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Mike Padilla

Mike Padilla, 20, a Millsaps College student—an actor, a director, a techie and an award-winning playwright—is involved in the theater at Millsaps on every possible level. Right now he's working backstage on "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr: Abridged," which opens Aug. 25. Next up, he's directing Jean Anouilh's version of "Antigone." When I asked him when we could get together, he told me to "just stop by the theater any time, I'll be there pretty much all day." I finally caught up with him sitting at a makeup table in the dressing room at Millsaps, writing in his notebook. Surrounded by masks, wigs and witch hats, Padilla seemed entirely at home.

Dr. Kimberly Hilliard

Dr. Kimberly Hilliard isn't one to make small plans. As the director of Jackson State University's Center for University-Based Development, Hilliard is on a mission to make west Jackson a more vibrant community by restoring homes and businesses.

Luis Bruno

If you believe that life can come full circle, you might also buy that some people's lives have more than one circle. Circle No.1 for 34-year-old Luis Bruno started when he was 13 in Tivoli, N.Y.—upstate about 20 miles from Hyde Park where his family had moved from his native Bronx—at his brother's business called Bruno's. "It was a produce, meat ... seafood market, dairy … deli … [and] a pizzeria later on, from there we had a family restaurant," he says. Bruno decided that attending culinary school was the next logical step for him. He packed up and moved to Clearwater, Fla., where he attended Pinellas Technical Education Center for two years. There he met his wife, Kathleen, a native of Mississippi, while in school. "We graduated top in our class," Bruno states with a soft glow in his brown eyes. After graduation and getting married in 1995, the Brunos moved to Jackson to be near her family.

Chuck Culpepper

Saint Alexis Episcopal Church is in the heart of Jackson, just down the street from Hal and Mal's.

James Meredith

Talking to Mr. James Meredith is a right-brain experience. The conversation isn't linear, organized, disciplined. It jumps around to topics that the thin, intense grandfather is interested in at the very instant. As the 70-year-old Kosciusko native talks first about the legacy of slavery in Brazil (where he just visited); the need for people to "blend" in society; Ole Miss back in 1962 when he integrated the stubborn old institution; the oddity of growing older; and finally young people's need to work harder, you can easily see why his name ended up in lights. It's hard to imagine someone more unique, more creative, more daring, more willing to offend one or another status quo.

Cynthia Buchanan

Sitting in a conference room at the MetroJackson Chamber of Commerce wearing pearls and a kind smile, Cynthia Buchanan talks about her shift from the tobacco world to the community sector.

Jill Conner Browne

Mississippians are so used to being on the bottom that, without provocation, we'll take aim at our own feet and fire at will just to prove we can blow a damned toe off. That's my thought whenever I hear someone whine about how Mal's St. Paddy's Parade has gotten "too big," or balk at joining the thousands of tiara-ed and sequined "wannabes" who drive, fly and hitchhike into Jackson every March to eat, drink and be friggin' merry enough to last another 11 months or so. It is unfathomable to me that a single Jacksonian would take for granted what Jill Conner Browne has done for this city and its residents.

Janet Scott

A proud product of Jackson Public Schools, Janet Scott is a shining example that public school works. She's intelligent, well-rounded and constantly looking for ways to give back to her community.

Rob McDuff

Robert B. McDuff, 46, looks too rumpled and carefree to be about to argue the Democrats' congressional redistricting case before the U.S. Supreme Court in December. But, a cursory look around the Jackson attorney's office—in a slightly crumbling North Congress house with crooked steps and peeling gray paint—reveals that he's about more than power. He wants to make a difference.

Willie McKennis

Casually dressed in a black blazer, white dress shirt and blue jeans, Willie McKennis has a full schedule. However, he takes a break to tell the story of his life.

Rev. Bruce Wimberley

Rev. Bruce Wimberley is a man with fierce, brown eyes. Despite his intense gaze, he exhibits a calm demeanor. His leather sandals reveal his casual nature and appreciation for comfort, while his age-chiseled face testifies to a life of service and sacrifice.

Sabir Abdul-Haqq

When Sabir Abdul-Haqq puts his story in digital format, the soundtrack will be hip-hop. Not the stuff that gives the genre a bad name, though. It will probably sound a lot like Jurassic 5. Bright young faces beaming with potential will surround him, and you'll almost surely see his mother, Rosa Shareef, and 17-year-old brother, Ahmed Shareef—the two people he admires most. His digital story will leave viewers impressed: Abdul-Haqq is a man with passion and an inspiring sense of integrity.

Beth Poff

Beth Poff laughs her best laugh as she ponders the question, "What do you do in your spare time?"

Richard Kubow

Multi-talented musician-businessman Richard Kubow, is the owner of Richard's Music, a man who can play any instrument and sing any note. In 2003 a blaze set fire to his studio, which had been open since 1981, but Kubow got back on track. He and his staff teach many different music lessons to the public everyday in theMaywood Mart complex.

Janice Cameron

Downtown lawyers, med students, hipsters and retireescountless Jacksonians of every stripe know Janice Cameron's work, even if they don't know her. With her husband, Dennis, Cameron owns Cups Espresso Café, a Jackson-based coffee-shop chain.

Ruth Oguhebe

As she walks into the empty school library, 17-year-old Ruth Oguhebe smiles and reaches out for a hug before sitting down at a table and taking off her shoes.

Crafton Beck

In seventh grade, Crafton Beck agreed to play an instrument he had never heard of before. Beck had wanted to play the trumpet, but the band director at his middle school in West Memphis, Ark., said to him: "Son, you can't play the trumpet, you've got braces. How about the oboe or the clarinet?" Beck had no idea what either instrument looked or sounded like, so when the band director suggested the clarinet, he agreed. Years later, at Ohio State University, where he had received a scholarship to study clarinet, Beck finally parted with his arbitrarily acquired instrument and found his true vocation—conducting.

Daniel Fuller

Daniel Fuller isn't your mama's English teacher. He knows getting students excited about 16th-century literature requires a little innovation.

Alfred Jacobs

On any given day during a week, you can find Alfred Jacobs, 46, walking the halls of Bradley Elementary School. Jacobs is not the principal or even a paid administrator at the school; he is an involved parent.

Robert Langford

Tall and slender, with a fluid gait that quickly takes him from one responsibility to the next, Robert Langford, 42, has the needs of children and their families foremost in his heart and mind. First, there's his wife Betsy Bradley, executive director of the Mississippi Museum of Art, and their two children. Then there are the elementary school students and their families served by Operation Shoestring where Langford has been executive director since 1997.

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