the cracks. Read More>>

Tina Garriott

Growing up, my days were spent around individuals with disabilities—from a family member to the neighborhood babysitter to my early experiences with Franklin County DD ARC. Each experience shaped how I saw ability, dignity, and amazing adaptive people. I spent nearly two decades advocating, encouraging, and learning more in the employment arena at a public school district. Read More>>

Tiffany Gingrich

I’ve always been deeply curious about people. Their stories, what makes them who they are, what they’ve been through, what helps them heal, and what gives them the courage to change. For almost 20 years, I had the privilege of hearing those stories every day as a hairdresser. What I loved most definitely wasn’t the hair. It was the people. Read More>>

JoJo Gendemeh

I technically began modeling when I was 12 after my dad passed away. There were times when I lost the desire to do modeling but I became interested in creative direction when I was 19 and that’s when things started to get serious for me. Read More>>

Donnie Quillen

I picked up my first camera in 2013 and started learning the ins and outs of how it worked by taking pics of my shoe collection and my friends with their own. From there I grew into photographing weddings, senior sessions, family sessions, and landscape images. Read More>>

Mark Wiggins

If you look at my journey from the outside, it may seem like I’ve worn a lot of different hats: speaker, coach, trainer, magazine publisher, podcaster, nonprofit executive, entrepreneur, and owner of M. Wayne Designs. But at the center of all of it has been one mission: helping people move from where they are to where they are capable of being. Read More>>

Becki Olejnik

There’s a photo on our wall of my father, Richard and I standing in our very first warehouse. He was retired. I was a stay at home mom. Neither of us had any business starting a candle company.’ But years earlier, in Becki’s basement, something happened that neither of them could explain. They poured their first candle, lit it, and the room changed. Read More>>

Sarah Kelly

Hi, my name is Sarah Kelly, and I am married to the love of my life, Liz Kelly, formerly Liz Markley—the All-American soccer goalie from a tiny village called Cedarville, Ohio. And Cedarville really is something special. It sits just outside in the Dayton suburbs, tucked into the kind of countryside that makes you slow down without even meaning to. Read More>>

Kimberly Purple

I was born in Columbus, but our family moved to the rural farming community of Millersport, Ohio when I was 8. We lived on a small farm and raised a variety of animals. I have always enjoyed being outdoors. Nature was my happy place. Later in life, I started using my iPad to take photos of nature and any type of scene that inspired me. Read More>>

David Elmer

I was inspired to start painting after viewing the works of Cincinnati local artist, Priya Rama, who paints what she sees in her migraines. Her colors are astonishing and the imagery is literally cerebral. I asked Priya to do a custom piece for my home and we struck up a friendship. Read more>>

Kristy Steele

I started Save Our Families from a very personal place. After losing my mother, Nita, to an overdose in 2017, I knew I wanted to build something that could reach families dealing with similar experiences. Read more>>