Prison Time Can Be Your Superpower in Business

I’m Formerly Incarcerated, and I Help People Reentering the Job Market Understand the Value of Their Experiences Inside

This piece publishes as part of the Zócalo/The James Irvine Foundation public program and editorial series, “What Is a Good Job Now?” which investigates low-wage work across California. Register for the event “What Is a Good Job Now?” For the Formerly Incarcerated on January 24, 7PM PST.

When you’re working with men and women coming out of prison to find meaningful career trajectories, it’s important to ask them about their prison experience.

Far too often, formerly incarcerated people don’t appreciate the value of their prison journey.

They …

by Quan Huynh | January 17, 2024

Whose Sedona Is It, Anyway?

The Arizona City—Long Defined by Visitors and Outsiders—Is Fighting Over the ‘Right Kind’ of Tourist

by TOM ZOELLNER | October 23, 2023

You’d think that a town dependent on tourist dollars could never stop advertising itself. But in Sedona, Arizona, as wealthy residents’ weariness of riffraff jamming up their roads sparked a …

Where Asian Americans Need Affirmative Action

Our Focus on University Admissions Obscures the ‘Bamboo Ceiling’ in the Workplace

by Jennifer Lee | September 14, 2023

Zócalo is celebrating its 20th birthday this year! As part of the festivities, we’re publishing reflections and responses that revisit and reimagine some of …

Why Mexico City’s Tepito ‘Exists Because It Resists’

For Over 100 Years, This Neighborhood and Its Black Market Have Thrived by Straddling the Underground and Official Worlds

by Andrew Konove | August 28, 2023

In 2016, the leaders of several street vendor organizations from the Mexico City neighborhood of Tepito met with local officials with a request: They wanted the capital city’s new constitution …

When American Governors and Moguls Came Together to Prevent Environmental
Catastrophe

A Historic 1908 Conference Transcended Party and Personal Interest for the ‘Common Good’

by Adam M. Sowards | August 17, 2023

At the turn of the 20th century, floods, fires, and waste plagued the United States. Industries burned through resources and blew toxins into the air, with few restrictions. States and …

What the 10 Richest Angelenos Tell Us About L.A. and Its Economy

From Aerospace to Apparel—These Billionaires’ Businesses Reflect the Entrepreneurship and Variety of the County

by Rick Wartzman | August 25, 2021

If you were trying to understand the economy of Los Angeles County during the first half of the 20th century—the period in which L.A. emerged as a modern metropolis—you’d do …

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