By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Kaylavon Middleton is a proud, card-carrying Medicare member and, as a licensed Certified Medicare Insurance Planner, she enjoys helping others navigate the system.  “I’m there as a bridge when people get ready to retire,” Middleton says. She’s a retiree herself, well, sort of. She left BlueCross BlueShield after 16 years and knew how to tread the Medicare waters herself. Five ...

By Jordan Houston When it comes to leadership, Dr. Sara Vizcarra sets the tone, not only as a professional but as a woman, Latina and mother as well. Dr. Vizcarra, an esteemed dentist at North Scottsdale’s Pinnacle Peak Family Dentistry, has built a reputation for herself as a knowledgeable, personable and compassionate doctor in a variety of services, including cosmetic dentistry, pediatric dentistry, orth ...

By Sara Edwards JoyEful Gallery is growing with the expansion of its latest gallery space in El Pedregal at the Boulders Resort in Scottsdale. Owner Joye DeGoede says the bigger room will allow her to sponsor and host more artists she’s passionate about. “This gallery space was the Sonoran Arts League gallery for six years, and I was the resident artist,” she says. “I knew in December that it was going to c ...

By Keith Jones Construction is nearly complete, and a mid-year opening is planned for Abrazo Cave Creek Hospital near the intersection of Carefree Highway and Cave Creek Road. Abrazo Cave Creek Hospital is a new type of neighborhood hospital, designed with an emphasis on convenience, patient safety, surgical and emergency services. “We are excited to expand Abrazo’s services in the North Valley by creating ...

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski   Life is funny, according to Cave Creek native Mark Grossman. The Cactus Shadows High School graduate rode dirt bikes and played sports until his mid-20s, when a modeling scout recruited him. Last year, things changed for Grossman. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Adam Newman on “The Yo ...

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Dana Mule traveled the world with New Kids on the Block providing security for singer Jonathan Knight. Screaming girls, autograph hounds and concerts filled his days. When he met his wife, he quit traveling. So, he, in time, opened a restaurant — Hula’s Modern Tiki. “The only thing more insane with more hours than the restaurant business is the event business,” Mule says with a ...

By Sarah Haber At 10 years old, Larry Shore sat in the kitchen and watched eagerly as his mother prepared dinner. The kitchen was a beautiful mess with flour dusting the countertops, spoons scattered and an assortment of vegetables laying across the cutting board. By the stove, the dough was laid out ready to be kneaded. “Larry, why don’t you pretend this dough is a bully and help me make dinner,” his mothe ...

By Connor Dziawura The business world is changing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Cave Creek website design and digital marketing agency BPetersonDesign is recommending business owners adapt to the times with a new strategy for 2021. Husband-and-wife team Ben and Janae Peterson, the company’s president and vice president, respectively, have observed the growing shift toward online marketing, purch ...

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Cole Randall and Jason Swenton of Sonoran Desert Olive Oil Co. are getting creative with their balsamic vinegars by encouraging local restaurants and bars to use their products. “There are different things you can do with balsamics,” Randall says. “With cocktails and mocktails, it can be cool. Now, a lot of mixologists are using balsamic vinegars in their drinks.” He offers pea ...

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Kathleen Sabol comes to the door of her parents’ Carefree Ranch home in North Scottsdale. The glamorous blonde is wearing subtle-yet-glistening jewelry — pieces she made herself. Sabol founded Mila + Stevie, a modern bohemian glam jewelry line she handcrafts herself. She mixes natural gemstones and metals to create dainty to statement pieces. The company is named after her fluf ...

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski BUYAZRE founder Asher Cohen has done his research on North Valley ZIP codes, and he sees homes selling briskly. “When it comes to the North Valley, we’re seeing listings move very quickly,” Cohen says. “Homes for sale in this area stay on the market for an average of just 72 days before selling. Also, home prices are up more than $219,000, compared to December of 2019.” The hou ...

By Connor Dziawura The Scottsdale Airport and surrounding area were doing well in the 2019 fiscal year. According to Sarah Ferrara, aviation planning and outreach coordinator for the Scottsdale Airport, aviation activity at the airport and airpark brought in $688 million in economic benefits for the region, supporting 3,979 jobs amounting to $241 million in income. Spin-off airpark activity, unrelated to av ...

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski Cybersecurity expert and former FBI agent Michael McAndrews has three loves in his life—malware, motorcycles and music. Malware is key to PacketWatch, a 3-year-old Scottsdale-based company for which he serves as vice president, network security services. PacketWatch is the name of the business and the proprietary network monitoring, analysis and investigation platform designed ...

By Kamala Kirk When Brett Ortiz launched AZ Custom Hats & Apparel in 2016, his business grew quickly and built a reputation for making high-quality, custom products that include everything from hats and accessories to clothing items. “We started out selling hats with different sayings on them,” Ortiz says. “That eventually grew into people wanting us to make them custom hats, which then snowballed to sh ...

By Sarah Donahue From the Appalachian to the Sonoran Desert, Chris Chapman is planting his 250-year-old moonshine recipe in the heart of Cave Creek. A former post office will soon be a fully operational distillery—Hillis and McGee Cave Creek Distillery—with tastings as well as basic distilling and advanced distilling courses. Guests can enjoy live music played by a bluegrass band each weekend. He plans to c ...