Interesting People
Hospitality Man
Sacramento resident Timothy Sheehan works as a hospitality ambassador at the McDonald’s on Watt Avenue near Myrtle in North Highlands. He recently celebrated 25 years of employment.
Sheehan brightens the lives of customers on a daily basis. That’s a big part of his job.
“Timmy is a breath of fresh air,” says Faris Abdelshaid, McDonald’s director of operations. “He is always punctual and makes everyone around him feel better. He brings warmth, joy and smiles to every customer and fellow employee he meets.”
Brewed For Success
Onit Coffee’s motto is “Impacting lives one cup at a time.”
Founder and owner Shadi Khattab chose the phrase for his business—Sacramento’s first mobile gourmet coffee truck—as a homage to his partnerships with nonprofits and coffee’s integral role in his Middle Eastern upbringing.
“In my culture, we’re very big on quality tea and coffee,” says Khattab, who emigrated from Syria at age 5 with his family so his father could pursue medical studies. “Family and friends sit down together and bond over a cup of coffee. It’s a very big cultural thing for me, so I thought, why not bring aspects of my culture into the business I want to create?”
Getting Creative
Megan Van Voorhis loves how she can sit outside on her balcony in the middle of winter. The city’s new cultural services and creative economy manager moved to Downtown from Cleveland last September. The Northern California climate made a positive impression.
“I’m so used to the cold and the snow, I love that I now get this beautiful weather,” says Van Voorhis, who has spent more than a decade examining the role of arts and culture across multiple sectors. She served as president and CEO of Arts Cleveland, a nonprofit community partnership created to advance arts and culture in Cuyahoga County.
Rising Stock
Winter break this year was atypical for many students due to the pandemic. But Jesuit High School junior Kaden Bishop’s break was even more unusual. He spent it developing a stock investment training platform.
The 17-year-old Rocklin resident has always had a “business-oriented mind.” He once created a snack cart for office workers. He sold shoes and clothes. Now, he’s teaching fellow teens how to invest in the stock market.
Staying Power
“A quarter of a century. Makes a girl think.” –Marilyn Monroe as Sugar in “Some Like It Hot.”
Beth Hassett has been thinking a lot lately. The chief executive of WEAVE is celebrating her 25th year at the nonprofit that provides crisis intervention for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking in Sacramento County.
Unwanted Test
For Sacramento students applying to college this fall, the future is shrouded in uncertainty. Hailey Kopp, a senior at St. Francis Catholic High School, says, “Things aren’t going as planned, so it has been difficult to adapt.”
Local high school seniors have received countless lessons in adaptability as they tackle the complex process of deciding where and when to begin their college careers amid COVID-19.
