We have an opportunity. In 2015, women held less than 24 percent of jobs in science, technology, engineering and math in the United States, despite making up more than 47 percent of our workforce, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

When Nicole Montna Van Vleck, president and CEO of Montna Farms, left the family farm to go to college and start her career, she didn’t think that she’d return.

Cindy Messer was sworn in as chief deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources the day after the Oroville Dam crisis began in February 2017, when damage to both the main and emergency spillways forced the evacuation of more than 180,000 residents.

The AARP has a family caregivers discussion Facebook group with just 2,100 members, though a highly active feed. Most of the posts are written by women, though men find advice and solace there also.

Erica Manuel has incorporated giving back in her position as executive director and CEO of Institute for Local Government, a statewide nonprofit that advises city and county governments in California how to succeed.

In May 2019, the Davis City Council approved the “Food and Economic Development (FED) in Davis” report that urges the city to rethink its relationship with food.

Melyssa Laughlin became CEO and president of Visit Vacaville in 2007, just as the Great Recession was about to hit.

If Preet Kuar, CEO and executive recruiter of Pacific Staffing and Pacific ExecSearch, had thought as a college student that one day she would love a job as the CEO of an executive recruitment company, she would have laughed.

Olivia Kasirye, public health officer of Sacramento County, is often called on to be a stable figure at the center of a crisis.

Lisa Shelley is the owner and pharmacist of Corner Drug Co., which has operated in Woodland since the 1890s.