The heart of our mission at VoyageDallas is to find the amazing souls that breathe life into our city. In the recent weeks we’ve had the privilege to connect with some of the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s finest artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and rabble rousers and we can’t begin to express how impressed we are with our city’s incredibly deep talent pool. Check out the rising stars of Plano and surrounding areas below.
Jonathan Chern
I started my violin journey at the age of 3. Initially, it was just an extracurricular activity for me, but I discovered my true passion for music when I was 17. The turning point was when I first performed Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, which showed me the ability for music to touch the soul. At this moment, I decided that music was going to be my full-time career. Read More>>
Francine Rice
I could really start anywhere. I’ve been cooking since I was old enough to reach and see the top of the stove; I started working in the food industry with my first few jobs in high school at 16 years old. At 17, I started my first professional cooking job as “Cook’s Assistant” for the dining commons at the university I attended, but let’s start at the beginning of FannyB00. Read More>>
Harrison Hale
I started learning about music production when I turned 16. I had always paid attention to the beats when I would listen to music, but never really thought about how to do it until then. I had a friend that was into rapping, and after asking him a few questions regarding beats, I decided to look into it deeper. Found out about FL Studio, and about a week later, I started making my first beats on the family computer. Read More>>
Aneesha Kolhatkar
I have tried my best to stay active as much as I can, and I have always enjoyed various forms of exercising to stay fit & healthy; I have done a few 5Ks, 10Ks and, for my 40th Birthday, I did a Spartan obstacle Race with my husband at the West Point Academy in New York. Read More>>
Free Russell-Louviere
My journey really began as a small hobby. My great-grandmother, Earthalene Kazee, started Bus Tours before I was born. Yearly, we’d travel to Chicago, Kansas City, and Hot Springs, Arkansas. My aunt, Godmother, and mother later joined. What started out as a half-filled bus quickly became a two-bus tour. It was fabulous. Read More>>
Holli Michener
Art has always been an integral part of my life. I have fond memories of my childhood spent drawing and painting with my mom and older sisters. My dad even assisted me with large sculpture projects. Creativity runs in my family, and I have always received support for my artistic interests. As I grew up, I knew that I wanted to pursue art on a more serious level and make it a central part of my life. Read More>>
Shruti Sheladia
We started our studio in 2017 in Austin, Texas, and have since expanded to Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, and Oakland with the goal of bringing higher caliber South Asian dance forms to local communities. Over the last 7 years, we have built an amazing community of parents, students, and BDC instructors. Read More>>
Najah Ahmed
So, I went to university for accounting as my undergrad and worked 2 great, respectable jobs in the industry, but I wasn’t happy. I wanted to interact with people and connect on a personal level. I wanted to work in beauty. I wanted to make people happy and make them feel confident. I felt that the work I was doing was useless and could be easily automated. Read More>>
Eugenie Nforbinson
I began my journey in the world of singing and dancing at the tender age of six. I vividly recall those early days when my sister Carene pushed my cousin Louisa and I to perfect choreographies, often to the beats of Britney Spears echoing in our garage. Little did I know then that these moments would shape the person I am today, igniting a deep passion for music within me. Read More>>
Misha Hillstrom
I was born and raised in Texas (Plano & Richardson specifically) and then went on to get my teaching degree at the University of Oklahoma. After graduating, I moved back to Texas, where I began my teaching career in my hometown. I taught kindergarten, first grade, and third grade for 14 years before “retiring” and becoming a stay-at-home mom in 2018. At that time, my girls were 2 and 5 years old, so I was in the beginning phases of needing gift ideas for my girls’ teachers. Read More>>
Geeta Menon
Let me start with some recent milestones. I was selected Woman of the Year 2023 by the Indian Association of North Texas, elected to take Voluntary early retirement from my job at SAP after three decades in corporate and reached the five-year anniversary of the environmental non-profit that I had founded. It is a good juncture to consider what motivates me and three aspects that I am considering as I recast my goals. For this, I must reflect on my past. Read More>>
Amin Rajani
My photography journey began in 2020, but my passion for capturing life’s moments has been a lifelong pursuit. Based in Allen, Texas, I found endless inspiration in the beauty of this community and its surroundings. My mission is simple: to preserve your unique story through my lens, whether it’s in the controlled environment of the studio or the natural beauty of outdoor locations. Read More>>
Karla Pineda
My name is Karla Pineda. I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor specializing in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders and Anxiety disorders. I am the owner and founder of Layers Counseling Specialists PLLC in Plano, Texas, and I host a podcast called Character Clinic with my friend and fellow counselor Haley Harris. In the podcast, we role-play counseling sessions with fictional characters and discuss how we would work with them in therapy. Read More>>
Jertonya Feemster
My journey began with a vision back in 2018, sparked by a routine visit to a coffee shop for my morning pick-me-up. As I sipped my coffee, I couldn’t ignore the unsettling sight and smell of food debris on my lid, likely transferred by the handling of food and various objects by the barista. Though the idea of creating a safer lid appear to me in a dream, I didn’t take action until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 reignited that vision with a sense of urgency. Read More>>
Lesly Barnette
I initially assisted my husband in developing his personal brand, which inadvertently led me to establish my own. This experience instilled in me the confidence to build successful brands. Subsequently, I pondered on creating opportunities for those seeking them, which inspired the inception of my social media marketing agency. Read More>>
