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 California’s Central Coast.
Jeremy Layport
Grew up in Paso Robles, playing sports, and played football in college. During college, my love of training and science behind it grew. Upon graduation, I decided to continue my education with a graduate school program and a graduate assistantship at San Jose State, where I could develop my coaching skills and education. Read more>>
Lana Klein
Ever since I was very young, I have always been very interested in being in front of the camera. There’s just one photo of me from Halloween I was dressed up as Dorothy and I’m just posing with my whole heart. I’d like to think that’s where the story starts! Read more>>
Kathleen Schreiber
Photography has always felt like a natural extension of who I am. From a young age, I was immersed in creative pursuits—dance, choir, theatre, and modeling—which taught me the beauty of storytelling, expression, and genuine human connection. Spending years in front of the camera gave me a unique perspective on what it feels like to be photographed. Read more>>
Jassy Jackson
My journey has always been about understanding what helps people heal and thrive. From a young age, I was drawn to spirituality, intuition, and the unseen world. By the age of 12, I was reading cards, collecting crystals, and exploring different forms of divination. Read more>>
Heather Mullin
I always loved body work. In highschool I was on the sports medicine team and I enjoyed my class mates through injuries. After high school I joined the fire department and expanded my passion for helping others. I was a firefighter for 8 years, 6 years with cal fire. After I left cal fire I became a massage therapist full time. Read more>>
Erin Serventi
As a kid, I regularly wanted to rearrange my bedroom and I owe a huge ‘thank you’ to my mom and dad who would make it happen; they ignited this passion for design that I’m lucky enough to call my job to this day. Read more>>
Amanda Pilkington
I’m Amanda Pilkington, a private chef based in Santa Barbara. My love of cooking began in my father’s kitchen — he founded the award-winning Vivo Enoteca in Wellington, New Zealand — and those early years working alongside him set the foundation for my career. I honed my skills in acclaimed restaurants across New Zealand, learning technique, discipline, and a respect for high-quality ingredients. Read more>>
Sara Naheedy
I didn’t set out to build a traditional law firm. From early on in my career, I realized I was most drawn to real estate because every matter is different and every client has a unique goal. Read more>>
Rose Seybold
Looking back, weddings have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Solvang, California, where my grandparents owned a wedding venue, and my aunt was a florist. Read more>>
Kristi Chaussard
Born and raised in Santa Barbara, I’ve spent my life in movement – from exploring the great outdoors to competitive athletics, to working out in the gym and studio. Founding Vi came from a lifetime of accumulated experience starting way back with my dream to play tennis professionally as an adolescent, injury set backs and come backs, marathon pursuits and eventually finding Pilates. Read more>>
Tinicia Smith
In 2016 I posed a question on Facebook, ‘Where are the Black Owned Businesses in San Diego? List them, tag folks, shout ’em out!’ From there I linked with Sheri who is a childhood friend and track&field teammate as well as a Real Estate Business owner. Read more>>
Kaveh Nourmofidi
After spending over a decade in banking in Canada, I moved to San Diego in 2020 during the pandemic and found myself reflecting on what I wanted to do next. Like many people during that time, I began exploring the idea of starting my own business—something I had always dreamed of doing. My connection to olive oil started long before that. Read more>>
Sybil Hill Carter
My relationship with art began early. I grew up in Dallas, Texas, surrounded by museums, galleries, and a father who painted. He was a self-taught abstract painter whose work was exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art, and I grew up painting with him, studying with him, and learning from his independent creative spirit. In many ways, he was my first mentor. Read more>>
Daniel Markowitz
Production Playground empowers students to explore creative technology by combining the foundations in music, video and visual art skills with hands on projects. Through creating original work, students build confidence, express themselves, and develop the skills to bring their ideas to life. Growing up, I loved writing songs, making videos, designing flyers and finding different ways to bring my ideas to life. Read more>>
Oren Laufer
Art Scout grew out of two passions that have shaped my career: high-tech marketing and contemporary art. My background is in high-tech marketing, with a career focused on e-commerce, web design, digital marketing, and SEO. For many years, I helped businesses across a variety of industries grow their online presence and increase online sales. Read more>>
Nadra Ehrman
My career began in 2002 in the nonprofit sector working with homeless youth, where I first saw how deeply housing stability influences opportunity and well-being. I later in 2009, I joined The Towbes Group in Santa Barbara, managing multifamily communities before serving as Sustainability Director. Read more>>
Jardin Webb
My journey into chiropractic actually started with a horseback riding accident in high school. I took a significant fall and landed hard on my tailbone. At the time, I got back up, climbed back on the horse, and thought nothing of it. But in the years that followed, I began experiencing symptoms that nobody could seem to explain. Read more>>
Master Hope Zweig
My journey began at age 11, more than 49 years ago, when I started training in Taekwondo. From the beginning, it felt natural, as if it had always been a part of me. What began as a personal interest soon grew into a lifelong passion for martial arts, leadership, and helping others grow. Read more>>
Katie Hayward
Sixteen years ago, I saw an opportunity to create something that went beyond transportation. I wanted to create memorable experiences. At the time, Paso Robles wine country was growing rapidly, but there were very few companies focused on providing a truly personalized, concierge-style wine touring experience. Read more>>
Andrew Goodwin
My college education began with a dedicated pursuit of architecture. Our curriculum was steeped in theoretical and frequently abstract architecture— studying the work of architects like Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne—figures known for their dramatic, often unconventional, “art-form-focused buildings”. While I respected the artistry, this approach didn’t resonate with my core values. It felt geared towards creating monumental art rather than functional, purposeful architecture. Read more>>
Bada Chun
My journey started in a somewhat unconventional place. Before diving fully into the world of design, I studied Accounting and International Trade. While I appreciated the logical systems and structure behind dealing with numbers and data, I always had a deep creative thirst to build things using a visual language. Read more>>
Hayley Fedders
Studio Seaside started in 2012, almost by accident. I had recently graduated from San Francisco State with a degree in Industrial Arts and was working in graphic design, but I kept getting freelance referrals from friends, family, and former coworkers. Before I knew it, evenings and weekends were completely booked, and I realized I had the opportunity to build something of my own. Read more>>
Hayk Hakobyan
My story started with a strong interest in technology and problem-solving. I was always drawn to building things that were practical, useful, and could make work easier for people and businesses. Over the years, I grew from hands-on software development into engineering leadership, working across full-stack development, infrastructure, automation, logistics, dispatch systems, and business operations. Read more>>
Jennifer Haydu
A few days ago, someone approached me in the grocery store: ‘Aren’t you the dance teacher who works with kids? Read more>>
Jill Doherty
Photography has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. It all began with a point-and-shoot camera on a family road trip to the Grand Canyon when I was twelve years old. Read more>>
Jim Bachman
Here is an artical for you about my studio. For more than 35 years, James Bachman has been a familiar face in the Central Coast music community, quietly shaping the lives of thousands of students through his passion for teaching and his belief that music has the power to change lives. Read more>>
Justin Chernow
Sure. It actually starts in a pretty unexpected place — anthropology. In college I was studying cultural and medical anthropology, and I became fascinated with how different cultures understand health, healing, and wholeness. And I didn’t just want to read about it. Read more>>
Edith Schneider
I’m a college professor for fashion design and merchandising and my middle name is sustainability. I collect textile donations and hand them over to my students, same for sewing machines and everything else you need for sewing, pattern making, knitting, quilting, embroidery etc. Read more>>
Laureane Alcantara
My name is Laureane, and I’m an interior designer and home stager on California’s Central Coast. My story begins far from here, in Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil. I loved everything about houses and you’d always find me moving my mother’s furniture around because I loved how the house would feel different every time I opened the door. Read more>>
Anthony Allesmith
I think I’ve been aiming for this path longer than I care to admit. The very first dinner party I threw was when I was 13 years old. Flipping through my moms clipped out recipe binders I found an assortment of recipes that I wanted to create. Invited my family over and was able to walk them through Taco Canapes and Fireman’s Stuffed Meatloaf. Read more>>
Salvatore Sardina
I was getting close to 60 and I wasn’t getting as much joy out of my work as a general contractor as I used to. I had gotten my C10 license April 2024 and by January 2025 I decided it was time to pivot. So I stopped taking new jobs. It’s funny, I got some of the biggest opportunities at that time. Read more>>
