Rose Cornejo

Rose Cornejo (left) is the happy owner and manager of La Esquina, a small Mexican Restaurant in downtown Los Gatos. She was the third person in her family to inherit this family-owned business. Rose's mission is to build a tightknit community through her restaurant.

The lady on her right is her mother, the previous owner of the restaurant before Rose inherited it in 2013.

Click here to view a photo essay on Rose Cornejo.

Reverend Gia Hayes-Martin

Reverend Gia Hayes-Martin is a priest at St. Bede's Episcopal Church in Menlo Park. She was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio in the Roman Catholic Church and attended Xavier University, a Jesuit college in Cincinnati. While pursuing a PhD in history at Vanderbilt University, she rediscovered an avenue for her faith in the Episcopal Church after she realized that her true vocation was to become a priest. She moved back to Cleveland and was sponsored for ordination there, eventually moving out to California and meeting her Scottish husband, Melville Hayes-Martin. The Reverend serves on the Episcopal Church’s Task Force on the Study of Marriage, and she is on the conference planning team of The Young Clergy Women Project.

Here are two pictures of the Reverend (one of higher quality after the Eucharist and one of lower quality in action since it was not particularly permitted to interfere with other worshipers experiences by taking photos during the Eucharist):



Here is a link to a podcast where the Reverend talks a little about her experience of sexual harassment within the Episcopal Church in response to a question about the Weinstein story: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Q7T1YRvUJB6g-WRIqGelZwxPw_VKSy2h

Jamil Khayrulin

Jamil Khayrulin was born and raised in Baku, Azerbaijan. He spent his childhood with his loving family and friends, went to the school of construction and architecture in the country's capital, and fought for the soviets in the nine year Soviet-Afghan war. Upon arrival in the US Jamil moved to California on his 31st birthday. In California, Jamil began to work as a photo framer, formed an unbreakable bond with his grandkids, and became a mountaineer.

Here is an image of Jamil inspecting two psychedelic prints, making sure that he didn't need to make any final touches, before he hands them over to his customer.

Here is a link to my photo essay

Brendon Bell

Brendon Bell is 32. He works for Tinkering School in San Francisco, currently spearheading their extension at The Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco. He was born in Texas, but has for the most part been in California his whole life. He wants to teach, specifically non-violent communication. He wants to build a tiny house, just as soon as he can find a place to park it. In one sentence, he describes himself as, "someone who wants to live their life intentionally as much as possible, in every way. And to leave a positive impact."

Photo Essay

Araceli

Araceli works at the Prolific Oven. She started working at the Prolific Oven three years ago directly after graduating high school and is now Assistant Manager. Araceli considers many of her co-workers at the Prolific Oven family and feels a special connection to the physical space because her dad worked there when it first opened.

                                      

                                      

                                      

                                              

                                      

                                      

Mike Fitch

Mike Fitch is a 58 year old man who was first sales manager in the tech world, but then became the current owner of an olive oil store called the Olive Crush. The Olive Crush is his passion and allows him to spend more time with his family.

Here's the link to my photo essay

Linda Ruiz

Linda Ruiz is a fourth-generation seamstress and a long time owner of clothing store, Park Place Vintage located in San Jose. Ever since her grandmother taught her how to sew, Linda has been designing her own clothing inspired by vintage looks. Each year she puts on fashion shows to showcase her creations.

Here is the link to my photo essay.