The Most Inspiring Stories in St. Louis

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 ABDO

I started doing music at the age of 14 as a drummer for a band that didn’t really go anywhere. Then at 17 I started a new band that I took more seriously but my health conditions at the time kept the band from truly becoming something special. Read more>>

Keith Van Gels

More than a decade ago, I made a satirical YouTube video with every intention of it being a one-time project. In fact, I originally wanted someone else to appear on camera because I had no interest in being the face of it myself. When nobody volunteered, I reluctantly stepped in. Read more>>

Amir Tibbs

All Hands On Deck: STL began with a simple belief: good food should never go to waste while people in our community are going hungry. Although I had spent my career in public service, business, and community work, my journey with food rescue started as a volunteer and patron at a local Food SHARE. Read more>>

Cam and Jen Our True Crime Podcast

Our True Crime Podcast began the way many questionable life decisions do—with two lifelong best friends leaving a true crime convention thinking, ‘Hey… how hard can it be to start a podcast?’ We did what any reasonable people would do: we immediately went online, bought recording equipment we had absolutely no idea how to use, and assumed the rest would somehow work itself out. Read more>>

Erika Ring

The Travel Stamps story started as an idea in Estes Park, Colorado in the early 2000’s. Shane, a family man, Desert Storm Army veteran, in his 40’s, was the buying manager for the stores in Rocky Mountain National Park and he had a dream of creating a more meaningful souvenir than what he was seeing in tourism industry at the time. Read more>>

Marc Hagan

I spent the better part of my career in corporate America, primarily in customer-facing roles within life sciences.. When I retired early and relocated from Seattle to St. Louis to get married, I suddenly found myself with something I hadn’t had in years — time. I’ve always loved craft beer, and what started as a passion quietly turned into a plan. Read more>>

Rachel King

MADE Makerspace was founded in St. Louis in November 2018 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jim McKelvey and Third Degree Glass Factory co-founder Doug Auer. Read more>>

hayri esmer

My story began in middle school, when my drawings first started to attract the attention of the people around me. At the time, I wasn’t fully aware of what I was doing—I simply enjoyed drawing, while others seemed to find something meaningful in my work. Back then, I never imagined becoming an artist. I wanted to be a writer. Read more>>

Sydnee Murchinson

My name is Sydnee Murchinson, and I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri one of the most challenging and complex cities in America. Read more>>

Mario Taboada

I started my 3D career creating architectural visualization projects for local clients. A few years later, I became increasingly interested in organic sculpting and character creation, so I decided to specialize in that field. For several years, I worked mainly on advertising projects, and I also spent a couple of years working in the video game industry in Canada. Read more>>

April Jenkins

I used to work overnight shifts at an Amazon warehouse, and I drove a minivan. Almost every night, someone would ask me for a ride home because the buses stopped running after hours. Eventually, I left Amazon and started providing transportation for some of my former coworkers to help them get to and from work. Read more>>

David Stein

originally out of high school I purchased a restaurant in Chesterfield called classic red hots, and I owned and ran that business for about two years. Then I decided I wanted to go back to school so I went to Webster University and I got a bachelors degree in audio production. Read more>>

John Grant

I’m a former recording artist signed to PolyGram records in 1989 my group is Rock n Gee and Dj Shawn. Originally from NJ NYC i came to Kokomo Indiana in 2010. In 2014 I founded WTSX FM LP Kokomo,s First radio station dedicated to Hip Hop and R&B. We are the first radio station licensed by a former Hip Hop artist. In Hip Hop. Read more>>

Shalai Thomas

Hi, I’m Shalai, the owner and photographer behind Shalai Thomas Photography. My journey into photography began with fashion photography, where I discovered not only a love for capturing images but also for the creative process of editing. There was something special about coming home after a shoot and transforming my favorite images into finished pieces of art. Read more>>

Filippo Giovannini

I’ve been studying art since I was young, first at an art high school, then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. I got into model making when I was around 14, and after finishing my studies, I began combining my passion for art and model making. Read more>>

Jon Goodyear

I started off freestyling in the car in high school and just kind of rapping dumb shit when I was smoking weed with my friends. I was freestyling one day, and someone said what’s your name? I said it’s JG, take it and flip, and call me J-SKEET, and that just stuck. Read more>>

Victoria Mack

My journey has definitely been anything but traditional. I’m a proud West Side Chicago native who has always had a passion for storytelling, creativity, and bringing people together. Over the years I’ve worked in television and entertainment, launched businesses, volunteered in my community, and never stopped believing that God had something bigger for me. Read more>>

Tony collida

ive been in the restaurant busineess for around 28 years. when the pandemic shutdown started i was working for a small catering business and was unfortunately laid off.luckily, my now wife, was comfortably employed at a local manufacturing plant. while she worked, i spent most of my time cooking for her and our two daughters. Read more>>

Andrew Oestreich

My wife and I both worked corporate jobs for the first part of our careers. We worked for great companies and with a bunch of great people, but wanted to build something of our own that we could pass along to our kids. Read more>>

Jan Shapiro

I started piano lessons , learning first from my mother and then at age 5 or 6 took from another piano teacher. In high school I played flute in the band , sang in choirs , and formed a small singing group so that we could audition to be in a talent show.. ( WE made it in) .. Read More>>

Darby Wright

I grew up competing. Riding and showing hunters and jumpers. A full-blown, canter-down-the-school-hallway horse girl. Horses weren’t just a hobby, they were my entire world. Both of my parents rode, my mom built her life in the industry, and I rode as many horses in a day as I possibly could. I never got tired of it… and honestly, I still haven’t. Read more>>