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.
Lizeth Villanueva
My story as the founder of Lumen & Leaf starts in 2012, when I was a college student working part-time with toddlers in high-quality Montessori childcare environments throughout the Phoenix Valley. Read more>>
Kati Astraeir
My journey has been anything but linear. It has been a lifelong process of self-discovery, healing, creative exploration, and remembering who I truly am. I was born in Białystok, Poland, and from a very young age, I felt a deep connection to music, art, nature, and the unseen dimensions of life. I was already recording my own songs at the age of three. Creativity has always been my natural language. Read more>>
Gwen Pratesi
My career as a travel journalist began somewhat unexpectedly with a food blog I started in November 2009, shortly after returning from a cruise that sailed from Monaco to Barcelona. What began as a place for my husband and me to share our travel and culinary experiences quickly grew into something much bigger. We began telling the stories of local chefs, farmers, food artisans, winemakers and distillers while traveling throughout the Southeast, across the U.S. and eventually around the world. Read more>>
Bo Talley Williams
I often say that my journey wasn’t built on overnight success, it was built on purpose, perseverance, and a passion for serving others. Read more>>
Sean Blanchard
I know I’ve gotten older, because the notion of my origin story has finally begun to sound dull to me. Like many filmmakers, I’ve allowed myself to imagine my autobiographical film playing out on screen, but I can’t help but hear the Producers in the back shouting, “It needs more action! It needs more romance! This is boring!” Read more>>
Suzanne Walker
I’m Suzie, and I’m the founder of Warm Milk and Honey Healing Psychotherapy Services, a beautiful, feminine, private-pay psychotherapy practice in Gilbert, Arizona. Read more>>
Viva Johnson
Looking back, I can see that God was preparing me for ministry long before I realized it. Read more>>
Jenn Beach
In another lifetime, which was about a decade ago, I was working as a line-cook in an esteemed Michelin star restaurant in New York City. And I never hated anything more in my life. Every day I’d go to work, I felt like I was showing up for someone else’s dream. Read more>>
Edward Callirgos
I’m a first‑generation college graduate who earned my bachelor’s in communications and my Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy from Arizona State University. Receiving the Minority Fellowship Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy was a defining moment for me and my family. It set the foundation for a career built on service, resilience, and a commitment to helping people heal and strengthen their relationships. Read more>>
Katie Dos Santos
Organic Garden Preschool really started with a few families who were searching for a preschool for our own children. We looked all across the Valley and couldn’t find exactly what we were looking for: somewhere small and warm, with lots of time outside and a real connection to the natural world. Then the opportunity came up for us to take over the space that would become OGP. At the time, the property looked very different. The soil was dry and depleted, almost nothing was growing, and there wasn’t much life happening outside. Over the last few years, we’ve slowly transformed it alongside the school. Read more>>
Monique Zwelling
My journey into aesthetics began after nearly a decade in nursing. I started my career in pediatric cardiovascular intensive care, where I cared for some of the most medically complex and vulnerable patients. I later worked as a travel nurse in pediatric, neonatal, and cardiovascular intensive care units before transitioning into pre-op and recovery nursing. Read more>>
Kassandra KBR” Ramirez”
I’ve always been an artists/creative since I can remember. My parents got me a karaoke machine when I was 5, and I’ve always loved singing since. Growing up, I regularly experimented with music, photography, and videography. In college, I was double majoring in Photography and Creative Media & Film at NAU where I came up with the idea to start Contagion Media. Contagion Media started off as a small production company but has since evolved into being an art agency specializing in content marketing. Read more>>
Josiah Igono
I grew up in South Phoenix to working class parents. As the oldest of 4 boys, I had to learn humility and leadership early. I learned my work ethic from my parents, who put their sons in great positions to succeed. Read more>>
Emily Corson
I got into the automotive world during Covid. Everything was closed and there was nothing to do back when I lived in Minnesota so I started going street racing. When it got to be unsafe I switched to going to car shows. From there I saw models at car shows and wanted to combine modeling and cars, two things I loved. Read more>>
Care Verikas
My journey started back in 2017 when my husband and I met and started our side hustle wood shop, Dusty Dude Woodworks. We worked our full time jobs for years while we slowly built a business selling cutting boards, cornhole sets, coasters, charcuterie boards, custom signs, built ins & more! Read more>>
Ricardo Fraser
I’m Gentile The Outlaw, a producer, singer, and songwriter born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. My journey with music led me to study music production, earning my diploma and developing my sound as an artist and producer. Read more>>
Tiffany N. Haywood
In 2024, I founded <b>Transform & Thrive Holistics</b> as a way to bring together what I had learned professionally with what I had experienced personally. I wanted to create work that looked at the whole person rather than treating one behavior or one area of someone’s life as though it existed in isolation. Read more>>
Dan Cafaro
I started as a sportswriter and frustrated creative writer. Even my sports editor warned me about trying to be the next Hemingway. Read more>>
Goro Endow
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed drawing and loved seeing pictures. From elementary school to high school days, I was, almost every year, recognized as the best artist in my class by the class teachers and classmates. Read more>>
Rob Hannaford
I was born in London, England, where my professional journey began in public service. I became a London Bobby with the City of London Police, learning early the importance of discipline, responsibility, communication, and serving people. Read more>>
Dani Dominguez
My career has never followed a perfectly straight line, although for a long time I thought it was supposed to. Read more>>
Trina Morris
I knew from an early age that I was drawn to words, creative people and community building. As an adult, this alignment led me to found Style Root, a niche consultancy specializing in PR, communications, branding and events. In the fall of 2019, I moved from busy New York City to sunny Phoenix as a fresh opportunity to live out my personal mantra, “Breathe. Believe. Begin again.” Read more>>
Tammy Davis
Hello, My name is Tamara “Tammy” Davis, I was born and raised in Gary, IN. I graduated from Emerson School of the Visual & Performing Arts High School; I was a vocal major and participated in musical theater. I graduated high school with honors and a member of the National Thespian Society. Read more>>
Juliana Blazuk
I’m 44, a single mother by choice, and I’ve spent my career in advertising sales. My fertility journey is a newer chapter, one I kept quiet for a long time. That changed when I started sharing pieces of it on TikTok in 2023. I was honestly shocked by how quickly my story resonated with other single moms, women trying to conceive later in life and with women experiencing infertility. Read more>>
Sandra Bassett
My journey has been anything but linear, but looking back, every chapter has connected in a way that makes sense. Read more>>
Anecia Zhane’
From Germany, raised in Tucson, I started my music journey in 2020, with my release of my first two singles. I was pretty new to recording music of my own produced by Marten Cardona and David Tate, although I had been writing music for more than a decade. I consider myself an R&B Artist although I’m pretty versatile. Read more>>
Jake Lucas
My journey of creating music started when I was around 15 years old. My family would take this annual trip to Rocky Point in Mexico for Thanksgiving. I , being the youngest in the family, would always end up the first one to get bored because I could never “Party” along with all the grown-ups (who were of legal drinking age). Read more>>
Sara Thrush
It all really started with planning my own wedding. I came out of the experience thinking, “Damn, I’m actually really good at this. People should pay me to do this.” Read more>>
Brad Ingarfield
My first restaurant job was bussing tables to pay for university. I thought it would be temporary, but I liked the pace, the people, and the feeling of being part of a team that could make a busy night work. It was where I first fell in love with running a business. I’ve been in the restaurant business ever since. Read more>>
Ashlyn Smith
My journey to ELM Endocrinology and Lifestyle Medicine really wasn’t a straight line. It was more of an evolution. Read more>>
Phoebe Fox
When I was in third grade, my teacher helped each of her students “publish” a book from start to finish. We wrote, revised, and reviewed each other’s stories, and finally, we typed them up and added our own illustrations. This experience got me hooked on writing at the age of nine. Read more>>
Tavion Netters
My whole life, I grew up knowing I was different from most people. I saw and understood things in ways others couldn’t and always thought it was going to lead to me doing something great. At the time, I diodnt know what. Read more>>
Beverely Elliott
I am and have been a retired educator. In February 2021, Jody, our then seven-year-old grandson, was assigned to complete a report during Black History month on an African American Hero. He went online and then asked, “Nanu (that’s what our grandchildren call me) don’t you help people with a museum in Michigan?” I said, “Yes, I do.” Then he went on to say, “So, where is the museum I can go to here in Tucson to learn about African American people who lived around here?” Read more>>
Raymond & Analyn Scott
We met on a blind date in November 1997. Three months later, Raymond’s kidneys failed at age 29 — from high blood pressure he thought was under control. He had no symptoms. He went to the doctor for what he thought was a stubborn cough, and came home on dialysis. Read more>>
Tiny G Beats
I started rapping when I was 9, started selling beats 12. After making beats, the beat game really grabbed me. I began making beats/selling beats to people in the city (at a young age) and also selling beats online. Became an idol and started to sell beats all over and outside of the United States. Accumulating, over 3.8 million streams wold-wide, sold over 600+ beats to (indie/major artists) 2x Grammy Nominated Read more>>
Mucha Lucha
We officially came to be a band in 2025, but our story goes back way further than that. Alan Parra (vocals, drums), Brigett Murrietta (vocals, bass) and I (Jorge Ortiz – vocals, rhythm) all grew up together in Nogales laying the foundation for the band without even knowing it. Life eventually pulled us in different directions; Alan to Tucson, Brigett stayed in Nogales and I to Canada, and during those years apart, each of us found our way into music. Read more>>
Moe Mata
I got my start in the hair industry back in 2011-2012, up in Northern Arizona! Beauty school & doing hair wasn’t something I saw in my future but I’m glad it ended up working out, haha! I started at a MasterCuts in the Flagstaff mall and ended up staying in the corporate salon world for like 6 or 7 years before I finally made the leap to go independent and start my own business in 2021. Read more>>
Kevin Kopkowski
I always hate answering the “how did you get started DJing” question because honestly there was never really a starting line. Read more>>
Veronica Garcia
Hi Everyone, My Name Is Veronika Garcia. I am the Owner Of Hotcakez Baking Company cottage based in Prescott Arizona. Read more>>
Bridget
I’m Bridget, Creator & Business Strategist behind @stellathehappybulldog and The Pet Influence Office. Read more>>
Lonny Cloud 
Creating some form of art has always been part of my life. During high school in Englewood Colorado during the late 1970’s, I worked mostly in watercolors and ceramics. I also spent much time creating Native American regalia and reproductions as a link to my native heritage. Read more>>
Tricia Liptrap 
My journey with cats and grooming started about 30 years ago. What started as something I never imagined would become a career eventually turned into Just B Paws, my mobile grooming business, which I’ve been running for 26 years. Read more>>
