When clinical audiologist Matt Murphy has an idea, he just can’t let it go. Twelve years ago, while on vacation in Sun Valley, Matt was skiing with friends and putting his brand new iPod to use on the slopes, only to realize how frustrating it was. While skiing, his earbuds kept falling out, and when he wanted to talk to friends, he had to take them out, only to put them back in again moments later. Matt’s friends joked about a magical earbud that would allow them to hear their surroundings while still rocking out to The Rolling Stones. For Matt, it was more than a joke...

It started as Becky Logue’s quest several years ago to create a tool that would make her job more efficient. It continues today as her small business that helps people accomplish more with their computers — by using their feet.

“Right there,” Ryan Zehm says, pointing to the ground next to a dumpster pushed against the exterior wall of Boise’s main library. “That’s where most of my first video game was built. The library had everything I needed: books on programming, free internet, and a place to warm up when I needed it.”

Friends, What a year for Built in Boise! For starters, we launched on February 26, 2015. And since, we have told the stories of 46 hard-working, inspiring, optimistic entrepreneurs. It has been wonderful to share the sometimes heroic, sometimes ordinary experiences of those who have committed themselves to building Boise by building their own company or nonprofit.

Those who watch the entrepreneurial reality show Shark Tank know one of the most interesting parts of each episode is when they feature updates on the businesses a year or two later. We're taking a page out of their book and doing the same with the Boise companies we've profiled over the past year. Let's get started...

By definition, bringing a bit of innovation to a cajon drum requires — wait for it — thinking outside the box. As of just a few years ago, founder of Chavez Cajon and now professional cajon player Todd Chavez, a life-long percussionist, knew little about the instrument.

The difference between crushed fermented grapes and exceptional wine lies in the decisions made along the way. The location of the grapes, the soil where they grow... the way the vines are maintained and the fruit is harvested… the decisions around removing the skins… the type of wooden barrel where the juice will ferment — for Cinder Wines husband and wife founders Joe Schnerr and Melanie Krause, every decision matters.

This week we're flipping the camera around and focusing on the people who make Built in Boise possible. As a completely volunteer project, the willingness of professional writers and photographers to offer their time and expertise has been truly amazing.

Tanya Carnahan has always been worldly. The daughter of globetrotting missionaries, Tanya was born in Morocco and lived in dozens of countries by the time she was a teenager. Eventually, things settled down and Tanya started a family of her own in the outskirts of Seattle. Life was good. Then — inexplicably — her family, including her newborn son, started getting sick.

Levi Bettwieser is a rescuer. In 2012, the full-time video producer, part-time thrift shopper realized something. “I’d always walk by the [thrift store] camera section and notice a lot of the cameras still had film in them,” Levi said. “And since I could process film for free by myself, out of sheer curiosity, I started buying the cameras for $10 a piece, going home, opening them up in the dark to pull the film out.”

Kris Bloom has loved drag racing for as long as he can remember. “I’ve been involved in drag racing since before I was born,” Kris says. “My dad was drag racing from when he was a kid until I was born. He took me to the races when I was a kid. I grew up around it.” After learning how to code in the Air Force (more on that later), Kris decided to follow his passions.

August Johnson wanted to take a selfie before he — and most of the world — even knew what a selfie was. The full-time commercial real estate appraiser and some-time metal sculpturist welded a cellphone-sized metal box and used screws to attach suction cups. He then used those suction cups to attach his camera to a mirror, set the camera’s timer and take a selfie.