The Artist Who Draws In Nature

She paints. She writes. She welds. She wears men’s Tony Lama cowboy boots and dangly turquoise earrings that fly through her long black hair when the wind blows. Lisa Zilker loves math, science, literature and getting her sturdy hands dirty down to her short, unpolished nails. Lisa Zilker paints trees, nudes and geometrics. “There is nothing I don’t do,” she says. “I guess you could say I’m a modern-day Renaissance woman.” But wait. Lisa whips out her iPhone,…

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The Martial-Arts Mentor

Dino Orfanos starts out sitting in the big leather swivel chair behind the desk. He’s not there even three seconds when he asks whether it would be OK if he moves to the other side of the desk, the one where his students sign up for classes. Dino is the owner of the NY Martial Arts Academy. He may be the owner of the NY Martial Arts Academy, which has three locations and is constructing a fourth, but it just seems too formal, too official if he puts himself in the big-boss seat. “I’m…

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The Hard-Driving Couple

With one well-practiced pull, Fanny Cedeno rolls up the fortress-like metal gate at Astoria Express Transit. When her husband, Luis Gualotuna, walks in a minute later, she rushes up behind him and smoothes the rumpled collar of his grey sweater. Luis and Fanny own Astoria Express Transit. It is a familiar routine. Luis and Fanny have been married 35 years, and they have been working together for 25. They can’t see enough of each other. They met in their 20s in their native Ecuador when Luis…

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The Dog Tamer

It’s what’s not in Judy Bushman‘s third-floor walkup that commands attention. Her tiny, tidy studio has a kitchen, bathroom and living room/dining room/bedroom combo, but it doesn’t have a dog. And that’s a shame because Judy loves the furry, four-footed creatures more than she loves some people. Make that most people. Judy started Woofs ‘n Purrs when she lost her job. “Dogs give you unconditional love,” she says. “They lick you for no reason…

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