San Diego Magazine

San Diegans are growing increasingly alarmed about the effects of inflation, global war, rising costs of living, a potentially looming recession, and the added pressure this puts on nonprofits. But despite uncertain times, locals continue to donate their time and money to those in need. Here’s a breakdown of the causes San Diegans supported in 2024. https://lnkd.in/evy4Kkjv

Time to vote! Our 2025 San Diego Magazine Home + Design Awards are here, and it’s your turn to be a tastemaker. San Diego’s most talented designers submitted their best work, from interiors to commercial spaces; it's up to you to decide which projects take home Readers' Choice. Voting is open through December 1, 2024. Click here to cast your ballot: https://lnkd.in/gaWYUvrV Thank you to Room & Board, our presenting sponsor.

I'm incredibly honored and profoundly moved by this award. It is a powerful affirmation of the importance of our work. I'm so grateful to everyone who made this recognition possible. Thank you to San Diego Magazine. Congratulating San Diego Magazine’s Pioneer of the Year, our founder and CEO Dr. Michaelene Fredenburg! "Dr. Michaelene Fredenburg is actively working toward calling attention to the maternal mental health crisis that exists in America today," said Claire Johnson, CEO of San Diego Magazine. "Her research, development, and implementation of grief counseling within the national healthcare system has made leaps and bounds in providing women with the resources they need during emotionally strenuous moments.” Read more: https://ow.ly/wjuA50UacnQ #pioneeroftheyear #sandiegomagazine #CelebratingWomen2024 #2024women #womenawards #reproductivegriefcare #maternalmentalhealth #griefcounseling #DrMichaeleneFredenburg

Meet San Diego’s real-life Eloise. 82-year-old Claude Rosinsky is the Fairmont Grand Del Mar’s only permanent resident; she’s called the hotel home for the last 12 years. Rosinsky’s worn a lot of hats in her life. She grew up Morocco as the daughter of a royal physician, then went on to work for the United Nations and with fashion icons like Christian Dior. She opened a museum in Palm Beach and spent years leading medical missions in Nicaragua. Rosinsky came to roost in San Diego in 2012, when she was diagnosed with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), a condition that can cause excessive bleeding. Doctors at UC San Diego Health were among the top experts on the disease, so Rosinsky took a room at the Fairmont while she received treatment. It was a success–she became the first HHT patient to survive past 73. When Rosinsky realized she’d need more long-term housing, she tried to check out of the Fairmont. A receptionist asked, “Why? We love you here.” “My dear,” she replied, “I can’t afford you.” The general manager, however, suggested she make a deal—and then accepted her offer. “Welcome,” she recalls him saying. “This is your home now.” Rosinsky now spends her days practicing pilates in her room; writing her memoirs; and dining at the resort’s onsite restaurant, Amaya, where the staff members all know her by name. “I’m the grandmother of everyone here,” she says. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gSZyM74R Photo by Matt Furman

Our Celebrating Women issue is packed with stories of local leaders who are shaping our city's future. Leaders like Dilkhwaz Ahmed: her nonprofit, License to Freedom, creates safe spaces for immigrant and refugee women in San Diego. ⁠ Six days before 9/11, Ahmed arrived in the US from the Kurdistan region of Iraq to attend a conference. Ahmed, who had opened one of the first women’s domestic violence shelters in Iraq, applied for asylum after the attack, knowing she couldn’t go back. She already received threats at home for providing shelter for women and could sense that the situation would get worse.⁠ ⁠ Yet her efforts never stopped. In 2003, Ahmed cofounded License to Freedom in El Cajon, an organization that helps immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.⁠ ⁠ “I grew up in a system where women did not have the privilege they were supposed to have,” Ahmed says. “What led me [to this work] is the lack of opportunity where I grew up.” Ahmed now returns to Iraq at least once a year to collaborate with organizations on the ground helping those who have experienced domestic violence.⁠ ⁠ License to Freedom not only addresses the immediate concerns of women facing violence but tries to tackle systemic issues by providing other resources, like youth and economic development programs, mental health services, and treatment for offenders in multiple languages. Looking forward, Ahmed hopes License to Freedom can push for policy shifts in El Cajon to improve housing affordability and quality for immigrants in the city.⁠ ⁠ “We recognize that refugees come from the colonial system—that tells you how to talk, how to act,” she says. “Restoring of justice is always restoring of power.”⁠ ⁠ For more from the Celebrating Women issue, click here: https://lnkd.in/gahsCC2X ⁠ Story by Maya Srikrishnan; Portrait by Erica Joan

“There’s a myth that Indigenous people exist only in the past,” says Danielle Boyer, a 23-year-old Ojibwe engineer who invented a wearable robot to help preserve Indigenous languages. “But we’re here now and we will be here in the future.” Boyer designed her first robot at 17, which transformed into EKGAR (“Every Kid Gets a Robot”), a $20 kit that teaches Indigenous students tech skills. She’s 3D-printed and shipped over 11,000 kits for free, and she takes her robots on the road to demonstrate technology as a tool to communicate, advocate, and relate while imparting hands-on engineering skills. Boyer’s second invention, SkoBot, helps teach Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) and other Indigenous languages. About 10 inches tall and wearable, SkoBots can detect motion and say “boozhoo” (hello) and other phrases in response. The kid-friendly designs include a makwa (bear) and waabooz (rabbit), designed in collaboration with an Ojibwe tattoo artist. Boyer’s nonprofit, The STEAM Connection, offers SkoBots at no cost for students to build themselves. And Boyer is currently recording more words in the voices of Ojibwe children and elders (including her grandmother) to expand the robots’ repertoire. “To be Indigenous is a protest and a constant advocating for the future of your community,” she says. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/g2PEYB9b Profile by Leorah Gavidor; Portrait by Erica Joan

LAST CALL! San Diego’s brightest design talents are invited to showcase their best work through our 2025 Home + Design Awards, presented by Room & Board San Diego. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or an emerging student designer, this is your chance to shine! Submit your most outstanding residential or commercial projects and be recognized by industry experts and readers alike. Submissions close this Sunday, November 10. https://lnkd.in/gXJsxvvN

The San Diego Mag team was honored to take home 19 awards at San Diego Press Club's Excellence in Journalism Awards last night. We're especially proud of our Associate Editor, Amelia Rodriguez, who won Best of Show for her piece on Las Reynas del Sol, an escaramuza team in Bonita that's keeping an old tradition alive. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gsURr-kd

INTRODUCING: Off the Record. A new series by San Diego Magazine where we invite musicians and artists to join in us in our office to jam out. We’re kicking it off with San Diego’s own Voices of Our City Choir. Local musician Steph Johnson founded Voices of Our City Choir in 2016, when she saw how many unhoused San Diegans were artists and musicians. Johnson and late choir director Nina Deering brought a whole bunch of those voices together, and in the years since, the nonprofit has impacted the lives of over 275 San Diegans affected by homelessness, offering them a safe space to foster creativity, community, and dignity. In 2020, the rest of the nation heard their voices, too–the choir earned the Golden Buzzer on America’s Got Talent. For episode one of Off the Record, a dozen choir members hauled their instruments (including a full drum set) to the SDM office to perform a few original songs. Click the YouTube link below to watch the full episode. And if you haven't heard Voices of Our City live before… do yourself a favor and go see them this Saturday, October 26, at VOCC’s biggest fundraiser of the year, ‘Music Brings Us Home,’ a Soulful Soirée and Benefit Concert at Eve. See you there. https://lnkd.in/gPJbU4rP https://lnkd.in/g7nub_EH

You might've heard a rumor that Las Cuatro Milpas, a 91-year-old Barrio Logan institution, is closing. We're happy to confirm that the local legend is not shuttering its doors or selling anytime soon, according to the Estudillo family. Here's the scoop. https://lnkd.in/gGqfXPRm