What’s it like to go from community organizer to Congress to the Mayor’s chair — with history rhyming along the way?

Karen Bass’s story is as personal as it is political — and as uniquely Los Angeles as they come.

Before she was Mayor of Los Angeles, she was a physician’s assistant, the founder of the influential nonprofit Community Coalition, the first Black woman to serve as Speaker of the California Assembly, a Congresswoman, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and even a contender for Vice President.

In this episode, Mayor Bass talks about the forces that shaped her: being denied entry to her middle school because they had “met their quota” of Black students, hearing Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination broadcast live on the radio after volunteering for his campaign at age 14, and growing up during a time when her parents warned her that Martin Luther King Jr. might not live to see his dream fulfilled.

This isn’t a policy interview — it’s a conversation about the life that shaped the leader. The fires, ICE raids, and challenges of today are part of the story, but this is less

Meet the Press

… and more

Meet Karen Bass.

Pandora’s Box: The Fall of L.A.’s Sheriff is a six-part true crime investigation from the Los Angeles Times about one of the biggest law enforcement scandals in U.S. history.

Follow Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Christopher Goffard as he uncovers how Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, once hailed as a reformer, became entangled in a shocking cover-up inside the nation’s largest jail system. From FBI informants and jailhouse brutality to corruption at the highest levels, this series reveals how deputies hid an inmate, intimidated federal agents, and ultimately brought down one of California’s most powerful sheriffs.

What does it take to lead a museum with 110 years of Los Angeles history — and keep it moving forward in a city that never stands still?

Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga is the President of the Natural History Museum of L.A. County, home to more than 35 million artifacts and specimens, the largest such collection in the Western United States. In this episode, she shares how getting a PhD in geology — of all things — led her from the classroom to a college presidency, and eventually to the helm of one of the city’s most iconic cultural institutions.

We talk about the challenges of modernizing a 110-year-old institution, what it takes to stay rooted in science and community, and how she’s working to make the museum more reflective of the city it serves.

And yes — we finally settle whether there are actually dinosaur bones in the La Brea Tar Pits.

Plus: which fellow Making Los Angeles guest is she totally starstruck by? Listen to find out.