Spotted: Union Square, SF
What are you up to today?
I'm just getting off of work.
Where do you work?
I work at Nordstrom as a personal stylist.
How long have you been doing that?
Pretty much since I've been 13.
Wow! How did you know that was something that you gravitated toward?
Fashion's just natural for me. It's easy for me to spot the details and pick outfits that look different.
What do you like most about what you do?
There's no rules! The weirder the better!
What are some of your favorite places to hang out in the area?
In San Francisco, Golden Gate Park is one of them — and the Botanical Garden. I also really love Union Square on a nice day. Dolores Park is fantastic. North Beach is beautiful — Washington Square Park.
What do you do when you're not styling?
I take a lot of photographs, I do a lot of writing. Basically, I love anything in the arts — I do it all the time. Drawing, creating — I draw a lot of anime.
What anime do you recommend?
Angel Sanctuary is a really good manga series. It's probably one of my favorites. Ghost in the Shell is my favorite anime movie. I recommend it to anybody. Dragon Ball Z is incredible. I draw a lot of inspiration from Dragon Ball Z. I love Sailor Moon. I'm also 35, so it's like a lot of the things that I really like are much older than modern-day manga.
What's something that's caught your eye recently?
Building architecture, actually. I really appreciate the city in terms of the difference in the buildings, the way they're composed, the construction. I get a lot of inspiration from architecture.
Are there any buildings in San Francisco that are your favorites?
My favorite building is probably the Palace of Fine Arts, and second to it would be Davies Symphony Hall.
I also wanted to ask about your outfit today, how did it all come about?
It takes me maybe five minutes to pick out my outfit in the morning. I usually gravitate toward easy decisions, in this case it was what was closest to my bed. And the only thing I really added was a red belt to give it a pop of color.
And these are beautiful tattoos — did you get them done here?
This one [points to left arm] was done in San Francisco, and these [points to right arm with flower tattoos] were done in Santa Cruz. I'm actually from upstate New York, but I've lived off and on in San Francisco for the last 16 years.
What is this tattoo on your left arm?
It's a Geisha girl holding an AK-47.
What inspired that tattoo?
It's kind of a cliché — underneath it is a broken heart, it's the Irish Claddagh — and she's kind of protecting it.
What's a challenge you've hurdled lately?
Well, I'm moving to Austin, Texas. I just bought a house out there, so trying to nail down real estate and buying a house anywhere is really challenging. I've been renting for probably the better part of the last 16 years, so actually being able to own my own home is kind of incredible. That's probably the biggest challenge I've had to face over the last year, and I'm moving there a week from Monday.
Wow, congratulations! What drew you to Austin?
It's got a really big music community. I play violin, and my boyfriend is a blues musician and he's got two bands out there. We're going to do it while we're still semi-young. It'll be great!
