Meet the people shaping Bergen County, through their work, passions, ideas, and the lives they’ve built here.
After decades in cancer survivorship, Dr. Mercedes Castiel began looking more closely at everything patients carry outside the examination room. Her next chapter has brought a different kind of medical practice, more control over her time, and an increasingly convincing claim to Bergen County residency.
Kathy Baruffi finds old paintings, handmade boxes, rusty hardware and forgotten objects in Bergen County basements and estate sales. Then she gives them another life.
After loss made her reconsider how much of life she was postponing, Elina Paliakova began building something of her own. The result brings together her Belarusian childhood, France, art, flowers, family and a philosophy about using the good china now.
A Bergen County native and nonprofit leader with a knack for turning ideas into programs and bringing people together.
Meet Yelena Meytes, a Bergen County mom, Columbia professional and unlikely DJ who discovered that adulthood still has plenty of room for music, creativity, and firsts.
