Cycling Angel
Jimmy Lizama
30, Los Angeles, CA

Job Description: Community activist, bike messenger, and founder of the Bicycle Kitchen, a four-year-old, cooperatively run nonprofit bike-repair shop in East Hollywood, where urban cyclists, bike messengers, schoolkids, and others hang out, swap advice, and learn how to fix their rides.
Why This Work Rules: "Everybody gets empowered," says Lizama, a galvanizing force in the L.A. bike scene. At the Kitchen, he spreads the biking gospel, organizes repair classes, and gives bikes to needy kids.
Turning Point: In 1999, Lizama woke up too late to catch the bus to his art-gallery job, so he grabbed his rusting Huffy, pedaled the five miles, and passed three buses en route. Instantly bike-addicted, he left the gallery, became a bike messenger, and, in 2001, transformed the kitchen of an empty apartment near his own, in the sustainable-living community L.A. Eco-Village, into a bike-repair spot. People flocked in, including Lizama's soon-to-be Kitchen partner, Ben Guzman. To ease crowding, the Kitchen relocated this year to its current storefront.
The Balanced Life: The Kitchen is open at least seven hours daily from Saturday through Monday, and from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. That still gives Lizama time for messenger work, vying in bike-messenger competitions, and enjoying the Midnight Ridazz, a mass nighttime fun ride through Los Angeles. He's also devoted to capoeira, a Brazilian martial art.
Reality Check: "There's sacrifice involved," Lizama says. "I dump money into the Kitchen, and it doesn't give me money back."
The Bottom Line: Directors at established nonprofits can make $40,000-plus a year, but at the Kitchen—where donations barely cover expenses—Lizama's salary is zero. To survive, he brings in $32,000 to $60,000 a year as a messenger. Still think his gig sounds cool? Check out www.bicyclekitchen.com and work at a nonprofit that inspires you. "The minute you apply your skills to a kid or someone who can't afford to pay you and you love it," says Lizama, "you'll know you're in it for the right reasons."