The heart of our mission at VoyageHouston 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 Houston’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 Neartowns’s rising stars below.
Elliott Harris
The Grid Iron put the tools in my hands, but Dj Cozmos was the most instrumental in teaching me how to use them. He is one of the producers for the group Radio Galaxy and has also produced for the likes of rapper Big Pooh and Phonte of Little Brother. It was through him that I became enamored with flipping samples and using them to create my own sound. Read more>>
Ezla Lewis
I moved to Houston about three and a half years ago from Yokosuka Japan. My first retail job was Hollister, and I fell in love with the whole concept of fashion retail. From retail operations to design, I just fell in love with how fashion moved. After my third shift working at Hollister, I was folding jeans, and I told my self “wow I want to have my own company.” Read more>>
Christopher Harvey
After three years of working in county government, my interest shifted to accomplishing other political goals that would lead me to Washington, D.C. One of those goals was to work on a presidential campaign. I felt bad about not doing enough campaign work in 2008 and 2012 to help elect/re-elect President Obama. I made sure to not make the same mistake during the 2016 presidential election season. Read more>>
Erica Martin
I initially started my business around 2010 with a small selection of handcrafted wedding invitations and paper goods. I have always made jewelry, but the wedding invitations were the first thing that kick-started my business online. I eventually started making more pieces and listing them on my Etsy shop, which later allowed me to launch my own independent website. Read more>>
Rashika Craft
I created my own website, obtained a DBA and opened a business account, I was ready to take over the world, or so I thought. I began working for Uber full time to take Of life’s necessities, and when I wasn’t ubering, I would bake cakes. In the midst of all of this, I got engaged, & decided to move in with my parents to save money to buy a house and pay for our wedding. Read more>>
Dominique Perkins
The creation of my business, Marvelous Moments Media, was inspired by a fun and entertaining event I attended that had a photo booth. It was at a bar in Deep Ellum in Dallas, TX around December 2016. I was amazed at the setup and engagement opportunity it offered patrons. Most importantly, I admired how the photobooth was the LIFE OF THE PARTY. Read more>>
Stephanie Miranda
As young as I can remember, I would use my grandmother’s face creams thinking it would clear up my skin or lighten it up. I even shaved my legs once after I saw my mother shaving and seeing how smooth her legs were, I too wanted smooth legs! Growing up, I was always fascinated with skin care and after high school; I attended beauty school with the intentions of becoming a make-up artist. Following my uncle’s step, who is a successful make-up artist in Los Angeles, I was always so fascinated during his practical, when facials and waxing quickly became my passion. Read more>>
Kyle Vaughan
I am and will always be a fan of horror, schlock, B-movies, cult entertainment and general “so-bad its good”-ness. When I was young, I didn’t know that this was my taste per se, but I knew that I loved the feeling that movies inspired in me. I told everyone within earshot that I was going to grow up to be a big-time movie director and my lego stop motion films proved it. In my (decidedly not-angsty) teenage years this manifested as a strong urge to create film and participate in various theatrical endeavors. Before the age of YouTube, my friends and I created music videos, short films, and movies which (having no other platform to show them off) we entered in various film festivals. Read more>>
Paloma Salazar
I grew up from a middle-income family. Grew up in the southeast area, through my high school years I knew that I would always succeed and do something to fulfill my dreams. One of my teachers and coach Israel Corona was one of my biggest motivators in high school. Because of him and other staff like Caroline Tess, I was able to travel and meet a lot of important people in our community. With the support of my family I attended HCC honors college, and from there a lot more opportunities came my way. I took them all and made sure I was involved in everything. Read more>>
Soloko
I’ve always had music in my veins since a child. From My Dad and me jamming out to Grupo Pegasso (Spanish Group) in his truck with the sound system riding around the city. To my moms jamming out to some Cumbias while she makes us help her clean Saturday mornings. Music has always played a big part in my life. My older cousin Alfredo actually introduced me to rap music. I remember him showing me some videos back when “the box” I think was a tv show and they would show videos from all around. I remember seeing rapper’s like Cash Money back that ass up video. So I instantly was gravitated towards it lol. It was always something we listened to in private though. Our parents are old school Mexican, they legit thought it was the devil’s music like Water Boy’s moms would say about foosball. Read more>>
Gin Braverman
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I found my calling for interior designing, as most young children do, by obsessively moving furniture around my bedroom to come up with the perfect configuration. As this obsession with spacial planning continued through my teenage years, I merely attributed it to a certain level of OCD and pursued other interests including pre-med. After it became apparent that hospital walls-lovely as they are-were not what I wanted to be looking at the rest of my life, I caved to my creative callings and began to work in film production in NYC. Read more>>
