Spotlights

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Allison LaRussa! Allison is an artist and graduate of Marywood University. She has worked in the drug and alcohol field for the last 6 years, incorporating the creative arts within substance use treatment. She has witnessed the immense impact that increasing self-expression and confidence, as well as creating a safe and nurturing outlet, has had within her clients.  In her personal life, Allison uses art as her own…

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Sam Kuchwara! Born and raised in Scranton, Sam has always liked to draw and paint, but only got to do it here and there in grade school and high school. His only consistent high school art class was during senior year, and as soon as he took it, he knew he just wanted to do more. After taking an intro drawing class freshman year at Boston College, he…

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have HW Yorkonis! Growing up in Scranton PA, HW has always been interested in art and continues to frequent the museums, galleries and theaters. She finds joy in the arts; when produced strongly she can get lost in a painting or performance. HW’s childhood was unstable, moving through the foster care system, changing schools yearly and dealing with a stressful home life; she used art as a way of…

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Michaela Stuart! Michaela is a self-taught artist from Shohola, PA. Art is something that runs in her family with artists on both her mother’s and father’s sides so she has been in love with art ever since she was old enough to hold a crayon. She loves all types of artistic outlets — from drawing, ceramics, and painting — however she finds that her favorite lately is painting. …

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Cheyenne Huffman! Cheyenne is the owner of Twin Flames Hand Poured Candles LLC, a local business selling hand crafted goods. She is passionate about animal rescue, her community in NEPA, and helping people feel their best.  After falling in love with candle making, she decided to open her shop & share her creations. She created Twin Flames Hand Poured Candles after noticing that many of her friends and…

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Mountain Built! Jamie & Eric grew up in Long Island. In 2008, Eric was relocated here as an Air Traffic Controller at Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport and Jamie joined him after finishing her education degree. They fell in love with the area, got married, settled in Mountain Top and had 2 sweet little girls, Maddy (4) and Lilah (who will be 2 in June).  Because they had no…

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Lindsey Vollrath! Meet your (soap) maker! Lindsey Vollrath, born outside of Pittsburgh, Pa, is a business owner and teacher of students with autism at Monticello School in Scranton. Lindsey owns The Releafery, a zero waste shop that carries handcrafted goodies such as all natural bar soap, emulsified sugar scrub, body lotion, lip balm, and more. She handcrafts many of the items offered at the shop, but also offers…

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Brady Dempsey! Brady Dempsey is a self-taught artist native to NEPA. She began creating art at an early age— her mother jokes that her favorite childhood toy was safety scissors and paper. A naturally curious person, Brady has explored many different mediums, and is currently immersed in her latest project, RainbowTree. RainbowTree started after buying a bag of wood slices from a craft store on a whim. Inspired…

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Hedy Schneller of illumia! illumia is a local, women-owned enterprise with a mission to design and produce unisex skin care products whose value derives from quality products versus products which rely on high cost and high profile marketing.  illumia’s products were created by Hedy Schneller, a healthcare provider. Hedy started making simple products for friends and family for several years. Given the unique circumstances of the pandemic, she…

Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Bethany Flanders! Bethany Flanders is a bioethicist and creative writer from Dallas, Pennsylvania. She is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Bioethics program, as well as a Misericordia University alumni where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (with minors in Biology and Ethics) and Bachelor of Arts in Medical and Health Humanities. Bethany utilizes her education and skill set to analyze and…