Stephanie Stiavetti had an IT job that she liked in Sacramento, managing a company’s servers, mobile devices and computers. Yet her real passion was cooking. She had attended culinary school, designed recipes, dabbled in freelance food writing and had even written a cookbook.

When Christy Hayes arrived in Woodland in 2004, the former U.S. Air Force heavy diesel mechanic was fresh out of active duty. She found a job as a hostess at an iconic downtown eatery, Morrison’s Upstairs. She worked her way up to bartender and then bar manager. But Hayes never expected she would one day see the building house her own restaurant.

We asked readers to submit their picks for the Capital Region’s top entrepreneurs —and you answered. Our editorial team vetted almost 100 nominations, looking for innovative business ideas, interesting backstories, unique products and services and that ineffable “it” factor. And here they are…

Lessons learned on the road of entrepreneurship.

Full of electrolytes, this drink supports light to strenuous activity levels, repleting and rehydrating the body without excess sugars and calories.

Not far from the historic district of Folsom, inside a quiet strip mall, a ballroom dance studio has set the stage for a timid 13-year-old to find her groove, retirees to reinvigorate their marriages, and a widower and a divorcee to find love. It’s also helped owner Kate Gonzalez prove to her parents that the arts can become a lucrative career.

With the deployment of Verizon’s 5G wireless network on the horizon in 2018, some say Sacramento has the potential to become a lightning rod for tech. Is there truth to the hype?

Outside, the new Cowo Campus is a not-so-obvious coworking space. It takes up the second floor of a bureaucratic-looking building also home to the DMV’s New Motor Vehicle Board. But inside, Cowo Campus resembles a trendy and modern workspace, with sleek offices and furniture, contemporary art and artisan coffee, among other amenities.

Origin Materials is part of a small but growing bioplastics market. Regulation, recycling and changing consumer behavior have proven ineffective in curbing the environment impacts of plastic. With plastic production projected to double over the next 20 years, Origins founders think the key solution lies in the bottles themselves.