Sacramento has not been kind to Thomas Ramey, though he loves the city and hopes it will someday let him succeed. A Southern California transplant, he’s accustomed to clients who value his contemporary metal sculptures, modern architectural design elements and hand-fabricated furniture.

In today’s on-demand marketplace of real-time information delivered to mobile devices at lightening speeds, smart design is crucial for business success. And as the creative half of marketing firm Position Interactive, Phil Tretheway, 34, knows that without strategic and compelling design, consumers will pass his clients by.

Within three and a half years, 26-year-old Katrina Stumbos has transitioned from college graduate to business owner.

In her newly minted office on Fair Oaks Boulevard, Stumbos invites clients to brainstorm their dream spaces inside her treasure trove of fabrics, woods, wallpapers and tiles.

It’s been an extraordinary couple of years for Richard Hallmarq, the 41-year-old Sacramento native who last year made his fashion debut on national television and is now gearing up for New York Fashion Week from his design studio inside the Sacramento Art Complex on K Street.

Mikhail Chernyavsky, host of the video series “Emerge” for Comstock’s magazine, sits down with the owner of Capital Ink Tattoo, Irish Cash, to learn about what it takes to start a business as a young entrepreneur.

For Jacob Cotter, working at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is a family affair. While he works to maintain the safety and soundness of Roar, the towering wooden roller coaster, his wife spends her days as an animal trainer, with two feet planted solidly on the ground. Cotter, 27, is part of a four-man team of carpenters dedicated to maintaining the 13-year-old coaster, which is made up of more than 3,200 feet of track and includes an 85-foot drop. There’s no schooling for wooden coaster repair, so his training came almost entirely on the job. Perks include free park admission and all the rides you can handle (as seen in the October 2012 issue of Comstock’s magazine). — Christine Calvin

“Something isn’t quite right with Tim Collom. On the outside, Collom is doing far better than most of us. In the past year, he has been featured on KCRA-TV and HGTV speaking about real estate and in the pages of The Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Magazine showcasing his paintings. 

The arts may be underfunded in the Capital Region, but creativity abounds. Among Sacramento’s prime talents, a number of product designers stand out for their vision, craft and ingenuity.