Every day we have a choice. We can support an up and coming podcaster, try a new family-run restaurant, join a boutique gym started by a local fitness champ or we could keep giving away our money to the handful of giants who already control so much of our commerce. Our daily decisions impact the kind world we live in; if we want a world where small businesses are growing and artists and creatives are thriving then we should support them with our time, money and attention. We’re proud to highlight inspiring creatives and entrepreneurs each week in Hidden Gems series. Check out some of our latest local gem features below.
Tony Balluff
I am Minneapolis born and raised, and have lived here my whole life. I began learning clarinet at age eight and received classical training, performing in concert bands and orchestras. But even at a young age my curiosity for how the clarinet sounded in jazz began to overtake me, and I kept pursuing opportunities in that direction. It wasn’t until I turned thirty and met my jazz mentors that the world of jazz was truly opened to me. The Hall Brothers Jazz Band are Minnesota traditional jazz legends, performing for over fifty years starting in the late 1950s. Members of that band took me under their collective wings and gave me an education never to be found in a formal institution. Because of them, I know I will be playing this music for the rest of my life. Read more>>
Kristy Boike
I now do grief speaks and book signings normalizing conversations about grief and loss and the big emotions surrounding it. It continues to be such a blessing to be able to put a little comfort for others into a space that is just so difficult to maneuver. Being able to take such a devastating experience for my family and turning it into something that can be used to help others through grief helps me feel the love my mother embodied in her life. Even after death, her love is continuing to make a difference and I’m so thankful to be able to continue to feel that through this work. Read more>>
Nina Pleshe
I absolutely love the creative and artistic side of photography. I feel like I have the eye for capturing as well as the heart for editing all the details, I love to enhance all the seasons if outdoors. Pops of color and accenting the beautiful terrain of Minnesota is something I love. In my studio I love to capture natural, bright, airy looks. I love to focus on the family or the features of little ones, rather than busy backgrounds. As a mama of soon to be 5, I am most proud of my work with maternity, newborn, milestone, family, and seniors. I just adore seeing growth! Some of my seniors have come back years later for maternity and newborn and that is just extra special to me! Read more>>
Sarah Cherry
He dismissed me, warning that medication could affect my performance, reminding me that I was an asset to the institution because of my full scholarship. At first, I listened. But when my struggles inevitably impacted my game, he turned on me—berating me in practice, humiliating me publicly. The final breaking point was a day when recruits and press were on-site. After a missed opportunity on a play, he got in my face, slapped the back of my head, and screamed, “Get your head out of your ass.” Read more>>
Paul Connolly
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a visual person who enjoys creative challenges, especially those that are visual in nature. Like many young creatives, I loved art classes in school, spent my free time drawing, and took photos. For a brief period, I explored architecture but quickly realized it wasn’t the right path for me. What I truly wanted to be was a graphic designer. I could envision creative ideas in my mind, and my preferred medium was not a brush or ink, but the computer. With digital tools, I was able to start bringing my visions to life. I’m happy to report that after almost 20 years of practice, I’m getting closer. Read more>>
Tyler Johnson
In college I found myself swimming between majors as many others do – trying to find my place in the world, what it was I was supposed to do, and how to make a living doing it. While I was wrestling with these questions, I continued taking a lot of art and marketing courses. Finally a professor of mine pointed out that art wasn’t just something I enjoyed doing but something I was meant to do. It was a small moment that was a major turning point in my life. I think up until that point my perception was always that I wasn’t a “real life” artist. Part of me needed permission to chase a career in creativity and thankfully I had a mentor who was able to push me there. Read more>>
Annastasia Root
I never originally had a plan to develop a business, my jewelry designing started all on its own due to me being unable to find a source for jewelry crafted out of different stones that was durable and long lasting. I’ve personally always worn different crystals to help enhance or regulate my energetic frequency, but when you go to a metaphysical shop, your paying the price for the specific material, but generally its on stretchy string. I’m pretty hard on the things I wear so I knew I had to develop a fix for my bracelets always breaking. Read more>>
Rachel Vitko
I have to say it all started in Highschool for me the moment my Ceramics teacher showed me how to draw on my pots using a slip trailing bottle full of underglaze. It’s a flexible plastic bottle with a hollow needle attached to draw fine lines on ceramics. Underglaze in simple terms is the equivalent of paint in a variety of colors. I loved to draw and combining that with the endless shapes you can make with clay gave me a lot of canvas to play with. I never forgot how happy I was to discover I could draw on clay. Read more>>
Demi Gilmore
While school and work were overwhelming and stressful there was one thing that I was 100% committed to and that was getting my lashes done. It was never a hassle for me. I think I even started to go weekly just because I loved my lashes so much, plus my lash tech and I were pretty close. I was living at home still and my school was payed for so all of my money really went to getting my lashes done. Literally. I couldn’t go without them. Read more>>
Caroline Amaral Zaltron
A few weeks later she was offered to be a Costume Designer for a TV show called The Blessing (A Bênção – in Portuguese) and asked me to be her second assistant. I was supposed to work on the first two months of the production, but by the end of my second month, I was hired to stay until the end of the project. When we finished filming, I wanted to learn more about costume design and that was when the idea of doing a master’s started. Read more>>
Gina & Abram Marcucci & Krause
To kickstart our journey, we joined the Collider CO.STARTERS course in 2024, eager to gain insights into launching a business and the challenges ahead. The experience was incredible, introducing us to invaluable connections and highlighting the strong support within our community. It all culminated in us winning the Collider Cup, where we pitched our business plan to local entrepreneurs. Since then, we’ve been steadily building on that foundation, refining our vision, and bringing our dream to life. Read more>>
Dana Hawkins
Definitely not a smooth road! The last formal writing class I took was in the 90s. I didn’t even start writing stories until well into my 40s. I battled a severe case of imposter syndrome, and I felt like I was playing constant catch-up. Facing so many rejections, which is part of the business, wore me down a bit. Read more>>
Makayla Gill
I am a photographer. I specialize in fashion and portrait photography, but I have been getting more into branded shoots along with engagement and wedding shoots I am most known for my portrait style photos. I am the most proud of how successful my business has become in the past year since I launched Makayla’s JPG. Along with being able to shoot my best friends engagement and wedding photos. That was a huge deal for me. What sets me apart is just my vison when it comes to photography. I come up with concepts for shoots and bring them to life, to give my clients their dream photos. Read more>>
Paul Harvey
I am an Ironworker with local 512 in Minneapolis and was working on a 30 story building in downtown. While whistling on my way into the building I heard the most epic,awe inspiring reverb in a huge room in the lower level of the building. I thought to myself”a flute would sound amazing here” so I brought it to work with me,set my phone on the window sill and played what came to me. I decided to post it on Reddit and it went viral. The dichotomy of a construction worker playing such a soothing tune in a construction site resonated with people. Read more>>
Lyreshia Ghostlon-Green
And now haven recently graduated from said program and I am diving in head first into the professional theatre scene in Minneapolis. Determined to make my name known and to build connections. So far it’s going well! I will be making my debut March 14th 2025 at Lakeshore Players with their production of The Book Club Play by Karen Zacaries. The Book Club Play runs March 14-23 and I couldn’t be more excited. After this production I have another one lined up! I will be playing the role of KiKi in Significant Other by Joshua Harmon at Lyric Arts! Exciting things on the horizon! Read more>>
Eric Nelson
Fanschool started in our classrooms as we needed a safer, simpler way for students to own their learning. As parents, our kids also use it to publish articles to their portfolios, share writing with grandparents, and play learning games during big events like March Madness or the Olympics. i.e. See my son’s elementary art portfolio article at https://fan.school/article?id=55blLQeN1RdipdPtpyMo Read more>>
Angelicca Cecere
I’ve been training as a dancer since a young age, starting with ballet and competing in dance throughout my childhood. During high school, I discovered yoga, which became a crucial supplement to my dance training. However, in Minneapolis, where I was living at the time, there wasn’t much of a professional dance community, so I had to take matters into my own hands and train myself. I spent countless hours developing my body for dance, using a combination of ballet, yoga, and stretching techniques to stay in top shape. Read more>>
Roberto Galvan
We started out as a cottage food business saling homemade flour and corn tortillas at the Saint Paul farmers market then later perfecting a rotating menu of farmed ingredients tacos depending on season all locally sourced . Tacos are authentic handmade shells with options of a breakfast taco or traditional tacos like pork carnitas and beef barbacoa all at our stand at the Saint Paul farmers market Saturdays & Sundays downtown Saint Paul Lowertown Read more>>
Val Lowry-Ortega
When I was a little kid, my favorite thing to do was to listen to my father play the Cuatro (a Venezuelan instrument) and sing along to Somewhere Over the Rainbow. There’s an array of home-videos out in the ether somewhere of tiny me singing in talent shows, making music with my dad, performing in school musicals and choirs, and even making stop-motion claymations with my own original music. Read Moree>>
Jen Stein
I studied Finance in college and went into Wealth Management after graduation, even earning my CFP® designation. I didn’t even know about the wedding industry until I got engaged myself in 2019. I fell in love right then and there and jumped right in! Starting with small wedding packages and working with families, I’ve slowly built up my business over the last 5+ years. When I had my daughter in 2022 I went full time and really saw momentum pick up when I had more time to dedicate to my craft. These days, I’m thrilled to be doing more destination wedding work as well as seeing my past couples take on the next stages of life with growing their families and getting to capture it all! Read more>>
Tyler King
This is all taking place in Ohio and after that first gig, I slowly built it into a career over the next 4 years. During that time I worked an event where a pastor from a MN church came to OH for a speaking event. I got in contact with him and started traveling to MN to work with him. That started to take off and now I split my time living in both MN and OH. I went from the middle of nowhere Ohio to now traveling the world creating content for my company, clients and so much more. This has all been over the past 8 years and it has taken more work than I ever thought to get here but it has been with every struggle! Read more>>
Yung Kari
Freshman year of college was rough, and I needed an outlet for all those emotions. I was home for winter break, and my friends convinced me to record a couple more songs. The songs were not good, but I really had fun making them. I started to see that music could be something that I could use as therapy. I ended up bringing my PC up to college with the intention of getting back into music. It was that second semester where I really fell in love with making songs. I could talk about whatever I wanted, I had complete freedom when I was in front of a mic. I started spending more and more time recording, until it got to a point where I was making music for 8 hours a day. It’s a healthy addiction. Read more>>
Samuel Mayan
Due time I met some connections with other Minnesota content creators which helped give me the platform to expose my creative dreams and goals choreographing and modeling photoshoots. Now I’m working to get into school while working towards my modeling goals. Minnesota has a beautiful online community that has the potential to bloom and I hope to be one of the first couple content creators to grow in our state or cities and make Minnesota a greater Read more>>
Judi Vinar
It’s been a beautiful, zig-zaggy road. The real struggle is that of the music business more than the music itself. Most local musicians don’t have the ability to hire an agent or manager. So we have to build skills to do things that aren’t necessarily easy for us, like self-promotion, knocking down doors, creating boundaries, asking for fair wages… There were times along the way that I thought a 9 to 5 gig would be so much easier. But, leaving music just isn’t a reality for most of us. And looking back, I see a heck of a lot more joy than struggle. Read more>>
Misty Lamppa
Our goal is to NOT have repeat customer (haha), because we truly believe you have everything you need inside of you to continue your own healing after your program is complete. We are very goal oriented and have a huge success rate for sustained healing, All of our work is via the phone or zoom so we have clients all over the USA and beyond. Besides this work which currently feels like my life’s work, I teach yoga locally, co-teach a local 200 hour YTT, lead a monthly Soul Song Collective Gathering, and full time mama to my 3 kiddos living at home (one is grown and left the nest). Read more>>
Joshua Mclain
After earning his Doctorate in Physical Therapy, Dr. McLain made the bold decision to launch his own physical therapy and fitness center straight out of school—an uncommon and ambitious move in his field. Instead of following the traditional path of working for an established clinic, he saw a gap in the industry: too many athletes were either pushed back into competition before they were fully ready or lacked access to sport-specific strength and conditioning that could prevent injuries altogether. Read more>>
Symone Glasper
My journey into the beauty industry has been a pretty smooth road, thanks to the foundation I built early on. In 2020, I started gaining clientele while working with another business, which helped me transition seamlessly into running my own brow business. While in esthetics school, I took the initiative to create my business Instagram account, getting my name out there before even graduating really helped get my name out there. Read more>>
Zae Thao
As a child I was always intrigued by my father’s old 35mm film cameras and played with them every now and then. I took a photography course back in high school with a Canon film camera of my fathers and was producing my own black and white film/photos in class and loved photography since then. In 2014 I finally got a job paying just well enough to buy a Nikon CoolPix L810. I used that camera for a year and upgraded to the Canon T5i and started taking photography more seriously in 2015. In 2015 I started going to car shows held around and in the twin cities just admiring cars and taking pictures of cars. Read more>>
Jacques Lyles
It was never a smooth road mainly because when you first get started in content creating you have a lot of ideas that first come to you and then overtime. Your ideas start to slow down but then you find it. You see other things that give you new ideas sometimes you get writers blocking sometimes you lose the motivation but then you find that one thing that always brings you back And keeps you going Read more>>
Sooltan Madsen
I found my joy in making the work I wish I would’ve been able to see growing up. At the end of my degree I had a solo exhibition of my thesis work ‘WANTED’ which was my queer experience of the west. Shortly afterwards I attended my first artist residency at Watershed Studios in Galway, Ireland, where I spent the summer. When I returned to savannah, my partner and I made the decision it was time to make our way and seek our next steps in our career and we moved to Minneapolis in the fall of 2022. Read more>>
Michelle Fuller
I was once told I might not graduate high school, but I pushed forward, not only graduating but earning a spot in Parsons School of Design’s summer intensive program in New York at 16. That experience helped me become one of the first post-secondary students in my senior year of high school at the College of Visual Arts in Saint Paul, where I later earned a BFA in Interdisciplinary Design intending to become an art teacher. I still think to this day that if I didn’t have art, I would have been another special needs learner who didn’t finish school. Read more>>
Samantha Huber
All my life I knew I was creative and meant to be apart of the creative career world. Even as kid I would braid my friends hair, do their makeup, their nails, etc. As I got older into high school I started doing my friends hair for school dances, and come my junior year of high school I actually took a cosmetology course and I loved it. However it was when I started to get my own hair done by my aunt who was a hair dresser that really made me realize that this was something I could see myself doing as a career. I always loved the way I felt when I went to the hair salon. Read more>>
Dagen Lusis
By the time I graduated high school, I had over 1,000 beats stored on my beat up laptop, and not one artist to send them to. Although I was very self conscious of my voice, I purchased a $30 microphone and started laying down some of the worst vocals you have ever heard in your life. Although this was a frustrating new experience, I was able to find my greatest passion in life– songwriting. Read more>>
Miranda And Zach Lavelle
During this time we began to also finalize our initial offering of furniture that we would offer all the time with the option for clients to customize them to their needs while also continuing to create one off pieces. As our work grew our jobs became bigger for each order and more complicated, never shying away from a challenge that other builders didn’t want to deal with. At this point we are striving to improve each and every day while offering the same services we have always provided while also adding new services like teaching woodworking to those interested in getting started. Read more>>
Scott Nichols
Fast-forward 25 years and Scott is now a Certified Balloon Artist (CBA) with extensive training in professional balloon artistry. The CBA practical exam establishes worldwide standards for balloon professionals demanding knowledge of both aesthetic and technical skills and the ability to produce high quality balloon work. There are only about 2500 CBAs worldwide and only 4 in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Scott is also member of the Qualatex Balloon Network (QBN). He has participated in many international balloon conventions, and is a winner of multiple international awards for balloon twisting and sculptures. Scott has also taught at many balloon conventions across the country representing the major balloon brands in the industry. Read more>>.
