Nominate the Region’s Top Young Leaders

Each year, Comstock’s selects up-and-coming leaders throughout the Capital Region to feature in our Young Professionals issue. Nominate a Young Professional today!

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in Sacramento with ‘Father Paddy’

Patrick Redmond, owner of Father Paddy’s Public House, shares insights on Irish spirits as his Woodland pub readies for big celebration on March 17

Ahead of his annual bash, we caught up with the host of one of the Capital Region’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations — and the keeper of a vault holding 500 different whiskeys from across the world.

Women in Leadership 2025: Yvonne Pire

Our annual salute to the women who lead the Capital Region

“Between working in high-pressure work environments and raising kids, by the time I was 40 I was just physically, emotionally and mentally feeling like I was exhausted and falling apart,” Pire says. “At that point, I went through a life-changing timeframe.” That’s when she envisioned The Rising Zone, a Rocklin-based event and co-working wellness center.

Women in Leadership 2025 With Cassandra Jennings and Yvonne Pire

PODCAST EPISODE: How do you lead diverse teams with differing opinions? Where do you find the confidence to make big career moves? Are women leaders expected to be nicer than men? Comstock’s Women in Leadership honorees Cassandra Jennings and Yvonne Pire join us for a special episode recorded in the wine cellar at Mulvaney’s B+L in Midtown Sacramento.

Women in Leadership 2025: Ann Patterson

Our annual salute to the women who lead the Capital Region

Patterson returned to public policy in 2019 as the legal affairs secretary for Gov. Newsom, where she spent a good portion of her early work as counsel on the energy team, tackling the PG&E bankruptcy after the destructive North Bay and Camp fires. As cabinet secretary, Patterson advises the governor on policy and oversees all state agencies and departments within the administration.

Dilemma of the Month: Do I Need an MBA?

In a creative business endeavor which can help more: an MFA or MBA?

I’m a 27-year-old high school English teacher, but my long-term goal is to open a performing arts school. I’m torn between obtaining an MFA so that I may bring a strong creative background to my future students, and earning a business degree so that I may learn how to run the school. I worry the MBA will be too broad but that the MFA will be less valuable.

From Corporate Jobs to Brewery Owners

Proprietors of Big Stump Brewing Company juggle traditional careers with new venture

The phrase “typical day” is not one Larissa Meltz and Alex Larrabee have uttered recently and, as they get closer to their expected Labor Day weekend opening of Big Stump Brewing Company at 1716 L St. in Midtown Sacramento, their schedules will likely only get busier.

SacAnime and the Rise of the Pop-Culture Convention

Biannual Sacramento anime event takes place Sept. 2-4

While pop-culture conventions may be all the rage these days, that hasn’t always been the case.

Smart Cities Hinge on Open Data

A technologically-savvy city is no longer fodder for fantasy film; it’s an expectation. We live in a time where technology can and should make our urban environments more efficient in terms of energy consumption, transportation, land use, citizen participation and government processes.

Buzzwords: Hardball

To be uncompromising in your methods or dealings, especially in business of politics

So while the word — and the practice — might make you roll your eyes, playing hardball can be useful and even necessary when the stakes are high. But please, use sparingly both verbally and in action.

The Ice Man

Building up from the ashes

After plans for a massive upgrade to the historic Crystal Ice and Cold Storage building went up in smoke, Mike Heller and his team were forced back to the drawing board — here’s how they forged ahead.

Net Numbers

Two University of the Pacific professors are changing the game of water polo — at an Olympic level

New information put forth by two University of the Pacific staff is changing the way water polo is played, even at the highest levels of competition.

There’s Gotta Be a Better Way

West Sacramento embraces technology, innovating thinking

Innovation is understandably not something most people associate with government. More than most any place in society, government offices are thought of — accurately or not — as where innovation and cutting-edge thinking go to die. But it doesn’t have to be that way, nor is it that way everywhere.

Raised for Glory

Youth sports have become big business — but at what cost?

More youth are participating in competitive (tryout-based), travel teams that practice more often and play additional games, often year-round, as parents shell out thousands of dollars per child, per sport, per year. The stakes are high. Or so they seem, as college scholarships or professional careers beckon at the finish line.

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