For the last 20 years, Vicki Riskin has been a force within Santa Barbara’s political and philanthropic circles, and she doesn’t show any sign of slowing down now. Famous for knowing everybody whether they’re famous or not, Riskin has a gift of making what otherwise might feel like hard work seem like fun. A genius for connecting people who don’t know each other, she ranks as one of the great synapses in Santa Barbara’s body politic.

After last year’s catastrophic debris flow, when she lost her cousin Rebecca Riskin and her Randall Road home, she joined an effort to transform eight acres of demolished Montecito real estate into a new debris basin. This effort, she hopes, will protect hundreds of downstream residents living in the San Ysidro Creek watershed, where four residents died and 95 homes were destroyed.

Riskin, a former therapist and an accomplished screenwriter ​— ​she was the first woman elected president of the Writers Guild of America West ​— ​has a reputation for getting things done without having to twist arms. A longtime supporter of Human Rights Watch, Riskin established the Southern California Chapter with a strong branch here in Santa Barbara. She led the charge to make Antioch University a serious player in community affairs, reaching out to Santa Barbara’s Latino community, its veterans, and its community college students. She is probably the person most responsible for getting the Los Angeles–based public radio station KCRW to open a Santa Barbara affiliate. Not coincidentally, it’s located in Antioch’s downtown campus.