Websites from Texas, United States

Patrick Conway is the frontman, guitarist, and songwriter for The Lost & Nameless Orchestra, a band he's toured with for fifteen years. He's played at numerous folk festivals and venues, including the Americana Music Festival, Kerrville Folk Festival, and Old Settler’s Music Festival. Patrick has released multiple albums and recently launched "MERIDIAN," an album celebrating love, home, family, and loss. He also composes instrumental music for his electronic and ambient project, ENDELØS. In addition to his own music, Patrick works as a freelance music producer and audio engineer, assisting other artists with their projects.

Aaron Embrey is a Creative Identity Guide, Storyteller, Design Mentor, and Creative Magic Maker. For three decades, he has helped people, businesses, and brands bring their new ideas to life through design, photography, and visual branding. He guides artists, makers, and multi-passionate individuals as they rediscover their creative magic and design a life and personal brand that reflects who they truly are. He offers workshops, guidance, and tools to help others reconnect with their creative voice and build their new identity.

Aly Tadros is a writer and musician. She began her music career at 21, eventually dropping out of college to pursue it full-time in Austin, Texas. Over ten years, she played over 900 shows, taught herself multiple instruments, and booked tours in nine countries. She independently co-produced and released three albums: *Things Worth Keeping* (2009), *The Fits* (2013), and *Hungry Ghost* (2017). Since 2017, Aly has transitioned to writing stories, with her work featured in *The New York Times*, *Narratively*, and *The Brooklyn Rail*, among others. She is currently working on a collection of essays.

April Mack is a YA fantasy author who writes novels where hope thrives and good always triumphs. She is a suburban wife and mom of two. She has a BA in professional writing and is a member of Hope*Writers. In her twenties, she worked as an editorial assistant and production editor. She lived in Japan for 22 years and now lives in the USA. She loves to read YA fantasy novels and other good stories. She also enjoys DIY and interior design, drawing, painting, and simple living. She loves bunnies and Japanese tea, but can't stand coffee.

Relvin Gonzalez is a Puerto Rican fiction author who enjoys capturing the intrinsic darkness of the human mind. His short stories have appeared in the Soul Anthology from Graveside Press and online magazines. Gonzalez has written several books, including his first novel, *The Void Beyond the Walls*, a dark literary fiction written from the point of view of a Texan serial killer who travels to Mars. He is also the author of the *444* mythological science fiction series, including *Hefnd*, *Path of the Hybrids*, *Messengers Rising*, and *I Am the Door*. Relvin lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, son, and dog.

Ron Darbouze is a strategic finance advisor who helps business owners gain financial clarity and scale with confidence through his company, Rock Finance. With nearly 20 years of experience in corporate finance and real estate, he focuses on investing in real estate projects and businesses that strengthen communities. He is passionate about faith, family, and fitness. Ron lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Charrisse, and their three children. He enjoys spending time in the gym, attending church, and playing games with his kids. He delivers keynotes that empower mid-career professionals.

Jennifer Kaehms is an angel investor and advisor. She is passionate about supporting groundbreaking tech startups and businesses. Currently, she serves as an angel investor and advisor to Tennr, Lambda, and Omneky. From 2021 to 2023, she was a Partner at Foundation Capital. Before that, she spent nearly two years at Forethought, first in operations and then as Head of Revenue Operations in 2020. Earlier in her career, she was an Investment Associate at Canvas Ventures from 2016 to 2018. She had internships at NASA Ames Research Center in 2009 and 2010. She was named an Ann Craig Scholar and served as the Bioengineering Class Speaker at UC San Diego in 2014. She was actively involved in track, cross-country, and triathlon at UC San Diego. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Hannah Van Overbeek is the founder of Jelly Wax. Her entrepreneurial journey started early, selling sodas at six years old. By middle school, she launched Hannah Must Haves, selling handmade jewelry and accessories. Homeschooled until high school, she had the flexibility to pursue her business interests. After exploring various paths, she founded Jelly Wax at 18 years old. After experiencing burnout, she paused the business and launched Project Pollywog, a jewelry brand supporting frog conservation. She returned to rebuild Jelly Wax with more sustainable practices. Today, she is passionate about providing quality waxing products while challenging societal beauty standards. Through her TikTok content, she shares perspectives on body hair, self-acceptance, and entrepreneurship.

David Kirkpatrick is the Founder of Reading 4 Results. He lives in Austin, Texas. He has assisted over 100 entrepreneurs in enhancing their reading speed and comprehension through personalized techniques. He tailors the methods to each student and bases them on the most recent cognitive science research. Seeing his friends get dream jobs with the same degree he had, forced him to accept that he had no one else to blame but himself for his situation. After receiving two life-changing books from a friend, he finally had the courage to ask for help. His mission is to give back lost time through knowledge by reading and retaining faster.

Cathryn Lavery is an entrepreneur and creator, currently residing in Austin, Texas. She is the CEO of BestSelf Co., which she grew from zero to 8-figures in less than two years. Cathryn graduated from Glasgow School of Art with a Masters in Architecture in 2011 and moved to NYC to start her architecture career. In 2013, she left the architecture industry entirely. She launched the Self Journal on Kickstarter in 2015, raising $322,696 in 34 days. Cathryn won Shopify’s Build a Business Competition in 2016 and the Build a BIGGER Business competition in 2017. In 2022, BestSelf was acquired. Cathryn was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30, and her work has been featured in Fast Company’s 2017 Innovation by Design Awards, Entrepreneur, MTV, Huffington Post, Forbes, and Inc.

Andy Sommer is the Founder of OffChance and Co-Founder of Somco Capital and RemoTeams. OffChance is a Houston-based studio and holding company focused on creating profitable and thoughtful brands. Somco Capital develops commercial real estate. RemoTeams is an offshore talent agency that powers all of Andy's businesses. His approach integrates commercial spaces with the brands he launches, creating ecosystems where interesting people can do interesting things.

Rachel Toalson is an autistic author who writes books for kids, teens, and adults. Her stories examine the intersection of neurodivergence and mental illness and feature characters who challenge societal norms. Her books have received awards, been Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections, and are studied as curriculum in English classes. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her family and enjoys running, reading, writing, and drinking peppermint green tea.

Cameron Desautels is a developer and entrepreneur. He is a fan of Clojure, a tea enthusiast, and describes himself as an erstwhile vagabond, libertine, and over-thinker. He builds CollBox, writes Clojure code, shares code on GitHub, and posts on Twitter and Mastodon. He writes mostly about code.

Sarah is an elder millennial and law student who lives in Dallas, Texas, with her Dutch husband. She works as a Happiness Engineer at Automattic for the WordPress mobile apps. She has a Bachelor of Science in Government and Women’s Studies from Texas Woman’s University. Sarah cohosts a podcast called Hey, Bestie! with her best friend. She enjoys reading YA, feminist-friendly romance, and non-fiction. She also enjoys watching television shows and predictable action movies. She blogs about life, current events, feminism, her house, technology, women in tech, books, pop culture, and food.

Paul Halme is a two-time bestselling author, international speaker, advisor, and BJJ World Champion. He helps entrepreneurs build successful businesses, drawing on his experience in growing his own martial arts gym into one of the most successful in the US. He creates high six-figure offline businesses for his clients, resulting in his consulting company growing into the seven figures. Paul works with committed business people, helping them gain more time for family, travel, and financial freedom. He is known for his expertise in lead generation, closing sales, and maximizing business profit potential. He runs a seven-figure consulting company with UFC star Alan Belcher and systems ninja Amy Magers.

Ben Tibbetts (born 1989) is a professional pianist and composer working in the Austin, Texas area. He specializes in collaborative performance and high-level improvisation as a piano accompanist. Ben teaches piano and composition lessons at Timbral Music Studios, the Armstrong Community Music School, and Premier Music Academy. He is a regular accompanist for classes at Ballet Austin and a frequent performer for events in the Austin area, including weekly services at the Trinity Church of Austin. Ben is also an active composer, arranger, and audio producer whose work has been featured in films, video games, and broadcast radio performances.

Kit is currently home-based out of Austin, Texas. After leaving a position as a Quality Assurance Specialist at Fetch in January 2023, Kit is now pursuing a dream of writing a book. She is living life on the road part-time in a camper van, Tokki, while focusing on creative writing for a blog and other projects. Kit is also learning Japanese, aiming to read 50 books this year, and starting a YouTube channel. Current projects include a narrative blog about life after a house fire called kitandrun.com, documenting dog training and adventures at magicollies.com, and working on an unnamed fantasy novel.

Denise Cornell is a strategic advisor and fractional operator who builds 0-1 marketing, sales enablement, and operational infrastructure for early-stage startups. She helps founders focus on the right customers to create repeatable success before scaling. With 25+ years of experience operating through seed to IPO and 30+ years studying Socratic inquiry, Denise helps clients separate the signal from the noise. She builds commercial and operational infrastructure from scratch and applies first principles thinking. Denise steps in as a fractional operator during critical transitions, providing strategic clarity and hands-on execution.

Jesse F. Simon, DO, is a Diagnostic Radiology resident at UF-Jacksonville, currently completing his Transitional Year in South Florida. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and attended medical school at Nova Southeastern University’s Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine. Prior to medical school, he worked at a healthcare tech startup for two years. He is married with one daughter and another on the way. He enjoys soccer, golfing, and being outdoors. He is interested in the connection between the mind and body and how it relates to healing. He started his blog to share his experiences in medicine and life.

Brady Holt is a software developer at YNAB and a self-described geek. He enjoys writing software as a profession, hobby, and passion. He spends his evenings with his family or working on pet projects, often using technologies like TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Ruby, and Node.js. He is an open source developer with several active projects. Brady's interest in computers began in his youth when he accidentally broke his mother's computer and successfully repaired it.

Andrew Blikken is a writer focused on self-reliance. He creates guides and shares insights to help others achieve independence. He manages the 3 Andrews Ranch, is a producer and mover of goods on Amazon, and creates content on his favorite topics. His blog shares lessons learned from his experiences, aiming to help others create systems for self-sufficiency and abundance. He writes about farming, aquaponics, native birds, honeybees, tools, equipment, lawn care, tractors, water management, home repair, home office, do-it-yourself guides, solar energy, power management, property ops, chickens, dogs, hunting, and gardening.

Charles Rismyhr MD is a physician who recently opened his own clinic, AlereMD. He has a particular interest in food and eating, and believes that elevating people's consciousness about food can improve health. He enjoys cooking, long distance running, and exploring new places. Charles is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Mandarin. He has lived in Singapore, China, England, St. Maarten, and the USA. His father is from Norway, and his mother is from Panama.

Alex Baldwin is a product designer and writer based in Austin, Texas. Currently, Alex is helping build the future of AI-powered search at Perplexity, where they work as a product designer and UI engineer. Prior to that, Alex served as designer-in-residence with both Techstars and 500 Startups. Through their design studio Simple Casual, Alex has worked with clients such as Flipboard, Coinbase, and Grammarly. In 2013, Alex co-founded Hack Design, an educational platform.