Richmond residents often tell us they feel disconnected to the city as a whole, so we launched an occasional series called Meet Your Neighbor to highlight people from different neighborhoods and different walks of life.
There was the determined Salvadore Valle, who started picking up trash to quiet some of his internal struggles and found himself leading a wider volunteer effort to clean up local creeks. We got fitness inspiration reading about Sharlet Gilbert, a 73-year-old woman who runs ultra-long races that last 24 to 30 hours! And we were impressed by restaurant owner Raúl Ramirez, who started out selling ice cream from a cart.
We’ll continue the series in 2026 so if there is someone we should feature, let us know by emailing hello@richmondside.org or send us a story tip.
Read about all of the nine people we wrote about this year below:
Richmond author’s children’s book follows fictional friends separated by Iran war
Richmond author Nikoo Yahyazadeh’s debut picture book captures the bittersweet reality of being forced to flee home through the eyes of two young girls in Iran.
Rollingwood man finds peace on his mission to clean up creeks
Meet Your Neighbor: Salvador Valle, 46, says pulling out mattresses, electronics and other dumped junk from San Pablo Creek is reconnecting him to nature and lessening his anxiety.
Local filmmaker crafts a ‘love letter to Richmond,’ the story of a man and a goldfish
Meet Your Neighbor: Award-winning filmmaker Jayson Johnson is in preproduction for his first feature film, a story of perseverance, strength and growth.
Nobody can break her stride: Meet Richmond’s 73-year-old distance runner
“I’m going to die if I don’t keep moving,” says Sharlet Gilbert, a Hercules High School assistant track coach and former Olympic trial runner.
Meet Rodney ‘Alamo’ Brown: The soul behind Soulful Softball Sunday
Richmond native inspires community connection through annual softball game fundraisers.
The Tacos El Rulas story: From an ice cream cart to a taqueria raved about on social media
Meet Your Neighbor: How an immigrant from Mexico went from pushing an ice cream cart around Richmond to owning his own restaurant.
Richmond school staffer who inspires kids to show up is also uplifting parents
Meet Your Neighbor: Verde K-8 School’s Marta Nieto teaches immigrant moms how to get involved while also improving attendance.
Sweet on Richmond: Coffee cake recipe reveals stories of city and Peres family
Family spins tales of city’s history while baking a cake once enjoyed by Richmond Hospital patients. The recipe was included in the library’s first community cookbook, published last year.
Richmond artist ‘Atta’ hopes his new show will inspire others to get creative
Meet your Neighbor: Artist Daniel “Attaboy” Seifert, an East Richmond Heights resident, makes vibrant tropical paradises out of pizza boxes and lightbulbs. He’s showing for the first time in his hometown.
