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.
Brian Deml
Deml Heating & Air Conditioning was founded in 1969 by Roger Deml. He started with a pickup truck, a few hand tools and worked out of his garage. Soon he had expanded to include a couple of trucks, a couple of installers and a service tech. By the mid 1970’s he had a crew of 25+ guys with a satellite shop in Kasson, MN and a fireplace storefront in downtown Owatonna. Read more>>
Rebecca A. Hahn
I grew up as Becky Plowman, one of seven kids living in Minnetonka and graduating from Minnetonka High School. As a Junior and Senior I was captain of the girls Volleyball and Basketball team; but my true love was Tennis. Read more>>
Katie Bergeson
I live in Northfield, Minnesota with my husband, Erik, and our four children—Torsten, Camden, Freya, and Knox. When I’m not in the studio, you’ll usually find me hiking, traveling with my family, watching volleyball, or enjoying time at Minnesota’s lakes up north. Read more>>
Abdiqani Abdi
small café built around a simple idea: serve high-quality, authentic sambusas and comfort food in a way that feels both modern and welcoming to the community. My journey started with a combination of personal passion and family influence. I saw an opportunity to build something of our own—something rooted in culture, quality, and consistency. Read more>>
Leilena Bayou
Hard truth, my first entry into Esthetics was for licensing! A full esthetics license was a necessity to sugar wax legally in MN (as opposed to simply a waxing license in NY). And so, I started school with the intention to ‘get through’ and be legally able to sugar. Read more>>
Debora Kobe
My story begins in 2010 in Ivory Coast, West Africa. I was 17 years old, in my final year of high school, when a post-election crisis turned into a brutal war that lasted for six months. Overnight, life became unrecognizable; violence, loss, fear, and instability surrounded us. Read more>>
Kirsten Lamont
I started cleaning on the weekends for about two years as a way to earn some extra income. What began as a side job quickly turned into something much more meaningful. I’ve always genuinely enjoyed cleaning, it’s therapeutic for me. Read more>>
Shah Hasan Jr
My passion for photography and graphic design started unexpectedly in high school. I was playing football when an injury took me out for most of the season. At the time I was enrolled in yearbook and we needed photos of the team. No one stepped up so I did. What started as just helping out quickly turned into something bigger. Read more>>
Karrie Cable Rodriguez
I often joke that this career shift is my midlife crisis. I spent over 30 years sitting at a desk and found myself burned out. Realizing that the barn was where I was happiest, I was driven to learn more. I went back to school and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Equine Science. Read more>>
Jesse Strege
Surprisingly, as a child I had very little interest in old cars. That changed when I got my driver’s license and the vehicle my parents had for me to drive around in was a 1991 VW Fox station wagon. To say the least I didn’t feel very cool in it. Read more>>
Bekah Fouks
It’s kind of surreal to think through where I started, and how I got here, I’m still regularly pinching myself that I get to run my own business and work with such amazing clients. But to answer your question – I have to go back to about 15 years ago when I was living overseas in Southeast Asia with a missions organization. Read more>>
Stacy Dennis
My early background is rooted in family. My grandfather—who is still alive today, and I am 51—had a business developing land for building. As a small child, I would pore over his plans and imagine myself as the architect and designer. And here I am. I eat, sleep, and breathe design. In fact, it keeps me up at night—in the best possible way. Read more>>
Cody Laberda
I’m happy to share more via talking as opposed to writing it all out. I’ve taking music business seriously since about 2018 or so. I dove deeper once the pandemic hit and we were all inside/at home. I was working with a music production school at the time as a TA and designer. Read more>>
Caroline Porter
I’m primarily a self taught artist from the Midwest. I formerly worked in medical research as a Microbiologist, but art has always been a huge part of my life. After having my daughter 5 years ago, I decided to quit my career in science to be a stay at home mom and turn my art hobby into a profession. Read more>>
Nichola Elo
We started our little shop out of a love of all things whimsical, unique and fun. After moving back to our hometown from Minneapolis we saw a need for a gift shop that had more to offer the buyer than things you could get a a big box store or on Amazon. Read more>>
Channy Kerdsook
Since we are in a cold state, we want to serve hot and comfort food to people. And that’s why we decided to open Vietnamese restaurant that offers authentic bowl of pho, Banh Mi, house egg rolls and many more. Our owners and chefs have been in the food industry for over a decade, so we are highly excited to open our restaurant in Bemidji. Read more>>
Heidi Heino
Right after the September 11 attacks, I moved to Minnesota without ever having visited the state. What started as a leap of faith quickly became home, and it’s where I raised my family. For a season, I was a stay-at-home mom and didn’t use my college degree, even though I had worked hard to earn it. Read more>>
Stephanie Sawyer
I’m Stephanie Sawyer, and I opened Saladworks in December 2019. My career began as a dental assistant in 1991, and I’ve always been interested in business, with a desire to open a franchise. Read more>>
Ken Olsen
From Dairy Farm Roots to Handcrafted Legacy: The Story of Ken Olsen Barnum, Minnesota — For Ken Olsen, the forest has never just been a backdrop—it’s been a lifelong calling. Born in the 1950s as the sixth of eight children, Olsen grew up on a bustling dairy farm where hard work was a daily expectation and downtime was rare. Read more>>
Renee Vaughan
I am a Swedish folk musician and teaching artist who creates spaces where music, movement, and storytelling help people connect to culture, identity, and belonging. My path into this work began about 25 years ago through studying dalmålning, or Swedish folk painting. Wanting to immerse myself in the culture, I checked out a Swedish folk music CD from the local library. Read more>>
Megan Patterson
I started taking photos in high school, my uncle was an award winning photographer in Fargo, ND and we would spend a week every summer at his house and playing in his studio that was next to his house. After high school I just did photos as a hobby and took photos for close friends and family. Read more>>
Stephanie Okash
I’m a therapist who has been serving the Hutchinson community since 2018. Before that, I worked as a social worker across a range of helping roles, always drawn to supporting people through some of their most vulnerable moments. I began my career in an outpatient clinic, where I spent several years growing as a clinician. Read more>>
Bernice Wimmer
I grew up on a farm in Olivia, Minnesota, as one of eighteen kids. In a family that large, everyone had a role, and my mom had a special gift for recognizing each of our skill sets and assigning chores that matched. I was good with numbers, and I started cooking in elementary school. Read more>>
Colleen Peterson
When our son Cole was born with the rare chromosomal disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, I knew certain aspects of our lives would become challenging. Read more>>
Maddy DePaul
Art has been part of my life since childhood, selling crafts as a kid, then knitting and painting through high school and college. I graduated from UW–Stout and spent a year and a half in organizational development, but kept teaching painting nights at local breweries until I realized the 9–5 wasn’t for me. Read more>>
Joanne Malmstedt
It all started with a phone call to the cemetery in 2015 to ask how my children and I could volunteer to put flags out for Memorial Day as a teaching moment for my kids, so they could se who Memorial Day was for. Read more>>
jessica fashant-peterson
It goes back to being a nurse over twenty years ago now and wanting to help patients make the decisions that are the best for them, both for their health and that align with their values, that I went back to school to become a Family Nurse Practitioner. Read more>>
Sara Smith
I have always been interested in being a therapist, I just took a bit of a winding path to get there. I had jobs as a parent-educator, teacher and stay-at-home mom, before finally going back to school to get my Master’s in Marriage & Family Therapy at age 38. Read more>>
Jessica Mathias
My nearly 20-year career in the non-profit sector was actually quite unintentional. I earned a bachelors degree in international relations with big dreams of moving to New York and working for the United Nations. A college trip to the city during Model UN taught me something important; the ‘Big Apple’ was not for me. Read more>>
Jonathan Srnec
Landscaping started for me when I was young around my house & my Grandparents house. Telling my sister that one day I would start a landscaping company and she could run the books for me. Read more>>
Cyrena Denniston
What shifted everything for me was realizing that my calling was never meant to stop with me. After stepping into full-time missions in 2020, I began to notice a pattern that I couldn’t ignore. Read more>>
Brenna Schmitt
My journey in becoming a physical therapist started when I was a teenager, I babysat for a child with autism. It was so inspiring and life-changing to see the success and progression through therapy that I knew I wanted to do something similar for a career. I have always loved movement and sports, but have also always been very analytical and loved solving puzzles. Read more>>
Tim Weigel
I began my career in marketing and sales with Thomson Reuters, where I worked closely with law firms to help them grow and market their practices. I enjoyed the experience, but I also knew early on that I wanted to build something more locally impactful and long-term. Read more>>
Wendy Rios
From a young age, I learned that a home is more than just walls and a roof—it’s the foundation of a family, a life, and a sense of security. My family came from Mexico carrying a dream many immigrant families share: to build something of their own. For a time, they did. Read more>>
Shawn Kontrec
My story started while I was in college. As a kid, I had watched my father, back home in France, thrive with his small business and thought it would be so fulfilling to work for myself too one day. My desire to start a business came alive as an upperclassmen at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Read more>>
Allen Raeuchle
I joined JCI Shakopee a little under 2 years ago to help and support my fiancé as well as to help out the community and to be a part of something bigger. After a few months the board of directors asked if I wanted to be a part of the board since they liked my dedication and with ethic. Read more>>
Adam Delacruz
After a few years in the Auto Body industry I realized it was not something I had the passion to do anymore. I knew I wanted a change and with the support from my wife and kids, it led me to detailing cars, which I loved doing. Read more>>
Stacy Wollin
I grew up very poor living on a hog farm. My parents definitely instill work ethic in myself and my three brothers. Growing up on a farm, I learned to work hard and learned if you want something, it’s on you go out and do it becuase it won’t happen any other way. By the time I was 10 I had my first job babysitting. Read more>>
Lora Larson
My journey to owning My Best Friend’s Closet has been anything but traditional—but every step along the way helped shape the way I run the business today. I grew up in a small town in North Dakota before moving to Fargo to attend North Dakota State University, where I earned my degree in Apparel, Retail Merchandising, and Design. Read more>>
Dan NICEWANDER
Our Story – In the fall of 2023, 15 long-time Mustang enthusiasts met to create a car club with the foundational values of respectful camaraderie, overall fun with Mustangs, and a focus on making an impact for local charities, all with the goal to ensure that the club would never lose sight of those values. Read more>>
Violet Wu
I’ve always been a bit of a hopeless romantic, so from a young age I’ve been drawn to the beauty and meaning behind weddings. I see marriage as such an important milestone, and being trusted to play a role in that moment is something I truly value and never take for granted. Becoming a wedding and event planner was actually my dream early on. Read more>>
Michael Serbus
My story is about taking a family foundation, questioning it, and turning hard-earned experience into something more refined and scalable. I have to say, very privilegedly, that entrepreneurship was never foreign to me. I grew up around it. More than 55 years ago, my grandpa started an electrical business, and my dad later built his own electrical contracting business. Read more>>
Angela Rantasha
I grew up with the “clean gene.” I began cleaning houses with my Mom in Glenwood MN many years ago. While we cleaned she would always tell me, “If your client doesn’t feel like a Queen when they come home, you haven’t done your job.” That statement resonated with me and has been the driving force of my business. Read more>>
Erin O’Daniel
It’s a little difficult explaining how I came to like art so much that I wanted to make a career out of it, but I can definitely remember when I first began to fall in love with drawing. Read more>>
Dr. Jillian LaFrance
A typical day for me starts by taking care of my two dogs, followed by getting my daughter ready and off to middle school. After that, I head to the jail to meet with clients who have severe mental illness and co-occurring disorders, focusing on identifying their needs and supporting their successful reintegration into the community. Depending on the day, I incorporate either strength training or cardio into my routine. I also fulfill my responsibilities as a forensic psychology adjunct professor and any volunteer work I am involved with. Read More>>
