CHANTELLE PAIGE-MULLIGAN

Hi Mill Valley, so glad to be back about a year later! You may remember Senna Case in your December ’21 issue, myself in our rust-colored waffle jogger + pullover. We have now made that most loved sweat outfit in 2 new colors: mistletoe green and English Blue. As a refresher, Senna Case is a gender-neutral kids’ clothing brand with adult-matching pieces (no kids needed to purchase though 😉 haha). We are sustainably handmade in California, mainly everything is done in Oakland and Novato! We also now have a cozy teddy bear romper, my personal favorite, in a buttery cream! Plus, our Organic Rayne kid sets can be found at Sprout in Mill Valley! We also have a few pieces on consignment at Surf and Sand! So, only our Mill Valley natives can physically shop our DTC (online only) brand! Also, one of my biggest add-ons this year was that we now offer big kid sizing. YAY! So, we offer 0-3 months all the way up to 12-13 years as well as adult XXS to XXXL. Follow us on Instagram @sennacase + Shop at sennacase.com and please use promo code MillValleySennaCase for 10% off your order!

We love being a part of the Mill Valley community, and I thank everyone here for so lovingly supporting our small business! 

MATT BARNES

Over the past two years, the Mill Valley Fire Department and the Southern Marin Fire District have been hard at work preparing to move their shared service agreement into a solidified both the City Council and the District fire board unanimously approved a resolution supporting the merger. merger on October 3, 2022, and the Marin County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) approved the annexation between the two agencies on December 8, 2022. Both organizations have selected July 1, 2023, to start fiscally operating as one agency. The consolidation will increase efficiencies in administration and operations leading to streamlined and enhanced service levels, increased safety, and financial resiliency. In short, the consolidation is safer for the community, safer for our responders, and provides good governance. The Southern Marin Fire District and the City of Mill Valley family could not be more excited about the future of public safety and are both hard at work putting the final touches on their consolidation efforts. 

J.C.FARR, TAMALPAIS HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

The Spirit of Tam-Unity continues to forge ahead thanks to the contributions of students, staff, and the parent community. Tam-Unity is our vision statement that describes the words and actions that work to create an inclusive environment in which all students are accepting of everyone. Tam-Unity is literally the combination of Tamalpais High School and the Community. Nothing captures the essence of Tam-Unity more than a trip to the front office where you are greeted by Mehreen Ahmad, Laura Keaton, Patty Parnow, and Sylvia Mathews. If you have encountered any of these staff, you have undoubtedly felt the love. We celebrate the front office staff as Laura Keaton and Patty Parnow are set for retirement at the end of the school year. So please join in saluting our fabulous front office staff capturing the true essence of Tam-Unity.

JOSHUA DEITCH

It has been an amazing journey since June 2021 as it relates to my personal and professional life and living and working in Mill Valley. It’s been a pleasure on every level to experience the magic of Mill Valley, from continuing to build friendships and community to enjoy a safe environment for my growing children. As a real estate agent, it’s been an extremely robust 1.5 years since being featured in Mill Valley Living magazine. The desirability of the village-town lifestyle, excellent location, a conscious community, and immediate access to nature are primary reasons Mill Valley is in such high demand. It’s been an honor to have served both buyers and sellers to achieve or exceed their real estate goals and visions. Our downtown Mill Valley real estate lounge should be open soon, with the intent of further building and enjoying our community, inspiring spontaneous interactions, and learning from one another. It’s a very exciting venture that I’m excited to share with friends, clients, potential clients, and colleagues. I often have to remind myself how fortunate I am to have been a part of the Mill Valley fabric over the last 2 decades and counting. Thank you, Mill Valley.

ED BOGAS AND DÉSIRÉE GOYETTE-BOGA

What fun it was to be featured in Mill Valley Living two years ago. Your team came through in the throes of the pandemic and made us feel as though our little lives were worth writing about! Like so many, we hibernated quite a bit since then. But we musicians are accustomed to working at home and so we did. Désirée taught piano, voice, and classrooms full of Marin Horizon students via Zoom. Ed taught songwriting and together we became regular contributors to Zoom church services, workshops, voice-over classes, service organizations, and sing-alongs.

As folks re-matriculated, both Ed and Désirée brought their teaching skills into the live classroom. Last Spring Désirée rekindled her love for live theatre while performing as the Reverend Mother in a production of The Sound Of Music at the Throckmorton Theatre. Since then she has served as music director for the Throckmorton production of Urinetown as well as their current production of West Side Story. She is also vocal contracting and singing in a soundtrack recording session for a new Universal Pictures release featuring Nicholas Cage. This past year, Ed enjoyed music directing an epic-themed party at the General’s Residence in Fort Mason, a big-band charity event at legendary Bimbo’s nightclub, and the sold-out Tribute to Motown at the Marin Showcase Theatre. Ed is especially enjoying writing and producing a variety of musicals for youth and adult theatre. He is currently putting together a presentation for potential investors of his loving theatrical tribute to the Yiddish comedy, Moishe’s Deli.

What pleases them most is hearing from their two college kids Ben and Lily. Desiree loved getting Lily settled in her first apartment near The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where she is currently a Junior. Parent’s weekend in Nashville to visit son Ben at Vanderbilt was a huge highlight. And daughter Lily’s appearances in her first professional opera and on stage with Michael Feinstein were a special treat.

OLIVIA SMITH

I am attending Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts where I am starting my sophomore spring semester. I’m really enjoying it and while going to school across the country was intimidating, it has been amazing to see the geographic and cultural differences between the two coasts. As a part of the volleyball team, I am grateful for the impact that I have been able to have on the program. I am so thankful for the team and community so far from home, and that I chose to pursue the sport I loved past high school. Academically, I have decided to double major in sociology and economics and I look forward to exploring the intersectionality between the two disciplines. With all of the global inequalities in the world, I want to use the two subjects to create socioeconomic change. While I’m still not certain of what lies ahead, I’m excited to see what the rest of my college experience has in store!

CAITLIN SMITH

I am currently in my sophomore year at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. Academically, I recently declared as a Psychology major with minors in Spanish and Gender/Feminist Studies. I’m not quite sure what career path this will lead me down but I am hoping to work for a mission-driven company this summer and gain experience with company culture and leadership. Because of Middlebury’s excellent language and abroad programs, I am planning on studying in Argentina next spring which I am looking forward to! I am also playing on the volleyball team at Middlebury which has been a great opportunity for me to gain and demonstrate leadership skills and form close relationships with my teammates. Unfortunately, I underwent an intense knee injury and surgery this past fall and was unable to play my sophomore season but am looking forward to getting back on the court next year! I have really enjoyed being a student-athlete at Middlebury because it allows me to pursue what I love both athletically and academically.

PROOF LAB 

We are still cranking along and serving as a hub for all things surfing, skating, and outdoor-related. We’re excited to be able to plan a normal full slate of community events and happenings at the shops in 2023, after just starting to do events again in mid-2022. We recently improved the outdoor seating at our Beer Garden collaboration with Hook Fish Co., as that space continues to serve as the main gathering place of our Mill Valley compound. Equator Coffees, CNL Native Plant Nursery, Big Dog Surf Camp, Mill Valley Potters’ Studio, and Magic West Music Lessons are also all still buzzing and rounding off our little neighborhood corner. We’re looking forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2024! Does that mean we have to grow up?

REBECCA BRUCE

Reemerging after the pandemic, my customers and I needed garments to help us step out of our emotional context–to feel empowered and connected while delivering a message of interest and approachability. I found people were drawn to the artful and textured; a conversational piece to compel, not overwhelm. Something with an understated edgeTravelers ready to shake off quarantine went to Ibiza in my lace palazzos and halter dresses, or festivals wearing the one-of-a-kind or reimagined pieces to Ondalinda in Mexico, and Burning Man in Nevada. 

In January, I exhibited at The Sausalito Center for the Arts (SCA), a newly acquired building, featuring “Jewels of the Playa”, the photography,  art, and fashion of Burning Man. I showcased with sculptress Laura Kimpton and photo documentarian Eleanor Preger. In the exhibition, I presented clothing items featuring a label with embedded authentication that also came with an NFT. Additionally, I unveiled a virtual gown to wear in the metaverse. On the flip side of digitized fashion, I am firmly committed to producing limited-edition fashion. My customers want something bespoke or innovative essential items. It’s important for them to be a part of the process and to know where and who makes their clothing. You can view some of my specialty items through Instagram @rebeccabrucedesigns or my studio located in the seaplane building just off Hwy 1/101.

Please support your local artists. Curious visitors welcome.  
We are walking billboards. What is your message? 

RITA ABRAMS 

Christmas Day, 2020 was the 50th anniversary of the day I sat down on the bench beside Mill Valley’s Greyhound bus station (now the Depot Café), and wrote the Mill Valley song. I thought Mill Valley was such an enchanting town that I wanted my Strawberry Point School kindergartners to be able who recorded it with the more mature third graders, played it for Warner-Reprise records and it became an international hit.

Little did I dream of how life-changing that little song would be, or of the professional opportunities it would bring. I’d written songs all my life, but from then on, it became my career. And though that simple song seemed to touch so many people, many of whom still write to me about its effect on them, the nature of my music has taken many turns since then. 

In recent times, musical theater has been the most compelling, allowing me the widest range of musical expression. So when author Josie Brown ask me to compose the songs for her Pride and Prejudice Musical, I decided to try channeling Jane Austen. And it seems to be working, because, after a world premiere in London, a U.S. premiere in San Francisco, a high school production in Peoria, and one planned in Hong Kong, it’s finally coming to Marin’s Ross Valley Players’ Barn Theater, in the Marin Art & Garden Center. With our esteemed director, Phoebe Moyer, and a wonderful cast — Josie, my co-musical director, Jack Prendergast, and I, are pretty excited about it. And I especially hope all my Mill Valley friends and fans will be there to cheer us on — and be thoroughly entertained in the process!

VERN GLENN

Still going strong since the September Mill Valley Living issue of 2020! Humbled at a Television Hall of Fame nod, as I enter my 11th year at CBS affiliate KPIX-TV, after a 23-year run at KRON in San Francisco. It was fun covering a 107-win season for the Giants, an NBA Championship for the Warriors, and now a Super Bowl playoff run by the 49ers. Sports and newscasts do not take a day off, so why should I? I’m so excited to attack each day, as Jim Harbaugh always says,” with enthusiasm unknown to mankind.” If you see me around Marin, tap on my shoulder and say hello. Let’s lean in for a selfie.

SARA WASSERMAN

Since the feature article was released, my daughter is now 4 and a half! She’s in school, happy, and thriving! My focus as a single mom is her happiness each day. My other focus of course is Music Heals International, the nonprofit I founded in 2013 in partnership with CORE and Little Kids Rock. This year we celebrate our 10th Anniversary! We have an incredible new board of directors and an amazing board president and I’m beyond grateful for the support and belief in our work. It takes a village!

We are currently working in Haiti and India (launched our partnership with OSCAR Foundation in India in 2020) and exploring opportunities for growth and expansion. Our students in Haiti continue to inspire year after year despite many challenges in their country. Thank you to everyone who continues to support our work — We hope to see you at an upcoming 10th Anniversary benefit in 2023!

RANDY HETRICK

I’ve been plenty busy since my feature in Mill Valley Living. I sold a controlling interest in TRX to a private equity group and moved on (after TRX’s best year ever) to launch a new venture — a cutting-edge outdoor mobile fitness franchise called OutFit. Then, the group to whom I had sold TRX, drove it into Chapter 11. So I partnered with my good pal Jack Daly to go buy it back — which we did! Both businesses are now thriving but my ambitions of chilling out, surfing more, and smelling the roses have had to take a rain check for a few more years!

AUSTIN DELONE

Plenty of music going on these days! The ’23 gig season with Wreckless Strangers is kicking off with a gig at Rancho Nicasio (Saturday, January 21), and we are getting ready to record more tunes for our second album. I just came back from a week in Austin, recording for my buddy Bill Kirchen’s next fabulous album at the legendary Cedar Creek Studio.

MARK WILLARD

Over the last year, things have continued to go very well at 95.7 The Game. Our station has found ratings success, and on a personal level, I feel good about the new relationships that have been built. I look forward to my 2nd full year at the station, which is on tap!

My 3 kids continue to be the center of my attention and the light of my life! My oldest son Abe is about to start driving. My beautiful daughter Ella will be joining him at Tam High this fall. And the young one of the group, 9-year-old Jude is sports obsessed…no idea where he gets it!

I’ve also found new love with my girlfriend Kristy Farnsworth, a Mill Valley native. She has been an incredible gift and a great source of strength and joy.

In 2023, I’m looking forward to continuing relationships with so many special people in this town.

LAMPL/CLIFFORD FAMILY

 Bill is still the Executive Director of Kiddo and looking forward to the big gala this year at Bimbos in SF. He will be moving on from this post to new adventures, after more than a decade of fundraising for this worthy and wonderful nonprofit organization.

Kathleen is still enjoying her work as a Realtor helping people live their dream in Marin.

Lauren received her Masters at Stanford and has been teaching a couple of dozen energetic 5th graders in Lemon Grove for two years. She lives in sunny, fun Pacific Beach in San Diego.

Ben lives in Newport Beach and works for Black Knight on the bond trading team (early to bed and early to rise)….such discipline! 

SAMMY HAGAR

March 2021 feels like a lifetime ago – and since then I’ve gone through one of the busiest times of my life. In the year prior, we’d gone through the pandemic and what could I do while on lockdown other than create – I had to channel that energy into something. I felt like a volcano that was about to blow and I put that energy into doing things I love. I wrote a new album, “Crazy Times,” that’s really a concept album, and part of that theme is what the whole world had just gone through together, plus I wrote my first cocktail book and created a line of canned cocktails. Since March 2021, all of those things have come out, that volcano erupted, and it feels like I’ve been going nonstop.

“Crazy Times” touches on all the craziness that we all went through both individually and collectively as a society. One of the best parts about making an album is that I got to tour with my band, The Circle, and it really felt amazing to play in front of live audiences again! During the lockdown, I tried one of those canned cocktails that everyone seemed to be drinking and it was horrible, so my kids dared me to make something that tasted better than what was on the market. I love a creative challenge and I ended up creating a sparkling rum cocktail in a can, Sammy’s Beach Bar Cocktail Co., and the four flavors that I came up with (Tangerine Dream, which tastes just like a creamsicle, Pineapple Jalapeño, Cherry Kola Chill and Island Pop) are amazing. Of course, most of these projects that I take on are also a way to help me give back through philanthropy. People ask me all the time “how much money do you need?” I don’t do these projects for fame and fortune, I need the distraction and creative escape, so I end up giving most of the profits to various charities. So far, my Hagar Family Foundation has donated more than $3 million to local food banks and other causes and my newest restaurant, Cabo Wabo Beach Club and Bar, which is opening this spring in Huntington Beach, will donate proceeds to babies and families that are born with serious medical conditions. Because of the way I grew up, giving back to families in need is something that is near and dear to my heart and something that I will always do till the day I die. Finally, to end this on a high note, now that we’re back to socializing and parties, I released a book, “Sammy Hagar’s Cocktail Hits,” which has some of my favorite cocktail recipes to make and celebrate 2023 with loved ones.