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.
Michele Potter
We started collecting board games to play with family in 2001…by the time Covid hit in 2019, we had over 300. Then as we grew our collection during the shutdown, our kids told us we had a choice: open that game store we’d always been talking about, or get turned in to the ‘Hoarders’ TV show. Read more>>
Nadia Rubio
I’m a marine biologist, researcher, and founder of Mar Sustentable Ciencia y Conservación. My career has always been connected to the ocean, but it has evolved in ways I never expected. An important part of my journey happened here in San Diego, where I earned my Ph.D. at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. Read more>>
Tina Kamyab
How It All Started My journey into social media actually started with design. I studied Graphic Design and Visual Communication, which gave me a strong foundation in visual storytelling, composition, color, aesthetics, and creative concept development. Read more>>
Carina Martin
I started acting in 2022. As a background actress, really fast I worked with people I loved. It’s nice to be able to go back and forth between breaks and different projects. I worked in background then landed my first lead role and the second film. Black start portal is in the making. Then I got a scholarship and acting in 2026. Read more>>
Blaire Ehret
Baking has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. I’m an only child and didn’t grow up in a baking household, so my gateway was my Easy-Bake Oven. I always tried to be the family pastry chef, even if I didn’t have the skills or patience for it back then. Read more>>
Ian Devaney
My name is Ian Devaney. I grew up the only child of New York-bred parents—a CPA dad and a schoolteacher mom—who brought their loud, tight-knit, family-first energy down to Marietta, Georgia. I was born in Atlanta, but my heart always belonged to the West Coast. Every summer, we visited my Nana in Bonsall, California. Read more>>
Diego Garcia
I came to this medicine sideways. I was born in Venezuela and moved to the United States when I was eleven. I studied nutrition at the University of Florida and then spent close to a decade working in strength and conditioning. Spending every day trying to understand bodies eventually led me to acupuncture school. Read more>>
Sheena Lyte
If I go way back I started the name back in 2003 when I use to play video games. I wanted a license plate where people could tell I was a female but not obvious. We can come back to that part. During my time as a server/cocktail waitress I wanted to have a business circling around food and beverage wanted my own lounge. Read more>>
Taylor Colvey
Raised on three acres in North County San Diego alongside an organic lemon grove and my mother’s vegetable garden, I learned early on to trust nature’s brilliance and the body’s innate ability to heal. As a Professional Clinical Counseling Trainee, I saw how many of my clients lacked the foundations of physical health. Read more>>
Audrey Klemp
I’m a self-taught video producer and content strategist, and I’ve spent the last decade building that skill set the hard way: through trial, error, and a lot of hours behind the camera. I never went through a formal program. I learned by doing the work, watching what performed, and adjusting. My path started with travel. Read more>>
Danny “DJ PAPAS” Sandoval
As a little kid, I always breakdance every Family advanced all the show. With doing that I came across a lot of DJs that weren’t as good as I expected them to be or didn’t provide a quality that I considered “ good “. Read more>>
Dana Knees
My professional career spans over 35 years across beauty powerhouses like Unilever, Robertet Fragrances, and Coty Beauty where I helped lead the industry’s massive shift into celebrity fragrances. Working across every facet of the health and beauty business, from marketing, product development and sales to consumer research, primed me perfectly to launch Pastiche Custom Perfume. Pastiche is the first national sensory fragrance entertainment company. Read more>>
Mary Elizabeth
I’ve been in the aesthetics industry for over 12 years, and my career has evolved significantly alongside my understanding of skin health. Read more>>
Juan Eduardo Lozano
When I was three months old, a doctor put me in corrective shoes. I was pigeon-toed — my feet turned inward — and the shoes were meant to straighten them. They worked. My feet are fine. But that’s the first thing that ever happened to me. Somebody looked at how I was built and corrected it before I could say a word about it. Read more>>
Nina Santiago
I was an avid beach volleyball player for many years, but after undergoing four surgeries, I was forced to step away from the sport I loved. During my recovery, I was also planning my own wedding and started researching ways to create personalized décor and signage at home. What began as a creative outlet quickly turned into a passion. Read more>>
Lacie Evans
I started my business selling cereal, milk, cupcakes, and I would cook all the time. I started selling plates and then I actually started catering and became a private chef. I’ve traveled all over the world providing my chef services. My grandma taught me how to cook. Read more>>
Angela May
Stoney Oaks Ranch really started from a love of horses, kids, and the community I grew up in. I’m a fourth-generation Alpine resident, and this community has always been a huge part of who I am. I’ve also always believed that some of the most important lessons kids learn don’t necessarily happen in a classroom. Read more>>
giorgia mondani
My name is Giorgia Mondani, and I come from a family that has been involved in the world of luxury watches for decades. Growing up surrounded by this industry gave me a deep appreciation for craftsmanship, history, and collecting. Over the years, I decided to build my own path by combining my passion for watches with communication and entrepreneurship. Read more>>
Mark Nelson
The “Board Meeting” That Changed Everything It was the most important board meeting of their lives – and it never happened in a boardroom. In 2005, Michael Nelson was 25 years old and in the first year of what would become a decades-long career in industrial real estate. Read more>>
Caiden Gage
I was a salon owner just south of Memphis, TN for 15 years where I specialized in color, extensions, and nonsensical hair replacement. I was relocated to San Diego as a lead designer and educator for one of the top 3 wig and topper manufacturers in the US. I opened a salon suite because I missed servicing clients that suffer from hair loss. Read more>>
Ana Villalpando
As a Tijuana native, I grew up gazing at a horizon underlined by a border wall. Crossing the border and embodying geopolitical contrasts exacerbated a need to understand how spaces and people are defined. Because of this, I majored in philosophy at the Autonomous University of Baja California, Tijuana. Read more>>
Joe “Jizzo” Niño
I was born and raised in Fresno, California, and got my start in radio at a young age. What began as an opportunity to work in local radio turned into a career that lasted nearly 20 years, primarily as an on-air personality. Read more>>
KeySlayer Rokz
From childhood through college, I was a formally trained classical piano student, with additional studies in percussion and drums. Reading, writing, composing, arranging, and even working as a music copyist were all results of my musical education. As a music copyist, my job was to rewrite commercial jingles into formally transcribed sheet music suitable for printing. Read more>>
Max Allen
I was a college golfer but lost my career to an injury outside of the game. When I returned, I wasn’t the same player. I felt healthy, my swing felt good, but it didn’t result in performance. The one season I competed was a total disaster by my standards. I had begun exploring biomechanics to evaluate my swing and prevent injury. Read more>>
Jonathan Parker
My path to painting was not a direct one. I studied live-action film and video at CalArts, and much of my early creative life was centered on experimental film, video, and improvisational music. Those experiences shaped the way I still approach art: through rhythm, movement, layering, intuition, and a willingness to respond to what develops during the creative process. Read more>>
Tiana Stroncone
When I was 17 I noticed everyone choosing a career and trying to determine what they wanted to do for work every day, but as I looked around I noticed I wanted to choose what kind of life I would have, what my days would look like. Read more>>
Danielle Colbeck
I grew up in a small town in northeastern Iowa, and nothing about my life ever followed a straight or traditional path. In my twenties, I was basically nomadic, making art on stages with bands, creating in motion, learning how to work inside noise, chaos, and constant change. I have bounced from city to city over the years, with ‘time served’ in Chicago, St. Read more>>
McKenzie Santimer
My fascination with gems and jewelry began at age 8 on the fertile soil of Hawaii, where I wandered the shores collecting shells that eventually led me to craft island-inspired jewelry. Under the guidance of a mentor who recognized my natural curiosity, I began a 20-year journey with GIA (Gemological Institute of America) as the Museum manager and exhibit designer. Read more>>
Jon Arenz
My story really starts when I was a kid, because I’ve always been an avid reader. I grew up getting completely lost in books, from The Boxcar Children mysteries to Dragonlance fantasy novels and everything in between. Family vacations always meant packing a book or two (or three), and that habit never went away. Read more>>
Yaritza Rojas
Our story started in 2020 during COVID, when I decided to turn my love for Mexican-inspired jewelry and handmade pieces into a small business. What started as something I did from home slowly grew through word of mouth, social media, local markets, and the amazing support of our customers. Over the years, my family has become a big part of the business. Read more>>
Kandice Brock
My love for makeup started at a really young age. As a little girl, I would play around with my parents’ makeup just for fun, and by high school, I was doing all of my friends’ makeup and constantly practicing different looks on myself. Read more>>
Michelle Cordeiro Rocha
Long before I imagined building a career in wellness, I was a teenager in Rio de Janeiro whose life revolved around the ocean. Surfing became a defining part of my adolescence, and I competed in national-level events during an important period of growth for women’s surfing in Brazil. Read more>>
Brian Knudsen
I’m a California native and have spent most of my early life around the ocean. Surfing and bodyboarding have always been a big part of who I am, and I think I’ve probably studied the shape and movement of waves for decades without realizing I was doing it. My path into art was anything but traditional. Read more>>
Jillie Reil
I was raised in rural Minnesota and moved to the West Coast in my thirties to pursue a law degree and quickly returned to my childhood dreams in arts and entertainment. After to moving to Hollywood, I used any avenue I could to gain experience and exposure, including scene study, workshops, commercials, short films, TV, films, reality, modeling, plays, radio, podcasts, and standup. Read more>>
Nancy Phung-Smith
I was born and raised right here in San Diego, and now I’m raising San Diego kids of my own — which still feels like a full-circle kind of magic to me. But my story really starts generations before mine, with my parents and my siblings, whose shoulders I stand on. The grit and determination that got me here didn’t originate with me. Read more>>
Leah Bookhamer
My interest in health began with challenges of my own that eventually manifested as Hashimoto’s. For more than a decade, I managed my symptoms while searching for answers, but the experience that truly propelled me into functional nutrition happened in 2013. A serious dog attack sent me to an infectious disease specialist, who placed me on six weeks of infused antibiotics. Read more>>
Andreina Leal-Carrillo
The Repair Tech’s story did not begin with a perfectly mapped-out business plan. It grew over years of entrepreneurship, family, hard work, setbacks, reinvention, and learning what it actually takes to turn a trade into a sustainable company. My husband, Emmanuel, has spent years working in the trades. Read more>>
Joannie Lee
I started massage school in 2002. When I started school, I realized that I was a kinesthetic learner and loved helping people through their pain. After school, I began working in a Holistic Health Center in PB and a chiropractic office. I then walked into the wonderful world of SPA and loved it! Read more>>
Jennifer Morrissey
I was supposed to be an artist. I studied art at UC San Diego. I created installations, photographs, paintings and drawings. But the deeper I got into the art world, the more I started questioning whether I wanted my life to revolve around making things alone in a studio. I wanted something bigger than myself. Read more>>
Kristy Fillmore
I’m a Registered Nurse and have worked in nursing for more than 20 years, but when I was in high school, I didn’t know much about nursing or health care careers at all. We had a family friend who was a paramedic, though, and I remember hearing some of his stories and thinking that sounded interesting and exciting, and maybe I could do that. Read more>>
Chinkie Abad Costa
If you had asked me years ago what I thought my life would look like today, I probably would have given you a completely different answer. But that’s one of the things I’ve come to love about my story. Read more>>
Pops and Isabelle Gifford
While on a walk in Oregon, Pops and I found ourselves reminiscing about some of our family’s funniest stories. I had already started writing them down and had built quite a collection when I asked him, “If you could have done anything in life, what would you have chosen?” He said he would’ve drawn comic strips. Read more>>
