Joan Cusick

Back Photographer

Joan Cusick is an experienced journalist who started her career as a reporter and editor for The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis. From the newsroom, she moved into the corporate world, serving as a communications director for Maybelline, FedEx and Charles Schwab.

In 2013, Joan quit her “day job” to pursue her lifelong passion for photography. Since then, she has completed several long-term documentary projects, photographed dozens of weddings and events, and freelanced for Comstock’s, Edible Sacramento and Outword magazines. Joan is drawn to stories about people — especially that span generations — and captures them in both words and pictures. She is based in Sacramento. To view more of Joan’s work, visit www.joancusick.com.

Photo by Brian B. Fox

Photo by Brian B. Fox

By this person

Sutter Health’s PACE Services Help Seniors Age In Place

When Clint Allison’s father had a stroke in 2010, he stepped in to provide the round-the-clock care his father, Bob, required. But not long into his father’s recovery, Allison realized he couldn’t do it alone, even with the help of his wife and children.

Mar 25, 2019 Jessica Laskey

Boom on Broadway

Infill development helps usher in the next generation of eateries on Broadway’s west end

Until recently, Tower Cafe in Sacramento was one of the only food options west of 16th Street on Broadway, with some of the most well-known establishments east of the intersection, including Willie’s Hamburgers, Los Jarritos and Pancake Circus. The west end of Broadway heading toward Sacramento River, while not completely devoid of restaurants, was largely an industrial hub.

Jan 7, 2019 Graham Womack

Acting Out

Grant funding allows local youth the opportunity to experience free community theater  

Community theater, often known for supporting and encouraging aspiring young artists, has a new home in the greater Sacramento area. Thanks to a new Youth Theatre For All program, launched by the Natomas Arts and Education Foundation, more than 50 children ages 10-18 were afforded the opportunity to participate in a production of “Bye Bye Birdie” for free for three performances in July.

Nov 26, 2018 Christina Kiefer

We Also Served

Unsung Heroes is a nonprofit that collects, preserves and exhibits the stories of African Americans who served in the U.S. military. Veterans of African descent and their family members share oral histories, along with artifacts from their own experiences in time of war.

Sep 17, 2018 Lillie Apostolos

Driving Force

Entrepreneur behind Kitchen428 Restaurant and Mojo’s Lounge has been key to re-energizing downtown Woodland

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.

Jul 16, 2018 Samantha Young

SACOG Regional Futures Forum

Sacramento Area Council of Governments held the Futures Forum event at the Milagro Center in Carmichael on April 30. The event included a keynote address from Amy Liu, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings Institute. Regional city officials and community members gathered to hear the Brookings report on the Sacramento region’s economy.

May 9, 2018 Joan Cusick

Capital Region Schools Get Their Own Farmers Markets

In San Joaquin County, elementary and middle school students are running farmers markets at 10 after-school sites. In Yolo County, the Yolo Food Bank runs each market held at local schools, but hundreds of students get to shop weekly for fresh produce. And in Sacramento County, a hybrid approach currently serves five schools.

May 3, 2018 Joan Cusick

FBI Academy Schools Local Students

When an FBI agent asks a roomful of high school juniors, “How many of you watch FBI shows on TV?” nearly every hand goes up. But at the recent Sacramento FBI Teen Academy, held in March, these 41 students soon learn fact — not fiction — about how the bureau works.

Apr 5, 2018 Joan Cusick

Journey to Citizenship

After years of waiting, Khaleel Yasir and his wife, Zuhal Al Ameen, became naturalized U.S. citizens on Feb. 22 at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. During the monthly naturalization ceremony, 1,060 residents from 81 countries took the oath of citizenship. Yasir resettled his family to Sacramento in 2012 after nine years of service as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Iraq. 

Mar 14, 2018 Joan Cusick

Let’s Talk About the B Street Theatre

Artistic producer Dave Pierini and executive producer Jerry Montoya talk about the company’s history and future as it prepares to move to The Sofia

In mid-December, actor and artistic producer Dave Pierini and executive producer Jerry Montoya sat on an empty stage at the original B Street location to talk about their long history with the professional theater company and their vision for the future. Here is an excerpt from their conversation.

Jan 5, 2018 Joan Cusick

In the Kitchen with Sangre del Dragon

The Sangre del Dragon project started in August 2016 when Sac High seniors Leo Lopez, Angel Roque, Benny Perez and Jordan Salvador were given an assignment to create a business plan for hot sauce.

Nov 29, 2017 Joan Cusick

A Good Vintage

In the Capital Region, wine is truly a family affair

In the wine industry, families must often handle the unique dynamics of their arrangement while running several operations at once — growing grapes, producing wine, and marketing and selling the final product. It’s not always easy. But these four wine-industry families wouldn’t have it any other way.

Oct 24, 2017 Jennifer Newman

Why Do You Want This Job?

Whitney High School seniors learn how to interview

At the beginning of the fall semester, about 450 seniors at Whitney High School in Rocklin participated in mock interviews to learn the valuable skills needed to enter the workforce. They learned how to prepare a resume and cover letter, participated in an interview class and completed a 20-minute mock interview.

Oct 13, 2017 Joan Cusick

Arts Are Good For Our Soul — And Our Economy

Can Sacramento continue to invest in the arts when public budgets remain tight and the economy continues to underperform? Wrong question. Rather, we need to ask ourselves whether we can afford not to invest in the arts. We need to change the debate away from a competition for dollars and toward building an understanding of the many avenues by which a vibrant arts scene complements and promotes robust economic growth in our region.

Aug 7, 2017 Christopher Weare

Catching a Wave

FourthWave Cofounder Cheryl Beninga on Sacramento as an emerging tech hub

FourthWave, a nonprofit accelerator program for women-led tech companies, expanded from its Los Angeles pilot to Sacramento in March and is already working with its first seven entrepreneurs. We sat down with Cheryl Beninga, who is the managing director of Beninga Advisors and who cofounded FourthWave Sacramento with Tracy Saville, CEO of Sofia Al., to talk about women in technology and the regional tech scene.

Jun 8, 2017 Joan Cusick

Plenty of Fish in the Creek

Spawning Chinook salmon have returned to Deer Creek for the first time in nearly a decade

In order for spawning Chinook salmon to return to Deer Creek this autumn, they first had to swim against the stream from the San Joaquin River to the Mokelumne River, east of Rio Vista. Then, the determined fish had to make their way up to where the Mokelumne meets the Cosumnes River, and finally, migrate several miles more to get to the shady shores of Deer Creek.

Jun 7, 2017 Robin Epley

Gettin’ Figgy With It

The peculiar world of fig traders and their trees

California fig farmers, who grow nearly all the figs produced in the U.S., harvested about 30,000 tons of fruit worth $22 million in 2015, according to the latest crop report from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. But of all those figs, there were just a handful of genetically distinct varieties. Meanwhile, almost uncountable heirloom varieties have fallen to the wayside or even disappeared.

May 30, 2017 Alastair Bland

A Sisterhood of Beer

Sacramento’s chapter of Pink Boots Society aims to give women in the brewing industry a place to call their own

Historically, the beer game has been just for men: Commercials for big brands have often shown guys clinking bottles together around a grill, or fly fishing while someone pulls a cold can out of the ice chest. The message was clear: Beer is manly, and you are made masculine by drinking it.

But, more recently, we are seeing females incorporated into this picture.

May 8, 2017 Robin Epley

New Publishers Relaunch Edible Sacramento Magazine

Edible Sacramento is back in print with a March/April edition that might be headlined “Under New Ownership.” The bimonthly food magazine is now owned and published by Reno residents Amanda Burden and Jaci Goodman.

Mar 27, 2017 Joan Cusick