Perhaps it helped that her older daughter Stefani’s passions, especially for performance, were rather clear.

“I knew what she was going to be,” said Germanotta, whose daughter is known to most as Lady Gaga.

Orange County United Way brought together mothers of an entrepreneur, an Olympian and, yes, one of the biggest music stars in the world for a discussion about the roles mothers and mentors play. They were interviewed by author and dynamic speaker Scharrell Jackson.

Germanotta was joined by poet Heshmat Behzadi, whose daughter Shirin Behzadi is a business leader and philanthropist, and Stanford Health Care senior vice president Helen Wilmot, whose daughter Tierna Davidson was part of the U.S. Olympic gold medal soccer team in 2024.

Behzadi discussed her decision to send her daughter to the U.S. from Iran as a child to give her opportunities to flourish in a safe environment and shared advice she’d give her younger self: “Don’t be shy,” she said. “Speak up.”

Wilmot talked about the challenges of raising an elite athlete while advancing in her career in the medical field — “I lived on Outlook,” she said — and said she’s been impressed by her daughter’s advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community.

Germanotta’s daughter, of course, is a strong advocate for many, and they co-founded the Born This Way Foundation. Among the foundation’s priorities is helping young people with their mental health challenges.

“A lot of that didn’t happen until she gained a voice, so to speak, and a platform,” Germanotta said.

Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley conducts the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Pacific Symphony Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley, center, acknowledges the audience before the start of his first concert with the symphony in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley conducts the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with George Li, left, at the piano in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Pacific Symphony Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley, center, is introduced before the start of his first concert with the symphony in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley conducts the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Tan Dun’s Jubilation in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Pacific Symphony Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley, left, applauds pianist George Li, right, after the performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Pacific Symphony Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley, top, listens to an encore performance by pianist George Li during a concert in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley addresses the audience before the start of his first concert with the Pacific Symphony in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Pacific Symphony Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley conducts the symphony in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Pacific Symphony Music Director Designate Alexander Shelley, left, is interviewed by KUSC’s Alan Chapman during a Preview Talk before his first concert with the symphony in Costa Mesa on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Shelley has been named Pacific Symphony’s third Music Director beginning in the 2026-27 season succeeding Carl S. Clair. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Before the night turned to Beethoven, some “Jubilation” was in order.

Alexander Shelley, the Pacific Symphony’s artistic and music director designate, opened his first public performance in Orange County on Thursday, May 1, with Tan Dun’s 1997 piece from his “Heaven Earth Mankind” because, as Shelley said, he felt jubilation about his new role. He also incorporated the Southern California Children’s Chorus in a nod to the future.

Shelley, who was announced in November as the successor to longtime conductor Carl St.Clair, enthusiastically embraced everything about his opening day — even some pickleball with symphony members.

And the audience in the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall matched the British maestro’s excitement and repeatedly rose to its feet as the performance moved to Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto,” “Every Tree Speaks” from Iranian composer Iman Habibi and, finally, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

Shelley is scheduled to conduct the Pacific Symphony on Friday and Saturday in the conclusion to his introduction to Orange County.

And with resort destinations, more than 40 miles of coastline and 3.2 million residents, the OC area seemed like an obvious choice to play host to some of the 2028 Olympics that nominally belong to a county to the north but realistically will be Southern California’s games.

That became official Tuesday when Lower Trestles was announced as the location for surfing and Honda Center was locked in for indoor volleyball.

That’s far less than Los Angeles County will hold and even fewer sports than Orange County had the most recent time the Summer Olympics came to the region. Yet it feels nearly right.

Only the addition of beach volleyball at Huntington Beach would’ve given the OC area the finishing touch on the presence it should have when the world turns its attention our way in a little more than three years. Instead, Alamitos Beach in Long Beach landed that event in a decision that clearly makes some sense, but also raises some questions.

Indoor volleyball at Honda Center, however, seemed like a no-brainer since the LA28 group secured the games, though the lack of a contract – one still hasn’t been signed, by the way – let a little doubt creep in recently. That doubt ended Tuesday.

A quick aside:

Three or so years ago, one of the greatest Olympians ever sat eating lunch, unnoticed by nearly everyone who walked by him at an outdoor dining area maybe 2 miles from the arena. Karch Kiraly, then the coach of the Anaheim-based U.S. women’s national team, blended in among the athletic-looking OC types out for a healthy bite, but I instantly recognized someone I’d covered at the end of his indoor career, through much of his domination on the beach and even when he’d spoken at an OC Varsity event as he coached St. Margaret’s High.

In July 2028, Kiraly won’t go unnoticed as the coach of the U.S. men’s national team in the competition at Honda Center, where he’ll have a chance to guide a second team to a gold medal – after winning three as a player.

The volleyball competition will be held in the middle of OCVibe, which some are hopeful will become an entertainment mecca for those who don’t necessarily want to wear mouse ears all day … though those visitors certainly will be welcome to part with their time and money, too.

For inland Orange County, it might be the best possible way to show off during the Olympics. The bar is rather low, by the way. In 1984, the handball competition at Cal State Fullerton was remembered more for the collapse of a railing in the stands – and injuries to four of the eight people who fell – than the winners (the former Yugoslavia for both the men’s and women’s competitions).

The county’s coastal area, however, had one guaranteed opportunity to grab the world’s attention, and a second seemed possible.

Once the surfing competition was down to Huntington Beach and Lower Trestles, one spot was locked up. And when Santa Monica no longer was in consideration for beach volleyball, Huntington Beach appeared to be a strong candidate for that sport.

After all, it regularly holds huge events with the US Open of Surfing and Association of Volleyball Professionals competitions.

When Huntington Beach was left without an event Tuesday, however, it was impossible to dismiss some recent city controversies and legal tussles with the state as a potential reason. Could concerns about potential politicization of events affect the way the city stacked up against the competition? Possibly.

More likely, however, it was a matter of the organizers’ long-discussed goal of creating event clusters of sorts to bring fans together in a few key areas around the LA28 footprint. Long Beach will be home to 11 sports, making for quite a cluster.

Of course, there could have been a mini-cluster for Huntington Beach if it had landed both beach volleyball and surfing, but the search for ultimate waves thwarted that notion.

OK, this is where we acknowledge that Lower Trestles isn’t technically in Orange County. It’s just across the county line from San Clemente – the city surfers go through to reach said waves – but definitely in San Diego County.

That’s nice, but we’re annexing Lower Trestles in this space for the sake of argument and pride – notice our persistent use of the term OC area – as well as the reality that it’s home to the OC-adjacent break county surfers cherish.

Games organizers made the right choice here, picking the best surfing conditions over the ability to sell a lot of tickets to spectators who will want to see San Clemente resident Caroline Marks defend her Olympic title and other international stars ride the local waves.

It’ll also make for better TV than smallish or occasionally nonexistent waves elsewhere. And TV – or some streaming version of it – is how most of the world will view the competition.

Sure, it’s a little odd that Orange County had handball (Fullerton), individual road cycling (Mission Viejo), modern pentathlon (Coto de Caza and Irvine) and wrestling (Anaheim) in 1984 when it had 1 million fewer people and only two sports now that it’s the sixth-largest county in the country.

But considering that neighboring counties such as Riverside and San Bernardino have been shut out so far – the equestrian competition was pulled recently from Temecula and will be held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia – and OC residents don’t have to go far for many events, this is an acceptable resolution.

It might even keep locals from fleeing out of fear of traffic in Orange County the way my in-laws did in 1984; they went to Hawaii rather than the Olympics. Those of us who couldn’t take an island vacation found the roads remarkably easy to navigate and events easy to reach.

Mainly, we’re looking forward to the Summer Olympics where Orange County’s world-class athletes will get their opportunity for gold close to, or maybe even right at, home.

On Sunday, the organization announced it has rebranded itself with a name that includes its mission: Illumination Health + Home.

CEO Pooja Bhalla unveiled the name and a new logo at the group’s 12th annual Chef’s Table event in front of a crowd of 390 at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa on a night that was capped off by a performance by the Beach Boys, including actor John Stamos.

Stamos and his wife Caitlin – joined by their son Billy – and Manu and Rika Shah were honored during the dinner for their contributions to the organization. Stamos, an Orange County native who attended Kennedy High in La Palma, joked that he’d always thought the Chef’s Table event would be a great time for a Beach Boys performance, but it took him being honored to make it happen.

As Bhalla discussed the move to Illumination Health + Home, she discussed the organization’s mission to “disrupt the cycle of homelessness” and to provide access to health care for those in need.

One of its key accomplishments in 2024 was the opening of the Children and Families Recuperative Care Center, a home in Santa Ana that provides homeless sick children and their families housing while the kids receive medical care.

Doncic, who was acquired Saturday from the Dallas Mavericks, was introduced Tuesday at the team’s practice facility in El Segundo, sparking comparisons to other game-changing players who arrived in the region via trade.

Here’s a chronological look at 15 trades that shook the local sports scene, starting with the first by the Lakers that led to a championship and ending with the Doncic deal:

Wilt Chamberlain to the Lakers, July 9, 1968: Chamberlain already had a title and four MVP awards when the Lakers landed him just before he turned 32, but he helped the Lakers reach the NBA Finals four times and win it all in 1972 – the season that included their record 33-game winning streak.

Nolan Ryan to the Angels, Dec. 10, 1971: Forget that GM Buzzie Bavasi later let him go with the insult that he could replace him with two 8-7 pitchers. For a time, the Angels had the most exciting pitcher in baseball, and he threw four of his record seven no-hitters and a modern-era record 383 strikeouts in a season for them.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers, June 16, 1975: Like Chamberlain, he had a title and multiple MVPs when the Lakers traded for him. But Abdul-Jabbar played 14 seasons with the Lakers, won another three MVPs, set the since-topped NBA scoring record and, once Magic Johnson was drafted, won five championships.

Eric Dickerson from the Rams, Oct. 31, 1987: Rams fans might rank this as the No. 2 worst moment in franchise history behind that temporary – OK, 21-season – relocation to St. Louis. Dickerson was one of the top players in the league and ran for nearly 7,000 yards in his first four seasons. The Rams got two running backs and six picks in return, but Dickerson had three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons for the Colts and ended up in the Hall of Fame.

Wayne Gretzky to the Kings, Aug. 9, 1988: Canadian fans despised this deal so much that government officials tried to stop it. Gretzky won a Hart Trophy in his first season, had 918 points in eight seasons and reached one Stanley Cup Final with the Kings. More important, he changed the region’s relationship with hockey forever. The Anaheim Ducks would not exist without this trade.

Teemu Selanne to the Ducks, Feb. 7, 1996: His arrival created one of the most lethal one-two punches in the region’s history with Paul Kariya. Selanne was traded to San Jose in 2001, but his relationship with the Ducks led to a reunion in 2005, a Stanley Cup in 2007 and his status as one of the most popular athletes ever in Orange County.

Kobe Bryant to the Lakers, July 11, 1996: Those who remember Bryant wasn’t drafted by the Lakers might argue that this was the most consequential trade in local sports history. After all, Bryant – acquired after the Charlotte Hornets picked him – was part of five championship teams in his 20 seasons with the Lakers, earned one MVP award and two NBA Finals MVPs and 18 All-Star selections in his Hall of Fame career.

Mike Piazza from the Dodgers, May 14, 1998: This was the Dodgers’ version of the Dickerson deal, though Piazza was even more popular locally. The future Hall of Famer was sent to the Florida Marlins in a trade that brought the Dodgers Gary Sheffield, but it angered a lot of fans that they didn’t reach a contract extension with the big-hitting catcher. He quickly went to the New York Mets, the team whose cap he wears on his plaque in Cooperstown.

Pau Gasol to the Lakers, Feb. 1, 2008: Bryant won his first three titles with Shaquille O’Neal, but once the big man was traded to Miami in 2004 it took some time for the Lakers to return to the top. The addition of Gasol from Memphis, however, immediately elevated them. They went to the NBA Finals three years in a row and won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.

Anthony Davis to the Lakers, July 6, 2019: When the Lakers got Davis from New Orleans, the results were immediate. The Lakers won their first title since 2010 with the combination of Davis’ presence in the middle and LeBron James.

Paul George to the Clippers, July 10, 2019: This seemed like it could be exactly what the Clippers needed to reach the top when combined with Kawhi Leonard’s signing. The Clippers, however, reached the conference finals only once in George’s time with the team.

Mookie Betts to Dodgers, Feb. 10, 2020: Some wonder if Red Sox fans hate this more than Dodger fans love it. Betts had won a title with Boston and was adored there. He’s at two World Series titles with the Dodgers so far and made it clear following their triumph over the Yankees that he’s not done.

Matthew Stafford to Rams, March 18, 2021: The Rams’ swap of quarterbacks with the Detroit Lions led immediately to their only Super Bowl title in Los Angeles, so some of their local fans consider this the ultimate trade. It’s hard to argue from a local NFL standpoint.

Kelsey Plum to Sparks, Feb. 1, 2025: This significant WNBA deal was instantly overshadowed by the Doncic trade, but the three-time All-Star should lift the Sparks from a forgettable 2024 season.

Luka Doncic to Lakers. Feb. 1, 2025: The shocking trade draws justified comparisons to some of the biggest in the region’s history. Doncic only turns 26 on Feb. 28 and already is a five-time All-NBA selection. Now he joins James and could long be the face of a franchise that thrives on superstar power.

Some people had significant influence because they received national – or even international – recognition for something they did, but many others operated outside the spotlight as they did fascinating, impactful things to help people in the county and beyond.

It’s always a challenge to put together the Register’s selections of the 125 most influential people in Orange County, and cutting our final list for 2024 was particularly tough because we had so many options. Many of them came from our reporters, photographers and editors who cover Orange County, but you, the readers, delivered more nominations than ever. We received 360 submissions from readers this year by our deadline, which is far more than we’ve gotten in previous years.

As always, there are people who didn’t make this list who have done a lot for Orange County and were on a previous list, but we do try to highlight some new people each year.

Here are the 125 most influential people in Orange County for 2024:

Nolan Almeida

With hardly any professional live theater experience, Almeida self-submitted his audition to play the title role — traditionally starring a woman – in a new production of the musical “Peter Pan.” He won the lead for a national tour, acting, singing and flying five to seven shows a week in big halls from coast to coast, including a two-week run at the Segerstrom Center of the Arts in Costa Mesa.

Jeff Alter

The son of the famous boardmaker Hobie Alter stepped in as the executive director of the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center, a place where many of his father’s early-era relics can be found.

Lawrence Armstrong

The chairman of Ware Malcomb, one of the county’s largest architectural firms, is an accomplished artist and author of the upcoming book “Layered Leadership: Drive Double-Digit Growth and Dominate Your Competition with Creative Strategies and Execution.” He also chairs the leadership council for Orange County United Way’s United to End Homelessness initiative.

Ava August

In 2024, while performing and spreading cheer regularly for CHOC patients as well as in and around Orange County, the 18-year-old Dana Hills High graduate and former “American Idol” and “The Voice” performer released two singles: “Goodbye” and “The End.” She now attends UCLA.

Christopher Bader

Bader is a sociology professor at Chapman University and co-founder of the school’s annual survey on American fears. This year, it’s 10th, the survey looked at long-term trends and found that more Americans are more afraid of more things than ever before. The American fears survey has created a database that’s been used in scholarly articles on everything from political polarization to the rise of conspiracy theories.

Shari Battle

The Bank of America executive is a force with county nonprofits in many ways, but one in particular makes a big difference. Each year, she and some colleagues pull together a handful of people in the county to determine what nonprofits will receive both financial help and leadership training from BofA. The 2024 Neighborhood Builders recipients: Orangewood Foundation and Veterans Legal Institute.

Ryan Bertoni

Bertoni’s work with the Matt Leinart Flag Football League showed its fruits with the success of Orange County high school girls flag football teams in the inaugural season of the CIF-Southern Section playoffs. He is president of the league.

Gabriella Blanchard

Blanchard, a vice president of producer recruiting for Marsh & McLennan Agency, is a board member for Orange County’s Human Options who willingly shares her story as a domestic violence survivor to help others. She found help from Human Options when she left an abusive marriage with twin 9-month-old sons and has become a strong advocate for the nonprofit.

Martha Blanding

Named a Disney legend this year, Blanding was the first Black Disney parks employee to receive the honor. She was Disneyland’s first full-time Black tour guide in the 1970s and retired as a senior manager of merchandise special events after a 50-year career at the park.

Anthony Brenneman

Brenneman leads the Orange County Sports Commission and is a key part of the discussions with LA28 and the International Olympic Committee to host some LA28 events in Orange County. The final decisions are expected by year-end.

Wendy Bucknum

Bucknum has been a driving force behind the Southern California sober living task force, pulling in the League of California Cities to take seriously the issues that Southern California is dealing with around addiction treatment.

Austin Butler

The Orange County native had a big 2024 with lead roles in the limited series “Masters of the Air” and the movie “The Bikeriders,” but he likely was seen by the most people in a memorable supporting turn. His Feyd-Rautha was a scene-stealer in “Dune: Part Two.”

Rod Carew

The Angels Hall of Famer became an American citizen in August in Santa Ana, in a ceremony attended by former teammates, friends and family. Carew, born in Panama, moved to New York as a teenager and later served as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve. And even as he’s lived in the United States for several decades he never formalized his citizenship. This year, at age 78, that changed for the Irvine resident.

Amanda Carr

Carr is the deputy director Orange County Public Works. Carr leads an agency that, among other things, oversees the management of storm drains throughout Orange County. In her role, she’s helping to negotiate the next iteration of a federal water pollution permit (known as an MS4) that will play a big role in keeping local surface waters – and the nearby ocean – clean.

Charita Carter

Carter, Disney’s first Black VP of Imagineering, led the design and construction of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which this year replaced the old Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland and Walt Disney World in Florida.

Kenneth Chang

After a distinguished career at UC Irvine, Chang made the move this summer to Hoag Hospital in Irvine to open and lead its new digestive health and cancer center. Within the next two years, thanks to a recent $1 billion investment, Hoag will greatly expand its Irvine medical center with six new buildings, including new centers for women’s health and surgical innovation and Chang’s institute for digestive health and cancer treatment.

Hannah Cho

Cho, representing Northwood High, was elected California Boys and Girls State Superintendent of Public Instruction at the conference. She was one of 12 high school students nationwide, she attended daily Library of Congress sessions and engaged in peer discussions and presentations. She serves as one of 10 high school students nationwide to be the youth face and voice for American Battlefield Trust.

Steven Choi

Choi, a former Republican Assemblymember from Irvine, flipped a seat in the California State Senate to the GOP for the first time since 1980, despite being significantly outspent by his opponent.

Carey Clawson

Clawson is the co-founder of the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking. As the name suggests, her group pushes against trafficking, which is often linked to prostitution. But in the past year, she’s moved to expand that effort to include a push against trafficking-related child labor, a practice that’s exploded in recent years, including in Southern California.

Crosby Colapinto

The surfing standout from San Clemente joined the ranks of the world’s best last year and was named the World Surf League “Rookie of the Year.” He finished 10th at the end of the competitive season.

Oliver Cortez Velasquez

Cortez Velasquez is an Anaheim artist who was honored by the city for his artwork that brings hope to others. Cortez Velasquez helped paint the new Little People’s Park mural in his neighborhood.

Owaiz Dadabhoy

Dadabhoy is president of the Islamic Center of Yorba Linda and the president of Uplift Charity, an organization dedicated to helping Muslim immigrants and refugees.

Sam Darnold

The former USC star from San Clemente and No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft has had a career resurgence in his first season with the Minnesota Vikings. When the Vikings lost their top draft pick to a preseason injury, Darnold, 27, took command of the offense and kept the Vikings in contention in one of the toughest divisions in the league.

Vedant Dayal and Ashima Sharma

As members of the 2024 Dragon Kim Foundation Fellowship, the reader-nominated Dayal and Sharma created a community service project called Heart-to-Art after experiencing cancer firsthand and noticing a lack of diverse therapeutic options for patients, who typically only had visual arts. They aimed to change this by introducing dance, music, theatre, and creative writing alongside visual arts to cancer patients through free summer camps.

Alissa Deming

Deming led the team responding to more than stranded sea lions and seals, while also examining beached whales, sea turtles and dolphins. She also takes the lead of research and analysis of the ocean environment, providing publications to fellow scientists and marine environmental custodians.

Ryder Dodd

Dodd made his Olympics debut in Paris at 18 years old and fresh out of JSerra High. He scored eight goals to help the U.S. men’s water polo team earn a bronze medal. Then, as a UCLA freshman, he broke the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation single-season record with 102 goals this season, including two in the national championship game to lead the Bruins past USC, 11-8, on Dec. 8.

Charlie Dunlop

In 2024, the biotech entrepreneur reshaped Orange County’s academic research landscape with a $50 million unrestricted gift to UC Irvine to name its school for biological sciences. The school has more than 4,000 undergraduates and 300 graduate students, making it one of the largest academic units at UCI. Dean Frank LaFerla said the unrestricted nature of the gift will allow researchers to take on high-risk, high-reward projects.

Athena Elling

At 11 years old, Elling became the youngest student to graduate from Irvine Valley College, breaking a record set by her brother. She graduated cum laude (which means she had a GPA of 3.50–3.74) with an associate’s degree in liberal arts.

Roy Englebrecht

The reader-nominated promoter stages the only pro fight series in Orange County, and he has given a number of young OC boxers and MMA fighters a chance to make their pro debuts. He also provided a platform at an October show to stage a Knockout Fentanyl Night, where all fans were instructed on how to assist a person who has a fentanyl attack.

Karlo Evaristo

From a micro-bakery that started as a cottage operation in San Juan Capistrano in 2019, Evaristo opened 61 Hundred Bread in Santa Ana. One part wholesale operation, one part bakery and patisserie, customers line up in the wee hours of the morning on weekends (only open Saturday and Sunday for now) to get their hands on his noted bakes, which include sourdough batards, croissants, baguettes and more. His bread is considered some of the best in Orange County, with customers like the Montage, Surf and Sand Hotel and Mayfield, to name a few, clamoring for more.

Andrew Fahmy

Fahmy serves as executive director of Orange County United Way’s United for Financial Security initiative. In 2024, he expanded the SparkPoint OC financial empowerment program by adding two new locations in South Orange County, bringing the number of financial empowerment centers under the program to nine. He also secured a $1.36 million, three-year grant from CalOptima to expand UpSkill OC’s healthcare workforce services, providing career coaching, tuition assistance, and job placement in healthcare careers across Orange County.

Will Ferrell

The actor and Orange County native teamed with his friend, Harper Steele, to create a moving buddy documentary about life in America for someone who is trans and how that’s affected when her friend is one of the most famous comedians in the world. “Will & Harper” should receive serious awards consideration.

Bill Foltz

As the CEO of OCVibe, Foltz is shepherding the development of an entertainment and residential district around Honda Center that is expected to create Orange County’s own L.A. Live-like destination. Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli are behind OCVibe, and Foltz was right there with them in September when they celebrated in a glitzy groundbreaking the start of construction on the $4 billion development that will add thousands of homes, dozens of restaurants, hotels, urban parks and change the way OC experiences music with four new performance venues (including Honda Center) that will showcase up-and-coming acts and the biggest of headliners.

Freddie Freeman

Freeman, an El Modena High graduate, hit a dramatic grand slam in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the World Series to lift the Dodgers. He hit three more home runs in the series, which the Dodgers won in five games, and was selected as the World Series MVP.

Frank Garcia

Garcia wrapped up hosting his We Give Thanks Thanksgiving event at Honda Center, where in recent years over 10,000 were being fed annually. Garcia started the tradition in the parking lot of his restaurant 39 years ago.

Kimberly Goll

The president and CEO of First 5 Orange County led the expansion of the HealthySteps model, which supports families with developmental screenings, behavioral health and well-child visits. With support from CalOptima Health, she increased the program to 15 clinics, reaching an additional 8,000 children. Additionally, she championed the use of Community Health Workers (CHWs) through Medi-Cal to support pregnant and postpartum families, including piloting a billing model for these services, enhancing the sustainability of CHW programs.

Brandon Golob

Golob has been voted professor of the year at the UCI School of Social Ecology four years in a row. Undergraduates and graduate students have chosen him. Golob teaches about criminology, democracy and the rule of law, challenging his students — among whom are mid-career law enforcement professionals — to think about those matters in practical terms. Golob also leads his courses with empathy, having his students agree upon ground rules for sensitive political conversations at the beginning of each term. And he breaks up serious conversations with lighthearted chats about music and pop culture.

Eric Goodman

The CEO of two companies was honored at Orange County’s National Philanthropy Day in November for his work with Mountain View Services, a health care supply company that serves more than 500 care facilities for developmentally disabled adults, children and seniors. Goodman is active on several nonprofit boards and is an energetic force in the county. “My mission in life is to help those in need,” he said at National Philanthropy Day.

Dwight Hanson

Hanson, a Marine veteran, founded the You Were Worth It Foundation. This summer he took nine Southern California veterans who served during World War II to the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy invasion. Just before his planned departure, the flight was canceled and he had to rearrange the entire trip again. Hanson, together with Marine and Army veteran Billy Hall, founded the organization and visits schools and community groups across Southern California to teach what military service means.

David Hemmerling

The Esperanza High baseball player suffered a life-changing shoulder injury last year, forcing him to give up his dream of playing high school and college baseball. With extra time on his hands, the 17-year-old decided to put his energy into something positive rather than feel sorry for himself. He founded “Food for the Famished,” a high school club that gleans fruit and vegetables from neighbors’ gardens and trees and donates them to local charities. So far he has collected almost 5,000 pounds.

Ryan Hickman

He founded Ryan’s Recycling when he was 7 years old. In the last several years, he’s been a finalist for Time’s Kid of the Year, a CNN Young Wonder and spoken to 23,000 kids at WE Day. The H&M clothing company highlighted him in its global role models campaign, he’s been in ads for Old Navy and Mack Trucks and he did a Got Milk commercial.

Mark Hilbert

Several years ago, Hilbert and his wife, Janet, made a $10 million gift to Chapman University to establish the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Old Towne Orange. This February, the museum completed a remodel, also financed by the Hilberts, which tripled its display space to accommodate 26 galleries. Since then, the average daily number of visitors to the museum has tripled, as well. Janet Hilbert died Dec. 7 at 83 years old.

Madelynn Hirneise

The CEO of Families Forward, which focuses on preventing and ending family homelessness, is a business-savvy leader who understands that investments are needed to address the housing crisis in Orange County. Hirneise, who grew up in Orange County and attended UC Irvine, counts a stint in the Peace Corps as something that gave her perspective that has been vital in her work.

Sato Hughes

Hughes helped popularize boardshorts, hand sewing custom trunks through the decades at the Katin Surf Shop in Huntington Beach, where she worked until she was 92. She died on Sept. 28 at 96 years old.

Nyjah Huston

The Laguna Beach resident earned a bronze medal in street skateboarding at the Paris Olympics. It was Huston’s second appearance in the Olympics but his first medal.

Max Jolliffe

In 2024, Jolliffe quietly became one of Orange County’s premier breakout athletes and one of America’s budding running stars. In October, the ultramarathoner won the prestigious Moab 240 — a 240-mile mountainous trail run through Moab National Park in Utah, smashing the course record. In April, he won the Leona Divide 100 along the Pacific Crest Trail in L.A. County. And, in January he won the Sean O’Brien 100k in Agoura Hills.

Sailor Jones

Jones, who is on the autism spectrum and was to be a freshman at Laguna Beach High, was told the district didn’t have the correct programming and was to be sent outside of the community for her school year. Hundreds in the community rallied and showed up at an emotional LBUSD board meeting. Two days later, the district reversed course and Jones and another student also on the spectrum started their freshman years at LBHS as Breakers.

Lauren Justice

Justice runs the new Enhancement Care Management Team program at the Mariposa Center in Orange. The center was chosen as one of California’s 34th Senate District’s Nonprofit of the Year for how it works with women, men and families with counseling and therapy programs that include, substance abuse counseling, domestic violence counseling and group sessions.

Sarah Khalil

The UC Irvine undergraduate was a key organizer of the Gaza solidarity encampment on campus and stepped up to become the spokesperson for her school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. She spoke for the group as it received a barrage of media attention last spring after police arrested 47 people on UCI’s campus after clearing the encampment. Khalil continued to organize free speech protests at UCI throughout the fall term.

Jawad Khan, Omar Sabha and Haifaa Younis

Khan, Sabha and Younis were part of a team of medical professionals who traveled to Gaza to save desperately injured people using makeshift equipment in dire conditions. Most of their patients were children, they said.

Ed Kim

Kim is an oncologist and the physician-in-chief at City of Hope Orange County. Kim is just one player in an international effort that has quietly made once unthinkable gains in the fight against cancer. In June, the Centers for Disease Control released data from the first 20 years of this century that show cancer to be 29% less lethal today than it was 1999. The gains touched every state and U.S. territory and every demographic group. In all, about 3 million Americans are alive today because of the improvements in cancer prevention and treatment.

Frank Kim

Kim recently retired following 29 years of working at the county, nine of which were spent as the county’s CEO. During his tenure, Kim shepherded the administration through a global pandemic, a homelessness crisis and major construction.

Steve Kim

Reader-nominated Kim led Project Kinship, a nonprofit focused on reclaiming the lives of those impacted by gangs, incarceration, and violence, into its 10th anniversary in April 2024. In June, Kim’s organization was recognized as the 68th Assembly District Nonprofit Of The Year.

Joey King

King, a teacher at Hope School in Anaheim Union High School District, was honored as one of the top teachers in the county this year. He teaches special education students and hopes to instill skills in them to be leaders and help others.

Karch Kiraly

He led the U.S. women’s volleyball team to a silver medal in the Paris Olympics and then was selected to coach the men’s team in October. Kiraly, who first competed in the Olympics in 1984 in Los Angeles, is on track to return to L.A. as the men’s coach in 2028.

Tom Koutroulis

The director of Orange County Waste & Recycling in 2024 pushed for a new way to measure the amount of methane that comes out of landfills, a system that could be adopted for use in more than 1,700 sites around the country. Methane is a key part of global warming and new research suggests landfills belch out a lot more of it than previously believed.

Mike Learakos

The director of Abound Food Care, a nonprofit that collects charitable food from restaurants, groceries and farms, among others, is helping to spearhead a relaunch of the OC Hunger Alliance. Among other things, the new version of the OC Hunger Alliance is using business-oriented software, political lobbying and new organizational strategies to dramatically reduce hunger in Orange County. The idea, which is backed by the county and financed, in part, by the Samueli Foundation, also hopes to use food charities into a tool to help deliver a wide variety of social services, including drug counseling, health care and financial literacy.

Amber Lin

Lin, a junior at Tarbut V’Torah in Irvine, is only 16. Yet, she’s already performed piano at Carnegie Hall four times. She’s won national literary awards for her poetry. And she’s conducted university-level lab research on Alzheimer’s disease. She’s also made an impact in Orange County, playing piano at senior homes and founding a club committed to helping seniors learn healthy habits to slow the effects of aging. On campus, Lin helms TVT’s literary club and started the school’s first writing contest. Rabbi Stuart Light says Lin has elevated the school’s academic and community service profiles.

Jay “Sparky” Longley

Longley is a philanthropist who created Rainbow Sandals, a San Clemente-based business that started in 1974 with a goal to make a sandal that lasts. He does more than make sandals, and gives back to many nonprofits throughout the region

Erik Ludwig

The reader-nominated Ludwig guided the Orange County Jewish community through one of its most challenging periods in recent history. Under his stewardship, the Jewish Federation of Orange County strengthened its commitment to resilience and solidarity, fostering impactful relationships with civic and faith leaders across the county.

Caroline Marks

Marks, who calls San Clemente home, won the Olympic gold medal in surfing in Tahiti. Marks, who earned her first World Championship last year, also made it to the World Surf League finals at Lower Trestles, coming in second in the world.

Mark Marten

Marten, a former board member for the nonprofit MOMS Orange County, had pushed for the organization some 25 years ago to start hosting classes that could help new fathers navigate parenthood. The “Strong Fathers, Strong Families” are now a staple of the organization that helps parents.

Michael Mavrovouniotis

Mavrovouniotis’ wizardry with numbers laid bare the failures of Orange County Animal Care, which led to many reforms. He’s still not satisfied, and he’s not done rattling cages just yet.

Perry Meade

Meade and the Higher Wages Lower Rent Alliance ran a campaign operation in OC that helped Derek Tran and Dave Min win the CA-45 and CA-47 races, respectively. He also was elected as the youngest member of the Democratic Party of Orange County Central Committee and the youngest elected DNC delegate from the county.

Emma Melin

The 9-year-old has dealt with life-threatening food allergies for her entire life; she suffered the first of five anaphylactic reactions that stopped her breathing at 18 months old. She’s become an advocate for the tens of millions of Americans who have food allergies. “Allergic Emma” has a presence on various social media platforms, with content that ranges from allergy-safe recipes, reviews of products that are allergy-conscientious, social commentary, tips for creating safer environments and more. The Ducks honored her with her selection as their 21st Duck for the season.

Sylvia Mendez

After being left out of the inaugural class, Mendez was selected to the Orange County Hall of Fame in its second year. That coincided with the passage of a state law that requires Mendez v. Westminster, the case her family fought that integrated California schools (before Brown v. Board of Education did it nationally), be taught to California students.

Dick Metz

The Surfing Heritage and Culture Center founder stepped down from the board after creating the “Smithsonian of Surfing.” The longtime collector, who was also behind the retail stores Hobie Surf Shops, created a place for historic surfboards and memorabilia to be preserved through the years.

Leslea Meyerhoff

The coastal administrator for San Clemente is spearheading efforts to save the beach town’s eroding coastline, which has suffered in recent years. She has explored innovative solutions while helping to lead a regional look at the chronic issue.

Dave Min

Despite lacking Rep. Katie Porter’s name ID and star power, Min successfully held on to her congressional seat, maintaining Democratic control of the area. With his victory, Min also became the first Korean American Democrat from California to serve in Congress.

Perry Minasian

The Angels’ general manager went to work on improving the roster, answering owner Arte Moreno’s call to make the team a contender for the playoffs. He secured pitchers Yusei Kikuchi and Kyle Hendricks and catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Of course, having a healthy Mike Trout all season would help, too.

Kenon Morgan

This Camp Pendleton 1st Lieutenant was selected as platoon leader to oversee the deployment of the Marines’ new Amphibious Combat Vehicle (ACV). The armored vehicle is considered the most lethal in the amphibious fight and replaces the Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV). which has been used by the Corps since the Vietnam era. Morgan’s roll was pivotal in overseeing the Marines during its first successful deployment and overcoming challenges that the new platform presents.

Sandra Morgan

Morgan, the executive director of the Global Center for Women and Justice at Vanguard University, in 2024 launched the Safe Communities, Safe Kids program, a three-year pilot program that aims to significantly increase human trafficking prevention education for students and educators in Orange County public schools and secures grants to support trafficking survivors’ transition into a place of safety and security. In March, the center and the Orange County Department of Education co-sponsored a two-day conference promoting kids’ online safety.

Darin Nakakihara

The Tustin High teacher has taken to YouTube and Instagram to share his battle with ALS as he tries to help others. He has more than 16,600 subscribers to his YouTube channel that he labels his “Die Trying Vlog” and more than 25,600 followers on Instagram. Read our profile on Nakakihara.

Jordan Nakasone

The chef-owner of R|O-Rebel Omakase gave Laguna Beach its first-ever Michelin star (one sparkler, to be exact). His intimate omakase-style sushi spot, tucked away inside a Forest Avenue shopping plaza, has helped catapult the coastal enclave into the national culinary spotlight. Before opening Rebel, Nakasone, who hails from Peru, got his start working in Japan, New York City and Los Angeles, where he worked for years under the eye of Kimiyasu Enya at Sushi Enya in downtown L.A.’s Little Tokyo.

Essraa Nawar

The reader-nominated Nawar delivered a groundbreaking presentation in the United Arab Emirates on the future of libraries, showcasing her expertise in integrating artificial intelligence to transform libraries into dynamic centers of access, innovation and community building. She also debuted her visionary AI Dress, a wearable representation of technology and art, which has sparked international dialogue about the intersection of creativity and AI.

Amanda Nguyen

Nguyen, a Southern California native who spent her weekends in Little Saigon, is set to be the first woman of Vietnamese descent in space. Nguyen is also an activist. She got legislation passed in Congress that preserves the rights of sexual assault survivors — mainly through maintaining the preservation of and survivors’ access to rape kits — and in 2014 founded Rise, a nonprofit that works with state legislatures to implement similar rights for survivors.

Katelyn Nguyen

Twenty rounds of competition — and correctly spelling “discretionary” in the regional spelling bee — secured 13-year-old Nguyen her ticket to Washington D.C. to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May. The Helen Stacey Middle School student is the first student from the Westminster School District to have advanced to the nationals.

Brian Niccol

Niccol, a career fast-food executive who first made a name for himself at Taco Bell, was tapped in August to run Starbucks, exiting Chipotle where he was chief executive for six years. Niccol made waves when he relocated Chipotle’s headquarters from Denver to Newport Beach, where he lives with his family. When he got the Starbucks nod, the company said Niccol could work remotely, when appropriate. Since taking the CEO post at Starbucks, Niccol said he wants to take the chain back to its cafe roots.

Bob Page

Two years ago, Page took over an agency widely regarded as one of the top registrars in the country during a time when election officials of all levels were facing mounting threats of violence and intimidation. This year, in primary and general elections, Page’s office collected and counted upwards of 3 million votes. And even as bomb threats and other pushback sometimes slowed them down, Page’s team handled its duties without a hitch.

Taryn Palumbo

The reader-nominated executive director for Orange County Grantmakers led the nonprofit in a big year of growth. The OCG 2024 Annual Summit drew a record number of attendees in October, up from 150 in its first year to 436 funders, nonprofit professionals, and community leaders. For the 2024 election cycle, Palumbo partnered with Charitable Ventures on the “OC Votes, Get Out the Vote Campaign” that taps into the power of nonprofits to strengthen democracy through civic engagement.

Sue Parks

Parks led Orange County United Way to its 100th anniversary celebration in November – a gala at Anaheim’s ARTIC – but isn’t stopping there. The CEO and her team will introduce the nonprofit’s new strategic plan in 2025.

Cole Patterson

The reader-nominated Patterson oversaw data operations for over 2,000 campaigns statewide during the 2024 election cycle. This included Orange County campaigns, from congressional races to local offices such as city council, school boards and more. Patterson transformed how campaigns and organizations leveraged data by creating a first-of-its-kind, interactive data visualization warehouse for California Republicans and right-of-center causes.

Kathryn Plummer Boden

The Aliso NIguel High graduate was a key member of the U.S. women’s volleyball team that won the silver medal in the Paris Olympics, using her height (6-foot-6) and big arm to be a force at the net. But the highlights of her year didn’t stop there. She got married to Michael Boden shortly after the Olympics.

Cathleen Pryor

A Realtor and president of her HOA community, Pryor began alerting the public about a proposed lithium battery storage facility that could be built on land owned by Saddleback Church in San Juan Capistrano. The land is being sold to Engie North America. In July she organized a march to the site and in November launched Banning Lithium Energy Storage Systems in Neighborhoods (BLESSIN), a nonprofit with which she hopes to create greater awareness of the project now under review by the California Energy Commission.

Dina Randazzo

The reader-nominated Randazzo’s leadership as president of the board of directors of the Public Law Center championed access to justice for underserved communities. Under her stewardship, the organization installed new leadership, expanded its reach, addressing critical issues such as housing instability, immigration advocacy, and consumer rights protection.

Edward Read

The Cal State Fullerton botanist teaches students about more than 2,000 species in his greenhouses. He has successfully grown the rare corpse flower more than two dozen times. And, this year, he managed to grow the second largest water lily in the world, the Victoria amazonica, in a small catch basin outside his greenhouse. The delightful blossoms lasted only a couple of days but took years of labor to produce.

Jocelyn Read

Read, a professor of physics at Cal State Fullerton, has helped make the university an unexpectedly big player in the world of gravitational-wave research. That is essentially “listening” to events in space, such as black stars mashing into each other, by measuring infinitesimal shifts in spacetime. In May, Read and others at Cal State Fullerton published a paper in which they proved that a neutron star merged with a mass-gap object, a first in their field.

Dawn Reese

The reader-nominated CEO of The Wooden Floor organized the first Youth Mental Health Convening with Santa Ana Unified leadership in collaboration with the City of Santa Ana and the Santa Ana Youth Mental Health Task Force. She also created the partnership of The Wooden Floor with the Garden Grove Unified School District and the Boys and Girls Club to create Dance Uplifts, an after-school dance education program.

Marilynn Reideler

A resident in Robinson Ranch, Reideler sprang to her neighbors’ assistance when the Airport fire raged near her community. As people evacuated, she offered them rides and helped them transport their personal belongings in and out of the community.

Sam Robertson

Co-founder of Arvida Book Co., Robertson is a fierce advocate for literary citizenship and community. She launched a literary magazine this year for Orange County writers and was a driving force in the new Orange County book festival that started this year in Tustin.

Ronald Rochon

In July, he became the 10th president of Cal State Fullerton after 14 years at the University of Southern Indiana, including the past six as president. He oversees an operating budget of $595.3 million, one of the largest in the Cal State system, and 43,662 students, the biggest campus in California in terms of student population.

Trinity Rodman

The JSerra High graduate scored three goals in the Paris Olympics and helped lead the U.S. to the gold medal. Rodman, 22, is a forward with the Washington Spirit in the NWSL and scored eight goals with six assists in 26 games this season. Washington lost in the NWSL Championship to Orlando, but Rodman became the first NWSL player to play in two league title matches before she turned 24.

Zach Scherer and Drew Adams

Two chef-owners opened Darkroom, OC’s most ambitious restaurant this year. Scherer, who spent several years at Playground, and Adams, who served as executive chef at Outpost Kitchen, created an elevated-yet-playful dining experience that further cements Santa Ana as one of the region’s top dining spots.

Gregory C. Scott

He is president/CEO of Community Action Partnership, a group that, among other things, runs the OC Diaper Bank. The bank gets about 10,000 diapers a month to financially challenged families who, otherwise, might have to pay up to $90 a month to keep their babies clean. In September, the Diaper Bank received $2.5 million, enough to keep it in business for at least two more years.

Jay Seidel

Seidel created Fullerton College’s first Bachelor of Science degree. The degree, in drone and autonomous systems, is set to begin in Fall 2026. This groundbreaking program, the first of its kind on the West Coast, will provide students with a comprehensive education in the rapidly growing field of drone technology and autonomous systems. Seidel built the Fullerton Drone Lab from a single class in 2018 and now offers an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree and classes with local high schools.

Jose Serrano

Serrano, director of the county’s newly established Office of Immigrants and Refugee Affairs, comes to the county with a goal to address gaps in immigration services, such as housing.

Gretchen Shoemaker

The octogenarian just opened her fourth Georgia’s Restaurant this year, the latest one found at the Irvine Spectrum. Using tried-and-true family recipes, she’s earned a loyal fanbase hungry for her comforting soul-food fare at one of Orange County’s few Black-owned restaurants. Not too bad for an enterprise that started inside her Lake Forest home as a sideline catering business in the mid-1970s.

Tim Smith

Smith, founder of the Tim Smith Real Estate Group and a Coldwell Banker Global Luxury Property Specialist in Newport Beach, is privately funding Orange County’s first litter skimming boat. In its first two months, the boat, dubbed The Good Seamaritan, has collected nearly half a ton of trash from the harbor. Smith has invested $131,000 for the boat, along with captain fees and other operational expenses.

Delilah Snell

Snell has made a name for herself at Alta Baja Market, located inside Santa Ana’s 4th Street Market, with a space that’s one part market – selling a sundry of products and foods from Mexico, the American Southwest and California – and another part community center. In an area rife with gentrification, Snell’s space offers cooking classes, workshops, lectures, book signings, walking tours and more, all of which aim to help keep Santa Ana’s Latino residents visible and intact.

James Solis

Solis has coached “Everyone Plays In our Community” soccer for people with disabilities in Huntington Beach. The games teach confidence and self-esteem in a fun environment while also giving young people the opportunity to exercise.

Wilson Song and Connor Wong

The Sage Hill seniors were honored at National Philanthropy Day for their nonprofit, Sandbox Synergy, which helps young entrepreneurs launch their efforts. At the event, Wong said they wanted to help ““build the foundation of a more compassionate society.”

Shauntina Sorrells

The chief program officer for the Samueli Foundation is a strong advocate for foster youth and someone who speaks from her experience in the foster system. Sorrells moved to the Samueli Foundation late in 2023 after more than four years with the Orangewood Foundation. She is a board member of OC’s Continuum of Care, which develops strategies to address homelessness.

Carl St.Clair

He recently began his final season as the Pacific Symphony’s music director and will leave the role in June after a 35-year run to become music director laureate. He’ll be replaced by Alexander Shelley, who praised St.Clair when he was announced as his successor in November. “We’ve had this leader for 35 years who’s done an exquisite job,” Shelley said.

Nicole Suydam

The president and CEO of Goodwill of Orange County led the organization into its 100th anniversary celebration in October. Under the guidance of Suydam, the nonprofit’s first female CEO, Goodwill of Orange County has taken huge strides toward modernization and plans to keep expanding its retail footprint.

Samantha Tan

A UC Irvine alumna, Tan is a professional race car driver. She’s won championships and broken many records, including becoming the first Asian woman to win a major international endurance racing championship. This year her team, Samantha Tan Racing, finished as vice-champions of the GT World Challenge America in the Pro-Am class.

Taylor Thompson

Thompson is part of the team from Chapman University that in July took first place at the Mars Wrigley Product Development Competition at the International Food Expo in Chicago. The event draws new product ideas from food science students around the country. Chapman’s team won for Spice of Life, billed as a vanilla chai-flavored wellness drink.

Derek Tran

Tran made history this year when he was elected to be the first Vietnamese American to represent the nation’s largest Vietnamese community in Congress, flipping a competitive Republican-held seat. His win solidified Orange County Democrats’ strongest showing in congressional races since 2018, when they captured all the county’s House seats.

Kylie Travis

As the executive director of Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Garden, Travis worked with city officials and coordinated special programs and events for the historic property that was heavily damaged in a landslide. This fall, the Casa reopened its main salon after more than a year and is starting to return to its normal programming. During the time, Travis was creative in programs that still gave the public access to the iconic property.

Norio Uyematsu

Uyematsu, who promotes the stories of the Japanese American Korean War veterans who fought in this “Forgotten War,” donated his carefully kept collection of post-war memorabilia to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History military collections in February. The 93-year-old Anaheim resident was interviewed at the FDR Presidential Library and spoke in Washington D.C. on Veterans Day as the keynote speaker for the Japanese American Veterans Association’s program highlighting the Korean War.

Benjamin Victor

Victor, an Irvine-based marine scientist, proved that a new species of wrasse exists. The tiny, orange-vermillion colored fish was found in deep water off volcanic Mexican islands, first in 2013. A new trip in 2022 led to more evidence. After doing six months of DNA testing and publishing his study in a scientific journal, the wrasse was declared a new species. With climate change, the wrasse could soon be seen off Southern California waters if temperatures continue to rise.

Mucio Vidales and Pablo Diaz

Nicolas Junior High woodshop teacher Vidales and Diaz, an innovation and instructional support coordinator with the Fullerton School District, led 22 eighth graders in building a 192-square-foot tiny home for an unhoused family in the district this school year.

Justin Viezbicke

Viezbicke has been leading whale disentanglements for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast stranding network for more than a decade. With this year’s rise in humpback entanglement, one case made huge headlines as the juvenile whale traveled between Los Angeles and Orange counties for several days, raising great public awareness. After four days, Viezbicke successfully made the final cut that freed the whale from the tightly wound gear off Dana Point.

Brenda Villa

The Olympic gold medalist continues to mentor young girls as the water polo coach at Orange Lutheran.

Kristyn von Rotz

She founded Forever Footprints in 2004. The nonprofit organization provides education for medical professionals and support for women who have suffered pregnancy or infant loss. This year they hosted the 20th anniversary of the Walk to Remember with more than 3,500 participants and provided nearly 400 memory boxes with comfort items and information for grieving families.

Elise Wang

An assistant professor at Cal State Fullerton, Wang was named one of the 2024 Class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. Wang researches what literature tells us about conspiracy theories and the spread of misinformation.

Scott Weldy

The longtime Orange County wildlife veterinarian, who also runs a domestic animal hospital in Lake Forest, this year helped with wildlife in the Airport and Line fires. A fox was rescued and rehabilitated and is now in care in San Diego County. Weldy also coordinated evacuation of wildlife, including bears, coyotes and deer from the Wildhaven Ranch Sanctuary/Zoo and held them temporarily in the Santa Ana Zoo, which he oversees. Once the threat was over, he coordinated their safe return.

Fred Whitaker

Under Whitaker’s leadership, Republicans gained a voter registration advantage in the 47th congressional district and the 74th Assembly district.

Harmony Yan-Li

The Irvine High School student won an international award for her documentary she created depicting the history of the thalidomide scandal and the doctor who prevented the United States from selling the drug. Yan-Li spent more than 40 hours on the project and is inspiring other students at Irvine High to do their own research and create projects.

Winnie Yee-Lakhani

After her successful pandemic-era pop-up proved a hit with diners, she opened her first brick-and-mortar space, Smoke Queen Barbecue, in Garden Grove. Before opening her first stand-alone space, her culinary side project earned her appearances on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and Food Network’s “Chopped” and “Barbecue Brawl.”

On any other night during the season, though, a walk around the island to check out the homes in the Ring of Lights is magical.

My wife and I used to take our kids along, but they’re grown and have their own ways to get excited for Christmas. Now we stroll along the 1.7-mile perimeter of the island, sometimes accompanied by hot chocolate and always by dreams of which eight-figure, exquisitely decorated, waterfront home we’d buy if we hit the lottery and joined the ranks of the wealthy.

Later, as we grab a bite nearby at a favorite such as Fable & Spirit, we realize our lives are rather rich already.

Where to go: Enter Balboa Island in Newport Beach from Jamboree Road where it turns into Marine Avenue. Once you cross the bridge, look for street parking.

Derek Tran added a little to his lead in the race for California’s 45th congressional district over Rep. Michelle Steel on Saturday in one of the closest House of Representatives contests in the nation.

Tran, a Democrat and Orange-based attorney, increased his advantage to 545 votes, up from 519 votes on Friday over Steel, R-Seal Beach. Saturday’s total only included an update from Orange County; Los Angeles County will resume providing updates Tuesday.

In central Orange County, the district includes Westminster, Garden Grove, Cypress, Buena Park and parts of Brea, Fullerton and Yorba Linda. It also includes a small portion of Los Angeles County, covering Artesia, Cerritos and Hawaiian Gardens.

On Thursday, Hoss topped off the story by introducing that soldier, Army Master Sgt. Daniel Hadder, as a surprise guest at OCCF’s 35th anniversary celebration with a packed ballroom of approximately 750 people at the Hyatt Regency Irvine.

The two met for the first time in person this week, 12 years after Hadder received a letter while deployed from Hoss’ son, Sean. Hadder wrote back, answered the then-third grader’s questions and started a friendship.

“A small act of kindness and compassion can have a lasting impact on someone,” said Hadder, who said he is nearing the end of his time in the Army and plans to become a history teacher.

The introduction was among the highlights of the evening that also included a keynote address from former Ambassador Gaddi Vasquez, who discussed the evolution and importance of Orange County. The night featured the presentation of awards in honor of OCCF founder Judith Swayne to Miguel Hernandez, the executive director of the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, and Iosefa Alofaituli, the co-founder and executive director of CIELO.

Hoss insisted on topping the night off with something memorable and had a video sequence showing OCCF supporters similar to the one at the end of “Love Actually,” accompanied by “God Only Knows” performed by the OC Gay Men’s Chorus and bubble machines.

The Grove in Anaheim was packed with people from Orange County who care about philanthropy. Still, they got the program started with their enthusiastic advocacy for finding ways to help others.

“Each of us has the power to offer hope and support,” Wong said when they were recognized as the Outstanding Youth for the 39th annual National Philanthropy Day in Orange County. He said they wanted to help “build the foundation of a more compassionate society.”

Their nonprofit Sandbox Synergy holds youth entrepreneur fairs to help students turn their ideas into businesses, and they were honored with the State of California Business Leadership Award by California Treasurer Fiona Ma.

“We can all become changemakers,” said Song, who with Wong directed a $2,500 donation that came with their honors – provided by the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Orange County chapter – to Pretend City Children’s Museum.

The event honored several individuals and companies in different categories, including Small Business winner MVS, Inc., a healthcare supply and distribution company, and its CEO Eric Goodman.

“My mission in life is to help those in need,” said Goodman, who choked up a bit as he talked about the inspiration he has received from National Philanthropy Day founder Doug Freeman and former honoree Charles Antis of Antis Roofing and Waterproofing.

Orange County philanthropist Richard “Dick” Pickup, who died April 25, was honored for the work he did, especially once friends told him he’d find enjoyment in helping others.

His son, Todd, said Pickup initially wanted to remain “liquid and anonymous.”

“It wasn’t until he started giving that his life was complete,” Todd Pickup said.

Among his contributions noted was the $50 million gift he gave that created the Richard H. Pickup Center for Brain Health at Hoag Hospital.

“He would ask all of you to think about what moves your heart,” his son said. “Giving together, we can make our community so much better.”

Here’s the full list of honorees:

• Youth: Connor Wong and Wilson Song, Sandbox Synergy
• Small Business: MVS, Inc.
• Mid-size Business: Southland Credit Union
• Large-size Business: PNC Bank
• In-memoriam Tribute: Richard “Dick” Pickup
• Philanthropic Group: Circle 1000
• Volunteer Fundraiser: Ronit Benjamin
• Founder: George Folk
• Philanthropist: Mohannad and Rana Malas
• Legacy Award: Mike and Linda Mussallem