The Change-Makers: stories that inspire

The heart of our mission is to find the amazing souls that breathe life into our communities. In the recent weeks, we’ve had the privilege to connect with some incredible artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and rabble rousers and we can’t begin to express how impressed we are with the incredible group below. Check out our favorite stories from across the Voyage family.

Logan Baldauf

Im originally from the small town of Weirton, West Virginia. I’d say my interest in art started very young, particularly drawing and as I got older I found painting had an even stronger appeal. When I started school at CCAD I was originally intending to pursue fine arts but I knew I had to focus on something different. Read more>>

Aaron Behnk

The idea to start making paper was born out of looking for a use for all the scrap paper I was accumulating during art school. I started with re-binding pages from partially used sketchbooks, and when I ran out of paper large enough to do that, I thought, what if I could combine all these bits into a new sheet of paper? Read more>>

Onesti Strong

My passion for hair began long before I ever imagined owning a business. Growing up, I was surrounded by women who had a gift for creating beauty with their hands. I watched my mother style hair from home, along with my grandmother, whom I affectionately called “Mawmaw,” and my aunt Yvette, who were both licensed beauticians. Read more>>

Amber Harris

My story really starts with my own experiences growing up, experiencing trauma, and searching for a sense of belonging. I know what it feels like to want to be seen, heard, and accepted. Those experiences shaped how I connect with people and why creating spaces where others feel valued is so important to me. Read more>>

Christy Carson

I’ve always been a creative, but that’s looked like a lot of different things throughout my life! I studied Communications and Theatre in college and started building a career in marketing. Marketing was a good fit, and I liked the blend of creativity and strategy it called for. Read more>>

Liajuana Clark

I’m Liajuana Clark — I go by Laghacy Cokianna — and I was born and raised right here in Cleveland. My beginning wasn’t easy. I was raised mostly in my grandmother’s house, both of my parents were incarcerated, and I became a mother at fourteen. I learned early that nobody was coming to save me, so I saved myself. Creativity was my way out. Read more>>

Kathy Walters

Cleveland Kurentovanje began in 2013 with a simple but meaningful idea: celebrate Slovenian culture and heritage while bringing renewed attention to Cleveland’s St. Clair–Superior neighborhood and the Slovenian National Home, a gathering place for the Cleveland Slovenian community for more than a century. Inspired by Kurentovanje, the traditional carnival celebration in Ptuj, Slovenia, the festival brings a beloved European tradition to Northeast Ohio. Read more>>

Nikki Portman

Columbus Flea started in August of 201o with, what was going to be, a one-off Summer Flea event. We were in an empty parking lot in the Short North area with roughly 40 vendors selling everything from vintage clothing and records to original artwork (paintings, ceramics, etc) to odds and ends like bike parts, baked goods, coffee, etc. Read more>>

Dara Adkison

In 2005 a small group of strangers convened seeking a shared community. They created a quarterly newsletter providing advocacy and resources to the transgender community across Ohio. What started as this newsletter grew into the Midwest’s first state-wide transgender equity organization. Read more>>

Kennesha Nycole

I have been sewing/designing for 15 years now. Initially my grandmother tried to teach me as a little girl because out of all her grandchildren I was the most interested. When I was in middle school I was very interested in styling and putting different things together and its funny to see what that has become today. Read more>>

Eleni Manousogiannakis

Kenmore has always been a neighborhood with a strong sense of identity. Located on Akron’s southwest side, it has a history rooted in independent businesses, hardworking residents, and a commercial district that once served as the center of everyday neighborhood life. Read more>>

Davie FP

Born and raised in music through my father and mother, who were both musically gifted. However, church weekly is where the repetition began. Unlike most, I had no desire to be a musical artist which explains me begging to be released from all 5 choirs my mother made me join. Read more>>

Gerald Collins

I started running in 2012 to work through my grief after losing my mother to breast cancer. I wasn’t trying to get fit. No. I was trying to appease my wife who (rightfully so) threatened to leave if I didn’t take steps to change. I was miserable, irritable, and just in a bad bad place. Read more>>

Athena Howe

I started belly dancing with my mom when I was a kid. It was a wonderful way to spend time with her, but it also introduced me to a community of people with all different backgrounds and body types. As a young woman, being surrounded by people who embraced their bodies, loved themselves, and expressed themselves through dance was incredibly important for my self-esteem. Read more>>

Misty Fields

Graphic Equlizer Productions started sorta my senior year DJing parties, weddings that sorta thing, Then i started my business in 2000 officially after after I got out of highschool. I felt collage at the time wasn’t jellin at the time so while was going to Detroit Recording Institute. I camd out with a brilliant idea. Read more>>

Brandon Allen

Yeah so my story started years before I knew I would become this. Bagel Recipe created in 2017 Learned how to crochet in 2018 and crocheted my first imperfect scarf in a month The rest has been perfecting my craft Bought my first pair of ice skates right when I learned how to crochet and the rest is history Read more>>

Hannah Obremski

I started out, I guess, as many artists do, deciding whether I wanted to go to college or take an apprenticeship. I decided to go to the Cleveland Institute of Art. My freshman year, I truly had no plan. My roommate at the time and best friend, Dejah, was really interested in animation, so we both applied. Read more>>

Sarah J. PRESTON SJP Chief @Kingship hip hop

I watched other people grow and progress, I took my time and I do things that are the best choices to do. Read more>>

Jeweled Justice

I am a first-generation African American college graduate from Herzing University with an Associate of Science degree. I am currently working on my Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in Business and Health and Human Services. Read more>>

JT Thompson

I’ve always been drawn to creating. As a child, I spent countless hours drawing, building imaginary worlds, and exploring visual storytelling. What began as a fascination with art eventually evolved into a lifelong pursuit that continues to shape how I see and interpret the world. My career has taken several different paths over the years. Read more>>

Kionnie Dukes

My goal for this business was to help people who needed that extra hump in life. When i mean nobody can do it by themselves i mean nobody. Back in late 2022 i was 285 pounds with no goals or plans in my life. Then my mom told me you need to step up and change your life. Read more>>

Lindsey Goodman

They say that “the wand chooses the wizard,” and that was definitely the case for me! My father played the flute in school, so, when I began formal training at age ten, he passed his instrument down to me. Read more>>

LaToya Smith

I grew up on the East Side of Cleveland in the Buckeye neighborhood, where I lived until the end of my eighth-grade year, when my family moved to East Cleveland. Growing up in a single-parent household, my mother instilled in my older sister and me strong values grounded in Christianity, service, and community. Read more>>

Lorin Schmidt

I honestly can’t even remember a life where I wasn’t obsessed with makeup, I started wearing makeup to school in 5th grade, I used to wear blue mascara to school and get made fun of for it but I always liked being able to change my appearance and look like a different version of myself everyday. Read more>>

Madison Geroski

My love for fashion began when I was a little girl playing tee ball in dresses while wearing frilly socks and bows in my hair, and grew as I matured. I pursued my Fashion Design degree at Kent State University where I completed a study abroad program in Florence, Italy and spent a year in New York City studying and interning in the design industry. Read more>>

Mark Kosower

The world of classical music is a labor of love. Nobody sets out to be a musician to get rich, to live a normal life where weekends and evenings can be free, or to be a popular main stream figure. Read more>>

Maria Perme

I picked up my first point and shoot camera at the age of 13 as a way to express the visual beauty I connected to in nature. Taking photos in nature was a passion that led me to become the family photographer capturing moments in time with family and friends. Read more>>

Schy West

Honestly, it started with curiosity. I always felt a pull toward music, and not even to make it at first. I just wanted to know how it was made. Why does one song hit you a certain way? Why does a certain sound make you feel something you can’t explain? Music always did that for me. Read more>>

Pastor Deante Lavender

My wife and I started The Remedy Church on Sunday, January 3, 2021 after serving our home church for about 15 years. We started The Remedy Church i the middle of the covid pandemic and we felt every bit of the pressure. Read more>>

Jennifer Crawley

For me, art started as a young child. Growing up, I watched my mother reproduce paintings for the house. She would paint the masters, Picasso, ,Renoir, Modigliani and more. For her it was easy in the same way drawing came easily to me and eventually painting. Read more>>

RAKHAT ZHUSUPOVA

I have loved filming for as long as I can remember. Long before brands and UGC, I just loved filming everything for myself – trips, mountains, little travel vlogs. I always had this quiet dream: one day, I will film for others. Then life got busy, and I dropped it for almost a year. Read more>>

Rod Wiggins

Flat Out Motorcycle Garage: A Lifelong Passion for Building Things and Bringing People Together Flat Out Motorcycle Garage began with a simple idea: a great community deserves a place to call home. But the story behind it actually goes back quite a bit further — all the way to two kids who became friends in seventh grade and never really stopped building things. Read more>>

Ruby Garnet

I grew up in rural southern Ohio and moved around a bit to Kentucky, Texas and back to Ohio; life was pretty simple, but my ambitions were anything but. I didn’t grow up around the entertainment industry, and I certainly didn’t have a roadmap for becoming an actor or filmmaker. My path to Hollywood was anything but traditional. Read more>>

Karisa Tondo-Kramer Sava

My journey started with a love for beauty, creativity, and color. I originally attended fashion school in Pittsburgh, but I quickly realized I wanted a more hands-on path. I went on to study esthetics, become a licensed esthetician, and pursue additional education in permanent cosmetics and color theory. Read more>>

Sarah Crickard

I have been a reader and a writer for as long as I can remember, but I began to take my storytelling seriously in 2018, after my mother’s prompting got me to join the Catholic Writers Guild. There, I met mentors, friends, and people who worked in publishing. Read more>>

Calli Ryals

Can you briefly walk us through your story — how you started and how you got to where you are today? My sister Tara and I began creating “It’s CeCe!” while raising our young children and noticing a lack of toddler content that met our needs. Read more>>

Torres Agee

I started making music when my father died i started to understand music when I turned 6 by 9 I was a jukebox my father and mother both make music and art so it was like first nature but it wasn’t until my childhood family/friend daedae aka jack boys father which is my uncle bam had took me daedae and his cousin another family/friend sway to the studio that I started to become a artist. Read more>>

Shirelle Stroud

My passion for working with young people began at an early age, but it was God who gave me the vision to create Young Ladies Aspiring Greatness (YLAG). I saw a need in our community for a place where young girls could build self-esteem, develop self-respect, discover their potential, and learn the importance of giving back. Read more>>

Megan Hood

I’ve been a lover of music from childhood, and can’t remember a time of my life that I didn’t love to sing. I did musical theater, show choir, church bands—anything I could get my hands on! I started writing as Wreck Like Me in 2019 and haven’t stopped. It’s become my version of journaling—I process my feelings through writing and rewriting. Read more>>