“Goldie” crossed the border when she was 16 and started dancing topless at a bar where most of the girls were illegal immigrants from Juarez. She soon left that life behind, and she now owns Goldie’s Bar, a tiny cantina on a desolate corner of South Central El Paso. The walls of Goldie’s Bar are littered with pictures of Marilyn Monroe, one of her greatest heroes: “I like that she often said that women should be liberated, that men shouldn’t limit them, that a woman should be the way she wants to be.”

Tegvir Singh Sibia is an agriculturist and owner of a mechanized farm. Twice president of the Chandigarh golf club, he lives with his son and daughter and, along with his brother “Sunny,” is on the board of directors of two educational institutions in his native Sangrur.

“We were pioneers in whatever we did, in agriculture especially, we started the first seed business in India and we were very happy with that [...] We drove ourselves to do it [machine-based agriculture] and it was a time of change and if we didn’t change primitive farming was not going to pay, so we had to change, there was no question.”

John Anton, a 47-year-old man with Down syndrome works at the Massachusetts state house as a legislative activist for people with disabilities. While half of all babies born with Down syndrome have congenital heart defects, new surgical techniques have made repair relatively routine, extending their life span from just 25 years in 1983 to 60 today.

Until 1960, Brownsville was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. Leon Sternhell is now one of only two Jews still operating a business in the community. He has watched Brownsville’s crime rates increase as shops and storefronts are pushed out of the neighborhood. In response to the ongoing street violence, Mr. Sternhell locks the front door after every customer enters, and notes that if anything, this improves business, as his customers appreciate the safety precaution.

Mabel Panigeo, 81, has lived in Barrow, Alaska, her entire life. Only recently have modern amenities like the Internet, television and brand-name clothing become available in this isolated town. Like most of the older natives, she hand made this traditional Eskimo parka from a pattern that has been passed down for more than 1,000 years. Mabel is concerned that her grandchildren’s generation will lose the traditional Inupiat values and customs if she doesn’t continue to reinforce their integrity.

Italian astrophysicist Margherita Hack, explaining to Federico why the sky is blue.

Ervin Royal is a metal scrapper from Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Most of his customers are commercial fishermen and his business has been suffering ever since the BP oil spill. Ervin (right) is pictured here Ernest Montgomery (left), the former fire chief of Bayou La Batre. They’ve known each other for over 50 years.

United Postal Service driver Hakeem Basheer delivered packages without a security guard for about a year, until he was robbed at gunpoint while walking into a project building. As a Brownsville native, Hakeem had felt secure that he would be left alone, but it didn’t take long for reality to prove him wrong. The stolen package was left in the hallway, but the robbery motivated Hakeem to ask the company for an armed security guard. Retired NYPD officer Curtis Walston accompanies him during deliveries in Brownsville and neighboring high-crime communities. Curtis carries two guns, a .38mm and a .9mm, for protection.

Seven days a week, 23-year-old Galson Mgaya rides from his remote village of Mtwango to the nearest city of Makambako, Tanzania. He straps 20 chickens to the back of his bicycle and then sells them in the city for twice what they’d go for in his small town. The trip takes him 3.5 hours each way, but it’s worthwhile because he makes about $8 each day. His daily profit helps support his parents and two sisters.

A carpenter on his lunch break.

Gaj Singh is the son of the last nobleman of Alsisa, Rajasthan. Born in Jaipur, he was in the army before launching his hotel business. He now owns three hotels in Rajasthan, two of which are his family residences converted into heritage accommodations. He is married, has two sons and lives in Alsisa Haveli, his hotel in Jaipur. “We had so many people around us but it gradually faded and by the time I was passing out of school in 1968. We didn’t have many people working for us. But again, with this present business the bygone era has come back.”

Hoshitango Imachi is a 44-year-old Argentinean who moved to Tokyo when he was 21 to attend the Chuo University. After arriving he become a sumo wrestler so he could support his family back home. Now he’s an official Japanese citizen and works as a professional wrestler for the Japanese company DDT (The Dramatic Dream Team).

A common past time during the summer in Italy.

Bryan Toovak is a 7-year-old living in Barrow, Alaska. He goes to this playground from spring to fall despite the below-zero temperatures. On this rather mild spring day in early May, temperatures rose to almost 25 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 degrees Celsius).

Minh Le is an unofficial spokesman for the Vietnamese community in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Approximately one-third of the town’s population is of Asian descent, and of those, most are Vietnamese. Adopted by an American serviceman during the 1960s, Minh returned to his native Vietnam in the ’70s to act as an advisor to the US Navy. When he retired from the Navy, he moved to Bayou La Batre and bought several shrimp boats, including The Sunrise, pictured here. After the BP oil spill, Minh outfitted his boats to help with the cleanup efforts.

Oscar, 8-years-old, works with his father in the fields every day, tending to their animals. Their five goats, two cows, two horses and five chickens serve as a form of insurance. This horse, valued at 4,000 pesos ($120), would only be sold in the case of a family emergency. Oscar’s mother runs a community store, which provides the family’s modest income.

Konishiki Yasokichi is a 45-year-old retired sumo wrestler and one of Japan’s most recognizable celebrities. Now that he’s retired from the sport that made him so popular, he’s become a hip-hop artist and host of his own children’s television show. He was the heaviest sumo wrestler of all time weighing 580 pounds(264 kg). Two years ago he underwent gastric bypass surgery and has lost much of the weight that previously threatened his good health.

Eric is a software engineer, and Kaïdre is a biochemist.

On the way to his cousin’s birthday party on a hot Saturday afternoon.

Waiting for her husband to come back from the bathroom. They’ve been happily married for almost 60 years.