We are Josh, Michaela and Leilani
A family of three radically following (at least we think so) our King! We are proud to be apart of The Table Network movement, PLEASE check out what that's all about here. Besides parenting our awesome daughter, photography and graphic design have been big a focus of our lives since the day we met back in Hawaii in 2010. At the time, Michaela was volunteering her graphic design skills at Surfing the Nations. She met Josh while he was visiting friends in Hawaii. At the time he was based out of Bali, Indonesia where he spent his days staffing the Bali Surf House, surfing and photographing Southeast Asia. Not long after this, our skills came together and we founded the company Markisa Studios.
The majority of our seven years of marriage have been spent fully immersed in the culture and amazing people of Indonesia. As you can imagine, this has had a tremendous impact on our lives from the life-changing perspective of how follow our King, interact with our neighbors as well as down to the daily details of what we choose to eat. We are a mixed family; Michaela being from Sweden, Josh from California plus our years in Indonesia together. Meaning, we have cross-cultural conversations, experiences, and challenges that take place daily.
The majority of our seven years of marriage have been spent fully immersed in the culture and amazing people of Indonesia. As you can imagine, this has had a tremendous impact on our lives from the life-changing perspective of how follow our King, interact with our neighbors as well as down to the daily details of what we choose to eat. We are a mixed family; Michaela being from Sweden, Josh from California plus our years in Indonesia together. Meaning, we have cross-cultural conversations, experiences, and challenges that take place daily.
Learn more about our family
Josh is originally from Southern California. He got into photography in a very sedated time of his life, simply as a means to remember what he was doing. Since then, he has over eight years of freedom from addiction and has become a husband and father. Josh met his wife Michaela on a brief visit back to Hawaii after working with the non-profit organization Surfing The Nations, now he couldn’t imagine life without her, they married after this. Josh has always had an affinity for salt water. To this day, when not working you can find him in the water whether it’s surfing, spear fishing or just being at the beach. Then, after completing his studies at the New York Institute of Photography is when he seriously began to capture the essence of adventure through photography.
Michaela was born and raised in Sweden and then moved to Hawaii. This was soon after completing her studies in Graphic Design & Communication in Jönköping, Sweden. Once she was in Hawaii she unleashed her graphic design skills to Surfing The Nations where she also found Josh. Michaela enjoys the outdoors, yoga, hiking and starting her day with a cup of coffee, whether it is on the beach getting sandy or snuggled up in a blanket watching the snowfall, she is a happy camper. She also loves being creative in the kitchen and making healthy meals for her family.
Leilani is our awesome daughter. Uniquely raised. We take pride in how we choose to nurture and love our Leilani, we are so blessed to be her parents. We know we are not the only ones that think she is gorgeous and very smart, so we hope you can spend time with her too. In order to prepare for this please know that Leilani is our loving, funny, caring, plant-based eater, ocean-loving, world-adventurer, one of a kind daughter. Facts about Leilani: she has already been to 9 counties and a few more while she was inside the womb and she can do 200 piece puzzles, by herself!
