Interesting People
Rarified Winner
Raquel Atawo is among the best tennis players in the world. She has made more than $2.2 million and built a comfortable life with her husband in Sacramento on the strength of her speed, reflexes and groundstrokes. She is tenacious and tough and plays with energy that does not betray her age, 36.
The Big 5-0
In one of his many teachings, Chinese philosopher Confucius wrote of aging, “At fifty, I knew the will of heaven.”
Evette Tsang, Grace Liu and Tian Li Wu thought a lot about this insight as the three friends—who all hail from different parts of mainland China and settled in Sacramento—approached their 50th birthdays.
Wander Woman Erin Elizabeth
Sacramento is changing. The evolution was driven by people who want to build a vibrant “creative class” that explores ideas, personal creativity and engagement in new and unique ways.
Erin Elizabeth personifies the new Sacramento—and our new creative class.
Elizabeth is not new to Sacramento. Her family has farmed in Yolo County for six generations. She graduated from Arizona State with a journalism degree and has worked in public relations around the world, from Mexico City and Bogota to Bangkok and Casablanca. Elizabeth is home now, living in Winters and making a difference in Sacramento.
The Promise of Hope
Lucky for Marsha Spell, she likes “living on the edge.” That is why 10 years ago, she packed up everything she owned and drove from her former home in Southern California to Sacramento to take a job as executive director of Family Promise. The nonprofit organization helps homeless families achieve lasting independence through a 90-day mentoring program.
“Honestly, it’s a God thing,” says Spell, who now lives in Placerville but hails from Tennessee. “I think this is where I was supposed to be. It wasn’t planned. I just followed where I was led. I’ve always wanted to help people—I’m a try-to-fix-it person—and people always seem to call me. Maybe it’s the Southern accent.”
Yukon Gold
There is no easy way to train for a race that requires two or three days in a kayak paddling 444 miles though the pristine wilds of the Canadian Yukon. For practice, there’s a 100-mile paddle event on the Sacramento River from Redding to Chico. But that’s hardly the same.
So how does Marsha Arnold, a 63-year-old case management nurse at Sutter Medical Center, get ready for the most difficult physical challenge of her life?
Hearing The Muse
In the opening lines of the poem “Moments,” Wendy Grace Stevens writes:
How often have you heard
‘Live for the moment,’ or ‘Be here now?’
No matter the current idiom,
it’s a truth that merits attention.
Stevens seems to live by this sentiment. Amid two careers—first in banking, then 25 years working for the state Legislature, from which she retired in 2002—Stevens has lived for the moment through activities both artistic and outdoor.
