Valerie Demicheva

Aarti Shahani reports on all things tech for National Public Radio. A native New Yorker, Shahani is determined to understand Northern California and to bring to light emerging innovation as well as contradictions within the tech ecosystem. Shahani brings a sober perspective to her stories – free of rose colored glasses, yet fair to her subjects. She’s been recognized for her ability to unearth hidden gems with a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, an award from the Society of Professional Journa...

Iron & Resin a thrill shop for daredevils Venturing into North Beach’s Iron & Resin is like stepping into a time capsule for Bruce Brown’s 1960s surfing hit “Endless Summer.” Inside a historic 1901 building that survived the 1906 earthquake, Iron & Resin is a haven for adventurous types —...

Ten-year-old folk singer Bohdanka Stavnicha may be Ukraine’s answer to Shirley Temple for the times. Within weeks of creating her first TikTok profile in August, the pint-sized virtuoso gained over 27,500 followers who tuned in to her video performances, where Stavnicha often appears in traditional, embroidered shirts — or vyshyvanki — alongside her mother Katia and their tabby Pikavka, as in “Peep,” named for the sound the kitten makes when he meows along to the music.
Yet the wholesome cont...

The black dress swept the floor, even as model Maria Kondrakhanova stood on a raised podium during a Bravo Club party at Bubble Lounge earlier this summer. At last year's Opera Gala, Sonya Molodetskaya, Willie Brown's longtime companion, donned a cream lace dress underneath a coat-length version of the white...

Eco-friendly lingerie and apparel brand Les Lunes has added a new Healdsburg storefront, making it the fifth boutique for the company in the last 10 months. The airy, bright Wine Country location opened in April on the heels of stores in San Francisco, Corte Madera, Walnut Creek and Chicago.
Founder Anna Lecat spent 20 years running her own procurement business to connect luxury brands with top-tier factories in China. During her travels in Europe, the U.S. and China, she found herself balanc...

At the start of the war in Ukraine, it seemed like the media couldn’t get enough of stories featuring immigrants from the former Soviet Union — both Russians and Ukrainians living in the US — lamenting the plight of Ukrainian refugees. It painted a monolithic picture of post-Soviet emigres aligned with liberal media against the war. Yet off camera, there’s less consensus in the community. As Russian media often points out, the ties between Ukrainians and Russians are indeed strong… not “let’s-rejoin-as-one-country” strong, but there are indeed familial ties between the two, as an estimated...

On the final Saturday night of Black History Month, local winemakers, black cuisine and 250 guests filled the atrium of the 101 Second Street tower. Hosted by SF Noir, the Feb. 23 gala was the centerpiece of the four-day annual celebration, which included a mixology, wine and jazz festival. "The goal is to highlight soul food and black culture," said SF Noir Executive Director Herve Ernest. "The chefs and vintners are the stars."

Jamaican jerk chicken by Kingston 11th and jerk chicken meatbal...

A whistleblower is “flabbergasted” by the FDA approval of Elon Musk’s brain-chip implant startup Neuralink as animal abuse allegations remain unanswered.

On May 26, Elon Musk announced on his social platform Twitter that his other, less-famous company Neuralink received permission to start clinical trials of its brain implant devices from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This means that Neuralink will soon be inserting devices into the skulls of willing human subjects — as opposed t...

John C. Jay was voted one of the “Top Ten Most Influential Art Directors of the Past 50 years” by Graphic Design USA Magazine and has received numerous awards for his work in advertising, which includes campaigns for Nike during his time at Wieden+Kennedy as Global Executive Creative Director. Today, Jay serves as President of Global Creative at Fast Retailing Co. and is widely lauded as one of the most creative thinkers in the business.

Madison Maxey is a tinkerer for the 21st century. As a self-described creative technologist, Maxey focuses on e-textiles and wearables with the potential to change the role apparel and fabrics can play in our lives.

She grew up in San Diego where her mother worked as a flight attendant and her father was an aerospace engineer at Northrup Grumman, which seeded her interest in technology. The California native began her career in fashion at age 16, taking internships at Tommy Hilf...

Researchers develop alternatives to animal-testing models, but old-guard institutions hang on to inefficient traditions. Legions of animal rights activists and scientists are making strides in their battles against animal testing in biomedical research with the help of cutting edge technology — even as the transition to animal-free research is challenged by established institutions and Washington, DC lobbyists. “There’s a bias toward using animals in labs that’s been hardwired into scientific...

In a modern Edwardian home in Russian Hill, more than 60 women gathered recently to hear the founders of billion-dollar children’s clothing company Gymboree, venture-backed health elixir brand Rebbl and the largest nonprofit treating anorexia, Project Heal.
The women weren’t there for a standard “how I succeeded in business” lecture or afterwork networking event. The draw was an unfiltered conversation about battling the unhealthy aspects of results-driven perfectionism that can lead to anore...

Gautam Goswami isn't your typical whiz kid. By day, he's senior director of cloud computing for a software company in San Mateo. Come night, he's known as "Shankha" (seashell in Hindi), and he edits the glossy pages of Bay Fashion, a magazine he founded in 2010.

A meal at Loló is an otherworldly experience that overloads the senses in the most delightful way.
To understand the restaurant's subtleties, think of the space as a gallery that expertly melds Mexican artistry with repurposed local materials and just happens to serve top-notch traditional Jaliscan cuisine.

In December, Greg Gopman, former CEO of AngelHack, infuriated the public and reinforced tech stereotypes of disconnection and entitlement when he posted a rant on......