On March 17 at SXSW festival, Sacramento-based musician Christian Gates, known by his stage name The Philharmonik, spit the freestyle of his life in front of hip-hop icon Sway Calloway.

Virginia Varela, Golden Pacific Bank president and CEO, offers her insight into the region’s community banks.

Joe Devlin, Sacramento’s first chief of cannabis policy and enforcement chats about what can be expected in the near future for legal cannabis in Sacramento.

Michael Reitzell, president of the California Ski Industry Association, offers his insight into environmental stewardship by the region’s ski resorts.

Wendy Saunders, executive director of the Capitol Area Development Authority, offers her insight into residential real estate in Sacramento.

It’s a familiar sentiment expressed by a local donor: The charity she supports is asking for money with increasing frequency. Yet nothing changes for the better, and now duplicate groups are popping up, all of them requesting funds to address the same problem. To her, the requests seem endless.

Still not sure a membership is a smart investment? Here are a few great reasons why joining a chamber of commerce can help you invest in your business.

Dr. Travis Miller, medical director of The Allergy Station in Roseville, offers his insight into regional allergies.

The Sacramento artist who has embraced her nickname as the “Godmother of Contemporary Art” likes to roll around town on her skateboard.

Raised in Oak Park and a Sacramento State graduate, Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn brings a lifetime of local experience to the job. Rich Ehisen sat down with Hahn last January — exactly two months prior to the officer shooting of Stephon Clark — to discuss Hahn’s priorities for our April issue, which went to press just days after details of the shooting began to surface. We have updated the Q&A with a follow-up interview that took place in early April.

Kerrie Kelly, owner of Kerrie Kelly Design Lab, offers her insight into the growing East Sacramento design district.

Dr. Hakan Ozcelik Professor, a professor of management in the College of Business Administration at Sacramento State, offers his insight into management theory.

As a self-diagnosed introvert and generally busy person, I find the internet and my accompanying devices to be true friends. I like the solitude of working during the witching hour, and the comfort of firing off late-night emails when a thought comes to me without having to wait until the window of office hours opens.

Compromise brought contemporary artist Lin Fei Fei from China to Sacramento two and a half years ago. She and her husband “met halfway” while trying to decide on where to settle and call home, figuring that California split the distance between her husband’s hometown of Detroit and hers of Da Lian, China.

The #MeToo and #WeSaidEnough movements remind us that women’s voices, values and ideas must be heard and heeded — not only to take aim at a culture of harassment, but to empower future generations of women to achieve and succeed.

Sacramento can still be the place Ali Youssefi dreamed it could be. 

When Marybel Batjer left her C-suite position with Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas to run California’s newly-created Department of Government Operations in 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown tasked her with a big mandate: Make the Golden State’s government more efficient. Five years later and recently named one of Governing magazine’s 2017 Public Officials of the Year, Batjer sat down with us to discuss what she’s done to make that a reality.

Kelly Gillett, vice president of the Women in Leadership club at UC Davis, and board member of WEAVE’s retail advisory board, offers her insight into attracting more women into leadership roles in both the business and nonprofit world.

Kristina Thompson, chief deputy of the Sacramento Probation Department, offers her insight into the changes in her department. 

Donna DeMartino, CEO of the San Joaquin Regional Transit, offers her insight into the regional transit industry.