By Jennifer K. Morita

June 24, 2025

Sacramento entrepreneurs Anne Descalzo and Rachel Zillner are the kind of businesswomen you call in a clutch.

For example, you call them if you need to open a COVID-19 call center, or supply relief medical workers to hospitals in the midst of a global pandemic.

The pair share an ethos – curiosity, optimism, drive and evolution – and an alma mater. And when the Sacramento State alums left corporate banking to start the government consulting firm Clutch in August 2019, it began a journey that has profoundly shaped the local business community.

Today, Clutch is one of the fastest-growing companies in the Sacramento region. In addition, Descalzo ‘12  (Journalism) and Zillner ‘09 (Business Administration and Management) have also started the first female-founded venture capital fund in Sacramento, opened a coworking and event space, and are about to relaunch a “listening intelligence” consulting firm.

In September, they also bought the longtime Sacramento advertising agency and public relations firm Runyon Saltzman Inc. (RSE), returning it to its roots as a women-owned and women-led business.

“Jean Runyon started RSE 65 years ago, and we believe she was one of, if not the first, woman to start an ad agency in the state of California,” Zillner said. “We see ourselves as both a mirror and a magnifying glass for the bold vision she brought to life: amplifying her fearless spirit, challenging the status quo, and continuing to make space for women to lead and shape the future of business in Sacramento and beyond.”

Together, the friends and business partners have earned a reputation for getting the job done and championing the capital region as a place for entrepreneurs to thrive.

“I just think it’s important to remember to take a look at what’s in your own backyard," Zillner said. It would be great to keep our dollars in our ecosystem, here in our region, because if we want to have a vibrant place to live and work, that’s how we provide those jobs.”

Zillner and Descalzo led similar lives. Both were born and raised in Sacramento to parents who were entrepreneurs, and grew up helping their families’ businesses.

Descalzo’s mom and grandmother owned a collectible store in the 57th Street Antique Mall in East Sacramento. It was where she learned the importance of customer service and creating a welcoming environment.

“It was a place for people to buy gifts for loved ones, or themselves, that were a treat or an indulgence,” Descalzo said. “So, from a very young age, whether it was answering phones or practicing my gift wrapping, folding, ribboning, or sticker-applying with precision, I learned about creating an elevated experience for people.

“It stayed with me. I think the entrepreneurial bug is just sort of genetic.”

Zillner was in just the fifth grade when she practically took over her father’s limousine business.

“I sounded like my mom on the phone, so customers just assumed I was my mother,” she said. “I would book the cars, and run the credit cards, call the drivers, and basically did the scheduling and operations side of the business.”

At 16, Zillner became one of her father’s chauffeurs. Like her dad, she was a “serial entrepreneur,” selling her artwork to his clients and opening a hamster breeding company, babysitter’s club and lawn mowing service.

An early exposure to owning a business isn’t the only way Zillner and Descalzo’s journeys were similar. Despite their families’ history, neither wanted to be entrepreneurs themselves. And when it came time to attend college, both initially envisioned leaving Sacramento before ultimately finding a home at Sac State – where both had family ties.

Descalzo had opportunities to go to other universities in California, but none of them felt right. So she settled at Sac State, where her grandfather had been a professor of education.

“It was toward the end of his life when I made the decision to go to Sac State, so it came full circle for me,” she said. “I fell in love with the campus. It felt like home.

“I think I matured enough where I finally felt a sense of pride to be on campus and be a student that’s Made at Sac State, rather than trying to run away from it and pursue something else.”

Motivated by financial independence and a strong desire to graduate and work, Descalzo tried a number of fields before settling on banking.

“I majored in journalism, and it taught me how to ask the questions that get you to the answers you really need to find out, which is a critical business skill and transferable in so many ways,” said Descalzo, who also minored in Business.

Zillner’s grandfather didn’t teach at Sac State – but he was an alum.

“My grandfather went to Sac State and spoke of it as an excellent school. I thought, ‘Well, gosh. I would be really proud to go here and get my degree.’”

Zillner, who spent much of her childhood watching the ups and downs of being a business owner, knew she wanted a steady, nine-to-five kind of job and also went into banking after college. But while at Sac State, she did take a class on entrepreneurship.

“It was awesome because our teacher brought in people who worked in corporate spaces, in small businesses, and it just gave me a better perception of how things actually work in business,” Zillner said.

Descalzo and Zillner met while they were working at SAFE Credit Union and immediately hit it off.

“Anne and I are like yin and yang,” said Zillner, who was Descalzo’s manager for several years. “Everything I’m horrible at, Anne’s really good at, and so we make a great team. We got really good about staying in our strengths and focusing on the things that work really well for us.

“We’re like work wives.”

“(Sac State) was awesome because our teacher brought in people who worked in corporate spaces, in small businesses, and it just gave me a better perception of how things actually work in business." -- Rachel Zillner

After two decades in corporate banking, however, they decided they’d had enough.

“We had one really tough meeting after several months of hard things. I came downstairs to Anne’s office and just kind of dramatically draped myself across her desk and said, ‘If I could ever leave this place, would you come with me?’” Zillner said. “Because I couldn’t imagine doing work without Anne. We had really bonded as a team.”

That night, the two women sat on the floor of Zillner’s kitchen and brainstormed ideas – not for what their business would do, but the core values of their company.

“What really mattered to us was the workplace, and how we wanted to see people be treated, how we wanted to treat people and the quality of the work we would commit ourselves to,” Descalzo said.

As moms juggling careers and families, Zillner and Descalzo wanted to create a work environment that was flexible for working parents and where people could be their authentic selves.

They decided to go into government consulting and named their company Clutch, a feminine nod to helping clients get work done by assisting them with staffing, training, event management, marketing and more.

During the pandemic, they worked with the state to open a COVID-19 call center serving 44 million people in California. Clutch also created programs to provide relief nurses to hospitals, and get vaccines to people who were immobile.

When vaccination records in California were backlogged, Clutch worked on digitizing them so people could get the proof of immunization needed to go to school, work, travel and even eat at restaurants.

Zillner and Descalzo eventually formed the RADZ Group family of companies that includes Clutch as well as RSE and Frequency Coworking and Events, which all run out of a 78,000 square-foot office building in Rancho Cordova.

“I fell in love with the campus. It felt like home. I think I matured enough where I finally felt a sense of pride to be on campus and be a student that’s Made at Sac State, rather than trying to run away from it and pursue something else." -- Anne Descalzo

Last year, they started MinervaVerse, an investment fund supporting women-founded and marginalized businesses by offering financial access, education and mentorship.

“We wrote 33 checks in the first year, and we’re very proud of the diversity and innovation that those portfolio companies are bringing to the table,” Descalzo said. “Some are local, some are statewide, and some are spread out across the nation.”

They also purchased Echo Listening Intelligence, the world’s only scientifically-backed cognitive listening assessment. Now renamed LQ, the RADZ Group is relaunching the company, Zillner said.

“A man invented IQ, and a man invented EQ. Now a woman has invented LQ, for listening intelligence,” she said.

These days Descalzo is constantly scribbling down new ideas she and Zillner have come up with. They have a book in the works and are opening a podcast space as well as starting fireside chats and an entrepreneur speaker series.

Additionally, they’re an unofficial incubator for local businesses like Black Coffee Roastery, One Punch Cards and RevShopp, helping other start-ups get the job done.

And despite initial plans to leave Sacramento, the women have become two of this region’s greatest proponents.

“Come look at Highway 50 and I-80. There’s a lot to offer here,” Zillner said. “Look at our campuses. There’s a lot of momentum to make things happen.”