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.
Lily Suarez-Vera 
La Dolce Vita Group actually began in 2016, long before I ever imagined it would become the work I do full-time. At the time, I was building a career in corporate America, working across Human Resources, operations, and organizational strategy while quietly building something of my own on the side. Read more>>
Tahir Curry 
My wife and I founded Curry A & T Notary Services in 2022 after recognizing a need for a more convenient, dependable, and client-focused notary service in our community. We built our business around a simple idea: make the notarization process easier by bringing professional notary services directly to our clients. Read more>>
Alexandra Hannecart Isabela Pichardo 
Their story started as two young girls, passionate, curious, and tirelessly seeking something deeper than just the general term ‘wellness’. Alexandra Hannecart, 28, and Isabela Pichardo, 30, both got their yoga teacher certifications with a desire to lead people into a practice that had become such a grounding force in their lives. Read more>>
Cindy Orlinsky 
I grew up in Hollywood, Florida and have lived in Aventura for more than 30 years, so South Florida has always been home. I earned my real estate license more than 27 years ago, but my career has taken me through law, entrepreneurship, business, public service and luxury real estate. Read more>>
Yann Guyonic 
My name is Yann Guyonic, and together with my husband and business partner, David Swinnen, I am the co-owner of Horizon Vacation Homes, a vacation rental management company based in Celebration, Florida. Our story began in Europe. I am originally from France, and David is from Belgium. In 2016, we decided to make a significant change in our lives and move to Florida. Read more>>
Stanley Osias 
I’ve been in the entertainment, creative, and internet space for about 10 years, and throughout that time, I’ve found success in a lot of different forms. Whether the wins were small or big, I’ve always looked at them as signs that I was building toward something greater. The common thread through all of it has been entrepreneurship, creativity, and finding new ways to express myself. Read more>>
Camilo Velandia
I started my professional career as a guitarist in a few cover bands, playing in bars, nightclubs, etc. It really was a great bootcamp for learning lots of different styles of music on a regular basis. As I got to meet and play with more musicians, I worked with pianist Pete Wallace, who happened to be music director for Jon Secada. Read more>>
Katie Chase 
My career in marketing started entirely by accident. I was working in event coordination, discovered I had a knack for the marketing side, and was promoted into the department. That opened up a whole world for me. I’ve always been the type to challenge myself, especially when I don’t know how to do something. Read more>>
Claudia Des Rosiers 
I was born in Miami and raised in Haiti, in a family of artists and environmentalists. Growing up surrounded by both shaped how I saw and moved through the world from a young age. Read more>>
Luca Lazar 
My name is Luca Lazar, I’m 21 years old and born and raised in South Florida – I grew up in Broward County (Margate) and for the past 7 years have lived in Palm Beach county (Boca Raton/Boynton Beach currently). All my family lives in Romania asides from my parents whom immigrated here in 2000. Read more>>
Steven o’ren 
A lot has changed since the last time I answered this. I started out in advertising and eventually started my own little ad company, working with different brands and helping them figure out how to get people to actually care about what they were selling. I really enjoy helping brands make money. Read more>>
Sheldon Waby 
I came from very humble beginnings, growing up on a farm in Auckland, New Zealand, before my career eventually took me to Perth, Australia, then Los Angeles, and now Miami. Along the way, I have managed and directed the installation of more than 10,000 EV charging stations and over 48MW of commercial and residential solar projects. Read more>>
Erv Kannon 
I’ve always been interested in acting since I was a child. I had my first audition when I was eight years old for a commercial. In 2010, I started doing short films with some friends, and over the years, I began taking acting more seriously. And here I am today. Read more>>
Joanne Flovella 
My story begins in Miami, where I was born and raised by Haitian parents. I spent part of my childhood in Providence, Rhode Island, but I’m a Florida girl at heart. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by movies and storytelling, as if the desire to entertain was embedded in my soul. Read more>>
Maxwell Berko 
That passion turned into BH Car Detailing, a mobile detailing business focused on luxury and exotic vehicles in Sunny Isles Beach and across Miami. What started as hands-on work became a real company when I formed the LLC in June 2026. Read more>>
Aziz Sapaev 
I was born into a family of musicians, so I didn’t have much say in what I’d do with my life.But becoming a musician turned out to be the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me. It’s taken me on a wild ride across decades and continents, and it’s opened doors I never imagined possible. I’ve performed for U.S. Read more>>
Twelve’Len Twelve’Len 
I started making music at a very young age, before I was even 10 years old. Like a lot of people, it started in the church for me, but it also started in my neighborhood. Music was just always around me. In the beginning, I was really just doing it for fun and out of pure creativity. Read more>>
Gleb Stoliarov 
My story starts in Russia, where I spent over a decade working in fashion, shooting for major fashion houses across Europe and Russia and building content for my own personal brand along the way. Fashion has always been part of who I am. When I moved to Miami, I kept working in that world, shooting for magazines and creating content during Swim Week. Read more>>
Crystal V. Carroll 
My journey as an author, advocate, and motivational speaker was born from some of the most challenging chapters of my life. As a breast cancer survivor, I learned firsthand that our hardest seasons can reveal strength, purpose, and possibilities we never knew existed. Writing became one of the ways I turned my experiences into something that could encourage others. Read more>>
Michelle Chia
I’ve been around restaurants since I was 12. On weekends, my cousin and I would wake up at 6am and go with my uncle to help him around the restaurant. Most kids would’ve hated that, but we thought it was the best thing ever, mostly because we got to eat cartons of croutons and fried bacon while we worked. Read more>>
Zak Tassler 
I’ve always been drawn to creating things. Even as a kid, I was constantly making something, whether it was little videos with friends that we would literally edit by rewinding and taping over VHS footage, or making books and illustrating the pages myself. I was always looking for whatever medium I could get my hands on. Read more>>
Desiree Konian 
I’ve been working in fashion for more than 25 years, building a career as a fashion stylist and image consultant between New York and South Florida. Read more>>
Maria Lobanova 
I started my career in journalism, working with publications including GQ and Inc. Magazine. That experience shaped the way I still approach communications today because journalism teaches you very quickly that a company’s news is not automatically a story. Read more>>
Alberto Rojo Criado 
My professional journey has been defined by two great passions: consulting and private aviation. I began my career in consulting about 11 years ago—a path that has allowed me to guide clients through strategic challenges, digital transformation processes, and the evolution of their business models. Read more>>
Namankumar Vora
My name is Naman Vora, but everybody calls me Kumar. My journey started in India more than 15 years ago in the mobile phone industry. I began by repairing devices and eventually ran my own business, where I learned that success is built on quality work, trust, and great customer service. Read more>>
Simone Ho-Sang 
It was after finishing my bachelor’s degree in Marketing from FIU, that my mom suggested i start looking into cosmetology. Not understanding she came up with that idea, because my interests were not in that field at all, i wasn’t showing an interest in it at all. I decided to give it a go anyway. Read more>>
Elson Benjamin 
Elson Benjamin is a seasoned IT professional with extensive experience in networking, systems administration, and IT infrastructure. As the visionary behind OnLeeTech, he is dedicated to creating a platform where IT professionals can work freely, set fair rates, and maintain the integrity of their industry. His expertise in building scalable tech solutions ensures OnLeeTech remains a reliable space for both technicians and businesses. Read more>>
Christine B. 
Music has always been my passion. I can remember as young as age 3 how I used to just stop in my tracks and listen to songs over and over again on my record player. I would learn songs and sing as loud as I could all the time every day. -I don’t know how my parents felt about me singing loud every day… lol. Read more>>
Jamie Aquino 
Born in Miami, I have always loved the ocean, however my strength in writing motivated me to pursue a career in Journalism, working as a writer and editor for print and television news. Read more>>
Julia Brig 
I’m Julia, a makeup artist, hair stylist, and fashion photographer. I have been working in the beauty industry for nearly 15 years. My professional story began almost at the same time as my new life in the United States. Read more>>
Shermin Lakha 
Throughout my career, I always took what most people would consider the ‘right steps’ to securing a successful future. I worked at Goldman Sachs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and eventually landed that ‘big law’ job I thought I had always wanted. But soon after I started, I knew I was looking for something more fulfilling. Read more>>
Tandzie Fletcher 
I was working as a chef at a hotel when a co-worker approached me one day and asked if I’d be interested in working as a private chef for a client that weekend. I decided to take the opportunity, and it turned out to be the beginning of something much bigger. Read more>>
Joise Vega 
My journey began with a simple dream: to turn my everyday life as a mother into something meaningful that could make other families smile. I’m a Colombian mom of three young children—twin boys and a little girl—living in Miami with my husband. Read more>>
Andrea Giraldo 
It all started in my native Colombia, growing up with creative grandparents and very talented brother I knew I wanted to be some sort of artist, that I wanted to find a way to express my creativity and build a career base on that. I landed in hair by mere coincidence: I put myself through cosmetology school and went for it. Read more>>
Rei Ramirez 
Rei Ramirez — Miami Artist & Muralist I’m a Cuban-born artist based in Miami, raised across the 305 — Hialeah, West Miami, and beyond. I’ve always seen the world a little differently, and art became my escape early on, from crude animal drawings as a kid to a teenage obsession with comic books and fantasy art. Read more>>
Emily Taffel-Cohen 
I went to college for theatre and stage management, but while promoting a play at the school, I began calling media to pitch, and I loved it. I switched my major to International Business and Marketing and never looked back. Read more>>
Sarahca Peterson 
My story really begins with poetry, but it has evolved into something much bigger. I’ve always been a creator, a storyteller, and somebody who believes that culture is not just something we consume, it’s something we build. I started my entrepreneurial journey through the arts in 2012 with The Round Table Project, creating spaces for poetry, storytelling, performance, and community dialogue. Read more>>
Manuela Awefull Garcia 
Every time I pick up my shell and leave home, I die and am reborn. P Bogotá is where my water starts, a chaotic metropolis whose streets are painted to the teeth, rayadas, every wall talking. Read more>>
Summer Puricelli 
I’ve always loved fashion, but I’ve also always been very business-minded and entrepreneurial. I think I was constantly looking for a way to combine the creative side of fashion that I loved with the business side that came naturally to me, but I didn’t initially realize that styling could be the way I did that. Read more>>
Simone Michelle 
When I was around 6 or 7yrs, my mom used to sew and I used to watch her, play in the sewing room, hang around her as she worked. Eventually I became a lot more interested in sewing as she gave me small tasks to do like snipping threads or threading the machine. Read more>>
KENDRI RODRIGUEZ 
I was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to Miami when I was 12. I grew up in Kendall, spent two years at Miami Sunset Senior High, and graduated from Braddock. Baseball was everything to me. That was the dream. I believed it was how I’d make my family proud and build a better life for us. Read more>>
Laura Roy 
I have been an artist (at least in my heart and soul) all of my life. I ended up on a completely different career path, and was a high school History teacher (mainly Advanced Placement European) for thirty years. I loved my job, but, throughout all those years I always painted and drew and did commission work. Read more>>
Judeline Barthelemy 
I was born in Gonaïves, Haiti, and now live in South Florida. My journey has been shaped by my Haitian roots, my faith, my family, and the experiences that have made me the woman I am today. One of the greatest inspirations in my life is my mother. Read more>>
MAR SUAREZ 
Santuario began long before I had a name for it—in my grandparents’ home in Colombia, just behind the botanical garden, where nature was almost an extension of the house. My grandmother taught painting at the art institute, and my mother is an artist too. Read more>>
Elena Antoch 
Nearly five years ago, I lost my brother. Some losses do not simply leave an empty space. They divide your life into before and after. I could accept that a body stops living. What I could not accept was the idea that the connection between two people could simply disappear. Read more>>
Rebeca Novoa Serpa 
I’m originally from Venezuela, and unlike what you sometimes hear from people in creative fields, I didn’t grow up knowing I wanted to be an architect. I was curious about many things, law, medicine, graphic design, and architecture somehow became the place where all of those different interests came together. Read more>>
Tiffany Arocha 
I think, in many ways, Soul II Soul has always been a part of me. I’ve had a gift since I was very young, but like so many of us, I grew up believing there was a certain path I was supposed to follow. So I did all the things. Read more>>
Samael Tejada 
I have always felt called to help people. At 19, while preparing to become a firefighter and paramedic, I started my first business, Rescue-101, providing lifesaving training courses throughout South Florida. I went on to serve my community as a firefighter and paramedic for 12 years, an experience that gave me a firsthand view of healthcare at its most critical moments. Read more>>
Gino Vento 
My journey has always been lead by curiosity and authenticity. Seeking truth. I sang in Miami hardcore band Thick as Blood for about a decade, we put 3 albums out and were fortunate enough to travel the world. Through those experiences I was able to come across so many different walks of life and truly understand people which helped me in my next chapter, acting. Read more>>
Subrina Etienne Cadet 
BSP Creations was born during one of the lowest points in my life. During that season, I truly believe God gave me a vision and showed me that the creativity He placed inside of me had a greater purpose. What started as a creative outlet became something much bigger a business, a passion, and a way for me to pour into others. Read more>>
Valancia Amira
My journey has been a bit unconventional. I studied Hospitality, Tourism, and Event Management, and after graduating, I went into the aviation industry, where I eventually built a career in project management. I’ve always been someone who enjoys creating things and working with people, but photography gave me a completely different outlet. Read more>>
Tishema Williams
Terrence and I started our journey in the healthcare industry by providing Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT). We began by transporting seniors and individuals with disabilities from their homes to medical appointments and other important destinations. Read more>>
Steven Avi El Gato
STEVEN AVI BIO Steven Avi is a Costa Rican violinist, conductor, composer, and polyglot with more than 21 years of musical training and experience. He began studying the violin at the age of 7, developing an extraordinary passion for music and artistic leadership from a very young age. Read more>>
