The heart of our mission is to find the amazing souls that breathe life into our communities. In the recent weeks, we’ve had the privilege to connect with some incredible artists, creatives, entrepreneurs and rabble rousers and we can’t begin to express how impressed we are with the incredible group below. Check out our favorite stories from across Alabama below.
Brandon Matthews
I have always felt the most fulfilled helping others find fulfillment. I want to leave the people and the places I go better than I found them. Ultimately, I want to make a difference. This is why I’m passionate about doing what I call, bringing meaning back to the marketplace. Read more>>
Jasmine Najee
It’s hard to pinpoint a starting point for me. I can honestly say my life took a turning point after my second child was born. Although the most beautiful experience you can ever imagine, I suffered postpartum depression as many mothers do; followed by being diagnosed with Skin Cutaneous Lupus & Alopecia. Going through this experience I completely felt like my existence was wiped away, my complete existence. I lost myself, my job, friends & every since of security I had. It was hard, we’ve all faced hardships and setbacks; this one was just so hard. Out of that I started over. It took 2 years but I fought daily. I thought deeply about which direction I wanted my life to go in, especially for my children. I literally rebuilt myself up again to overcome obstacles & adversity with confidence. It was possible with the support of my husband, loved ones & a lot of prayer warriors. Read more>>
Meredith Simmerman
One Sunday afternoon in April 2017, after picking blackberries for hours and ending up with way more than I knew what to do with, I came up with a delicious flavor combination that is now called Blackberry Honey Butter. From one social media post about the butter, sales exploded and the adventure of Reney’s Honey Butter began! Now, over seven years later, Reney’s has over 60 flavors of both sweet and savory butters to enjoy. For the first 2 years of business, we operated mainly through wholesale accounts and farmers markets or shows. As we continued to grow, we decided to have a storefront of our own and created a space affectionally called The Cottage in west Mobile, Alabama where we serve breakfast and lunch as well as offer an assortment of locally and nationally curated food products from other small businesses. In 2021, we also purchased a food trailer for Reney’s Honey Butter to continue to grow our business and our reach in the community. In 2023 we began to ship our butters and our infamous homemade biscuits nationwide! Every day is an adventure and we are excited to continue to grow and expand! Read more>>
Melissa McKenzie
My journey as a web designer began in a whirlwind. I graduated with a 4 year graphic design degree and web design minor then quickly got married a week later. Within the first year of my marriage, I had twin babies, which completely turned my world upside down. I started my business as a way to pursue my passions, but it left me feeling stressed and distanced from my family. Read more>>
Andrea Meade
Ellie Cate Home was officially founded in January 2021. I retired from the pharmaceutical industry after 18 years in 2019 and wanted to begin the next chapter in my life as a stay at home Mom. I had a 5 year old in Kindergarten and an 8 month old who were both born prematurely and I really wanted to be able to spend more time with them and not travel as much. I also wanted to work on a lot of the home projects that had been on my list for a while. I have always been interested in interior design and interior styling. When I built my first home at 23 years old, it was a fascinating and exciting process even with all of the decisions. I went on to build 2 more homes on my own prior to getting married. My husband and I dabbled a bit in investment property but determined that wasn’t the right direction for us because both of our careers required lots of travel and time commitment. Read more>>
Tyree Jennings
The Black Book Club started on a whim honestly. After watching “Black Panther” with my family, I was strolling online a few days later and came across a program to establish a free library in Africa. My wife immediately agreeing to the plan for the library also helped because it felt like fate. The energy was so positive throughout the process that I wanted to do something locally. That is how The Black Book Club was born. Read more>>
Mario Brown
My journey towards becoming a Transformation Strategist and immersing myself in this work began long before I officially launched my business. Rooted in my ministry message, I’ve always focused on understanding human relationship dynamics and offering both natural and spiritual pathways for personal transformation. In 2017, driven by a desire to reach a wider audience and fueled by empathy for those grappling with unresolved family issues and religious trauma, I took the leap to establish Life Matters with Mario Brown. Read more>>
Phillip Jordan
I’ve been doing youtube since high school. It really just started because i enjoyed watching vlogs and wanted to create my own. Looking back im so happy to have those videos to see the memories from school, my everyday life and more. I’m still doing music however I really want people who watch my vlogs to get a deeper sense of who I am. Read more>>
Micky Luciano
I’ve been a neonatal ICU nurse since I graduated. I have a passion for preemies, and I loved the idea of working in an ICU setting since I was in nursing school. I knew I wanted to do something that challenged me on a critical thinking skill level, but something that I loved doing every day. I became really close to my coworkers, and I still to this day keep my home hospital job on a PRN occasional basis, but I have big dreams to go back to school to become a CRNA. Unfortunately, due to the competitive nature of the program, you sign a contract with the school that does not allow you to work past the first semester. Which is why I decided I needed to find a way to save three years’ worth of income. That is when I started to look into traveling. It was very daunting at first. I am a creature of habit, I like to know what to expect, and I love being close to my family and friends. I almost committed to doing it a year prior, but I got cold feet. Then COVID hit, and it changed nursing completely. A lot of nurses left to stay at home with their family, and the influx of at home jobs made it easier to do just that. Increase in census across the nation caused for an increased need of nurses. Travel prices skyrocket. My home hospital had to make some financial cuts that affected my pay and ability to pick up overtime shifts, but it gave me the much needed push I needed to start traveling. I have been travel nursing for two years now, and I haven’t looked back. Read more>>
Darianne Tolbert
I started my journey in media over 10 years ago as a volunteer photographer and writer for my campus newspaper. If you would’ve told me that my love for storytelling and creative media would lead me to owning a local studio, I would have hardly believed you.
Back then, social media influencers did not exist. Content creation was relegated to blog writers. And the concept of a content studio was unheard of. Read more>>
Jason Avery
My story is one that should ring true to many of your viewers. I followed the typical trajectory for American success which included college, graduate school and a career for over 27 years. Along the line, I found and lost love, and helped to create a wonderful family complete with three wonderful children. While all of this kept me fulfilled, I always had a voice in the corner of my mind pushing me towards a life that also included service and improving the overall quality of life for myself and those around me. I found the scratch to this itch by becoming involved in the local neighborhood association. From member, to committee leader, to vice president, to president, to community president, I have seen how to affect change at all levels. This also opened doors for me in advocating for my true passion public art. By taking advantage of every opportunity that comes my way, I have been able to have a very satisfying existence and hope to continue to expand as long as I am around on this great rock. Read more>>
Stephon Scott
My name is Stephon Scott aka “BeatMonkey”. I’ve always been intrigued by music and how it was created. I made my first beat at 15 and ever since then it’s been non stop. Started BeatMonkey Productions in 2013 and since then I’ve been crafting my sound and networking to build with like minded individuals. Read more>>
Ronald Martin
My journey as an illustrator and storyteller began when I was in high school. When I was younger I always had an active imagination and I enjoyed drawing comic book characters. As I grew older, that same love for characters and storytelling came with me. To the point where I wanted to pursue my hobby as a kid seriously, even though as a kid I knew it was what I always wanted to do. My senior year in high school I began writing and illustrating drafts of my first book “All-Star Book 1: Protect And Serve” with my first ever superhero character in my publication. Ever since then I’ve been growing the character and even published a second story with the character. Read more>>
Annie Latrice
To get to where I am today, I just recognized my passions and talents. Then, took a hold of them. I made goals, around style and business, and I stuck to them. Read more>>
