Mickey Strand
I am a Working Portrait Photographer and retired Navy Chief Photographer (PHC) and live in San Diego after 24years of active service. I am currently traveling, shooting and occasionally teaching for ACME Educational, Calumet Photo, Maine Media Workshops and Madeline Island school of the arts. Read more>>
Laura Dorsey
“It all started when I began teaching kindergarten a few years back in the Midwest. A parent of a student knew I had a passion for baking and brought me The Bakerella Cake Pop Cook Book. From then on I was hooked! I started baking and decorating cake pops to match every holiday and classroom unit. Read more>>
Tamandra Michaels
For as long as I can remember, I have been doing art. I come from a background in oil painting, and then my journey as a photographer began when I got a camera to take reference photo. I fell head over wheels in love. I had a wonderful, highly photogenic dog, and I began doing pet photography, and many of my clients were pets that had terminal illness. Read more>>
Merrilee Willoughby
I’ve been taking pictures for as long as I can remember. My grandfather was a photographer and I like to think that I inherited some of my passion from him. For most of my life, photography was hobby and I took classes in college for fun. For many years I shot on film and spent hours in the darkroom. Read more>>
Christopher Konrad
I had this classic poster in my college apartment of Sigmund Freud. Freud, Maslow, Skinner and others influenced my interest in explaining human behavior. Psychologists study mistakes to explain behavior. Freud attributed speech slips to subconscious thoughts guided by the ego. People can also make mistakes that are tragic. Read more>>
Diana DeAugustine, Cari Coleman
Ever since I apprenticed (2006), I knew that one day I would open a space of my own. With the help of my tattoo mentor, undergrad and grad school mentors, my previous bosses, best friends, family and clients, that day happened in November of 2012. Read more>>
Kim Emerson
I think that I was born an artist but I did not realize it until later in life. As a child I was always drawing, painting, and building things. In college I wanted to study the arts but my parents steered me away from it worrying that I would not be able to make a living as an artist. Read more>>
Brian Hogan
I grew up in St, Louis Missouri, when I was ten I signed up for a band class and my mother reluctantly bought me a practice drum pad. Within about two minutes I knew I could play that thing, I was sure of it! A year later I had a drum set and started playing gigs when I was fifteen. Read more>>
Gustavo Tonella
In college, Gus and his friends took every advantage of living close to the border and took countless trips to Mexico. Sometimes it was a day trip, sometimes it was an extended weekend, sometimes it was Spring Break. Every trip was to a different spot, and with different friends, but the one thing that always remained was making sure they got Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs. Read more>>
Julien Thiebaud
As a car designer I have always worked on side interests and projects, including watches design, which I started around 2008. My day job, passion for everything automotive and motorcycles, combined to my love for watches allowed me to meet a lot of people all around the world. Most of car designers do something linked to a personal passion on the side and a few years back I started getting contacted by a few of them. Read more>>
Mary Fain Brandt
I never wanted to be an entrepreneur, at least I didn’t think I did, but looking back I have always been an entrepreneur. My friends liked some goofy shirts and hats I made for myself and wanted to “buy” them from me so I did what any entrepreneur would do; calculated the cost and doubled that. Read more>>
Ryan Lamb
The idea for West Coaster beer magazine was born in 2009 in Madrid, Spain. Myself and co-founder Mike Shess were living there after college, wondering what we would do for work back in our native San Diego (once we returned to reality). Reminiscing about the hoppy beers of Southern California, we searched online for a beer magazine that covered the industry. When we didn’t find one, we decided to come back and start our own. Read more>>
Julie Quinn
I have always gravitated toward healing energy, crystals, and herbs, and a broken foot in 2001 during my dance major as an undergraduate in Chicago inspired me to learn more about these arts. After being introduced to essential oils, I immediately became passionate about their use and began making my own products. Read more>>
Brook Sarson
I have degrees in Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from University of the Pacific in Stockton. I spent a lot of time hiking and camping in the Sierra’s as a girl. Also, spent part of my childhood in Bishop, CA and was very aware of water wars there. Read more>>
Caitlin Rother
My first book, POISONED LOVE, was published in 2005, while I was still working full-time as a staff writer for The San Diego Union Tribune. It was addictive. After signing a contract for my first hardcover book in September 2006, I quit my job as an investigative reporter, giving up health benefits and a 401(k), to take a giant risk and pursue my dream of being a full-time author. Read more>>
Robert Carroll
I served 20 years in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman (Medic) and a Physical Therapy Technician. During my training for Physical Therapy I was introduced briefly to the world of massage and realized I enjoyed it and so did my patients. Read more>>
John Penate
As a DJ, I’ve been going at it since 1995; as a promoter, since 1995. Mindfruit started with a group of friends that had (and continue to have) an undying love for each other. Our passion for the underground and all its musical spheres naturally lead us to collectively throw our first parties. Read more>>
Lisa Leedy
I was raised in a small town in North Idaho. From a young age I was involved in dance and musical theater, which is where my love of makeup began. While I was attending San Diego State University I often found my friends lining up at my door to have their hair and makeup done for events. Read more>>
Ariana Jordan
I grew up in Santa Monica, California and have always considered California home. I went to college in St. Louis, Missouri for Information Reporting Technology, specializing in broadcast captioning and CART (Communication Access Real-time Translation). From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to work with broadcasting and did not have the desire to pursue work in the legal arena as a court reporter. Read more>>
