also takes notes in shorthand and often types on a nearby typewriter . ( She wishes there ’ d been national typing competitions when she was younger , as she could out-type anyone , anytime with great accuracy .)
Though she doesn ’ t call herself a workaholic , she usually spends long nights at the office , reaching out to various community members and working on the small and big details it takes to put a magazine together each month . And she ’ s extremely health conscious . She walks for miles in the morning followed by a workout with weights . A vegan for 22 years , she drinks the same smoothie power shake each morning and packs vegetables for lunch . The strongest thing she drinks is water , she says with a smile . After work and on weekends , she winds down by gardening , cooking , playing piano , sewing , very long walks and watching movies on Netflix . There are no computers in her house .
During the pandemic , she worried about her team and the inability to check in on them each day . She arranges Zoom check-ins , team building events and dinners out when she can , including a night at a Sacramento Republic FC soccer match during the recent season .
What kind of boss is she ? “ I ’ m not a hard-pushing employer at all . I want everyone to be happy . I want our team to work at the pace that they can be most productive and feel comfortable and enjoy what they ’ re doing ,” she says . “ The finished product always captures the result I ’ m looking for .”
“ She ’ s creative and she ’ s always looking and thinking about what ’ s next and what ’ s going on . She ’ s been an inspiration for a lot of businesses and particularly businesswomen that are leaders .”
— Larry Kelley , founder and chairman , LDK Ventures
Comstock-Carlson is well aware that nothing great is ever done without enthusiasm ( she often quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson ), and nothing is done alone . She is proud to have a loyal team , two of whom have been with her for decades . Clayton Blakley has been on the team as senior vice president of business development for almost 32 of her 33 years of publishing , and Valerie Piotrowski , director of key advertising accounts , has had two stints , the first for ten years , then a return four years ago . Comstock-Carlson says the loyalty factor is one of the greatest strengths a company can have in a team member . She is extremely proud of every single person on the Comstock ’ s team , each one having unique qualities , personalities and skill sets that they bring to the company . She says her team is the magazine ’ s greatest asset .
“ Creativity is the key in this business ,” she says . “ We have to constantly be looking at what the most important things going on in our region might be , then determine what angles would make that story the most interesting and revealing , then focusing on those in our features . My head is always divided into two camps — on quality editorial coverage , and on how to further grow advertising revenue . One is simply not possible in this business without the other .”
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