Miami’s Most Inspiring Stories

Every neighborhood in South Florida has its own vibe, style, culture and history, but what consistently amazes us is not what differentiates the various neighborhoods but rather what they all have in common.  From South Beach to Boca (and everywhere in between) we’ve been blown away by how many creative and talented people call South Florida home.  Check out some of the inspiring stories we’ve discovered throughout Miami and the surrounding areas.

Hernsline Toussaint Katianna Fevrier

K&H Digital Photography began with a genuine love for people and a passion for capturing meaningful moments. Founded by two best friends Hernsline Toussaint and Katianna Fevier who believe their creative gifts are God-given, what started as a personal creative pursuit naturally evolved into a full-time commitment to storytelling with purpose and intention. Our faith is at the foundation of everything we do, guiding how we serve, connect, and create. Read more>>

Arminda Figueroa

In the late 1980s, that same fire is what pushed me to leave the island for New York City. I knew I was destined to follow an entrepreneurial path, but I wanted to sharpen my skills against the world’s toughest competition first. I spent nearly two decades in “Corporate America” with giants like Anheuser-Busch, Verizon, Univision, and Scholastic. My time there wasn’t just about climbing a ladder; it was a masterclass in how major brands function—and more importantly, where they were failing to connect with the Hispanic community. Read more>>

Jaklin Topalova

My journey started in hospitality more than 10 years ago, working closely with hotels and service-driven businesses and seeing firsthand how much great work goes unnoticed simply because of poor digital visibility. I was always drawn to the intersection of operations, guest experience, and growth, and over time, I became deeply interested in how online discovery shapes real-world decisions. Read more>>

David Manhart

I earned a degree in Building Construction from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2010, entering the profession during a challenging construction market. My first job out of college was as a laborer for a general contractor working on Zumba’s headquarters at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, where my responsibilities ranged from sweeping floors and hauling debris to cleaning jobsite facilities. Read more>>

Marija Banjac

Rakija Lounge is very specific place , where all Balkans people get together , celebrate the tradition and culture. We are located in the heart of Miami Beach , and the restourant Rakija Lounge was open in 2016. Read more>>

Patricia Elizee

My name is Patricia Elizee. I was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. My family immigrated to the United States when I was a child. I am now an immigration attorney in Miami, Florida. I love what I do because I’m an immigrant myself and really understand what my clients are going through. I was raised in Miami, Florida. I graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School. Read more>>https://voyagemia.com/interview/exploring-life-business-with-patricia-elizee-of-elizee-law-firm

Todd Romboli

I reached a point where I knew the trajectory I was on didn’t end well. I was about 50 pounds overweight, eating poorly, smoking, and very much in the middle of a personal reset. Read more>>

Dawn McMaster

The start of my calligraphy business began as a hobby. Like many others in my field, I fell in love with the almost therapeutic nature of calligraphy. I would endlessly watch videos online, and practice my drills for hours at a time. Eventually, this morphed into helping friends address envelopes or create signage for weddings and baby showers. Read more>>

Josephine Shields Recass

I developed a love for travel from an early age through subjects that I studied in high school (Geography, Religious Education, History and Modern Languages, for example), reading novels as well as the travel of family members. This led me to pursue my bachelor’s degree in International Relations followed by a stint in the Foreign Service. Read more>>

Suzana Bengayev

We are 2 partners – Suzana and Nadav. We come from similar yet very different backgrounds, and our story really starts with a long-standing friendship. We have been friends since the age of 13, and over the years we each invested deeply in our own education and careers before eventually coming back together. Read more>>

Faith Bandklayder

I had been working in the senior living industry since 2003. In 2016, while I was still working at the community level, I had an ‘AHA’ moment when someone rear ended me on the expressway going home. Read more>>

Paula Ambrosio Travelstead

Paula Ambrósio is the vibrant creative force behind Paula Ambrosio INTERIORS, where imagination meets elegance in every detail. With over 20 years of experience, Paula is known for her bold design choices, impeccable taste, and intuitive ability to turn spaces into unforgettable experiences. Her radiant energy, contagious enthusiasm, and genuine love for people make the entire creative process feel exciting and effortless. Read more>>

Mick and Tiffany Lowry

We began our photography journey in 2014, shortly after our oldest son turned one. While planning his birthday, we wanted to invest in a real camera—we didn’t want to look back decades later and see nothing but blurry, low-quality cell phone photos. So we headed to Best Buy, picked up our first camera, and we’ve been shooting ever since. Read more>>

Melissa Lattari

My name is Melissa Lattari. I am Italian, Ecuadorian, and Chinese, and my fitness journey officially began in 2021 – but the story truly starts long before that. I was born in Los Angeles and moved to Italy when I was seven years old. Being a foreigner at such a young age was incredibly challenging. Read more>>

Teofilo Matos Santana

I was born in the Dominican Republic, I come from a family of doctors. The medical journey started very early when me and my brothers started interacting with patients. We were three children, now doctors, who used to play with syringes, injecting insects with medications from my mother’s pharmacy. Read more>>

Alexandra Schaffner

I began riding horses at a very young age, and from that moment forward, they became a central part of my life. Growing up in East Boca Raton, horses were not right around the corner, but that never stopped me. I found a nearby barn early on and did whatever I could to help around the farm in exchange for riding lessons. Read more>>

Uri Yudewitz

I have also been a business development professional, helping founders and CEOs to put all of the puzzle pieces together. In my current role as VP, Business Development for CH Group, that means acting as Grand Central Station for all new business opportunities, deal flow, new partnerships, strategy, paperwork and more. Read more>>

Karaoke Wine Podcast with Jules & Tessa Jules (Juliana) Scaminaci & Tessa Tierney

Our journey started as two longtime friends with very different professional paths but the same shared instinct: we’ve always been the people others come to for honest conversations, advice, and encouragement. Over countless glasses of wine and late-night talks, we realized that the conversations happening privately between women, mostly on careers, relationships, money, boundaries, and identity were the ones missing from the public space. Read more>>

Douglas Avila

My journey into entrepreneurship didn’t start with a big investment or a perfect plan, it started with family support, curiosity and resilience. And mainly, with the decision of making the best with what I had. Read more>>

Frank Ramos

Cuba FR Story The year was 1961. It was about 3 PM on a Sunday in Matanzas, Cuba. The custom was that on Sundays, starting around noon, people would begin to gather in the city Square in downtown Matanzas, dressed in their best clothes, for an afternoon and evening of socializing with the community. Read more>>

Nick Vucicevic

My journey has always lived at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and business. I started my career as a brand designer with a strong curiosity about why people choose certain brands, not just how they look. Early on, I realized that design without strategy is decoration and strategy without human understanding is noise. That belief shaped everything that followed. Read more>>

Ari Bliss

Growing up in NYC dancing at the School of American Ballet and spending winters in Miami with my ballroom loving grandma truly cemented my love of dance. When I wasn’t performing with the New York City Ballet as an Angel or Polichinelle Girl in the Nutcracker, I was dancing with Miami City Ballet for their Summer Program. Read more>>

Kameesha Pascoe

Being first generation American from a Jamaican bred family life was not always easy. I am Originally from Long Island, New York however from the age of two we moved to Central Florida. I never thought that I would be pursuing what I am pursuing today for I aspired to play professional basketball early on in my years. Read more>>

Olive Ware

We started our journey in home health care with a passion for helping others and a desire to build a meaningful family centered business. After seeing firsthand the gaps in quality, consistent, and compassionate care, we knew we wanted to be part of the solution. Read more>>

Oscar Diaz Serrat

I came to the United States from Havana, Cuba when I was 14 years old. Like many immigrants, I had to adapt quickly—new language, new culture, new expectations—and that early experience shaped how I approach everything I do: with resilience, curiosity, and a deep appreciation for opportunity. I began my programming journey at 19, but I was never just a developer. Read more>>

cliff wagner

I started my career as a very young child. It’s a long story but a French woman by the name of Florette sparked my interest at 6 years old. I visited her at her home, which was her shop as well, my whole childhood. She taught me everything about greenhouse management, growing plants and floral arranging. Read more>>

Jose Rivero

We opened on January 8, 1996. We serve fresh fish not fancy in a nautical atmosphere, delicious plates . We serve music because we bring the culture of Jazz and Blues to the community. We support the local schools through The Backroomlive, a place where music students are invited to Jam with our paid Bands. Read more>>

Artem Zeleneev

Let’s Party Place was created from a very personal place – our family. As parents and entrepreneurs with many years of experience in children’s entertainment and live events, we began to see birthday parties through a different lens after our son, Mark, was born. He is now 8 years old, and his experiences inspired us to rethink what a children’s celebration should truly feel like. Read more>>

Rachael Silveira

I am a Speech-Language Pathologist working in acute care at a Level 1 Trauma and Transplant Hospital. While many people associate speech therapy with articulation or pediatrics, my work takes place almost entirely in intensive care units and hospital settings—often with patients who are critically ill. I specialize in swallowing disorders, communication, and tracheostomy care for medically complex patients. Read more>>

Gaby Palmisano

Growing up in Miami, I’ve always had a deep passion for both the arts and movement. I played sports, danced, trained for the circus, and eventually took that love for movement to the collegiate level, playing Division I water polo. Read more>>

Heather Quick

I have a complicated story. I started my journey as an Elementary Teacher with my first full time job in Las Vegas, Nevada at a Bilingual School. I eventually moved to Bozeman, Montana (my ex-husband’s home state). His family owned a public golf course. I worked there from time to time. Read more>>

Daria Koso

Hi there! I’m Daria Koso, a fashion photographer based in Miami, Florida. I’ve always been passionate about photography, and I started taking pictures at a young age with my first camera, which was a gift from my parents. I was born and raised in Belarus, where I received my art education at the Minsk Art School. Read more>>

Ivan Ravenski

started working in restaurants over a decade ago, beginning in entry-level front-of-house roles and gradually moving into more senior positions. Over the years, I gained experience across many sides of the industry—service, management, menu development, catering, and operations—learning how restaurants and events actually function in real-world conditions, not just in theory. Read more>>

Mabell Alcantara

I was born in New York, but when I was three years old, my family moved to the Dominican Republic, my home country, which I deeply love and that shaped who I am. Read more>>

Suzy / Fran Strock / Bellende

We are Fran and Suzy, two speech-language pathologists with over twenty years of combined experience in the pediatric field. Throughout our careers, we have had the privilege of serving children and families across public schools, private schools, and private clinic settings. These experiences shaped who we are as clinicians and strengthened our commitment to providing high-quality, individualized care. Read more>>

Anastasiia Andronovskaia

Le Petit Pétale began as something deeply personal. While planning my own wedding, I fell in love with the world of flowers – the colors, the textures, the emotions, the way a bouquet or an arrangement can instantly change the atmosphere of a room or the feeling of a moment. Read more>>

Alex Dovzhenko

Miami Choice Limo was officially established in 2023, but the foundation of the business was built over more than a decade of real industry experience. My business partner, Arsen, opened his first limousine company in Los Angeles back in 2012. Read more>>

Ninoska Huerta

Ninoska Huerta: A Visionary Gallerist Shaping Miami’s Art Landscape Since establishing herself in Miami in 2006, gallerist Ninoska Huerta has played a vital role in strengthening the city’s cultural fabric. Read more>>

luis pabon

My journey started through my brother, an up-and-coming video director and editor, who gave me his old camera. What began as a simple hand-me-down quickly turned into a creative outlet and a genuine passion. I started bringing the camera everywhere, learning by doing, and falling in love with capturing real, unscripted moments. At the same time, my main career has been in aviation. Read more>>

Michael Olowu

Born and raised in Rivers State, Nigeria, Olowu immigrated to the United States at age 18 with just $500, no family, and no safety net. What he possessed instead was clarity of purpose and an unrelenting work ethic. He put himself through college and law school, graduating with honors from Tennessee State University before earning his Juris Doctor from Florida Coastal School of Law. Read more>>

Melissa Mederos

I feel I’ve been a walking creative outlet since I was a kid. Music, dance, photography — anything that made me feel something instantly had my heart. In 4th grade, my music teacher played an old Cab Calloway cartoon and I started crying in class. Read more>>

Neela Sirju-Balkaran

I started as a Travel Agent with a host agency, not thinking of how well it can turn out to be. I never realized that this was my passion until now. I have to say, I love it and have so much fun planning travel for others. Read more>>

Dr. Jonathan Fields

I started out in the martial arts like many kids at a young age in the early 90’s and fell in love with it. In 2004, I started training with Jean Phoenix LeGrand of Lost Legacy Systems and was introduced to qi gong and traditional Chinese medicine by Dr. George Love. Read more>>

Daniela Biaggni

I’ve always been fascinated by stories, human behaviors, and interactions, what drives us, how we interact with each other—basically, what makes us be who we are – have presided my curuiosity and my fantasies. Read more>>

Alejandro Badia

I am Dr. Alejandro Badia, MD, FACS, hand and upper extremity orthopedic surgeon treating orthopedic problems of the Hand & Wrist, Arm & Forearm, Elbow, and Shoulder, at Badia Hand to Shoulder Center in Miami, Florida and New York City. I previously served as chief of hand surgery, at Baptist Hospital of Miami. Read more>>

Ofra Gaito

At Verdant Lyfe, authenticity is at the core of everything we do. What began as a deep love for plants and the healing connection they provide has grown into a thriving business rooted in care, craftsmanship, and community. Read more>>

Connie & Ben Spiske

SunConsult started very pragmatically. We both came from design, architecture, and construction backgrounds and saw a clear gap in the market between design intent and real execution. Too often, clients were paying for beautiful concepts that broke down during construction, or for construction that ignored design quality, cost control, and long-term value. We founded SunConsult to close that gap. Read more>>

Emily Desouza

My journey to becoming a therapist is deeply personal. Growing up, mental health wasn’t something that was openly talked about in my family. There was a great deal of love, but also many emotions and experiences that went unnamed. When my parents divorced, the shift in our family dynamic brought up questions and feelings that didn’t always have space to be explored. Read more>>

Farnaz Harouni

I started making art as a mechanism to process trauma and it became my life’s obsession. Art gives meaning to an otherwise random and chaotic world. My fascination started with Fashion Design, expanded to Interior Design, mixed media, and is now focused on Sculpting. Read more>>

Mithsuka Paul Ketsia Dulcio

Our journey began with something we couldn’t ignore. All around us, we saw people in our community struggling, doing their best to survive day by day, living with limited resources, and carrying the invisible weight of generational trauma. It wasn’t distant or abstract. It was personal. We also grew up in a Haitian household where strength often meant staying silent about pain. Read more>>

Alex Levi

I grow up in Bordeaux France, where I went to culinary school. Working in the hospitality industry gave me the opportunity to travel while learning different cooking culture. I have been in Florida for about 8 years, and enjoy very much working with local, exotic product, as well as cooking traditional European cuisine. Read more>>

Shanice Ramsay-Folkes

I began my career in the insurance industry at age 20, working under a 440 license. While the experience gave me a strong foundation, I quickly realized the limitations of working under supervision particularly when my contributions were often overshadowed and final authority rested with others. That experience became a turning point rather than a setback. Read more>>

Yann Couvreur

I opened my very first Yann Couvreur Pâtisserie boutique in France 11 years ago. From the very beginning, my vision was to create a modern pastry house rooted in French craftsmanship, seasonality, and pure, honest flavors. As the brand grew, international development naturally followed. Read more>>

Stephanie Fenstersheib

I have always been a lawyer at heart, because my dad, Robert J. Fenstersheib started our personal injury law firm in 1985 and he and I always talked about the cases he was handling for as long as I can remember. Then in September of 2020 he tragically passed away along with our brother Michael. Read more>>

Claudia Behnam

Hello! My name is Claudia Behnam and I am a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist here in Pembroke Pines. I was born in Lima, Peru, back in 1984. My family moved to the San Francisco area from 1986-1995. We then moved to sunny south Florida and I have been here ever since. Read more>>

Jakub Szylak

I started Signature Strength after stepping away from the corporate fitness world about eight months ago. Prior to that, I spent nearly a decade coaching across high-performance environments, working with professional athletes, business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs. That experience shaped how I approach coaching today—focused on long-term performance, adaptability, and real-world sustainability rather than short-term fixes. Read more>>

Beth Tache

After college, I started in retail. It taught me everything. How to read people, how to sell without being salesy, how to stay calm when someone is losing their mind over something that is absolutely not that serious. Then I became a special education teacher, and I loved it so much I genuinely thought I’d go back one day. Life just had other plans. Read more>>

Glory Quiñonez

She became the first little person to walk for Daniels leather for Miami swim week in May 2024. New York fashion week SS 24 she walked again for Daniels leather and she walked for designer Qstyling for her Q2 clothing line. Glory has been featured in many magazines and appeared on tv for the past year alone did my first podcast interview with Cafe Con Lourdes along side with an artist name Trauma in 2024. Read more>>

Laura McDermott Matheric

When I went on to earn my MFA in poetry from Florida International University, I began to understand myself as a “poet of place,” someone who writes from the specific textures of South Florida—the sawgrass, the traffic, the hurricanes—and uses them to explore belonging, identity, and community.​​ Read more>>