Jessica Marie El-Assaad’s whole life has led up to what she’s doing now. As the founder of Complete Health Education and Wellness Inc. (cleverly, CHEW), she not only spends her days living a healthy, happy, holistic lifestyle, but teaching others to do it, too.

Scrumptious smells are escaping out of Kelly Reiss’s Logan Square kitchen in Chicago. The self-proclaimed “Vegetarian Librarian” is cooking up webisodes for Chicagoans that are more than your average cooking show.

Cristin Kelly is a Chicagoan hell-bent on doing good. She doesn’t kill bugs, always leaves a penny without taking one, and—maybe most importantly—signed up and shipped out for a two-year stint in Teach For America.

Everyone loves the Blackhawks these days; they’re on their way to the Stanley Cup and might just win it all for the [...]

Avid reader and devoted Chicagoan Stacy Ratner began the Chicago non-profit “Open Books” to help combat illiteracy in the city as well as provide a place for people to buy used books and simply hang out.