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.
Sissy Sullivan
I shot my very first wedding while still a student, and from that moment on, I knew this was the direction I wanted to take. After graduation, I poured everything into building my business—day by day, client by client. Eventually, I was able to take it full-time, and now, more than 20 years later, I’ve had the joy of photographing over 600 weddings, along with countless family sessions, events, and portraits. It’s been an incredible journey doing what I love. In addition to that, I also take on commercial work—everything from food and product photography to branding imagery for businesses, which has become a rewarding part of my creative path. Read more>>
Leah Williams
I made the scary, yet exciting, decision to leave my full time job and start my own alterations business in 2014. What started as a business based out of my spare bedroom, grew into a full time company with employees and an appointment book that stays full 5-6 days/week. Looking back, I owe so much to the people who trusted me in the 1st few years before I had built a reputation- those who didn’t know me at all and yet had the courage to bring their dress to my house and trust that I was going to make them feel beautiful. Read more>>
Andreana Cooper
One of our biggest challenges early on was quickly outgrowing our personal vehicles. It’s a common crossroads for growing businesses: do you stay in your comfort zone, or stretch beyond it? I chose to invest in our first work van, lovingly nicknamed the “Balloon Mobile,” so we could keep up with demand and continue serving clients at a high level. Read more>>
Heather Sims
After years of taking photos of my smoothie bowls, writing little blog posts but never putting them anywhere, and wishing I had a place that would serve as a creative outlet but also somewhere to share the wellness tools that I had learned over the years, I created my Instagram account @heatherelyse.wellness in 2022 and never looked back. The goal was to share my thoughts, experiences, and tools to help my community create a Vibrant Life— a term I often use to describe the type of life I live now + want others to experience as well. Read more>>
Stephanie Kozick
When I started, I had no formal training in business, marketing, or even photography. I just loved creating. Balancing creativity while figuring out how to grow a sustainable business was one of the biggest learning curves early on. Over the past 15+ years, there have also been slower seasons, market shifts, algorithm changes, and times that I’ve intentionally needed to scale back and focus on my role as a mom to my 2 boys and pour into my family. Read more>>
Jim Hartsell
These decades spent with teens who were characterized as losers at best and dangerous at worst taught me much about resilience, strength, and bravery, and helped form the concept of the main character in the Boone series. It has been said that the problem with stereotypes isn’t that they aren’t true, but that they are incomplete. Certainly this is the case with the young people I spent so much time with, who are more like the rest of us than not.
I have a beautiful family, all the necessities of life plus a few luxuries, a fine circle of friends, and time to write books, play music, and enjoy the moments as they present themselves one by one. By any measure that matters to me, I am a very wealthy man. Read more>>
Laura Haenlein
Through much prayer and a calculated vision of what Paul and I wanted to create at Utopia Tan & Spa, we knew we wanted to bring the best in tanning and red light therapy to our little Smoky Mountain town of Sevierville, TN. With our background in sales and real estate investments and much research on where to put the salon, we decided to situate Utopia Tan & Spa on Winfield Dunn Parkway where we have over 60,000 cars a day demographically. We liked the name “Utopia” for the more faith based version of the meaning, “Garden of Eden, peaceful, tranquil etc” and the rest is history. Read more>>
Focus Integrative Centers
At Focus Integrative Centers, we specialize in evidence-based outpatient treatment for both eating disorders and substance use disorders, serving individuals and families across East Tennessee. Our Knoxville location provides trauma-informed Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) that address the full spectrum of recovery: from mental health and emotional regulation to nutrition, body image, and relational healing. Read more>>
