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.
David Teeters
Since then, we have been in a constant state of improvement and development with our space and offering. We have daily class offerings spread across many categories of glass art such as stained glass – flameworking/lampworking – and fused glass. Roaming art workshops are now in our offering where we can come to your establishment with our kits and stations to have a class in your space. Beginners are more than welcome in our classes, and we love hosting groups of up to 10 at a time in our studio. Team Building, Appreciation Nights, Small Groups, Girls’ Night, etc are all welcome! Read more>>
Tiffany Brewer
The name Growing Hearts represents a greater purpose behind everything we do, not just on our farm but in how we desire to live life. We are believers in Jesus Christ, passionate about discipleship and growing in love for His people. One of the things we love about farming is how it instills resilience, faith, and resolve in our kids. So one reason we do this is because it’s just another way of growing THEIR hearts. Read more>>
Vivian Schabritz
Our team started by offering a dependable pickup service designed specifically for offices, schools, and commercial locations. Over time, we built a reputation for not only being reliable, but also for providing great customer service and education about recycling practices. We take the extra step of helping clients understand what can and cannot be recycled, which reduces contamination and ensures that more material is actually diverted from landfills. Read more>>
Ilana Lilienthal
When I came to Knoxville, I saw something special: a community that’s both sophisticated and curious, with an appetite for meaningful cultural experiences. That’s what inspired me to open Lilienthal Gallery here. I wanted to create more than just an exhibition space, I envisioned a cultural hub, where museum-quality art could live and breathe, where collectors, artists, and newcomers alike could come together to engage, explore, and connect. Read more>>
Jon Dysert
ike many businesses, we’ve faced our share of challenges since opening Seymour Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy. The first hurdle was simply getting started. We opened with a full evening schedule (Monday–Friday) without a single student lined up. At the time, I was still working a full-time job, and the academy was far from being able to support me financially. On top of that, I had no connections in the area, knew no one in town, and our first location was less than ideal when it came to visibility and traffic. All of this made for a very slow first year. Thankfully, after relocating the academy the following year, we began to gain traction and finally started building real momentum. Read more>>
Brandon Taylor
I learned furniture making at a young age from a family member and developed a passion for it. I began doing shows and soon found myself supplying stores, building custom kitchen cabinets and so much more. Today, I work closely with my 4 employees to provide the best quality solid wood furniture in East Tennessee. Read more>>
Netty Polanco
I’ve spent over two decades in the hospitality and spirits industry, from high-end bars, events, & dive bars in NYC & South Florida to events & brand management in East Tennessee. In 2024, I took on a leadership role at a promotions company, growing it from working with a few brands to over 100 brands in just over a year. But despite the success, it wasn’t aligned with where I saw myself long term, so I walked away. Read more>>
Laura Slyman
Real estate is constantly changing. From thriving markets to recessions, real estate teaches you to never be afraid to pivot. Ever changing marketing plans in each economy has allowed me to continue to help buyers and sellers. The greatest obstacle I faced was in the spring of 2023 with the sudden loss of my father.. Having had the honor of working with him daily for over 25 years and then to suddenly not have his presence, was a jolt. I had to totally shift my mindset and figure out what direction I really wanted to take the companies. I live each day to continue to make him proud and to carry on his legacy. Read more>>
Susan Watson
I took a stained glass hobby class when I was about 25 years old. As soon as I picked up a glass cutter I knew it would be way big apart of my life. I LOVED cutting glass. I did a few gift shows on weekends while I worked as a staff accountant. Upon moving to Tennessee, I pursued an opportunity to set up a little shop at Dollywood where I enjoyed honing my skills and creating stained glass pieces for the park visitors over the next 29 years. Now I operate out of a studio in West Knoxville and show my creations at local shows, the Knoxville Museum of Art gift-shop and a few other small galleries. Read more>>
Troy Rogers
Sports became my escape and my platform. I excelled early, earning Player of the Year, Back of the Year, All-State, and a coveted spot in the Tennessee/Kentucky All-Star Game alongside future NFL stars. Though I had several offers, I chose to follow my HBCU roots to Tuskegee Institute with a friend from Austin-East High School. But I was ruled ineligible due to Proposition 48—an NCAA rule penalizing athletes with low ACT scores. That one test score shattered my plans. Read more>>
Rebecca Young
I’ve always had a passion for working with kids, which is why I originally pursued a degree in early childhood education. But once I started teaching, I realized the classroom wasn’t the place where I was meant to make my biggest impact. That’s when God opened doors for me to work in a chiropractic office. While receiving care there, I experienced my own healing—my allergies and thyroid dysfunction improved—and I also got to witness incredible transformations in others. Read more>>
Hailey Johnston
Starting anything from the ground up is going to have many seasons. Seasons of triumph, success, failure, setbacks, disappointments, progress, and unexpected challenges. Learning to train your mind to remember that what you are experiencing is only a season is very important. We experienced a lot of growth and expansion during the first 5 years of launching our nonprofit and even though it was confirmation that we were headed in the right direction, it felt overwhelming at times. Keeping our head down and choosing to grow slow- even though it felt fast and furious- was crucial in not scaling beyond what we could handle. Read more>>
Anthony Williams
We are a full service junk removal company. We offer dumpster drop services to load your junk in and have removed, or we utilize trailers to load and remove your items quickly and efficiently. We take our customer satisfaction very seriously and keep that our main priority. We are large enough to handle most any job, but still small enough to treat each client special and give each job the attention it needs to complete timely. Read more>>
Garrett Durland
In 2018 Garrett Durland went from being an engineer at Oak Ridge National Lab to running a 3D printed bathroom sign business. Looking to print with materials other than plastic, in 2020 he focused on ceramics and created a clay 3D printer by modifying a plastic printer. He uses parametric techniques to precisely position clay coils and loops, imitating the fractal beauty built into natural and fantastical objects. Read more>>
Stacia Baldwin
When I was little, I wanted to be a cowboy, paleontologist, or National Geographic photographer. But I pretty quickly learned all three wouldn’t mix well with the health issues I had as a kid, which then included severe asthma and heat sensitivity. So I spent a lot of time reading, trespassing in Midwestern fields and forests, and making art and charts and self-imposed research papers about my favorite dinosaurs, flowers, and anything I found to poke a stick at. Read more>>
Griffin Vann
This is where I really grew into my love of singing, particularly harmony singing, which is still one of my absolute favorite things. I have had amazing experiences through my life performing with my sister Milly Cavender, my sister friend Sarah Pirkle, my friend Bill Cabage, and so many other amazing Knoxville musicians. I feel truly blessed to be able to play and sing, create songs and hopefully bring joy to people through music. Read more>>
Sarah Myers
My journey to founding EverMark Publishing is deeply personal. It began with the story of my beloved father-in-law, Leon, a man of quiet strength and unwavering faith. Leon was born in Cades Cove before it became a National Park, and he carried with him not only a lifetime of his own remarkable experiences but also the stories of his ancestors. After his death, I realized that if I didn’t take the time to capture his story, the history and wisdom of his lineage could have been lost to time. Writing Leon’s story was a gift to my family and a way to ensure his legacy and that of his ancestors would live on. Read more>>
Nathan Brown
The most important thing to know about me is that I take full Pride and Passion in Protecting and Serving the People. I know as Forst Responders, we are at risk at all times, and I completely understand and have accepted the assignment Read more>>
Tiffany Kelly
Over the next year or two, we chased down answers. We saw specialist after specialist, and ended up with the diagnosis of Level 3 Autism, Global Developmental Delay (Level 2), and hypotonia (low muscle tone). While we weren’t surprised , we were beyond overwhelmed. I spent the better part of all of my free time researching, calling, and filling out insane amounts of paperwork. And, unfortunately, the recurring cycle of researching services, calling offices and doctors, filling out assessments for yet another new service, and having interviews with new specialists consumed me. So much so, I let it consume me to the point of missed sleep and overwhelming anxiety. Read more>>
Eric Ruckart
I have been participating in, and leading, a group run on Monday nights at Barrelhouse by Gypsy Circus in 4th & Gill as well as a few other weekly runs. The social aspect of our weekly run club made it a great fit to work with KMC in an ongoing approach to continue to foster the movement availability for the Knoxville Community. We partnered with Gypsy Circus last week for their annual Out-Cider 5K and will have Bound Running at one of our upcoming Monday night runs in September. Read more>>
Allison Forbes
I’m an Air Force wife, mom of three, and self taught baker whose COVID hobby became a passion and now, a profession. In 2017, we were stationed in Shreveport, LA at Barksdale Air Force Base. During my husband’s deployment, a dear friend, who had formal training as a pastry chef, had me over for a baking day to cheer me up and showed me how to make macarons. I quickly wrote them off as too complicated to do on my own and didn’t think much more about them at the time. Read more>>
Kathie R Creasey
Walking into an established business was a huge advantage, so as far as having a loyal customer base, and hitting the ground running, that’s been great. The biggest struggle for me was all the behind the scenes stuff I’d never done before, daily paperwork, keeping supplies, getting a lawyer & an accountant, doing all the taxes involved, etc. Obviously, I’ve learned all of that, and the work is still there, but I’ve got a routine that I’ve gotten into, and it’s gotten much easier. Read more>>
Nichole Curott
Being allergy friendly was very important to me. My son was never able to eat ice cream in an ice cream shop growing up with his dairy allergy and neither was my niece who has a severe nut allergy. This was a personal issue that affected our family and I wanted to be sure to offer the ability to enjoy a sweet treat together for other families. We take it very seriously and we have a large customer base with allergies as a result. My sister owns an allergy friendly shop in VA and I was able to get a lot of guidance and advice from her on how to navigate this feature of the business. Read more>>
