Brynn Gelbard, Lisa Donohoe
We met in SF when we were both table-waiting riot tomboys finding our queer feet in a world that was a lot different than it is now even though it wasn’t that long ago. At the time, Lisa specialized in highly intricate hand drawn Celtic drawings mostly inspired by the sacred Book of Kells, which we just visited again at Trinity College in Dublin during our recent trip to visit Lisa’s family. Read more>>
Judy Kameon
In 1991, Judy Kameon purchased an empty lot next to her small bungalow in the neighborhood of Elysian Park in Los Angeles with the sole intention of making a beautiful and functional garden. That intention became an obsession and Elysian Landscapes was launched. Read more>>
Laurie Shapiro
I’ve always had a passion for creating art and worlds from my imagination. When I was in high school I read a lot of books about spirituality and one’s inner journey. Maybe being so introspective and critical at that age led me to also question what I wanted to do in this world. Read more>>
Diosa Femme, Mala Muñoz
Like so many millenial romances, partnerships, projects, and friendships, our story began on the internet. The two of us followed each other on Twitter and Instagram for several years before we finally met in person at a Downtown LA meet up organized by the founders of Chingona Fire (A women of color focused poetry collective that is run by poets Yesika Salgado and Angela Aguirre) and Latina Rebels (an Instagram account founded by writer and speaker, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez). Read more>>
Katherine Rose
I never really set out to be a photographer, I have a bachelors degree in Sociology, but the only thing I wanted to do when I graduated was travel. I bought my first camera in order to document my trips, after a few years of travel I found myself in California, broke. Read more>>
Michael Rababy
Working with film combines chemistry with alchemy. I’ve spent many romantic all-nighters in the darkroom, obsessively dodging and burning the perfect print. Now I spend hours manipulating electronic pixels at a desk. Read more>>
Azra Isakovic
I created Project Golden to celebrate the diverse immigrant voices united in their pursuit of the American Dream. Specifically, I wanted to focus on Los Angeles and showcase how immigrants and refugees have helped shape this beautiful city through cultural and economic contributions. Read more>>
Vivian Robledo
Initially, I started by selling vegetarian street food outside of the Echo with my friend, Toi. I always had a job, and always did this solely for extra income. At this point, I had been vegetarian for about 4 years, it was 2005, and I just couldn’t afford to not cook for myself. Read more>>
Big Swede
I was looking for a place to start writing, composing and recording my own music. I checked out downtown LA and loved it from the first minute. It felt like I was in a “city”. It had an energy and a vibe. This was year 2000. My life was all about playing drums up to that point. Read more>>
Kris Kirk
I started taking photographs about 13/14 years ago. My father let me borrow his old camera but I honestly had no idea how to use it. It wasn’t until I started to travel that I actually started taking pictures. Mainly to remember what had happened and where I had been. Read more>>
Abby Martin
I got involved in media activism when I was a college freshman, during the height of the buildup to the Iraq War. The media became literal stenographers in the wake of 9/11, working in concert with the Bush administration to sell the public an illegal invasion based on known lies, which resulted in one million dead. Read more>>
Phillip Jackson, Oscar Martinez
After working with children with learning differences for many years, I could not understand why the great teaching methods used for these children were not used with the typical child. The methods could really make the “ordinary” child extraordinary. Read more>>
Lena Mohler
It started as a hobby when I was putting together outfits for special event. I could never find exactly what I had imagined in my head so I started making the outfits and pieces myself. After a while people started noticing and asking me if I could make them something as well. Read more>>
Julie Washington
My story began on March 18th, 1971… I was born with the gift of intuition and healing. I come from a lineage of Healers, intuitive’s, and indigenous holistic practitioners. I always knew that I was an intuitive and healer at a very young age. I grew up in a very dysfunctional type of home and it wasn’t always easy. Read more>>
Victoria Betancourt
I arrived at the hospital in Santa Ana, California on October 19, 1989. I remember the date because it was the day before my mother’s birthday. I had just left my home in Colombia, my husband, and my 3 year old son, for what I thought was going to be “a couple of weeks to help my mother while she recovered.” Read more>>
