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.
Mona Shah
After several years of practicing this way in a hospital based system, I realized that spending 15 minutes with patients to not only go over their cardiac health but also their diet, lifestyle, stressors and vitamins just wasn’t enough. The churn and burn model of keep seeing 20-25 patients a day wasn’t fulfilling anymore as I couldn’t give to my patients what I wanted to give them in regards to helping them find optimal heart health. I left and started a Concierge Holistic Cardiology Practice in January so I could offer more attention to patient care, longer visits, direct access to me and more aggressive prevention with offering advanced testing . Read more>>
Mary McBride
Doing research on the front end helped me feel more prepared, but there were challenges I didn’t anticipate until after the manuscript was finished. From navigating the self-publishing process to understanding formatting requirements, and distribution logistics. I also had to overcome moments of self-doubt, where I questioned whether I was qualified or if anyone would even care about what I created. Read more>>
Jessica Moore Velez
I was a licensed massage therapist in Connecticut in 2011 and then I got my real estate license in 2014 and was licensed for real estate in Connecticut, Massachusetts and then Florida in 2021. After meeting my husband in January 2024 we knew that we wanted to run a business together as we are both entrepreneurial minded, and we kind of accidentally fell into trailer sales and we decided that we could do it differently and better and more efficiently so we decided to start MJ cargo trailers Read more>>
Anna Kirby
I didn’t fee like I was allowed to really push the boundaries and find my niche. So I made to leap and found a small space to rent and opened Queen D wax Co the fall of 2020. (During a pandemic no less) now, I am coming up on my 5 year anniversary of Queen D Wax Co. I am still in love with this industry. The incredible way it changes peoples lives. The space is an inclusive safe space that allows people to be themselves. You walk in feeling a type of way and walk out with your head a little higher. (And your skin glowing) Read more>>
Shakerria Johnson
What fun would it be if it were? The hardest part for me was figuring out what I had to say. What was my message? In addition to the Instagram page, I have a Substack newsletter and a YouTube podcast. I had to find my voice, but for a while I was just doing stuff. But I knew not to worry about things like generating income, at least not at the beginning. This was the time to establish my identity. Then, slowly things started to pick up. I had figured out my target audience. I spoke on things like the suppression of female sexuality and the struggles of being multi-hyphenate. Read more>>
Princess Louis
Hello, my name is Princess. I’ve always had a creative side—growing up, I loved writing poetry and making music. My interest in videography began in college when I took an elective in video production. One assignment required us to create a short video, and I found myself fully immersed in the project. I spent hours perfecting it, and that’s when I realized I had a true passion for visual storytelling. Read more>>
Harrison Williams
After that I made my way to Crawfordsville, IN where I really started to make a name for myself. I worked there for 3 years and absolutely loved it but my wife and I just couldn’t handle the winters and was itching to get back to fl weather. When we got back to Florida I started working in a shop called Obsidian Ink that is owned by a close friend of mine. It was at this time that I started to think about doing my own business as a tattooer. Once I got the idea it just all fell together and here I am with Blue Moon Tattoo Studio. Read more>>
Daniel Batlle
Started off in Miami as a manager for a tattoo shop. Every day i was surrounded by beautiful art but i just couldnt be stuck inside at one place all day. I love to work with my hands so i decided to start a landscape business and seeing the changes you can make in a yard reminded me of the art i would see. so with the landscaping we would evolve and start learning how to do fences and lay tile and do other things. so in 2021 i decided to take off to jacksonville where i would start my company Jax Remodels and continue the art of laying tile and painting as well as other things. in the last 4 years of growing jax remodels we have partnered up with prime san marcos soccer program as their lead sponsor giving back to the community. i am also a coach for the program. Read more>>
Diamond Wallace
Jewels of the future inc was started by being inspired by my grandmother who was the matriarch of our family and did good for the community and her family. She even prepared two lunches for my uncle and my mom, her daughter Renita Turner the Co-founder of Jewels of the future inc. My mother and I were also inspired by my mentor and teacher at the time Amy Donofrio, she began a program for at risk youth to dream big and reach these crazy goals and actually did them, her boys have met the President and visited Harvard where they were awarded Read more>>
Charlie Carter
I love what I do and have had an amazing journey and made amazing connections. I have the opportunity to do transformational readings for people that allowed people to heal, taugh reiki classes to future healers, taught many tarot classes to future readers, held mediation circles and soundbaths that uplift the spirit, provide a spa self care space to people so they can revive their spirit and body, and now help women to fall inlove with their looks again. My next step is to bring it all back around in one big circle again. It really all should go togerther, don’t you think? Read more>>
Moses Perkins
I started cutting hair in Pennsylvania out of necessity — there weren’t any barbers of color nearby. What began as a need quickly evolved into a passion. After attending barber school and becoming a licensed barber, I competed in a student barber expo. I didn’t place, but that only pushed me to work harder. Read more>>
Armand Rosamilia
I wish it had been a smooth road, but the rough parts I got through shaped my writing all the more. I had two bad marriages, where my exes hated that I ‘wasted time’ writing instead of pampering them. I worked retail management jobs six days a week and 80+ hours for really awful pay. I had three young kids at home that needed my attention, which was fun but exhausting. If you’ve had kids you know! Read more>>
Kanesha Boyette
I do team building workshops, retreats and private events. It felt very natural to me to carve out letter writing as a business to support myself because the club is the very thing that gave me the strength to leave my job. The club is a constant reminder that we deserve grace, rest and safety and that we don’t have to really accept less than that. I’m very grateful to be a witness and a living testament as to how much a letter can change someone. Read more>>
Vanessa Davis Frederick
Now I continue their work in the area and abroad. I went to beach area schools, and was a 4h kid. Went on to Middlesex University in London and USF in Tampa. Came back home with 2 Bachelors degree, as a campaign manager. Worked up in North Carolina on 2012 campaign and realized that politics is nasty no matter what level, so I decided to start teaching. Learned to teach dyslexic students with Orton-Gillingham Method (which helps me to this day!) and became a mother soon after. Read more>>
Jeremy Price
Since then I’ve been a music teacher in Saint Johns County, and for the past four years I’ve been blessed to teach K-5 music and middle school guitar at Freedom Crossing Academy in Fruit Cove! We’re a Capturing Kids Hearts national model school, and you can really our teachers are united in that mission. Our teachers really do create an environment for our kids that shows they’re safe, supportive, and respected. I work with some amazing people. Read more>>
Manny Gizzle
I had to network in person. Not saying you don’t have to do this now, but in this day in age with social media, chatgpt, and other technology its much easier to reach your targeted audience. You don’t even have to leave your house anymore, and that is a very good thing, I just had a slight struggle adapting to the change in the game. Music is more than music now than ever. You have to be personal. You have to have social media presence and interesting as a person to the consumer. The music doesn’t speak for itself anymore. You can actually have horrible music these days and be a great artist just because you’re a “cool” person lol.. Read more>>
Bailee Perdue
From there, I became president of the International Thespian Society, earned the Best Female Soloist award in the state solo and ensemble competition, received critics’ choice honors, and more. I was then awarded a full-ride choir and honors scholarship to Florida State College at Jacksonville. There, I sang in concerts, presented a symposium on homelessness, and shared an academic study on arts in education at the Southern Regional Honors Conference. Read more>>
