Helping Kids With Autism Find Work
Joanne Lara sees too much of what she calls the “school-to-couch” model. “Fifty thousand kids a year in this country are graduating high school with autism, with no place to go,” says the executive director of Autism Works Now (AWN), an innovative nonprofit that teaches workplace-readiness skills. They end up on their parents’ couch […]
Margot Machol Bisnow: On Raising Entrepreneurs
Author Margot Machol Bisnow defines entrepreneurs not just as business owners but also as musicians who put together a band, actors who organize their own careers and activists working to create a better world. As a way to explore that spirit of resiliency, outside-the-box thinking and innovation, Bisnow interviewed 60 successful entrepreneurs and their moms […]
K-Love’s Dynamic Duo Share Their On-Air and At-Home Magic
Argelia Atilano jokes that Omar Velasco, her husband and morning radio co-host on K-Love 107.5-FM, was never really “her type.” “I only dated guys in suits,” she says with her trademark laugh. “Attorneys, businessmen. I would never date a DJ – but the magic happened.” “I knew she was out of my league, but I […]
Candace Cameron Bure: On Motherhood and her own Full House
As a fan of ’80s family sitcoms, I loved watching Candace Cameron Bure’s TV character, D.J. Tanner on “Full House,” navigate middle- and high-school drama, struggle through her Spanish class, crush on cute boys, fight and make up with her younger sisters. For many of us, she was the big sister we wished we had […]
A New Career as a Volunteer
Meet our 2016 Amazing Mom, Julie Weinstein To illustrate the icy cold of the Arctic described in “Eve of the Emperor Penguin” from the “Magic Tree House” series, Julie Weinstein taught her second-grade book-club readers to make their own ice cream. The students learned how a liquid can freeze into a solid – and that […]
Top Tech Tools for Families
The school year is half over and the holidays are here and I’m starting to feel the familiar overwhelm. The errands, events, work demands and to-dos seem to multiply mercilessly as I try to handle it all. And while over the years I’ve gotten better at greeting stress with a smile, it still can feel […]
Isabel Garretón: Mixing Family and Fashion
While many entrepreneurs start their businesses with customers in mind, Isabel Garretón started out thinking about her suppliers. Twenty-five years ago, she created her self-titled upscale children’s apparel line to give underprivileged moms from her native Chile an opportunity to raise themselves up through the work of their hands. And what beautiful work it is. […]
The Parents’ Voice: Key To School Success
When my husband and I bought our house in a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood in the west San Fernando Valley, we assumed our kids would eventually attend the local elementary school just down the street. But our tour a year before our oldest daughter was about to enter kindergarten left us feeling disappointed and panicked. Test […]
The Life of a Disney Mom
Leigh-Allyn Baker got pregnant, then got her first Disney Channel gig Leigh-Allyn Baker is on a film set in Montreal, confronted with a destroyed pair of shoes that just isn’t right. “They were supposed to be exploded, but someone had just cut them in half,” says Baker, who most recently starred as Amy Duncan in […]
LA Education Advocate Jeannie Kamm: Taking Back Her Neighborhood School
When Jeannie Kamm and her husband, Jason, bought their house in Encino two decades ago, they assumed they would send their kids to the local public school. But the young couple soon learned that Lanai Road Elementary was barely keeping its doors open due to low enrollment. The school, part of the Los Angeles Unified […]