Spotted: Old Oakland Farmers' Market
What are you up to today?
I'm coming to the farmer's market, getting ready to head home, finishing the work week, and going to the hair salon.
Fun! Yeah, I like that you have a greenish shade in your hair!
It started blue, and it's turned green. [laughs] I'm going to do purple tonight.
How long have you had the color in your hair?
So, I used to color my hair a lot when I was younger. It's been a while and I thought, why not add some color my hair?
What is your occupation?
I'm an operations and organizational culture director at a non-profit called TransForm. It's in downtown Oakland. We advocate for public transportation, walking, and biking. We work all around Alameda County and we work with a bunch of agencies and local organizations, like the bike coalition Bike East Bay.
What do you like most about what you do?
We're really trying to get into the community and lift voices to understand what they need for walking, biking, and public transportation. I think that's a big part of it. We're focusing on changing systemically what isn't fair or equal, and looking at ways where we can listen to the community and figure out, what can do to help. Everyone's needs are really different. I love that I have the leeway to work with people and understand these needs, and make it more human, accessible, and fun. It's a rare thing in organizations.
What's something that's inspired you lately?
I'm fairly new to Oakland — I came from San Francisco, and I grew up in California. I've been here just two years and I think one of the big things that I think is missing is community. All the different things here in Oakland that are organized around community — whether it's closing the streets for a local gathering, the farmer's market, or meeting you on the street — are better for the health of everyone.
What are some things that like to do outside of work?
I love to bike. I also love just walking around with my phone, taking pictures of people and things that are happening — so, documenting. I love to capture the essence of a person through their expressions, so I like to do candid photos. One thing that I've been into lately is coloring. There are all these adult coloring books that apparently people are really into. I just picked up my first one last week, and now I'm, like, feverishly going home and coloring because I'm loving it! I love color — color in my hair, color in my clothing, and now I get to do it on paper without a big investment of learning a new skill.
Where have you found these coloring books that have inspired you?
So randomly, I was coming back from 4th of July weekend and I was looking for another book that I'm reading for a book club. (The book is called Paradise in Hell — it's about altruism and what comes out when people are in natural disasters. It's by Rebecca Solnit.) As I was looking on the shelf, I saw this beautiful large print book with images. Then I realized, Oh, it's a coloring book and so I thought, Huh! I'll check it out! I haven't colored since I was little! I didn't realize it was this whole thing. It's a great way to unplug. Before I realized it was this whole fad, I was taking photos of some of the coloring I'm doing, and I'm sharing with my friends on Facebook and I've actually had someone say, I want an original from you — even though I didn't draw it! [laughs] This is actually interesting to other people too!
So what inspired your outfit today? I love the bright colors, the bracelets, and sunglasses!
Thanks! Well one, I really love super bold things. So, big jewelry, lots of color. But I would say my initial inspiration for fashion in general comes from my parents because they worked either sewing for tailors or sewing for lines of clothing. They would bring clothes home. There were always sample sales, before I even realized what a sample sale was. I grew up having jeans that had "sample" written on the inside, and I never knew what that was! [laughs] I was exposed to a lot of fashion through them.
The great thing is, I feel like usually I'm seeking out something that's inspirational to me, and then sometimes people see what I put together and they feel inspired. So, I get lots of cool stuff from people. My glasses are from my sister for my birthday because she's like, Oh these are so funky, I don't know who would buy it but I thought of you! I do a lot of flea market shopping. I don't do too much of going out to new retail, but I do a lot of secondhand stuff. Curating what I'm wearing for the day just makes me feel happy!