Carol Manson is a singer who soars. Her clear, joyful voice and playful musicianship suggests she’s been singing jazz her whole life. The truth is, she almost never became a singer.

Growing up in Berkeley, Manson played violin and piano, and sang in her high school choir. But music fell by the wayside when she went to college, earned a master’s degree in social work, got married and began a career in state service. She spent years as a foster youth advocate and eventually received a governor’s appointment.

A health challenge in 2004 made her reconsider everything.

As far as Ingrid Tracy Peters is concerned, she’s always played violin.

“I started violin at age 3 because my mom saw a group class advertised, but I have no memory of this,” the Long Island native says. “It’s just something I’ve always done. It very quickly became who I was, even as a young child. Violin was core to my development.”

Calligraphy Girl East Sac resident makes handwriting an art By Jessica Laskey August 2021 You may have seen an ad in a recent Inside Sacramento that features a hammer made of words. The ad is a love letter from East Sac Hardware thanking the community...

Thomas Cannell is in the business of making beautiful, useful things.

A native of Newcastle, England, Cannell is the expert woodworker behind Block & Bowl, a new venture he launched with his wife Rosemarie in April to merge his passions for cooking and carpentry.

As a youngster, Cannell spent weekends building things in his grandfather’s backyard woodworking shop. He also loved to spend time in the kitchen and intended to become a chef upon graduating from high school. But his mother insisted he learn a trade.

Cannell set off on a two-year carpentry apprenticeship that turned into a five-year job as a cabinetmaker—in between some work in local kitchens.