Cheryl Pawelski (Omnivore, Wilco boxes)

Omnivore Recordings co-founder and four-time Gramny-winning producer Cheryl Pawelski has figured out how to do what she loves for a living. She went from obsessing about music in Milwaukee to having great adventures in the "floater pool" at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. With stints at Rhino and Concord as well, she oversaw ambitious reissues by, among others, the Band, Big Star, the Smithereens, the Beach Boys, Pat Benatar, Nina Simone and the Miles Davis Quintet. Her long association with Wilco has included deluxe boxes for Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (which won a Grammy) and, earlier this year, A Ghost Is Born. She won another Grammy for the 2023 7-CD set Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos. She recounts it all with the passion of a fan, even as she deals with the challenges of running a record label and the recent loss of her Altadena home in the Southern California wildfires. (Photo by Greg Allen.)