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Gerard Nebesky makes paella, and makes a pretty good living doing it. Standing outside of Renga Arts in Occidental, California, Gerard seems incredibly intimidating (he is not), for no other reason than he looks like the coolest guy on the planet, which matches well with the life he has lived. At 18, Gerard flew to…
KIVA.org is a company that needs little introduction. A micro-financing operation based out of a humble San Francisco office, KIVA.org has grown in a single year from a four-person company with little investment a year ago, to a company with more money than it knows what to do with today. This is a problem, but…
, the Passion Catalyst, sees passion as a necessity in business and in life. “There is this notion in business,” he says, “that passion is in some way frivolous, and that work is supposed to be miserable. I would argue that passion is not frivolous, but rather is one of the best investments we…
This interview takes place in a loud restaurant on a Monday night. All of us have a few beers we’re attending to. Noah leads the interview, for the most part. Interview: How To Become an Executive Chef Noah: Would you mind giving us an introduction and telling us who you work for? My name is…
Interview: How To Become a Biotech Research Associate (non-PHD) What exactly do you guys do here? What’s the name of the company? It’s called Stratatech Corporation. We make skin. We grow skin. Well, yeah. We basically make skin in a lab and we’re doing a human clinical trial right now on burn victims. Is it…
Kathy Cima works in a plain office, wears plain clothes, talks quietly and plainly. But her job is anything but plain. She is a public defender in Minneapolis. Before this, she worked ten years as a civil lawyer. She enjoys arguing about stuff that actually matters now… not when and where you are allowed to…
Interview: How To Become a Science Consultant My name is Kathy Muirhead. I am one of a two person company called SciGroS. It has nothing to do with fertilizer. The idea is actually around science and growth. Science based growth. What we do is we work with little companies. Anything from the gleam in the…
hasn’t made it; at least, that’s what he’ll say. The owner of Santa Rosa, California’s Ausiello’s 5th Street Grill warns, “once you sit on your laurels and think you’ve made it, you’re done.” Arman, whose vitality makes his age a complete mystery, has owned successful bars for over 25 years; anyone looking into…
Chris Wooddell was living off the land in Alaska at 22 and then became interested in science after having that one person, in this case a plant taxonomist, really inspire her to go in a certain direction. Now she’s got a PhD and is a medical researcher doing some highly advanced stuff with muscular dystrophy.…
Bill Gallagher likes to build things, and build things he has. His company, Oakmont Senior Living, is one of the largest developers in all of Sonoma County in northern California. The father of five is casual in tone, humble in contrast to what might be expected from a man so successful. At this point in…
Michael Hynson, the featured surfer in the legendary movie The Endless Summer, as well as one of the finest surfboard shapers in the world, offers a warning to those pursuing their passion: “Fame and fortune do not go hand in hand.” Michael Hynson’s Endless Summer movie has been commercialized since its original screening in 1966.…
Interview: How To Become a Boxing Trainer My name is Bill Kaehn. I’m from Minneapolis. Moved around the country quite a bit. I was very fortunate, if you want to call it fortunate, but I was born into the fight game. My father was a professional boxer and a boxing trainer. So I kind of…
My great grandfather was a fish peddler during the Great Depression when he moved his wife, three daughters, and his son from Massachusetts to Oakland, California to start a new life. Had I not met Leslie Lawson for an interview in the Nike employee store parking lot in Beaverton, Oregon, this jewel of a family…
Doug Irving, freelance producer, director and cinematographer extraordinaire, has been working in the world of video for the last decade. What advice has he gleaned from ten years? “Live life and enjoy it,” Doug says, “But always be ready for the next chapter.” And Doug knows something about turning a new chapter. After six years…
Jesse Gros became a life coach to help people avoid the frustrations that nearly crushed him. As a psychology major, Jesse says he felt “tortured” by the anxiety of what to do with his life, and the pressure of the paths so strictly ingrained in the world of academia. Much to his parents chagrin, his…
Wayne McVicker knew what he wanted to be an architect early in his life, even in the face of severe colorblindness. Yet when he finally realized his dream, at least partially as a runner for an architecture firm, he found himself disillusioned by the lack of technological openness in the workplace. As he embraced technology…
When Phil Rapoport found his way into commercial property management in the 1980’s, he brought many of the things he had learned in hotel management with him. At the time, this was considered quite revolutionary, if not a little nonsensical. His bosses were hesitant about a tenant feedback survey, much like the comment cards left…
We are in the RV, curbside at a suburb in Chicago. Jan Buckner Walker is a former lawyer who authors crossword puzzles. Interview: How To Become a Crossword Puzzle Writer My name is Jan Buckner Walker. At one point I was a lawyer, but I now create crossword puzzles for my company, Kids Across, Parents…
Jesus Delgado may be the hardest worker we have interviewed. His arms have small purple spots…a sign of stress, Jesus says. Jesus is the son of Cuban immigrants, and failed the first grade because he didn’t speak English. He worked hard all the way through WestPoint and Fortune 500 companies to become the CFO of…
I don’t know much about software and technology, but I do know that it has made Andrew Hyde’s offline world a bit more interesting, and it has the capability to make yours a lot more interesting too. Coming out of college Andrew expected a 9-5 job in software design working for, and hating, “the man.”…
We interviewed Lucky I Am on the Living Legends tour bus. Lucky wore a multi-colored basketball jersey. Interview: How To Become a Rapper What do you like to be called? I’m an MC. And a public speaker. I’m not a rapper. Fuck a rapper. I’m not an underground rapper. I’m an indie music maker. I…
Kevin Hinton’s voice sounds like it should be coming over National Public Radio, which makes it all the more surprising when you see his trim, tattoo-covered frame. A father of two who surfs every morning and trains for triathlons, nothing about Kevin, owner of Old Glory Tattoo in Venice Beach, California, quite lines up…
Peter Dyson owns a recording studio, but he does not call himself a professional musician or a professional engineer. He instead surrounds himself with the most talented people possible, allowing him to produce music befitting the most established recording studio in San Diego, Studio West. Although Peter has been known to play the drums from…
At first glance, Cathy Anderson hardly appears capable of a furtive takeover of a company, yet that is precisely what she did. In 1997, upset with what she calls “ethical issues” in the San Diego chamber of commerce, Cathy moved the San Diego Film Commission, the organization she still heads, literally in the middle of…
