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 Garland’s gems below.
Bailey Bacon
I’m a 24 years old mother of three and wife. I would say that my journey started six years ago when my first daughter, Isabella, was born. I was a 17 years old with a brand new baby girl and even though I had a super supportive and hard-working husband by my side, I knew I needed to work my butt off to make sure we could give our family everything and more. Read more>>
Ralph Brunson
Most of my career was as a store manager for a very large retail chain I would routinely work 55 to 60 hours a week and after 27 years I decided for health reasons I needed to step away from that and take an early retirement so we sold our home and moved to a property that had some acreage I had been thinking about raising chickens and planting a garden, and that’s what we did. Read more>>
Petra Asekhauno
I was born in Benin, Nigeria and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. I moved to Dallas, Texas at the age of six. Life for me changed completely I had to adapt to a new environment and people. My love for fashion started at a young age without me even knowing it. I use to have the biggest Barbie collection of clothes and I would experiment different outfits styles and even dye them different colors. Read more>>
Rosemary Akaette
Experience, they say is the best teacher in life. I will say this is very true of my story. Truth is, we do not have control at what life dishes at us, but we have absolute control of how we receive it, how we allow it affect us and what we make out of it at the end. My life’s story molded me into what I am today. Where do I start… As a young girl, growing up with a single mother, life was not easy but I had a dream of what life should be. Read more>>
Krystal Watford
It started out as a hobby. Creating clothes that no one could find anywhere else. If I wanted a pair of shoes I liked, I got them. If I found I couldn’t find anything to match, I made it. A couple of years ago, my husband noticed all of these little pieces of paper everywhere with little fun, quirky sayings. He asked me what they were. I told him they were little ideas I thought would be good on shirts. Read more>>
Nicolete Wilson
I first started off wanting to create a site based strictly on my experience with domestic violence. I found this to be too depressing and a lot of people could not relate to the content I posted as awareness. Watching my reach dwindle down, I began to become depressed blogging strictly on abuse. To bring life back into my blog, I began to revamp my blog and called the site “. Read more>>
Krystal Watford
It started out as a hobby. Creating clothes that no one could find anywhere else. If I wanted a pair of shoes I liked, I got them. If I found I couldn’t find anything to match, I made it. A couple of years ago, my husband noticed all of these little pieces of paper everywhere with little fun, quirky sayings. He asked me what they were. I told him that they were little thing that I would come up with that I thought would be good on shirts. Read more>>
