There’s something special about female friendships. For me, my two friends are the sisters I never had. They knew me as a shy little girl, an awkward teenager, a young adult with career dreams, a new Mom and middle-aged woman. My parents and brother have passed, yet Brenda and Sue remain, sharing with each other all the details of our lives.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are buzzwords that swim all around us. But how we define and put these principles into action comes from somewhere deep inside. For me, it’s my parents’ legacy that inspires me to enact policies that empower constituents, like scheduling town halls in every district in West Sacramento. 

Helping students is in Cardoza’s bones. She calls her philosophy “Students first,” and this informs everything she does at ARC, which serves over 30,000 students, making it the sixth largest public two-year college in the nation.

I work for a small company, and I’ve been here for three months. I get horrid PMS symptoms and would like to take PTO one day a month so as not to have to go into the office when I’m at my worst. If you were a manager, how would you feel about a new employee requesting this kind of PTO request? Should I have asked before I started? Should I wait till I have more tenure?

“When I’m in Sacramento,” she says, “people stop me on the street wondering about the impact something will have on their lives. I respond to every inquiry, but that doesn’t mean I’m able to go down every rabbit hole.” She smiles. “I always stand firm on what my constituents want. They first put me here and have put me back here every two years.”

Considering the financial investment and the impact of our home environment on our personal well-being, it’s important to get it right. Comstock’s consulted several prominent interior designers in the Capital Region to get their take on current trends, as well as how they create a home that feels both timeless and fresh.

Teneral Cellars winery in Plymouth is an award-winning, women-owned and self-proclaimed disrupter in the industry. It’s also an oasis in the Shenandoah Valley that’s less than an hour’s drive from Sacramento, though reminiscent of a picturesque wine region in Italy.

Behind a nondescript door in downtown Davis exists a little-known but vitally important piece of infrastructure, the Hydrologic Engineering Center. A recent threat to this center’s existence appears to have passed.

In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Comstock’s followed four downtown Sacramento businesses and their broader sectors for a six-part series. On the fifth anniversary of the shutdowns, we checked in to see how they are faring.

Charcuterie boards gained national attention from the business crowd in 2022, when Aaron Menitoff and Rachel Solomon Fascitelli, co-founders and co-CEOs of the online cheese and charcuterie gifting business Boarderie, appeared on “Shark Tank,” eventually walking away with a deal from Lori Greiner and generating $70 million in revenue.