PERSONAL PROJECTS
Here are a few projects I started to help out the Oakland Community
DOING MY PART TO HELP SMALL BUSINESS IN OAKLAND CA.
I love Oakland CA (The Town). I was born in the East Bay and Oakland has been my town for over 10 years and in that time I’ve been able to frequent and get to know tons of local shops and owners. On March 17th, 2020, Gavin Newsome enacted shelter-in-place and ordered many “non-essential” businesses to cease normal operations. At first we thought this was only going to last a week or two but when weeks turned to months I noticed all these shops trying to carve out a way to survive during all this uncertainty. So I built a website / social called Hold The Town to inform the community on how they can still support their favorite local shops. It was picked up by local publications and embraced by the local SMB community. I did the photography and interviews but had a fellow CW write the stories. Holdthetown.com
HELPING THE COMMUNITY RE-ENTER THE WORKFORCE
Last year, over 100,000 jobs were lost in the East Bay alone. Now, with the vaccine rollout and shelter-in-place lifted, job growth is on the rebound. I teamed up with another local photographer to offer free professional headshots people could use on resumes and professional networking sites. We used social media, reddit, and local organizations to help spread the word. It was an incredible collaboration and everyone who stopped by was immensely thankful. Here are a few of my favorites below.
