Women Are Power | Spring 2020

es s c c A issue no. 2

spring 2020

A ccess

women are power

magazine

About

Access Magazine is a student-run publication at San Jose State University. It is conceptualized, edited, designed, published and distributed by students at the end of the semester. Our goal is to write stories for our students and our community on topics that are important, informative, educational, and entertaining. Our team comprises creative thinkers and passionate writers who every semester strive to produce an unforgettable issue.

C onnect Twitter Instagram Email

@Accesssjsu @accessmagazinesjsu accessmagazine@gmail.com

Access Team & Contributors Editor-In-Chief

Elsa Martinez Castro

Managing Editor

Ana Acosta

Chief Copy Editor

Zoe Alvarez

Copy Editor

Jackie Contreras

Executive Design Producer

Katie Hoedt

Social Media Director

Hoi Shan Cheung

Photography Director

Jennifer Gonzalez

Photographers

Zoe Alvarez Jennifer Gonzalez

Illustrator

Nathan Doyle

Writers

Ana Acosta Zoe Alvarez Hoi Shan Cheung Jackie Contreras Alexis Navarro Cody Nichols Manuel Romero Serena Simoes Olivia Wray

Advisor

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Ralph Nichols

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Special Thanks Ralph Nichols, Dona Nichols, Phylis West Johnson, SJSU, Todd and the team at Casey Printing, our families, friends, and readers who have been exceedingly patient and supportive as we navigate through a unique period in time.

On the Cover:

Yuridia Guerrero holding a sign at the 2020 san jose women's march.

Letter from the Editor Dearest Readers,

Welcome to Access Magazine’s Spring 2020 Women Are Power issue.

Choosing a theme for our issue this semester was a no-brainer for me. As a proud Mexican-American woman who stands for women’s equality, I knew right away that covering stories of women all across the Bay Area from all walks of life was the route I wanted to take. I hope that the women you read about in this issue, who so bravely shared their journey with us, will persuade you to learn more about the women around you. Your neighbor, your sister, your friend, your boss. I believe that there is power in a woman’s story, and that their wisdom can help teach, uplift, and inspire. My wish was for Access to be a platform that would allow them to do just that.

When March came around, our realities were suddenly shifted by the chaos of the coronavirus. Every human on Earth frightened and utterly unprepared for the madness that was about to ensue. Inevitably, the production of our magazine came to a halt.

While we are not able to print our issue as planned, or share every story we worked on due to shelter-in-place restrictions, we are able to share the stories that were completed pre-pandemic through our online version. We knew we had to finish what we started, to give women an opportunity to amplify their voices and share their stories of success.

My fellow SJSU classmates, and anyone else joining us: I hope you enjoy reading

Women Are Power. This project is so special to me and I know in my heart that I will cherish it forever. Everyone involved showed a great amount of resilience and creativity this semester. Even under the circumstances, we were committed to making this the best possible issue. I hope it brings you as much joy as it does to us and that it cheers you up—even if just a little—in the midst of this life-altering pandemic.

Lastly, I want to thank our editors, photographers, and writers from the bottom of my heart for all of their hard work. None of this would have been possible without you. And to all of the women who shared their stories with us, thank you for opening your doors to us and inviting us into your world. We appreciate you and hope we have done your stories justice.

Stay safe, stay strong, stay hopeful, Editor-In-Chief

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Contents 6

bolder and stronger in 2020 A photo essay by Jennifer Gonzalez on the 2020 San Jose Women’s March

12 Features BlackSheepMade

She turned her passion into a career and she didn’t let the threads get tangled along the way | pg 12

Heart & Soul

Owner of Jackie’s Place restaurant feeds the hungry | pg 16

A Platform for Equality

Sera Fernando fights for LGBTQ rights in and out of the workplace | pg 20

Traveling Calligrapher

Exploring the world and creating art, the while building her own business | pg 24

Arts in Bloom

Roya Oghabain sends personal messages through nature’s delicate creations | pg 28

She Chef

The ups and downs of becoming a female executive chef and what that means for all women’s careers | pg 32

The Weekend Creative

Two college friends build a successful photography business out of their small side hustle | pg 34

The Feminine Mystique

Lovely Assistants no longer, meet four talented magicians who got tired of being kept in the box | pg 38

Queen in the Ring

Whether a game of chess or spar, Amy Mongersun is up for the match | pg 42

100 years A breakdown of the road to a woman’s right to vote | pg 46

48 summer reads A summer reading list curated

by Access editors and writers

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coronavirus effect A deep dive into the effects of the pandemic on women in quaratine

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Photo by Zoe Alvarez

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bolder & ST IN 2020 Photography by Jennifer Gonzalez

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TRONGER

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Francia Posas, san jose

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Dina Santiago, san jose, ca

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The Women’s March was initiated worldwide in 2017 as an act of solidarity in the fight for women’s equality.

This year, we captured the best moments that took place at the march in San Jose.

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BlackSheepMade

by Olivia Wray Photography by Jennifer Gonzalez

I

n the United States, living the American dream usually involves marrying the person you love, working for yourself, owning a home, and raising children in that home. This dream is straightforward, but the majority of Americans are changing that as they build their own new American dream.

Alyssarhaye Graciano’s parents always encouraged her to follow her heart, even if that meant following something different than the American Dream.

“Just do what you love and if it makes you money, then great,” said Graciano.

Graciano kept her parents’ advice in mind as she grew up, but she believed the most stable future would require a college education. At the University of California, Riverside, Graciano pursued a degree in linguistics.

Though Graciano knew she wanted to pursue an education and a traditional career path, she continued to express herself through different forms of creativity.

After all, her father is a musician and an artist, as well as her two uncles – one also a musician, and the other a photographer.

“But then, my mom’s side of the family, everyone has practical, stable jobs,” she said.

Graciano said that growing up, she always loved making things and finding ways to be creative.

“My mom said we never left the house without a bag of markers, or a sketchbook, or something for me to draw,” said Graciano.

When she was seven or eight, Graciano enjoyed drawing tiny pictures of the sun, ladybugs and butterflies. Sometimes, she’d offer her family Crayola marker tattoos for 25 cents. From a young age, Graciano knew she enjoyed creating things and marketing them.

In high school, Graciano’s aunt taught her how to knit while her grandmother taught her to crochet. From then on, Graciano discovered her love for handmade knitted creations. Often, Graciano would finish her classwork and immediately begin making scarves in the classroom.

“There was always something I was trying to make––trying to sell,” Graciano said.

Years later, with practice and an innumerable

amount of How-To YouTube videos, Graciano started selling her own creations to friends and family.

Approaching her second year at UC Riverside, Graciano applied for a Latin American Sea Turtle Conservation internship in Costa Rica through her school’s study abroad program.

After receiving positive feedback from her friends and family when crocheting for them, Graciano started selling her creations to raise money for the trip. She sold beanies from $10-$15 to friends and students on campus. The total profit funded her entire trip, including the flight.

“When I got back from the trip, I realized [crocheting] was a really good stress reliever and it was a cool way to make money but not really have to work, so I kept doing it as sort of a side-hustle,” Graciano said.

After college, Graciano worked different jobs, from a barista at Starbucks to waitressing at an Indian restaurant, all while continuing to improve her crochet skills on the side. She noticed that after the colder months passed, if she wanted to continue selling, she would have to make something better suited for the warmer months. Graciano crafted the skills of knitting, crocheting, and most recently, macrame. Once the weather got hotter, she succeeded in selling mostly macrame creations.

Graciano later landed a linguistics position at Apple and started working a regular 9-to-5 routine while concurrently exploring other ways to make and sell her creations. She sold a few things on Etsy and began setting up her own shop at the San Jose weekly night market. Then Graciano realized, “Oh okay, I think I can make something out of this, like an actual business.”

After consistent sales at markets, Graciano built her own clientele, reached a bigger audience, and discovered what she was truly capable of doing. Quickly, Graciano began to see a better future with her creative side.

“I always thought of myself as the black sheep of the family because I was like, ‘Well, I want to be the artist and I don’t want the 9-to-5 – I don’t want to sit at a desk,’” Graciano said. “I tried it for a bit when I worked at Apple, but I knew it wasn’t for me – this is not sustainable for my personality.”

That’s when she created her shop “BlackSheepMade.”

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Afterward, Graciano made some daring leaps in her life. She left her job at Apple and moved to Portland.

In Portland, Graciano fully embraced her creativity and helped manage a family-owned craft bar. There, she hosted workshops where she taught customers how to make leather wallets and design macrame pot hangers.

“It kind of came down to, ‘Okay, I either fully invest myself in their business or mine,’” Graciano said.

Living in Portland, Graciano loved the fresh air and new perspective. “Artists there are really supportive of opening your own [pop-up shops],” she said.

The city of Portland is home to many artists and a place that showcases creatives. “When I was there, the city paid for me to have a pop-up,” Graciano said.

“They did that for a bunch of other businesses, and so it’s really cool to know that the city wants you to thrive.”

During her sponsored pop-up shop, Graciano was active on social media, sharing her creations with the world. Then, Page Street Publishing reached out to her, asking if Graciano wanted to write a book based on all of her creations. Still working at the craft bar, Graciano was ecstatic to be given the opportunity and she started writing.

Graciano moved back to the Bay Area in August of 2019 and once her book “Chunky Knits” was complete, it was released in a few Portland bookstores and online retailers in January. Writing her own book and having a pop-up shop were two turning points in her career in which she fully gained momentum.

With multiple accomplishments and new beginnings, Graciano ran into a few struggles with pursuing a full-

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time creative career. The materials she uses for her creations can be expensive, especially because they are all natural fibers. As Graciano created more for her clients, she noticed the job can be tiring. She also discovered that the line between art and business can be difficult to balance.

“I try not to make anything twice,” Graciano said.

“Except when I’m doing wholesale and a store buys, I always try to make sure that their piece doesn’t look like any of my previous clients’ because I want that unique factor – that black sheep factor.”

Graciano finds a balance by making more art for herself, friends and family on the side, while still selling to clients. One way she prepares herself for getting down to business is by starting the day with a warm-up project.

“I’ll just kind of work on that, just to get in the zone, then it starts with me making something that I genuinely want to make and then I move into ‘OK, this is a project that I have to do for somebody – a deadline that I have to meet,’” Graciano said.

Now having a creative career, Graciano has learned how to always make it something she enjoys because it’s the reason she quit her 9-to-5, after all. Now that she is able to maintain that balance, she is working on bringing her linguistics skills back into her career.

“I want to be able to spend two weeks of a month just doing my art stuff and then the other two weeks teaching English in another country or travelling,” Graciano said.

She plans on continuing a life based around her own schedule and hopes she can manage the best of both worlds – language and art – while earning an income.

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by Ana Acosta Photography by Jennifer Gonzalez

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ackie’s Place, a soul food restaurant in downtown San Jose, does more than just fulfill a need for a comforting taste of the South.

Owner Jackie Jackson fosters a sense of community at her family-owned restaurant by helping those in need on a day-to-day basis.

“People have a mindset that because the person is homeless they become inhuman, they’re not human anymore, and they are,” Jackson said. “Most of the people were one paycheck away or came from abusive relationships – that’s why they’re homeless, that’s how that happened, or they lost their job.”

Jackson has offered free or discounted meals or even groceries to those who can’t afford it, a lot of them being senior citizens who can barely afford rent. Some of them, she said, receive $1,400 a month from social security but have to pay $1,200 rent.

“One of the guys that lives here [in the area] works for me in the back and takes my trash out for me, just needs a few extra dollars once a week,” Jackson said.

“He cleans my BBQ pits out once a week for me and then I pay him dollars and then we’re able to feed him every day and help him with his expenses.”

Another person Jackson helped was named Dale, who recently passed away in his sleep. Jackson held back tears as she recalled her interactions with him, such as when she found him patiently waiting outside her restaurant one day after she had forgotten to bring him his food.

“He came on Thursday and wasn’t feeling well,” Jackson said, adding that he couldn’t afford to go to the hospital and needed some food because he was hungry.

“Anyone that walks in the door with no money, she feeds,” said James York, one of Jackson’s employees. “She shows no partiality nor is she biased in any way.”

Jackson also teamed up with Shower to the People, an organization that brings hot showers to the homeless via a trailer truck. Twice a month, Jackson plans to work alongside the organization to provide food and showers to those without a home.

Outside of the restaurant, Jackson is a mother of eight, having taken in three of her sister’s kids as her

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own when she died suddenly at the age of 34. Her home became a safe place where her kids’ basketball and football teammates could come eat a delicious meal.

“Jackie is a wonderful friend, a good businesswoman and a real blessing to the community,” said her friend Shelley Chaney Floyd. “And she does it all while taking care of her own home and family.”

Jackson’s giving heart seems to be inherited from her late mother, who was her main source of inspiration when it came to cooking.

As the middle child of 15 siblings, her mother became the main caretaker when Jackson’s grandmother passed away at a young age. It was her mother who taught Jackson how to cook for large crowds.

All of the menu items at Jackie’s Place derived from family recipes, such as her brother and father’s BBQ ribs recipe and the golden-brown fried chicken wings that are seasoned right to the bone.

“I’m trying to emulate the barbecue that I grew up on, the food that we grew up on in our family.

The smoked brisket, brisket is really big in Texas,” Jackson said about her home state.

Some of the recipes left behind by her mother were written in the nooks and crannies of various books.

“I had to go through every single magazine and book in her house to see if she had notes inside,” Jackson said. “The sweet potato pie and the carrot cake recipe were written in the back of ‘The Catcher in the Rye.’” While Jackson is now living out her mother’s dream of owning a restaurant, it was never her intention. She originally went into the catering business “by accident” when she started cooking for her church. They loved her food so much that they began placing orders. As her catering business expanded, one of her daughters convinced her to open a restaurant.

“We thought we’d open something small, like a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that was mostly catering where people could come to get plates to-go,” said Jackson’s daughter, Iesha McClain. “It ended up blowing up to be way bigger than we anticipated.”

One reason Jackie’s Place has grown to be so cherished by the community is that it is the only soul food restaurant in the South Bay. McClain said she’s even met customers from Santa Cruz who used to drive all the way to Oakland for soul food and are now grateful that their trip has been cut in half thanks to Jackie’s Place.

But when Jackson described her biggest challenges while running a restaurant, it wasn’t getting up at 4 a.m. or the occasional 16-hour workdays that came to mind, but rather finding confidence as a black woman in a male-dominated industry.

“It’s funny to me because most of the women do all the cooking in the house, right?” Jackson said.

“But the males dominate this industry. And so that’s what I found to be challenging is almost trying to prove yourself as able-bodied to do this job.”

She noticed right away that she had to work harder than her male counterparts to sell her ideas.

Being black doesn’t help either, Jackson said, who works hard to maintain a clean and professional atmosphere in order to prove any misconceptions or stigma surrounding her race wrong.

At times, she struggles with rude behavior at the restaurant supply store. She talked about a time when

she dropped her bread on the ground and a man ran over it with his cart, only to look back at her without offering any help.

“I refuse to take that road where I’m going to start acting like them,” Jackson said. “I could go in there and start cussing but that’s what they expect you to do, right? They’ll look at you and say ‘Oh, yeah, that’s what black people do.’ So I was always on double guard.”

But despite the prejudices she has to fight in the industry, Jackson’s perseverance and resilience have ultimately paid off. This year, Jackson was the winner of the Kron4 News series “Remarkable Women” and was also awarded the Madam C.J. Walker Award in April by the Silicon Valley NAACP. Awards and recognition aside, there is no doubt that Jackson has positively impacted many individual’s lives by seeing them for what they are beyond their race, gender or socioeconomic status: human.

Writer’s note: Since the time of this interview, a fire at Jackie’s Place has caused the restaurant to close until further notice. For more information, please visit JackieCaters.com or @jackiesplacesj on Instagram.

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A Platform for Equality

by Ana Acosta Photography by Jennifer Gonzalez n Silicon Valley, tech companies can have the reputation of being huge money machines that are a separate entity from the rest of the local community.

But for San Jose resident Sera Fernando, working at Microsoft has given her a platform to leverage her voice as an activist in the LGBTQ community.

Microsoft provided her with a safe space to come out as transgender about seven years ago, something she’s identified with since the age of four.

“When I came out to my workplace, my manager was not only thankful for me sharing a piece of myself, but used the words ‘What can I do for you? How can I support you?’ And those things are just so impactful for anyone that’s coming out,” Fernando said.

But for Fernando, who was born and raised in east San Jose, the coming out process was not as supportive back home.

“When I came out to my mom, she always thought that trans was a choice,” Fernando said.

Fernando believes it was both her family’s highly Catholic Filipino background and having a father who served in the Navy that influenced her parent’s level of shame in knowing that their child identified as LGBTQ. In their perspective, Fernando said they saw her as a relatively successful person who was “choosing” to be marginalized. Because of this, she had to

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completely separate herself from her family for an extended period of time.

“Same thing with friends,” Fernando said. “A lot of friends didn’t understand. I lost a majority of my male colleagues and male friends.”

Fernando’s experience of having to choose between living authentically and being accepted is an all too familiar story among many other LGBTQ people. But this only further motivates Fernando to continue to advocate for equality.

Apart from working in the marketing and consumer business division at Microsoft, Fernando also took on the dual role of being chair of outreach for Microsoft GLEAM (Global LGBTQI+ Employees and Allies at Microsoft) which is Microsoft’s LGBTQ employee resource group.

As chair of outreach, Fernando connects NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and nonprofits that deal with LGBTQ equity and connects them to Microsoft employees so that the company can give back to the community.

Rather than once a year, Fernando hopes to celebrate LGBTQ identities year-round.

“I know there’s a lot of misconceptions about tech companies, that the only time they show up for the LGBTQI+ community is during Pride,” Fernando said.

An example in which Fernando has engaged

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with local LGBTQ communities through her work is when she organized a field trip for The LGBTQ Youth Space to visit the Microsoft Store inside the Westfield Valley Fair Mall for product demos and snacks.

“She worked super hard to make it a fun and exciting tour and outing,” said Adrienne Keel, Director of LGBTQ Programs at The LGBTQ Youth Space. “No matter how spread thin she is, she’s so sweet and passionate about making the most marginalized people feel welcome. I never see that ‘activist fatigue’ in her that is so prevalent in activism.

She wears so many hats, her presence is unreal.”

Fernando attributes this to a work environment where she feels a sense of community and where she is able to integrate her work life with the things she is passionate about in her personal life: LGBTQ activism and women’s equity.

“What tends to happen is that people ultimately get burnt out from their work life and separate their work from their personal life. They just don’t feel that sense of community at work,” Fernando said.

“But if you put in the work and you find what you’re passionate about, and you integrate what you’re passionate about in your work...then you can be with a company for a really long time and that just opens up a platform for you to do amazing things.”

When Fernando is not working at Microsoft, she is the Chief Diversity Officer at Silicon Valley Pride, which is the organization that puts on the Silicon Valley Pride Festival each year.

“I ensure that all identities within the LGBTQ spectrum are represented, that they are welcome, that they are involved, and that they have a voice,” Fernando said. “I wanted to make sure that what Silicon Valley stands for is represented at Silicon Valley Pride.”

Having felt that the Silicon Valley Pride Festival could improve on its representation of women and gender diverse folks, she decided to integrate the Trans and Friends Rally into the festival.

The event showcased trans performers, speakers and activists on the main stage to “let the South bay know that the trans community is welcome at Silicon Valley Pride,” Fernando said.

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When it comes to celebrating diversity, Fernando recognizes the importance of representation and acknowledging intersectionalities.

“We are a whole person with many aspects and we all need to fight for all those aspects,” said Fernando’s friend and president of the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center, Gabrielle Antolovich.

“When there’s an immigrant or racial issue, you’ll see Sera and I out there. She truly understands what intersectionality means.”

Fernando became more involved in activism when word got out that the Trump administration was considering legally defining gender as something that’s assigned to people at birth based on their biological sex.

Consequently, this would erase transgender identities in the medical world, making it harder for transgender people to access adequate health care while making it easier for them to be discriminated against.

“I was just distraught, I couldn’t even function,” Fernando said. But it was that same weekend that Fernando and a friend decided to organize the #Won’tBeErased rally at San Jose City Hall to show solidarity, which was a success.

“She is very generous with her knowledge and is always trying to help. I especially enjoy listening to her speeches, which are powerful and inspiring,” said Fernando’s friend Michelle Zhang. “She has a heart for not leaving anyone out or behind, and fights for ultimate equity. I feel grateful to have her as one of the leaders in our LGBTQ community in San Jose.”

Even when the going gets tough, Fernando remains resilient by actively turning a negative situation into one where she is able to uplift others.

She has led by example how to give back to the community regardless of one’s field of work.

“I think finding your purpose in serving your community and serving the greater good of others, that right there is what makes life rewarding, and that’s what makes life meaningful,” Fernando said.

Whether in or out of the workplace, Fernando will continue to tell her story unapologetically to help pave the way for others to live as their fully authentic selves.

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Traveling

Calligrapher

by Alexis Navarro Photography by Zoe Alvarez

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ueeny Lu is able to live out her passion every day through her popup shop, Traveling Calligrapher, on the semi-quiet San Pedro Street in

San Jose.

When stepping inside her shop there is one word that comes to mind: cozy.

Twinkle lights surround the left side of the store where Lu sits with boxes of merchandise and orders. Above her head her alter-ego name, Traveling Calligrapher, is written out by Lu in whimsical calligraphy.

A large, light oak table greets customers as they walk in with an entire spread of supplies dedicated to calligraphy.

From calligraphy pens and nibs of all sizes to colored inks, watercolor paints, brushes, and all sorts of beautiful stationery kits, the shop has everything that someone would need to begin learning calligraphy.

The walls of the store are immersed with Lu’s amazingly detailed black and white hand-drawn maps of different cities that Lu has visited around the world.

“I have 21 maps right now and 19 of them are of places that I have been to,” Lu said.

Each map intricately illustrates popular tourist destinations in cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Edinburgh and London.

Lu has made the space her own in the time that her store has been a part of downtown San Jose’s creative micro-retail space MOMENT. This space is created especially for independent artists so that they may showcase and sell their work to

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the public.

Lu would have never imagined that her lifetime of learning to write calligraphy would eventually become her career.

“I feel like lettering and calligraphy has been a part of my life since I was very young, I just didn’t think about turning it into a business,” Lu said.

In her fourth year of college at SJSU, Lu studied abroad in Sweden, where she made many Arabic friends.

Lu taught herself Arabic to communicate better with them, and through her learning, she grew to love the language and decided to apply to the Arabic language program at SJSU. While in that program, Lu took Arabic calligraphy classes.

“Studying Arabic and getting to know the culture, the calligraphy part of it, is actually a huge part of understanding the culture as a whole,” Lu said.

Lu thrived in the class and found her Arabic calligraphy class very therapeutic.

She then studied abroad in the Middle East and took more Arabic calligraphy classes to further her learning.

She soon wanted to pursue calligraphy as an art form and switched to writing English language calligraphy.

“In 2014 I started trying out English calligraphy as a hobby and I didn’t know that the calligraphy world is a huge world, there’s just an endless learning experience,” Lu said.

Lu’s hobby manifested into teaching calligraphy classes in her community, doing

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freelance work, learning to use digital programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Procreate to expand her expertise, and slowly creating a full-time business.

Now with two years under her belt of creating calligraphy art as a full time job, she sometimes finds it hard to believe that she gets to do what she loves for a living.

“I basically choose the next city and then I kind of start with a blank canvas and research a lot of the neighborhoods and then I find my inspiration,” Lu said. “Then with my calligraphy, I usually look up the different lettering styles or I take pictures of really cool signs that have really great lettering.” Lu says when describing the inspiration behind her maps.

As one of four female business owners who own a pop-up shop inside the MOMENT retail space, Lu says she enjoys the atmosphere immensely.

“I love the people that work next to me. Since I am a single business owner, because I worked from home, the only co-workers I had were my cats so it could get a bit lonely,” Lu said.

Lu finds it nice to have other women to talk to that understand the hardships and struggles that come with running a business.

One of Lu’s challenges is being in one place for a long period of time. Having the flexibility to do other work and having her own schedule outside of a shop is something she misses most.

“Being in one place is hard because running a retail shop and being open every day is really hard,” Lu said. “I really enjoyed my experience here but I think since I’m the Traveling Calligrapher I like to travel and not stay in one place.”

There is also the added stress of doing all the work herself. Luckily, she has a strong support system in her friends and family.

“I had the grand opening here last May and my whole family showed up just crammed into that little shop, so that was awesome,” Lu said.

Daniel Rosso, Lu’s fiance, thinks that she has been an inspiration not just to her family but also to complete strangers.

“She has inspired many people to be able to follow their own aspirations for a business,” Rosso said.

“She has been a role model to her family who doesn’t have any female entrepreneurs. She has also inspired strangers to do the same.”

Lu’s friend Benjawan Klinjaroon also thinks that her work ethic is something to be admired and looks

to Lu for inspiration in her own life.

“Queeny is very creative and inspiring, and also a hard-working person,” Klinjaroon said. “She inspires me to try something new and also connect to other people in the community which I think it’s very important.”

Nonetheless, Lu sometimes feels that being creative and having to be creative for profit is sometimes a hard balance to maintain.

“I originally started calligraphy because I really enjoyed doing it so it’s a really hard balance on creating something to make an income and creating something because I like to, and it will sometimes feel like a race that I have to make this much money to be able to live under a roof,” Lu said.

However, her love for her work never wavers, and the business side of the work is something that she has learned overtime and has come to love.

Lu also loves the feeling of having people interested in her work.

“When someone purchases my maps, something that I have created on my own, and people want to buy it and support me is the coolest feeling ever,” Lu said.

While Lu has enjoyed her experience on San Pedro Street, she would not be the Traveling Calligrapher if she remained in one place.

Sadly, Lu’s shop closed a few weeks after this interview. But her experience as a shop owner has been extremely rewarding and she won’t forget the people that she met along the way.

“I will miss the space a lot and I’ll miss being a part of the San Jose art community and being a part of the small business scene,” Lu said. “The people in San Jose are so supportive of my business which is really cool.”

Lu hopes to teach workshop classes and hold calligraphy meetups in the Bay Area whenever she can.

As far as advice she would give to anyone who wants to start their own business, Lu believes that it is important to have the courage and bravery to carve their own path and not care about what others think.

“I think that’s very powerful, just kind of believing in yourself to take a risk or to start something new and know that it could fail, but you still go for it anyway and that everything will be okay in the end,” Lu said.

Lu will continue to work on her art and sell her maps through her website travelingcalligrapher.com, on Etsy, and at art fairs.

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Arts in Bloom

by Hoi Shan Cheung Photography by Jennifer Gonzalez

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oya Oghabian skillfully trims the bottoms of each red gladioli, then places them against the table in a roll.

Oghabian spends most of her time at a long table in her garage, where two black refrigerators are packed with flowers and greenery and the door is blocked by buckets of fresh roses and branches.

Fourteen years ago, Oghabian opened her own online floral arrangement business, Royal Orchids and Floral Design, in San Jose.

Her business creates various styles of designs for different occasions and events.

She naturally picks up a bundle of tropical leaves and puts them aside carefully on the table then begins to create bouquets for her weekly accounts.

Her weekly accounts include businesses like restaurants, clinics and hotels. It is very important to Oghabian that every little detail meets her clients’ needs.

“If it is for a restaurant, I get the leaves and stems that last longer and I get flowers that last the whole week,” she explained based on her experience.

Oghabian’s journey as a designer started when she was an international student studying interior and textile design in India.

She successfully graduated from a university in New Delhi after she decided to flee from her native home in Iran, where the Islamic Republican government rules against the Bahá’í minority in the state.

Bahá’í is the second largest religion in Iran. The religion originally derived from the Shi’ite branch of the Muslim faith and takes on a liberal path as its doctrine, which believes in the oneness and unity of humanity.

“I am not Muslim, I am Bahá’í. It’s very hard to practice it in Iran during the Islamic Republic,” she said.

“But during the Shah time, we were having freedom like other citizens.”

The Shah period started in 1941 after the last Iranian monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah, ascended to the throne. During his time, Shah radically approached his ambition of westernization and modernization, while attempted to abolish the traditions of Muslim in Iran.

Oghabian wanted to start her own life of freedom.

So she sought political asylum from the United States and received a refugee visa.

When she first arrived in Los Angeles in 1984, her dream job was to work as a designer in the interior and textile design industry.

“Oh, my God! These people are living,” she thought as she looked at people passing by her at the airport.

Fantasizing about her future, she settled down in the entertainment capital of the world. The lean job market defeated her passion. She went back to college for a second degree, but this time in physical therapy, while also working three jobs to support herself.

She met her husband, Nohsen Oghabian, during her time in Los Angeles and later the couple decided to move to San Jose.

The two started a family here and had four children.

Oghabian chose to quit her jobs to become a stay-athome mom for her kids.

Even though her life has been fully occupied with taking care of her home and her kids here in the U.S., she can’t help but notice that her impression of Iran is fading away.

“Because of this government of Iran, I can’t go back to see my family and it makes me sad,” Oghabian cried.

While life can be uncertain, new opportunities will always arise.

Oghabian’s skills as a florist were discovered when she began to craft floral arrangements for her kids.

“She did all the bouquets for our senior years and proms. It is just really cute to see people come, pick up their items, and enjoy their nights,’’ her oldest daughter

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Kimiya Oghabian said with a smile.

Parents love her creations too. One parent even encouraged Oghabian to take floriculture classes and pushed her to obtain a business license from the city so that she could sell her creations to the public.

Soon her dramatic designs of vibrant colors and various textures and shapes gained popularity in San Jose.

“It is just amazing from what she starts with and what she ends up with as finishing products,” Nohsen said.

Oghabian’s flower arrangements are strong in presentation as they send the most sentimental messages at her clients’ requests.

Compared to other floral arrangements, wedding bouquets always have a need for personal customization. Flower trends change rapidly on social media, so each floral arrangement is both surprising and challenging. Plus, there is the pressure of brides wanting their weddings to be unique, especially the floral arrangements.

“I have never done the same design or use the same vases for the brides,” she said, “They are always different. All these 13 years, I cannot believe that at least one could be similar to the other one.”

Although it is hard to satisfy a demanding bride, Oghabian delivers her best to each wedding at reasonable prices.

Being a good florist and a smart business owner requires more than just creativity; communication skills come first when she counsels her new clients about their ideas.

“I am learning. Whatever they say, I listen to them. If it is possible I will do it,” she said.

Pure white flowers like anemones, tomer ranunculus, roses and orchids are often used as centerpieces for her designs, which are usually accompanied by tall fibrous branches.

Her favorite flowers are orchids in all kinds of colors. “It’s unique, elegant and sophisticated. And they don’t want anybody to touch them, but to look and enjoy,” she said as she looked at the pointy new spikes from one of her orchids.

“I think the flower itself talks to you in design.

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The way you arrange it, it talks to you,” she said.

With her personal touch, nature transforms into monochromatic designs in elegant shapes or dazzling artwork decorated with artificial pink plume feathers.

“It brings life to the room. It is a calm, polite and nice language,” Kimiya said about her mother’s creations.

Oghabian is used to crafting bouquets for her own family whenever there is a need for floral decorations. It is her own way of expressing her feelings to her family members.

“She is a caring person and that is shown in her arts. They are like living pieces,” said Oghabian’s younger daughter, Niknaz.

For the spring season, Oghabian created a round shaped bouquet with pastel colors and green foliage.

She inserts a bundle of light green jumbo hydrangeas and orange, peach and pink colored roses into the center of a short vase so she can set the tone of the design first. She continues to increase the volume of the arrangement by adding a few white anemones, peach gerbera daisies and pink and lavender dendrobiums with white tomer ranunculuses.

“Flower itself is beautiful, you can never go wrong,” she stops and gazes at the bouquet. In the next second, she steps back and looks at her creation again with furrowed eyebrows.

Then she quickly shortens three closed white ranunculus buds and uses them as accent pieces in the original arrangement, and smiles like a pleased artist.

The entire floral arrangement takes her 20 minutes to finish. She is accomplished as an artist and a mother of four.

“She is excellent with multitasking, both efficient and professional in all aspects,” Nohsen said.

Oghabian might not have started her career as the designer she wanted to be when she first came to this country. Instead, she achieved higher goals both as a mother and an entrepreneur. Her floral artwork connects her to nature and captures people’s eyes in a personal way.

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She chef

by Serena Simoes reams and goals can only be attained through hard work and sacrifice. But once that dream is met – why stop there? San Jose’s very own Chef Nicole Freitas is on a mission to surpass everyone’s expectations against all odds in the food industry.

“At this point in my life I have no social life and I rarely see my family,” Freitas said. “But what motivates me is how far I have already come. I want to work hard now so that I can have a better future.”

Freitas is unique to her position. At only 24 years old she is already the head chef of La Catalana, a Spanish restaurant located on North First Street in San Jose.

But her career path has been anything but easy.

In high school, Freitas had dreams of becoming an artist that were met short with lack of college opportunities. She found no viable scholarships and was worried about not being able to find a steady career in art, leading her to opt for something more reliable.

She ended up at local community college West Valley, where she eventually earned her associate’s degree in accounting.

Despite her love for art, she wanted to pursue this degree to ensure a better job here in the Silicon Valley.

But after careful consideration, she finally decided that she could not let herself settle. Failing to live up to her fullest potential was not an option.

She was surrounded by food all day working at La Catalana as a waitress and had enjoyed cooking in her free time. After careful consideration, she enrolled into the International Culinary Center in Campbell.

“I feel so lucky that I don’t spend all day sitting

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at a computer. Instead, I am able to express myself artistically through food,” said Freitas.

Culinary school, sexist colleagues and untrustworthy coworkers have also consistently challenged her ability to persevere through such a cutthroat industry.

“I had a colleague in culinary school tell me that I can work three times as hard as a male chef and never get the same recognition,” Freitas said. “[In the kitchen] I have to put my foot down to make sure I’m not overlooked or talked to a certain way.”

Being young and successful in any industry is challenging, and being a woman in such a workcentered area like San Jose makes it that much more difficult to create a name for yourself. Freitas wants to continue to cook and eventually expand out of her hometown.

“Becoming a head chef isn’t the end of the road for me,” she said, “I still have dreams of owning my own place outside of San Jose, where people are more open to flavors and creativity.”

But wherever Freitas ends up in the future, she has made her impact on Spanish cuisine in San Jose. Many of her regular customers praise her for her creativity in the kitchen.

“The dishes look so simple but they surprise you with flavor,” said customer Ceejay Fangonilo. “My favorite tapa would have to be the catalan toast with iberico meat. The chef does a great job at making these flavors come together and taste great.”

A Bloomberg study revealed that less than 7% of restaurants in the United States are led by female chefs.

Chef Freitas’ accomplishment is a stepping stone and reminder for all young girls to remember to dream big.

Photo Courtesy of lacatalanatapas.com

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weekend

CREATIVE

by Zoe Alvarez Photography by Zoe Alvarez

Espinoza (left), Mitchell (right)

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t started with a question: “Is that a Madewell bag?”

Five years ago, two students at San Jose State University bonded over a bag in a photography class. They partnered up for the semester and unexpectedly began to lay the foundation for what would one day become a successful photography business.

Today, Elle Mitchell, 27, and Arabela Espinoza, 26, have a photography business called Weekend Creative and own a studio in downtown Campbell called Little Sunday Studio.

“We never sat down and defined our roles,” said Mitchell. “It all naturally happened for us.”

While working full-time jobs at Content Magazine, they would use the weekends to work on their own creative and personal projects.

This small side hustle was meant for the both of them to have fun with photography without restrictions or rules.

But after reaching out to It’s It Ice Cream to offer product shots, Mitchell and Espinoza landed their first paid gig.

This became the launching point for what would become their product photography business.

“We go into it learning things as we go. But of course, we do have skills that propel us and make us feel confident that we can figure it all out,” said Espinoza.

The rest happened with ease; business cards, a website, a portfolio, even submitting the paperwork to legitimize their business.

“The only really hard thing was coming up with our name,” said Mitchell.

The name came to Mitchell after seeing a phrase on a sticker with the word “weekend” on it.

The word resonated with their situation of building a business on the weekends.

With their backgrounds in advertising, photography, graphic design and art history, they were both able to unite their creative visions.

“We like the same things visually and aesthetically, and that helps when working together so we can have the same vision,” said Mitchell.

Lack of resources was never an excuse to turn

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down new clients.

“For the first year of our business we were renting equipment and shooting at home,” said Espinoza.

In 2018, an opportunity arose to lease a studio.

“It solidified us and made us look a lot more legit to our clients and as an LLC,” said Mitchell.

Soon enough, both Mitchell and Espinoza were able to commit to the studio and product photography full-time.

Both feel passionately about teaching others.

They hold tutorials through Adobe Livestream and open up their studio to the public for networking like their monthly meetups called “Overtime”. People join them for drinks and snacks, and discussions about photography, photoshoots and more.

Andrew Ha, an SJSU graduate, joined the Overtime meeting on February 27 and brought dioramas of his plans for an art museum similar to the Museum of Ice Cream, but with cookies.

“I plan on making issues that are hard to talk about easy to talk about,” said Ha. “You will be looking at art that is very socially charged, politically charged and talks about mental health and multiculturalism while eating cookies.”

Ha loves events like the Overtime meeting because it gives him the opportunity to meet other creatives to talk about ideas and inspirations.

He was only one of the 10 creatives networking and sharing their interest in art that night.

“That is why these meetings are so fun to have,” said Espinoza. “In schools you are not shown that you can do this kind of work or go into different avenues aside from what is taught… so we want to open those doors.”

On their Weekend Creative and Little Sunday Studio Instagram accounts, Mitchell and Espinoza often share behind the scenes of their work, current inspirations, editing tutorials, Q&As, and more.

They write blogs on their website as well as hold one-on-one coaching calls with clients. In late February, Mitchell and Espinoza announced that they will be launching a podcast called Per Our Last Email. They say it will be a more laid-back

Mitchell mingling with her guests during her Overtime meetings

comedy podcast with special guests opening up about their experiences and sharing any funny or interesting stories they’ve had while freelancing.

“Our business is unique because we have a whole educational side to our business. A lot of photographers are very tight lipped and don’t share their process or talk about how to actually do anything or don’t ever show behind the scenes,” said Mitchell. “We want to break that and say you can do this and here’s how or if you want to learn about freelancing or if you want to learn about business here are resources and tools and here’s what we know.”

What sets Weekend Creative apart from others is that this is an open book business.

This makes them more approachable, and ultimately helps others to feel more confident about photography.

Their partnership has strengthened during their experience as business owners.

“It would be really difficult if we had similar personalities, but we have the same style,” said Espinoza. “I feel really lucky.”

Now the story ends with a different question, “Is it the weekend yet?”

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the feminine mystique

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Art by Hoi Shan Cheung

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by Cody Nichols oing research for this piece, there were a number of articles I stumbled onto asking why it is that we’re “just now” having a boom in women within a field dominated by too many wand wavers. Yet, that very notion would lead one to believe that this is some kind of avant-garde novelty; a concept which couldn’t be further from the truth.

While there are a number of women in magic, that number could definitely be a lot higher. Why is that number so low? Why aren’t enough women in this business recognized? Furthermore, what is it like being in a vocation that comes heavily laden with so many stereotypes and assumptions?

To truly answer these questions and more, I talked to séance medium and magician Misty Lee; sideshow performer and magician Carisa Hendrix; Bay Area-based award winning magician Jade; and the Minneapolis-based magician known only as Suzanne. These fantastic entertainers (who, I later discovered, all four had competed on the show “Penn & Teller’s Fool Us”) took time from their busy performance schedules to talk with me about their perspectives on this topic along with their life experiences.

All very different people, yet similarities abounded while asking about their personal introduction into this art form. For all of them, magic was never the original goal. Carisa Hendrix originally started out in the world of sideshows, with magic being an occasional piece in her shows. Suzanne just saw magic as fun puzzles, until she eventually saw her first real magic trick done with effort and art by the man who wound up becoming her husband.

Jade worked at a magic shop in her junior year of high school, was asked to perform a magic show, and thought, “Well, I know how to use all these props, might as well.” She continued saying yes to shows until one day she realized she was a true magician by that point. When I asked Misty Lee how she got into magic, she

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said, “I started out as the girl inside the box. That job sucked, so I took his.”

This line of work isn’t without its own bad apples, which can lead to an uneasiness in regard to pursuing this hobby. Town magic groups tend to have people who enjoy doing magic as a leisurely activity, so it tends to provide a laid back atmosphere; reassuring you that the doors are open for novice and expert alike. However, because the demographics of magic tend to wind up with not very many women, young girls who may may have wanted to try out their local magic club might wind up feeling a bit hesitant.

When I asked the magician Suzanne if she could change anything in the magic industry, one of the things mentioned was male magicians who see women in their local magic groups as an opportunity to flirt with somebody. “[When speaking with them] Talk to them like they’re magicians,” Suzanne said, “don’t talk to them like they’re girls...They don’t go there to get hit on, they go there to learn magic!”

Sometimes the responses to things like the aforementioned discrimination shown at countless magic events can lead to problems on the opposite end. The magician Misty Lee was not willing to go unheard when The Magic Castle in Hollywood decided to make an all women’s group. “Ladies,” Lee said, “you cannot reverse discriminate! If you want support, you cannot huddle under a blanket and tell creepy ghost stories over a flashlight. You have to invite these people in so they can hear you, understand, and help you work around it.” If there are people struggling to learn magic, Lee believes a fledgling magic group that is open to anyone and taught by experts would be better, rather than having one that is just based on the gender of who joins.

Stances like this have found Lee in hot water occasionally in some hot water with others in her field. There was some controversy during a series of auditions at The Magic Castle. Lee sits on the auditions committee, and saw as a young

woman auditioned but didn’t do a very good job with her performance. The rest of the committee, however, wanted to vote the young magician in because she was a woman and they needed more women performers.

When Lee shared her thoughts, she asked if they wanted to hold this initiate up to the same standard that they’d hold anyone else to and hope others would hold them to, and they said yes. “Then fail her,” Lee explained. They failed her, and Lee took this person under her wing and worked with her for hours, all completely unpaid. She aced her next audition because someone was willing to care about her enough to help her and tell her where she needs to improve.

Thankfully, due to more conversations being had and crude behaviour becoming tolerated far less, we are finding progress little by little. “Primarily right now,” Hendrix intimated, “there has been such an effort in the community to feature women and make women comfortable, that I know I could quote and cite way more positive behavior than negative behavior.” Magicians Jade & Suzanne expressed their happiness that there are platforms, like YouTube, providing the opportunity for young women to see performers like them, thereby encouraging them to pursue whichever method of art they enjoy.

When I asked Misty Lee what she thought people could do to help inspire more women into magic, I was met with an inspiring take. “Do we have to?... I think that what we can do is do the best we can, and hope that the right people will be attracted to it regardless of their gender. Hopefully magic will find them, will take a hold of them, and they will have something to say within that art form in spite of any issues that they encounter. I don’t think it is our job to lift up people, to encourage

“

more women to get into magic. I think that we need, as magicians and as a society, to lift up the art we love and hope that the right people see it and are inspired to make good art based on what they are attracted to.”

I felt it important to end each interview by asking what each one of them hoped their audience took away from their performance.

Jade: “The world by itself without humans, corrections, or touch is beautiful for what it is.

And so I think human beings have the ability to appreciate beauty for what it is. When they see something beautiful, they know.

You don’t have to teach a child, they know that. So I present pretty magic, beautiful imagery…

To keep our minds open and appreciate the beauty around us.”

Carisa: “I want people to experience something that is special, unique, and be a part of something that won’t ever happen again. An individual moment of time that is created as a collaborative moment between the audience and myself.”

Misty: “I want them feeling and thinking two things. Number one, that the world still has mystery, because when you stop being curious you start to die. And number two, that they are enough.”

Suzanne: “That they have made a friend.”

Beauty. Qualia. Mystery. Friendship. All aspects of life’s experiences that we could all use more of. These four performers have shown us that you don’t need magic to ignite a positive change in the world. Sometimes you just need the temerity to live life unapologetically as yourself, and to leave the people around you better off for you having been there.

I started out as the girl inside the box.

That job sucked, so I took his.”

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queen in the ring

by Zoe Alvarez Photography by Zoe Alvarez my Mongersun puts on a padded head guard, slips her wrapped hands into a pair of large red boxing gloves, then steps into the ring. She leans back up against the ropes in her corner and faces her male opponent with fierce eyes.

A few years ago, Mongersun never imagined she would be sparring with men, let alone co-own a boxing business.

In fact, she was the exact opposite of an athlete.

While working on her master’s in bioengineering at Santa Clara University, she began a large research project that eventually turned her degree into a doctorate.

“I would go to campus, set up my experiment, wait for it to run and then I would have these gaps of time,” said Mongersun. “In between those gaps I figured I would do something active and pick up a new hobby.”

The project ran out of funds leaving her with extra time so she decided she would fulfill another dream of owning a business.

“I came off the street from level zero, couch potato level,” said Mongersun.

“Now, I’m three years into the sport and

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I own a boxing gym.”

Mongersun admits that she’d never entered a boxing gym before due to the intimidation that stems from it being a male-dominated sport. But meeting Anthony Palomo, her trainer and future business partner, changed her outlook completely.

Mongersun noticed Palomo was experienced and asked if he would train her. Palomo agreed and a mutual goal resulted from their meetings.

“We would go to a café and study and this café had a chess board,” said Mongersun. “So, we would be studying, writing drills and programming for what I would want to train as a boxer, and we’d be playing chess.”

These sessions became the inspiration behind the boxing gym they would open in the future.

“We equated boxing with something that is very similar to chess because it’s a game of strategy. We call it chess with consequences,” Mongersun said. “It became a consistent theme in everything we do, even in the technicality in how we train our boxers.”

They began teaching classes in a gym belonging to Palomo’s friend every

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other weekend. Eventually, they found a spot in downtown San Jose, and opened Checkmate Boxing with the motto, “The hard science meets the sweet science;” the perfect description of Mongersun and Palomo.

“This is our passion project,” said Mongersun.

“We put all of our time and our energy into this because this is what we want to do.”

Her passion grew when Mongersun was able to combine her first love of science with her new love of boxing. Rocksteady, a boxing program for people with Parkinson’s disease, is just one example of how she implements her science background in the ring.

“I’m not sure there are many boxers that can say they have a master’s in bioengineering,” said Mongersun.

Palomo credits Mongersun for these ideas saying these programs wouldn’t exist without her.

“I wouldn’t be here without her help and her support as a coach,” said Palomo. “Everything that I’ve learned and acquired in boxing I use for her because it’s such a dream of hers and now it’s my passion to make her the best boxer she can be.”

Many things motivate Mongersun to better herself in boxing. One motivation is that she usually has no other choice but to spar with men.

“It’s pretty rare to find women and it’s really hard to find women in your weight class,” said Mongersun. “There are some other women that do own gyms, but they are not boxers.”

Checkmate Boxing plans to offer a program dedicated to women in the future, like that of Beautiful Brawlers by Babyface Boxing in Pacifica. In doing this, Mongersun hopes to increase the number of female boxers and shed light on the inequality women boxers face, like less pay and even less time per round each fight than male boxers.

“It’s really frustrating because there’s this controversy that it’s only two minutes because women are more susceptible to concussions and

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that they can’t last as long as men and they’re going to get hurt, but there are no studies for any of that,” said Mongersun. “In the end it boils down to most people don’t want to see a woman fighting for 45 minutes so they make it shorter.”

Mongersun and Palomo thrive on their coaching tactics, teaching their clients real boxing techniques which they believe differ from cardio boxing gyms.

“Most gyms it’s 30 people, 30 bags, one coach yelling out combinations from the first day you get there,” said Palomo. “You either get hurt, get discouraged, or someone in the gym who’s been there for a while will come up and help you and start teaching you bad habits that they’ve learned incorrectly as well.”

They have carefully curated a coaching structure that removes the intimidation people feel around boxing gyms and invite everyone to try one free class. No experience in boxing is required, which is why Mongersun is a perfect example of her own business.

“I just want to be known for breaking that stereotype of being a shy, timid, submissive Asian girl who is a huge nerd,” Mongersun said.

“There can be different facets of your personality that don’t necessarily show all the time and I want to be something more than that.”

Clients feel that the care of the facility and the one-on-one feel of the sessions make their classes worth the money as stated on Checkmate Boxing website reviews.

The duo continues to listen to this feedback and plan on building a legacy through their boxers regardless of their abilities, who they are, or where they come from. They also hope to get their boxers to professional or Olympic level one day.

Mongersun strives to create a new image for female boxers not only by owning a gym that caters to women interested in the sport, but by improving her fighting skills and building the tools needed to train her clients more efficiently and effectively.

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One Hundred Years

by Katie Hoedt

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his year marks the 100th anniversary of a woman’s right to vote. Although women have gained more of their basic human rights over the last couple of decades, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to get to a place of complete equity and equality for women. Nevertheless, the 100th anniversary of a woman’s right to vote should be celebrated. Join us as we break down the road to this unprecedented step forward and its effect on all women then and now.

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1848 1850 1890 The idea of women’s suffrage had already spread among hundreds of women in the United States The discussion of women’s rights led to a large gathering in Seneca Falls, N.Y. in July. The reformers associated with this gathering, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, led what was originally called the Women’s Rights Convention. At this convention, Stanton wrote the manifesto, “The Declaration of Sentiments,” which encouraged women to fight for rights that were constitutionally guaranteed as U.S. citizens. Later that year, the manifesto spread to thousands of women and led to another convention that reaffirmed their ideas among a growing crowd.

This year was especially hard on the Women’s Rights activists. A war had begun between the north and south in the U.S. which led the movement to lose a lot of what they had built. In the years to come, the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., and the Fifteenth Amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote, all were ratified and pushed the suffragettes to ally with the southerners who agreed that white women should have the right to vote over black males.

As time passed, there was little to no advancement and siding with the southerners gave the suffragettes’ campaign a bad rap. Factions were created in response but eventually faded out by 1890. Then the National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed and Stanton was elected president.

During the association’s advocacy, they strayed from the main argument that men and women were created equal and focused that women were “different” than men. They focused on the argument that a woman’s vote would create a more maternal U.S. and would bring forth a large vote on social issues.

1910 1918 1920 Women started to break ground, with states such as Idaho and Utah giving women the right to vote. As southern states resisted, actions such as picketing and hunger strikes were taken by two splinter women’s groups.

When the U.S. joined the first World War in 1917, the movement slowed. However, women argued how the country relied on their work for the war, which showed that they were just as patriotic and deserving of a vote as any man.

On August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified. Then in November, millions of women across the U.S. voted in the elections for the first time.

1965 t0 now

Despite the many obstacles that women had to overcome in the decadeslong fight for suffrage, the result was a more equal country. However, in the eyes of the African American community, there was much work to be done. In fact, African American women wouldn’t get a total right to vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a law that was made possible with the help of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and

many other activists involved in the fight are always ready to proudly fulfill their for equality in the black community. duties as American citizens. Women, Today, women have grasped onto specifically African American women, their right to vote in almost every have been increasing their participation election. Since 1998, women have at the polls since 2000. According voted 3.2 percent more than men, to AmericanProgress.org, African according to Pew Research Center. American women constitute the largest These numbers are even higher when demographic, and there are at least 15 it comes to votes from women of color. million who are eligible to vote, and at This only shows that women are a every election, they participate at some driving force in the polls and that they of the highest rates of all women voters. access Magazine 47 may 15, 2020

Summer here are our picks for the must-reads of summer 2020

What Would Cleopatra Do?

“From body positivity to dealing with loss, What Would Cleopatra Do?

by E. Foley and B. Coates is an inspiring book about 50 women in history who have made their mark. Although the book is written in chronological order starting at D. 61 CE, it can be read at any section depending on the motivation or pick-me-up needed. Women such as Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo and Coco Chanel are presented as examples of resilient females who steered away from the social norm and broke the glass ceiling. Empowerment, inventiveness and rebellion live in these pages and call to all women feeling the pull to live differently.” - Zoe Alvarez Access Magazine Copy Editor

The Friend Zone

“Abby Jimenez’s The Friend Zone is a delightfully engaging romcom like no other. But please, do proceed with caution and prepare yourself for an emotional rollercoaster ride — blushing, smiling, laughing out loud, crying, and anxiously waiting to see what happens next. Kristen is an intelligent business owner. A beautiful, independent, brilliant, witty, and just a tad sarcastic woman who Josh is never intimidated by. In fact, he loves that she’s a fierce force of nature. But Kristen has a secret. While Josh’s dream is to one day have a big family, Kristen lives with a medical condition that prevents her from ever having children. A delicious story about love, friendship, infertility, and everything in between, The Friend Zone is a must-add to your summer reading list.”

- Elsa Martinez Castro Access Magazine Editor-In-Chief

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may 15, 2020

Reads White Girl Problems

“White Girl Problems is the first book of a three-part series written by LA native Babe Walker. The New York Times bestseller begins with the main character attending a therapy session for spending over $200,000 at Barney’s. This hilarious, witty book of “problems” contains endless satire on the rich that will have you snickering from beginning to end. From accidentally feeding her guests weed desserts to getting sent to the ER from falling off one of her horses, Babe Walker gives readers Kardashian-meets Confessions of a Shopaholics vibes that will have you laughing throughout the entire summer.”

- Serena Simoes Access Feature Writer

Dear Girls

“After reading the first chapter in Dear Girls by Ali Wong titled “How I trapped Your Father”, I found Ali Wong’s stories utterly raunchy. But I liked it. Because she tells the truth that every young lady should know before she becomes self-resentful of her imperfections. Let’s face it, womanhood is nowhere near perfect and full of hardships. Ali Wong impressed me with her brutal honesty. From her liberated sexual experiences to her graphic details of childbirth, the book includes lots of information that usually moms will not talk about with their daughters. It sounds terrifying, but somehow the stories reflect what every woman goes through in reality, but Ali Wong makes it hilarious, though they might vary based on your background. A book with pragmatic advice that helps women embrace real womanhood while appreciating their individuality. By the way, don’t purchase it before you turn 21.”

- Hoi Shan Cheung Access Social Media

may 15, 2020

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The coron Effect Art by Nathan Doyle 50 access Magazine may 15, 2020

navirus

may 15, 2020

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ruby rae’s glam masks

By Ana Acosta fter a year-long hunt for jobs in the fashion industry, San Jose resident Lorena Cortez found herself being furloughed from her job as a tailor for Levi Strauss in San Francisco.

Cortez is just one out of thousands of people who are currently unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was really disappointing,” said Cortez, who knew she wanted to pursue a career in fashion since high school.

She had been emailing back and forth with her higher-ups about potentially making masks for Levi’s from home, hoping to still be able to get paid during the pandemic.

However, shortly after those conversations, all hourly employees were furloughed.

But Cortez, who is also the creator of the handmade vintage clothing brand Ruby Rae Clothing, saw this as an opportunity to sell her own glamorous masks.

While Cortez said she saw other fashion designers selling their masks for up to $20 on social media, she decided to sell them for $10.

“I thought I can totally do the same thing, make enough for myself to get by while also being affordable to people by selling them for half that,” Cortez said.

After posting a couple of her masks on her and her brothers’ Instagram stories, Cortez got 50 new orders overnight.

Among one of the customers was Monica Vallecilla and her mother, who have known Cortez since childhood.

“We just wanted to support her in any way,” Vallecilla said. “And it’s beneficial to us because it protects us when we go out because at first we were just buying disposable masks.”

So far Cortez has sold 100 masks, but will soon get an order from a friend for another 170 masks for his work team at OnTrac.

While a single mask takes 30 minutes to make, Cortez said she cut her production time in half by cutting out all the masks first instead of starting the process from start to finish with each mask.

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“I’ve been literally working from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep, on masks for a week now,” Cortez said. “And it makes me feel really excited that I’ve been able to make my paycheck back of what I’m gonna be missing by being furloughed.”

After doing plenty of research on mask safety, Cortez decided on a triple-layered, curved mask design with a satin finish.

“I wanted to feel glamorous but also know that I’m protected when I go out and I think the people that follow me would feel the same way,” Cortez said about the popular design.

While Cortez said she does have to think about the possibility of getting laid off, she’s keeping busy by creating a vintage style infomercial promoting her glam masks, as well creating tutorial videos for at-home DIY fashion projects.

“It makes me feel like I’m actually helping out and being productive by using my passion to keep people protected” Cortez said. “I’m pretty happy that I’m able to be productive during a time like this.”

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I wanted to feel glamorous but also know that i’m protected when i go out”

unknown territory

By Manuel Romero aribel Gonzales-Elisea, a third-grade teacher, had a common routine. She prepared for work, dropped her kids at school and headed to Bachrodt Elementary in San Jose. She continues to prepare for work, just as she has for 20 years, but facing a new challenge.

COVID-19 has brought this teacher out of her classroom and into a strange place.

“I had to face the new, uncharted challenge of longdistance learning,” Gonzales-Elisea said.

Before entering this “uncharted territory,” her school district made some important decisions. “The school district that I work for, first made sure that students had meals to eat before actually assigning work,” she said. The school district also had to face the challenge of distributing electronic devices to students.

A need the school district slowly met.

After providing students with the tools necessary for online learning, Gonzales-Elisea and her class stepped into a completely new territory. “My teaching has changed dramatically. I am depending on videos and having students connect to sites they hadn’t visited before,” she explained. For some students, remote education is more challenging when their parents are unable to help them.

The students are not the only ones struggling with remote education. Gonzales-Elisea is facing her own challenges. “The biggest challenge that I am facing right now is assigning work to students,” she said.

Sometimes, students have questions that she is unable to answer.

However, she is adapting to this new technology that helps her and her students. She has learned how to digitize her worksheets and upload them to Google Classrooms. She has also connected her students to Khan Academy when they need to practice their math skills. When students need to read, they can access books online and prepare digital book reports.

Gonzales-Elisea is using Google Hangouts for video conferences. Nevertheless, she misses the traditional classroom setting. “I am slowly getting used to it, but I honestly wish I could talk to the students in person,”

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she explained.

Through this pandemic, students have kept in contact with their teacher via video and text messaging.

Gonzales-Elisea shared an encouraging message from a student who said she missed everyone, including her teacher, and wished to return to school.

Her school district plans to continue following the state’s shelter-in-place regulations.

Following these mandates is another challenge for Maribel Gonzales-Elisea. However, she keeps a positive attitude. “We do stay positive knowing that this inconvenience is for our own good,” she explained.

In her personal time, she keeps busy by reading.

Currently, she is reading, “The Forgotten Dead,” which she says tells the unknown story of Mexicans who were victims of lynching.

Ruperto Elisea, her husband, is aware of how COVID-19 has changed her life and her career.

According to Elisea, his wife is “more bored and [misses] socializing with her friends.”

Her Christian faith is a source of strength for Gonzales-Elisea and her husband, Ruperto Elisea.

“Daily prayers have kept me going. I feel peace and know that I can face [the] daily challenges,” she explained.

The same is true for her sister-in-law, Delfina Elicea.

Her housecleaning business was greatly affected by COVID-19.

Many of her clients have chosen to cancel her services to follow the shelter-in-place order. Delfina Elicea has relied on her Christian faith and faced her financial worries.

“Yes, I do [worry about finances], but I see that [God] is providing for [my] family. Some customers have helped me, and my two sons have supported me,” she explained.

COVID-19 has greatly affected the lives of women everywhere, but Gonzales-Elisea, and other women still are hopeful.

The message that Maribel Gonzales-Elisea wants to tell other teachers is encouraging and simple. “We are going to make it! This will be over soon!” access Magazine 53 may 15, 2020

born in quarantine

By Zoe Alvarez magine finding out in the last few weeks of your pregnancy that you will be introducing your baby to a worldwide pandemic in the middle of a quarantine.

All of the plans you made in the last nine months to deliver your baby have disappeared and now you must handle the stress of a brand-new plan the week you go into labor.

This was the case for Rachael Contreras as she prepared for her second child.

Contreras has felt the weight of the pandemic as a single mother of a 3-year-old and as a part-time worker in the food industry. She is also a part-time student finishing her A.S. degree this spring, switching from in-person classes to remote virtual classes in the middle of her last semester.

“When I found out I was pregnant, I was happy, scared, and sad all at the same time,” said Contreras.

“We already live in a small place and don’t have enough room.”

Along with her mom and brother, Contreras and her son live in a two-bedroom apartment.

About a week into the shelter-in-place order, she celebrated her 30th birthday having to cancel her original plans for a party.

A couple of weeks later she received an email from Kaiser explaining the new specifications of her birth plan: she is to have only one person in the birth room with her and no one under the age of 15 is allowed.

“It was like a backhand slap to the face,” said Contreras. “I was so shocked I had to call Labor and Delivery to ask some questions.”

Her original plan was to have her mom, son, aunt and closest friend in the delivery room, but the new restrictions changed that, causing more issues than expected.

“We weighed out all of the scenarios with her son and decided it would be best if I stayed home with him while my sister, Sue, went to the doctors with her,” said Contreras’ mom, Ruth Ramos.

As Contreras’ predicted due date approached, the

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doctors made a plan to induce her.

The safety restrictions were noticed by Contreras and her aunt the moment they arrived at the hospital.

“Before we could enter the reception area, a nurse stopped us at the door to ask us questions,” said Contreras’ aunt, Sue Alvarez. “They wanted to make sure we didn’t have any symptoms before entering the hospital.”

Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus, hospitals and healthcare workers are taking every precaution to protect themselves and their patients from COVID-19.

“I still felt that the hospital was safe because not only were the rooms clean but every single nurse had a mask on when they came in,” said Contreras.

Alvarez was free to come in and out of the hospital, but she chose to stay inside to restrict contact with others.

“Everything felt so eerie,” said Alvarez. “You could hear a pin drop where normally you would hear the sound of nurses or other patients.”

While Contreras was in her room, she was able to FaceTime with her mom and son as much as possible.

Then at 4:15 a.m. on April 2, baby Julian was born.

“Waiting for Rachael to deliver for me was crazy, I felt like I had ants in my pants,” said Ramos. Since the baby’s been home, Contreras’ life looks different. Her family has only been able to “meet” the baby through FaceTime calls, photos or videos. She will be graduating in the next month without a ceremony. And having to return to work after maternity leave has created more worry than normal.

“When I come home from work, I go straight to the room and change out of my work clothing as I did before,” said Ramos. “But now I have to go the extra mile and take my mask off and wash it, wash my face and any part of my skin that was showing.”

Although there is talk of opening up the public in the next month, Contreras and her family are taking every opportunity to stay home while cautiously regaining their footing outside in the new, very turbulent world.

unsung heroes

By Jackie Contreras s coronavirus cases increase, the world tries to adjust to social distancing and shelter-in-place orders in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.

Workers in the food industry turn to strictly takeout and delivery services and teachers attempt to give students an education via computer screens.

But when your job revolves around feeding young students, primarily ones who come from low-income backgrounds, what do you do?

Downtown College Prep El Primero High School cafeteria workers Maria Rojas and Martha Martinez found themselves asking that question.

When Santa Clara County officials announced the guidelines for shelter-in-place orders on March 16, Rojas and Martinez worried they were out of work.

“I’m someone whose emotions get the best of me,” Rojas said originally in Spanish. “At that moment I felt scared and helpless, those feelings attacked me but I knew I had to remain calm because my son couldn’t see me like that.”

The fear Rojas felt in that moment was quickly followed by the stress she felt over paying rent, phone bills, groceries and other necessities.

DCP El Primero High School officials reassured Rojas and Martinez that they would continue to be paid their regular hours despite school closures, they were also told they would continue to provide them with any updates. They were later informed they would continue to serve school lunches to people in need of them.

With their jobs secured, Rojas and Martinez went back to the now empty school to continue with their modified responsibilities.

Typically, Martinez works 8-hour shifts Monday through Friday. She serves as the crosswalk guard in the mornings, then she’s off to the cafeteria to prepare and pass out lunches alongside Rojas. After school she’s back on crossing duty.

In the weeks that have followed school closures, Rojas and Martinez can be found in the empty school

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distributing lunches to families and Chromebooks to students in need of devices to continue school through online classes.

Considering the building was once a hardware store, the high school appears even more desolate without the bustling commotion of students, something Rojas and Martinez miss.

As mothers and employees at a high school, Rojas and Martinez can’t help but worry over how the coronavirus pandemic will affect children and teenagers.

“I don’t have fear in respect to the pandemic, but I am afraid for the uncertainty of our children’s future,” Martinez said. “They’re spending this time in isolation without physically socializing with other people.”

Martinez said she fears the shelter-in-place orders will affect the well-being of young people and that it might cause depression.

Despite their fears, both women remain hopeful that schools will continue on in the next academic school year – bringing back a sense of normalcy and reassurance they said they both need.

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When your job revolves around feeding young students, primarily ones who come from low-income backgrounds, what do you do?” may 15, 2020

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Access Magazine spring 2020