Lakhwinder Kaur started out as a teller, and was quickly promoted to a personal banker. From there, it was a long, steady climb to her current role with Five Star Bank, where she oversees the Sacramento Valley market with an emphasis on community involvement and outreach.

Education architects are finding a way to demystify daunting disciplines through open, accessible building designs that allow students, staff and faculty to interact in a more collaborative way. 

Founded in 1914, Elliott Homes has successfully weathered the cyclical building market to emerge as an industry leader.

Sports organizations like the Sacramento Kings and Sacramento Republic FC are linking with nonprofits to launch community sports programs that empower youth with life skills and STEM education.

Mechanical Engineer Brand Dahl is driven by his passion for mentoring students in the “unlimited growth” of the manufacturing industry.

Sacramento’s largest architecture firm embraces employee wellness with collaboration spaces, indoor and outdoor gathering spaces and elevated workspaces known as “treehouses.”

Preservation projects are being embraced in the Capital Region in an effort to preserve history and protect the environment.

Estella Atekwana surmounted language barriers, family pressures and more on her journey to become a pioneer of biogeophysics and dean of UC Davis’s largest college.

The GNP Capital Partners owner shares what she’s learned about pivoting in business, juggling multiple leadership roles and uplifting the next generation of women entrepreneurs.

Stark and sterile health care buildings are falling by the wayside as architecture firms design for a more supportive patient experience. 

Hal “Tripp” Gibson, an umpire whose last minor league assignment was with AAA Pacific Coast League, worked his first National League Championship Series this year. 

Running a family business for multiple generations can be tricky, but several local companies have found a way.

Architects are teaming with local jurisdictions to include accessory dwelling units and tiny houses in the affordable housing conversation.

Giuliano Kornberg, who graduated from Stanford University with a master’s degree in music, science and technology in 2016, is the chief revenue and development officer of Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.

Melissa Granville, principal at Capitol Impact, has pointed all her professional efforts toward making a positive social impact in her community.

Placer County’s three largest cities are now each headed by a woman mayor: Krista Bernasconi in Roseville, Jill Gayaldo for Rocklin and Alyssa Silhi in Lincoln.

PODCAST: 2020 will go down in history as a time when women made remarkable advances on the political scene. 

2020 will go down in history as a time when women made remarkable advances on the political scene. 

Once considered a stark and cold aesthetic, today’s residential modern design employs variety and warmth. Here are some of the Capital Region’s modern homes and the architects who designed them.

Students are weighing all the options, including attending community college, learning online or postponing college altogether.

The NCAA voted on March 30 to allow schools to provide spring-sport student athletes with an additional season.

These six Capital Region higher-education projects, completed in the last decade, offer inspired and intentional learning spaces.

In 2009, CRC partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Sacramento chapter to participate in the Natural Talent Design Competition. Entrants were required to design a 36,000-square-foot building known as the Winn Center.

As college seniors finished their classes online, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic complicated their job prospects.

In the COVID-19 pandemic, business as usual has been upended and employers and employees are facing uncharted territory. Comstock’s spoke with Roseville-based employment law attorney Drew Lewis about what job protection and wage replacement programs are available in the Capital Region.

PODCAST: Jennifer Siebel Newsom is passionate about several issues, but perhaps none more than the gender wage gap.

Fifty-seven years after the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy, women still earn substantially less than men. Legislation in California is attempting to level the playing field.

PODCAST: Fifty-seven years after the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy, women still earn substantially less than men. Legislation in California is attempting to level the playing field.

A decade ago, extended foster care, or EFC, did not exist in California. When foster youth turned 18, they aged out of the system and often transitioned to adulthood with a bag of their belongings, a small amount of money, and a list of board and care facilities and shelters.

With tens of thousands of undergrads applying each year for limited spots, California’s college systems have approved admission criteria for assessing incoming freshmen. While the strength of a student’s academic record is one of its top considerations, the University of California system has established 14 factors — both academic and nonacademic — for undergraduate admissions.

Public art has always had a place in the designed environment, but art in landscape is becoming more common in the public sphere. Here we feature notable spaces in the Capital Region that celebrate beauty through landscape architecture and artistic design.

As part of our 2019 salute to women in leadership, we feature seven of the Capital Region’s most relevant and successful women leaders — here’s one of them.

As part of our 2019 salute to women in leadership, we feature seven of the Capital Region’s most relevant and successful women leaders — here’s one of them.

As part of our 2019 salute to women in leadership, we feature seven of the Capital Region’s most relevant and successful women leaders — here’s one of them.

As part of our 2019 salute to women in leadership, we feature seven of the Capital Region’s most relevant and successful women leaders — here’s one of them.

As part of our 2019 salute to women in leadership, we feature seven of the Capital Region’s most relevant and successful women leaders — here’s one of them.

UC Davis is a key asset in the Capital Region’s economic development. With the City of Davis’ slow-growth mindset thwarting developments designed to capture tech transfer, surrounding cities look to cash in. 

Karen Hernandez works with a number of families who struggle to afford a home. It’s part of her role as volunteer director for ReDirect Nuevo Camino, a Lincoln nonprofit that serves at-risk youth in Placer County. Many combine, forming households of seven or eight people sharing a modest two-bedroom apartment designed for four.

Suburban father Mike Polis makes an unlikely rancher, but he’s gained traction with his passion project, building a small family farm catering to a niche Capital Region market.

Green zones approved for commercial cannabis are limited, and demand for commercial space has driven up property values in Sacramento. Local businesses — both cannabis-related and otherwise — are feeling the pinch. 

Canna-Hub, a cannabis real-estate development firm, is planning its own massive cannabis complex in the city of Williams.

The Stanley Mosk Library and Courts building in downtown Sacramento was in dire need of a rehabilitative makeover to bring back its historic beauty.

Civic structures help define a community’s identity. We feature six projects from throughout the Capital Region that have employed unique delivery models and creative design solutions to produce structures worthy of their calling.

Hoping to capitalize on the revitalization of Sacramento’s downtown core, Nar Bustamante is moving his offices to the burgeoning design scene in East Sacramento off Elvas Avenue. Along with local talent already in place, these designers hope to help solidify Sacramento’s place as a new urban hotspot.

The transition to parenthood can be daunting, particularly for new parents and those juggling work and family life. But several Capital Region-based parents have launched creative businesses and groups that support the whole family — from emotional and physical well-being, to work/life balance.

Sacramento is coming into its own, and tying the built environment to the regional diversity — including an agricultural backdrop and focus on sustainability — is important to local designers and architects. 

A number of the Capital Region’s most prominent family-owned businesses — like the River Cats — have made social responsibility a core tenet of their companies, employing staff and consultants to help make their programs central to who they are and how they operate.

Getting into college is only half the challenge; paying for it is quite another. According to research conducted by two assistant professors of economics, in a paper titled “Accounting for the Rising in College Tuition,” the cost of college tuition more than doubled from 1987 to 2010, and outpaced inflation by 2-4 percent.

In 1986, the B Street Theatre opened as a simple touring theater for children. Since then, it has grown to be one of the West Coast’s premier children’s theaters, producing 19 shows per year and serving 300,000 people annually. But the two-theater playhouse had outgrown its original space and sought options.

Traditional museums and old-school performance centers — with silent hallways and auditoriums where photography is forbidden — are being rethought in favor of interactive educational spaces. The Capital Region boasts a number of vital, enriching educational institutions that intentionally link the arts and education communities to create welcoming spaces that are both inspiring and accessible.