This year marks the 25th anniversary of Inside Sacramento. At a time when print publishing has been decimated, my husband Jim and I feel grateful to have survived and thrived.

Today, a new publication like Inside would be called a “micro” business. In 1996, we divided the tasks based on the experiences and success of our previous careers. My career was in interior design and project management. My strengths were writing, graphic design, sales, marketing and community involvement. Jim handled accounting, payroll, printing, delivery, invoicing and business details. He had been an executive for IBM and a small business manager.

What made Inside unique was our motivation. Neither of us had publishing experience.

Eulonda Lea never thought she’d play tag again at the age of 56, but here she is—and she’s loving it.

Lea volunteers as a court-appointed special advocate—or CASA—for the Sacramento County branch of the National CASA Association, which provides consistency and support for children in the foster care system through volunteer advocates. These advocates are community members—no law background required—trained by CASA and then appointed by a judge to advocate for a foster youth on a one-to-one basis.

Rich Desmond is ready to join the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors as the representative from District 3, which stretches from Sacramento State University to beyond Hazel Avenue.

Desmond is excited but knows the challenges. He says his father would have offered this advice: “Always remember who you are and what you represent.”

For the newly elected supervisor, those words mean doing the right thing and helping the less fortunate.

In 2006, my husband Jim and I embarked on a dream-of-a-lifetime project. My career prior to publishing was interior design, and I always wanted to design and build a home from scratch. Before the age of 30, I had already bought, rehabbed and sold four houses. When we moved to McKinley Park in 1989, we remodeled a lovely circa 1925 Tudor home over the course of 16 years.

While my wish to design and build was brewing, Jim made it clear he loved our home, our street and our neighborhood. He’d worked for IBM and was transferred every few years. Now he wanted to put down roots. And as luck would have it, we both were able to find satisfaction.

On Sept. 19, 2020, Barbara Crockett celebrated her 100th birthday—a tremendous milestone by any calculation. She also celebrated nearly a century in the dance world as a performer, teacher and founder of arts organizations that continue to offer top-level dance education and performance—in Sacramento and beyond.

“My mother has been one of the important strongholds of classical ballet in the country for over 70 years,” says Allyson Deane, Crockett’s daughter. Crockett, along with her husband Deane Crockett, Allyson Deane and Deane’s husband Don Schwennesen, co-founded the Sacramento Civic Ballet Company and Deane Dance Center—one of Sacramento’s premiere dance schools.

With more shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, and fewer options to interact with local food-service small businesses, it’s harder and harder to enjoy a simple trip to get a sandwich or grab a cup of coffee. Dining rooms are off limits and the weather is just a bit too cold most days to dine outside.

Therefore, it’s more important than ever to find those quick grab-and-go outposts that offer safe and convenient locations with delicious food and customer care.