One of my greatest passions in life is building community. To that end, I frequently am involved in event planning and marketing for causes that I care about.

The Wild Gift reading series at The Bookmark Bookstore in downtown Oakland was born from my connection to the Bay Area poetry community and desire to raise funds and awareness for the Oakland Public Library. The Bookmark Bookstore is the Friends of the Oakland Public Library bookstore, and all proceeds from the store support our local library. With funding for the library already insufficient, I decided to do something about it and the Wild Gift reading series was born. Thus far, we’ve had a number of published, award-winning poets speak at the series, including poets who have won the American Book Award and the California Book Award. In planning the event, I worked with local businesses like Ordinaire Wine Shop to secure donations and bring a stronger sense of community to the event. 100% of the donations from the event go to the Oakland Public Library.

For the Wild Gift flyer, I worked with local artist Jesse California on a design that would speak to the event’s character with an Oakland style. Giving Jesse a few focal points, he returned with a design that was well beyond anything I’d envisioned. Each month, I alter the design colors to give each event a special touch and reflect the personality of the poets reading.

Oakland Summer School came from a similar desire for community improvement. Seeing the political despair that many Bay Area residents were in, a group of organizers and I put together a weekend conference where we invited community leaders to speak about ways we can do better, how we can solve problems, and how to empower every Bay Area resident. For the flyer, I wanted to emphasize the speakers present, as all present were prominent artists, writers and community activists. I also wanted a design that could have synergy with the event’s program, and I feel that all three pieces fit together nicely. The flyer worked, as we had more than 300 people fill up the space, with a capacity crowd pouring out the door at both The Bookmark Bookstore and E.M. Wolfman Books in Oakland.