Profile by emma bridgland

Heather Piazza the TitaniumFrame

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was late October, one of the best times to go to the happiest place on Earth. Halloween in Disneyland is magical for its extreme spooky decor and autumn aroma, and according to Heather, a good place to make major decisions about her business. Stressed from work, Heather was ranting to a close friend of hers, pursing her bold, burgundy-pink colored lips together after every thought about moving her business. Eventually they fell on the topic of

Disneyland and how it’s happy environment always put a smile on her face. After her friend confirmed that she hadn’t been to Disneyland around Halloween, Heather’s favorite time to go, she spontaneously bought tickets for the next day and they left without telling anyone. With Heather’s shoulder length, light brown

hair up in a ponytail, sticking out of the back of her baseball cap, she ventures down to L.A. with her friend for a 24-hour trip to Disneyland, discussing the changes with her business and whether or not to move it to a new location. She talked to Zoe about what her plans for the upcoming year were between roller coasters and Disney characters.

by Emma Bridgland

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eather Piazza is a very independent woman. For the past five years she has single-handedly operated her own business. Heather has always been ahead of the game. According to NPR, “by the time high school rolls around, boys are earning worse grades than girls” (Graslie). Heather humbly states that she has “always had a pretty high GPA” (Heather), and although she had the right grades, she knows there is a possibility that she did not get the pay that others of a different gender could have gotten, despite the outperformance she held on them.

Heather is a minority, being a female business owner, and located in one of the most dangerous cities in America; Oakland. However, she manages to avoid any possible discrimination she could experience by being an assertive and stern yet happy and sociable woman. Her stern personality helps assert her dominance in the crime ridanced neighborhood, and her social bubbly trait helps her gain the trust of new customers and maintain the trust of old ones. Not many people can capture all these qualities which are vital for a single proprietor in a

place that seems so gloomy and hazardous. Heather is very experienced in the business world, she explains, “I’ve been doing custom picture framing for over 19 years and I’ve been working in Oakland since 2002” (Piazza). Heather works hard and does her work well. A close friend evaluates her as a worker, “people recognize that she is a professional, that she knows what she’s doing and she’s got such a strong, dynamic personality that I don’t think, from what I’ve observed, that she is getting discriminated against because she is a woman” (Dirks). People take Heather extremely seriously because they recognize right away

“Heather is a force to reckon with”

-Zoe Dirks

that she is a hard worker. She is important because she not only serves people with her outstanding business and work ethic, but because she is a role model to women who have an interest in the business world. Heather is much like a Titanium frame in the sense that she is a strong business woman and provides great structure and support to not only herself, but to those around her, whether it be a client looking up to her or her encouraging and supporting a friend to pursue

their dream, much like she has done. ehind a colorful curtain lies a large work table, heaped with pieces of frames, scrap paper and a box of tools.

Heather stands in the front room behind the half circle shaped desk and consults with a customer about their self-painted portrait.

She guides them through the thought process of what textures and colors of the frame and matting would best suit their masterpiece. After finding the perfect frame, the customer leaves, feeling confident that their work is in good hands and eager to eventually see their completed art nestled into it’s new armor.

Her shop has special hours because she does “all the work behind the scenes as well as help and assist the people when they come in” (Piazza). Between framing canvases and setting up her next art show, Heather is constantly working. It doesn’t stop at just that, “she’s done big industrial projects as well” (Dirks).

Heather is very spontaneous and decisive when it comes to both business and play. Not only does she make day trips to Disneyland, but she also steps out of the comfortable frame of

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expectations of an artist and female business owner that people live in, giving her a massive amount of experi-

ence, from working in large empty buildings, directing where each individual piece of art would look best on the empty canvas of a wall, to standing in the dining room of a client, helping them determine which side of the room the life-sized painting of tiger lilies would look most exquisit on. On top of all the extensive work, Heather has also recently moved her business to a new location in Oakland. Her previous location was tucked snugly into the Oakland hills, with the same, constant clientele and little publicity. Her new location however is right in the middle of downtown, with “more visibility” of the shop and a “bigger bright open space” (Miller). The downside

is that the new location is located in a little more of a dangerous part of Oakland, off of Park Boulevard and 7th Avenue. Zoe comments on the matter, “I think the move so far, from what I’ve seen, has been a good move.

I think the neighborhood has adjusted to her being here. I think that people, as they get to know her, start looking out for her being a single proprietor in a neighborhood that could potentially have a higher crime rate” (Dirks). So far the new location has benefitted Heather very well. She managed to have her old customers follow her to downtown and picked up new ones along the way. There is no new fear about being in the more dangerous part of Oakland either because of the support of the

neighboring businesses. As Heather said, “bad things can happen no matter where you are” (Piazza). eather grew up in Modesto with just her mother and sister, and in the process of growing up, she was found to be very artistic. Not only did she develop her artistic ability, but her mom also showed her the importance of working within a community. Heather’s father passed away when she was very young due to a work accident, and after that her mother relied on the church fellowship to help provide additional structure for Heather and her sister. The church guided Heather to be the person she is by teaching her leadership skills and time management. Heather was very curious when she was younger about how things worked, creating a love for both the arts and the sciences. Her strengths pointed her strongly towards the arts, and although she

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was very interested in the medical field and studied the medical sciences in college, her dyslexia affected her learning too much. After conferencing with her counselor she found out that since she had previously taken so many art classes, she would only have to take two more to graduate with an associates degree in fine arts. Despite her love for science, her background in art led her to work for the art degree.

After college she continued to experiment with more extreme forms of self-expression, like glass blowing, and it was through these arts that she made many connections with the people that helped her to get to the point where she is today. Heather says of her childhood, “I’ve always been into art. My mom was very creative and artistic so as a little kid I was always doing art and working with a lot of color, so I’ve always wanted to be an artist” (Piazza).

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eather’s helpers frantically follow her directions as she tells them how high to hang a painting for her upcoming opening night. The intense yet fun atmosphere broils to the roof of the room, with people joking around as they carefully place the expertly framed pictures of an artist who Heather plans to showcase in her gallery. Anthony, a friend and helper of Heather’s, talked about a time he experienced her powerful business side: “I came to help her out and realized it was easier to do what I was told than to do what I wanted to do” (Ruiz). That was during Anthony’s first time working with Heather so he didn’t

know what she was like as a business woman, only as a friend. He quickly learned that Heather likes things done the way she plans them, that she doesn’t allow anyone to mess with her image of the perfect setup, and when she wants something done she knows how to get it done without any struggle. People can immediately recognize Heather’s power and understanding of her work in her. She knows what works best and she doesn’t have a problem with expressing her knowledge about it.

People who know Heather well know that she “is a force to reckon with” (Dirks). n a typical workday, Heather stands hunched over her work table, screwdriver in one hand and one fourth of a carefully crafted frame in the other, checking the clock every so often, reassuring it is not time for the appointment she made a

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week prior with a client.

Not having an employee, she works day and night, dedicating most of her time into her facility. She starts off the morning by opening her shop at 10am and doesn’t stop until hours after closing time. Despite her inability to spend much time with them, she says she gets “tremendous support from [her] friends and family” (Piazza).

When Heather does need the extras hand, she’ll have someone close to her, like her mother or close friend Zoe, come in and do bookkeeping while she measures out frame lengths and perfectly aligns them with the structure to the picture. She

is always successful with her craft, no matter the workload. Her work management is noticed, Woody Miller, artist and friend of Heather’s, says, “she has done a great job on the framing, she makes everything look beautiful” (Miller). eather hopes to see her business booming even more in the future. Her “short term goal is to get an employee” because, as she says, “if you can turn the work in a lot faster, technically you can make more money” (Piazza). She adds onto needing an employee; “I’m growing to a more consistent point where I’m going to need more help.” Heather’s business is growing bigger, just as she hopes, and she wants to reach the point where the business is so big she’ll need the extra help. Anthony Ruiz

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says he sees Heather “still picture framing, still creating art, still putting herself out to the world” and more simply, “Being happy, just doing her thing” (Ruiz).