Let me start from the beginning. After studying Anthropology at UC Berkeley and doing field work in Oaxaca Mexico, I went to work in the vanguard of the Fair Trade movement with Global Exchange in San Francisco. This work instilled in me a desire to bring matters of social and economic justice into commerce. It was my dream to use design as a tool of economic development in Mexican artisan communities. It was with youthful optimism, energy and delusion, that I set out with $800 of seed money and a plane ticket to Cuba to change the world. Yes, Cuba.

Surprise, surprise! Nothing worked out as I imagined. I sold my Cuban carnival masks and painted cigar boxes which I smuggled into the country at the time when Strom Thurmond had just implemented legislation making it a SERIOUS crime to trade with Cuba. Oh well, Mexico was always my true love anyway. I had dreamed of working with women’s cooperatives, and helping artisans access markets more directly. What happened was completely different. The fact was, I didn’t have any money to start a nonprofit! I had to hustle and sell some stuff. I was living in the San Francisco Mission district at the time when the street art scene, LA Rockabilly scene and Mexican pop culture icons all collided. I ended up mostly working in Mexico City designing and working with small manufacturers to create a product line that reflected the zeitgeist of the late nineties / early aughts.