Jessica Koslow

It was scheduled to be something special: A living 150-year-old olive tree in Spain would ceremonially open the first U.S. flagship of OLIVE TREE PEOPLE at 1335 Abbot Kinney Boulevard. As the crowd gathered on August 27 around 10:30 a.m., founder Thomas Lommel welcomed his guests to listen to the tree’s live frequency as olive leaves were sprinkled down from the roof. Waterless beauty is the fastest-growing sector in the beauty industry, and OLIVE TREE PEOPLE is the fastest-growing company in waterless beauty—and now the brand’s U.S. flagship has put down roots on “The Coolest Block in America.”

“Can you imagine what that is?” asked Lommel, as visitors walked through the doors and gazed at the architecture of the product shelves, which appear like cathedral arches.

“These are our trees,” he explained. “We didn’t want to bring in real trees, so we created these beautiful sculptures. When I’m in the forest, it feels like a cathedral. And what is important when it comes to trees? Soil. For that reason, we brought in 45,000 pounds of soil from Spain and L.A., which has been combined through ancient rammed-earth construction.” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

It depends on the month and how busy Samantha Dockser is, but between physical and audiobooks, she usually reads about eight a month. Growing up outside of Washington, D.C., her mom would take her and her brother to the Chevy Chase Library in Maryland, which was walking distance from her house, and they’d fill up a wagon with books. She eventually read her way to her dream job in 2024 at Logue Social, a social media marketing agency for authors, and together with the founder, Morgan Messing, launched Preoccupied LA to leverage Instagram to bring LA’s literary community together through in-person events.

“I’ve always loved reading,” Dockser said. “During college, I developed a real passion for content creation as a means of storytelling. I’ve been posting the books that I’ve been reading on social media since 2018. Finding a way to turn my love of reading into this creative career has been really fun.”

Born in Brentwood, Messing worked for Goop and ICM and was about to embark on a career at a publishing house doing marketing for books when realized there was a missing piece of the machine: Authors were being asked to market their books on social media in a way they had never done before. The landscape of publishing and marketing for books had shifted, and authors did not have the tools, skills or time to most effectively sell their books. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

Melanie Buttarazzi is a professional dancer. She loves movement and performing for the masses, but her most significant memories involve the time she spent working for outreach programs in in high school and university. In 2014, a few years after moving from Toronto to LA, she realized that local youth were lacking opportunities to take dance classes. She began building a program using dance as a vehicle for confidence-building and life-skill development for foster and at-risk youth.

“I just knew the power of dance, not only in my own life and in my peers’ lives, but I saw how these outreach programs were so helpful for at-risk youth,” she said. “They’re problem solving in class. I believe dancers are the best problem solvers. We know how to instantly figure something out. We’re always given different challenges and obstacles, just in choreography alone.”

After dancing and touring all her life, mostly with her father, flamenco guitarist Robert Michaels, Buttarazzi arrived in LA around 2010. She worked as a commercial dancer, performing in a JLo music video and a VMA performance with Pitbull. A few years in, she met a 20-year-old former foster youth, with whom she shared her idea about creating a dance program. He detailed his own life story and asked if she had considered serving foster youth. His last words were: “I know you don’t know me, and I don’t really know you, but you have to do this. These kids need a program like this.” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

It all started at Pasadena’s Flintridge Center, which aims to break the cycle of poverty and violence. Rewind: Maybe it all started when Edwin Hernandez realized that he was a father of four in need of support. In 2023, he graduated from Flintridge Center’s Institute/Vision 2020 leadership program, where he created his own 10-week curriculum for dads, in which they talked about a different topic each week, such as trauma, mental health and healthy relationships. While talking with a therapist at the center, he was strongly encouraged to start the program right there, right then.

“My therapist said, Edwin, this is amazing, we don’t hear about anything like this for dads. When you have something special in your hands, you should really push it,” said Hernandez. “He walked me to his boss’ office, and he scheduled me for 10 weeks for the classroom. He said, Edwin, we’re just going to push it out there. If nothing comes from it, then at least we could say you tried.”

When he first entered Flintridge’s leadership program, Hernandez had no idea what he would create. As he was sitting in class each week, he started thinking: “I am a dad, and I have gone through things with my kids, and it was difficult for me to find resources. There are a lot of dads that go through the same thing I’ve been going through.” . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

“I remember when I went to visit Camp Bob Waldorf and I saw this young camper — he was a first-time camper — and I said, what are you looking forward to?” said Lauren Kurzweil, Board President at Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles (JBBBSLA). “I’m thinking he’s going to say horseback riding or the high ropes or something truly unique that he’s not able to do at home, and he said, three meals a day. That just gives you some indication of how much even just five days means to them.”

The young camper’s answer is why Kurzweil does what she does full-time: Keep JBBBSLA operating year-round through its four main programs — camp, mentorship, teen programming and College Access + Success.

“Our foundation is built on the mentoring,” she explained. “We’re Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters, and that’s our core. The people who are involved in our program don’t have to be practicing necessarily, but both the Bigs and the Littles need to identify as Jewish.” . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jacob Adams, founder of Inner Spark Learning Lab, winner of the 2026 California Nonprofit of the Year award, was a rebel of sorts in elementary school.

“I knew I had to do my work. I knew I had to learn, but after I did my work, I would usually talk or play and get in trouble,” he revealed. “I feel like I’ve always had a contentious relationship with school.”

For Adams, education was never fun. He never got to ask the questions he really cared about. Instead of veering away from the field, Adams steered straight toward it. After college, he signed up for Teach for America and eventually created and launched his own nonprofit, Inner Spark Learning Lab: Teaching Black and Brown students to design the world they want to live in. His model is based on three words: listen, learn, adapt. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Jill Weiss Ippolito’s love story is the stuff movies are made of. The film synopsis would read: She was a kid in juvenile hall. Not once, but three times she fell from a second-story building. At 18, she broke her third lumbar and wore a back brace for a year. At age 29, she had to have her left arm rebuilt in metal and began practicing yoga to heal. Nick was a student in her class, where he developed a crush and a strong practice. They fell in love, married and founded the South Pasadena-based nonprofit, UpRising Yoga, which offers yoga life skills training to incarcerated youth.

So, about two months ago, when an invite to participate in 2026 America’s Favorite Couple (AFC) contest popped up as she was scrolling in the wee hours of the night, Ippolito thought, why not? She would love to share her story with Variety magazine, win $20,000 to help fund UpRising Yoga and have a dinner date with AFC Ambassadors Jeff and Emilie Goldblum. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.