How did we meet?
G: We met while I was waitressing at Barbounia, I’d been there for about a year when you joined as a hostess.
K: That was a scene.
G: A scene and a vibe, honestly I miss those days.
K: To be fair that spot was big “old New York energy”, $20 brunch mimosas…wild
G: What made it feel like a true New York spot for me was everyone we worked with. It was a diverse crew for the majority of the time that I worked there - you and I were the only locals on staff.
K: It was a big immigrant service scene.
G: Exactly.
K: I liked working in restaurants because it’s big family energy and everyone always has your back.
G: I liked that the clientele was mixed so we got to meet people from all different walks of life, the weekends there were so different from weeknights.
K: Mornings were really big business energy, suits would start showing up.
G: Ladies who lunch!
What does being a New Yorker mean to you?
G: It means a lot. I believe that we’re products of our environments so being a New Yorker means everything to me because this city made me. I wouldn’t be who I am today without the experiences I had growing up here. I wouldn’t be as open minded and I wouldn’t have had access to the opportunities that I feel so blessed to have had.
Where in the city did you grow up?
G: I grew up in the Bronx. I was born in Brooklyn, but we moved near Kingsbridge when I was four. I grew up there and I lived there but I didn’t spend much time there. I went to school in Manhattan and my besties lived in different boroughs.
K: I still have only ever gone there for the little things, what am I really going to do in the Bronx..meaning why am I really traveling there, it’s a trek.
G: Things are great but they have to be good enough to take that train all the way up there. There are some things that I think are worth it – restaurants, The Botanical Garden…
K: It’s fine. It’s like asking people from the Bronx to go to Coney Island.
G: Which you know what, I used to go a lot more before I lived in Brooklyn. My first time going alone was in middle school. I was in eighth grade and we told our moms that a friend’s mom was going to come with us which was a complete lie.
K: Oh yeah, any time you wanted to leave your borough, you had to lie.
G: That was the first time I went unsupervised, and it was great. Now I live twenty minutes away, and it’s hard to get me to go out there. It’s cute in theory.
Does your family still live here?
G: Yes, my parents are both in the Bronx still. I don’t visit them often because it's a commute. It’s fun when we do get together and fortunately it works best when it’s sporadic.
K: That’s when we enjoy the perks of borough separation.
Do you feel like you grew up too fast being in this city?
G: No, I don’t think it affected me in that way when I was younger because I was very sheltered by my mom. I was her first daughter and her memories of going to Roosevelt in the late 80s made her a bit paranoid to let me out of her sight. I didn’t explore too much until I was already 14 in high school. I started visiting other boroughs, hanging out and doing things that I maybe shouldn’t have been doing… but compared to other kids I was a pretty good girl. I didn’t have my first beer until I was seventeen, little goody two shoes!
K: Literal Gem.
Are we gatekeeping or do you want to share the spots that have been unique to you?
G: You literally have to pay me to shop in stores here.
K: I simply cannot, I hate it.
G: When I shop in stores and I thrift I keep it basic: L Train vintage, Flamingo, MyUnique up in the Bronx. For food, I order in all the time these days. One of my favorite things to eat right now is Two Boots. I also love Wheated, Risbos and Fish Cheeks.
What has changed in the last 5/10 years which has been hard to watch?
G: I struggle being in any gentrified neighborhood, not just Williamsburg which has taken on the most extreme form of it… egregious gentrification. Gentrification hurts to see but I try to think of it differently these days. Change is inevitable and gentrification is bound to happen to any city that you go to. Instead of letting it hurt me I try to do my best and vote for people who might do something about it.
K: Well… Eric Adams has… three more years. I didn’t realize his, “Doing absolutely nothing for any of us,” term would last as long as it’s going to.
G: I’ve seen how gentrification can change the livelihood of so many people, with many having to close business that new residents don't support or having to move out of places because they’ve become so unaffordable to stay in. It scares me for my own family, but they’re pretty secure in their spots.
K: The general reason as to why I wanted to start these interviews is because so many of us who grew up here are having a harder time adjusting to the climate of what the City has become. My mom back in the day used to pay around $700 a month for a 1-bedroom apartment. As a single parent, that worked for her. I can’t even imagine having a child right now and providing for them in a way that would be… providing for them. Groceries are... I don’t even want to talk about it. My dog is my child now. Chloë Sevigny would hate me for admitting that.
G: That’s a lot of us now, making our pets our kids. I can’t imagine raising a family here. Also, being an adult now seeing how expensive life is especially as an adult. I’m like kudos to my parents…how did they do that?
K: I think it was more sustainable then, a city for immigrants. Back in the day, there was no reason for people to come here unless it was for a better life in terms of opportunity or if they had real talent. I’m talking about Patti Smith. You had to know what you were doing; goals and ambitions were all a part of it. Now, it’s just saturated with the same type of person A,B,C,D,E- and there’s enough space for all of them because they’re being allowed to take over everything. We need to start an application process for people who want to move here.
G: I did not think of it that way, but 500%.
What do you do for work?
G: I freelance as a wardrobe stylist, mostly doing e-commerce, product shots, and stuff like that. I didn’t know that I wanted to be a stylist before I kind of fell into it. I’m happy I landed in e-commerce styling, it’s my jam. I love having numbers to reach and having an idea of what my days will be like. I prefer fashion that’s a bit more toned down and simpler styling which generally works for the clients that I have. It’s pretty chill but it can also be not so chill when clients are low on budgets or when you have to do a job that requires shopping and returning things: carrying a million and one things while shopping in store for all the other things. If it’s winter time and you’re wearing a coat it’s rough. Still, I like it a lot. When I don’t think about the ways people higher up take advantage of so many of us, I really love it.
Keys to productivity?
G: My keys to productivity… Honestly meditating. I definitely have ADHD and I cannot be productive unless I take some time every day to sit down and regulate my nervous system to focus. I have to do that several times throughout the day because I get distracted and it’s hard to be productive that day.
K: Have you tried the Wim Hof breathing method? I’m on a kick of recommending it to everyone. I lay down and turn on his YouTube guides and it's him training your breathwork. You end up being able to hold your breath for two minutes without even thinking about it. It’s good guidance for ice swims.
G: Then I need that. I had an experience swimming in the DR with my sister and a friend. They were chilling while I was struggling to breath and hyperventilating being like, “I’m okay guys!!!” I was low-key, not okay. It was so cold. I didn’t think water could get that cold out there, but it does. I think if I could work up to ice baths, my productivity would soar. Imagine having that kind of mental strength.
K: I could do a sauna to a cold water plunge. I’m still scared mentally of a full ice bath.
How do you typically spend a day off?
G: It depends on how many days off I had that week. If I don’t have too many days off, then I’ll usually be at home cleaning my apartment and letting my brain rest; just chilling with my kitty. If I have more days off, then I try to go to the park, see one of my friends, visit a museum or I go up to the Bronx to see family. I enjoy a chill life.
What does “I love New York” mean to you?
G: I love the slogan, because I love New York and so many people do. I feel like most people love it and if they say they don’t they're lying. I’m kidding, I also understand why it’s not for everybody.
K: I wish I could experience this city as someone who never lived here for a day. You wake up one morning, and you’re not from here. Where would I go? What would I do?
Even when people come to visit me, I just end up doing what I want anyway, and I’m not sure how much showing off I do of the things that “matter.”
G: Which is perfectly fine because you are outside a lot and they get one New York experience with you. I think I understood how other people felt in that regard when I was studying abroad in the south of France and I came back. Of course it was a bit different because I was coming back home, so that was that element, but going back into the city for the first time in four months and seeing the architecture, the different types of people, compared to where I was studying which wasn’t so diverse, I was happy to be back in a place where I had all these different options of food and things to do. Something about the energy here sweeps me off my feet. Everytime I come back from somewhere, I’m like, “I love the city, I’m so grateful to be home.”
K: I love when I’m about to land and I look out of a window thinking “JFK, disgusting, but I’m baaack.”
G: Like “I wouldn’t live anywhere else energy”. Although that’s not true these days, as I get older I’m more open to the idea. I feel very much like YOLO, the world is so big and I’m thirty now. I'm curious to see not what other lives I could live before this one is over, instead what other experiences I could have in other cities and what other cultures I could grow fond of and integrate into my own life. I kind of want to live in a country where there's universal healthcare. It's the main reason I contemplate leaving New York. I might just dip out of the whole country.
K: You’d have to go to a Nordic country, but you know, I’ll marry a Copenhagen daddy.
G: But you know what.. even though we don’t have universal health care I’m grateful for the other resources we do have. My mom never made a lot of money, so she was eligible for certain types of assistance that helped her keep a roof over our heads and enabled her to put food in our mouths. New York has its people’s back however sadly you have to be really down bad to be eligible for that type of help.
K: Oh, my grandma has loved flaunting her EBT card since she moved to this country. It was always her way of providing when she would come over with a grocery haul for all my lunch snacks, I wanted those hot pockets? She got me.
What’s the story behind your home and how long have you lived there?
G: I’ve lived in my apartment for six years, which is kind of crazy, I didn’t imagine staying here that long and I can’t believe how fast time flies. We moved here from South Slope. I lived in my boyfriend's old apartment there for a year and a half, then we decided we wanted to live together. It was so hard to find an apartment that was affordable and one that we could get with our credit. It was my first place and I was being so picky, almost unrealistically picky. I was like, “Wait a minute, ‘This is what I can get for how much??’” My place was the last one we saw after having seen like ten other apartments. All were super small and very expensive. I was at this point where I thought, “I’ll see one last place, and if it’s not the place I’ll give up until next month.” We were at one apartment a few streets away and the realtor saw that I was getting frustrated so she said she would see what she could do. She called up the agency that she worked for, stated what we were looking for, checked if anything else had opened up, and they sent us to our spot. When I first arrived I looked around and I started crying because I thought it was still too small and I was about to quit. The realtor showed us how we could set it up to make it work and once we furnished the place and got settled, I realized it was perfectly fine. I’m grateful to have it now. We’re half a block from the train, two blocks away from Prospect Park and we’re not in an overly gentrified neighborhood. It was important for me to feel comfortable in my new neighborhood when I left my mom's apartment in the Bronx. I didn’t want my first apartment to be somewhere that was super gentrified or becoming gentrified. I wanted to feel like I was still in New York City. I didn’t want to feel alien in my new home. I love being around so many Caribbean people here in Flatbush, being able to get my Mangú and all the things.
What are your favorite, must-read books/movies?
G: Shit girl, you got me. I’m like, “When was the last time I read a book from start to finish?”
I’ve picked up and put down a few really important reads in recent years, and as cheesy as it may be, “The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran is the only book I revisit every now and then. It’s like my bible.
As for my favorite movie, it’s always been hard to pick just one as the list is always growing. However, I can say that of all the movies I’ve watched in the last five years, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” has to be my favorite.
Night in or night out? How do you spend it?
G: Night in, mostly. Unless it’s the summertime.
K: Fair!! Once it drops outside, I’m like, “HOME!!” with summer it’s like, there’s no need to be inside, I need to be out on the streets
G: For a night in, I love to roll a little joint, kick back, and maybe watch something for as long as I can before I get distracted and cuddle with my baby (cat). If it’s a night out, it’s usually with my bestie Myra. That girl is out all the time, no matter what time of the year it is, and she can be out all night if she wants, and she is always doing something. I give her a call and she’ll be like “Come to this spot, I’m at this bar, I’m at this party,” that for me is perfect.
K: We all need a friend like that because I need to get pulled out of my house sometimes.
G: Oh, I am such an introvert. When I’m not working, I’m usually here at home or at a park/museum.
K: Your three homes!
Song currently on repeat?
G: Honestly, there have been a few, but El Tubo by El Elfa. It’s pretty lit. I heard it for the first time the other day, I don’t know how it took me so long to come across that. I don’t always start my day with Dembow but I always end my commute to work with it to keep me grounded.
K: I do tend to listen to the same song eight times or so. Like this is making me feel great about myself.
G: As long as you don’t do it to a point where you get tired of it. I have also been listening to more bachata lately. I was in DR last March with my family, and I was reminded of all these songs that I would hear as a kid that I really liked but didn’t listen to much as an adult because I’m not around people who listen to that music. I also recently asked my Colombian best friend to put me on to what they listen to in Colombia and through her I learned that a few of my favorite bachatas were actually covers of Vallenatos. In an attempt to understand that connection I started listening to old bachata again.
What’s the one thing in your closet you would save in a fire?
G: That’s so hard. It would have to be my dad jeans from Levi’s, they’re my favorite at the moment. I have an obsession with denim. They’re a perfect slate color; they’re a little low rise which is so comfy and they’re baggy.
K: Love a low-rise.
G: Oh my god, I can breathe. I don’t know if I could go back to high-waisted anything anymore. But if I’m running out of my house, definitely the jeans. You never know what you could get into, you have to be prepared.
K: Like if it’s the apocalypse.
G: Exactly! You want to be able to run in them.
You decide to treat yourself, how do you indulge?
G: Traveling, for sure. I forgot to mention, another thing I do on my days off is just researching different places to head to. I’m kind of obsessive about it, all I want to do is go through Airbnb. I want to go to Washington next, I want to go hiking, I did so much research on the West Coast and there’s a forest there called, “Hoh Forest”. I would have my “Twilight” moment there. It looks unreal. If there was ever a place, it would be there.
Who / what has been your biggest inspiration?
G: Off the top of my head, I would say my dad because he’s so selfless when it comes to his family. He works so hard to provide for himself and the people around him. He doesn’t quit, he doesn’t get tired, he doesn’t get grumpy about it, he’s happy to work. I need that kind of inspiration in my life because I’m a Taurus, and it’s not that I don’t love my job, but I do love to indulge and chill and every now and then so I look to my dad for inspiration to stay strong, keep grinding, and find joy in the little things. He rarely has time off and he’s overjoyed if he gets to see one of his kids and hang out in his home all day on his one day off. Like legit happiness. He came up from nothing, I used to think he was joking when he would tell me what his life was like in DR. It was unfathomable to me that people would live without shoes so as a child I thought he was exaggerating, but when I went to visit as an adult, I saw how possible and likely it was that he experienced what he said. Now you would think he’s unphased by his childhood but it’s what made him have a more positive attitude towards life.
When you think of NYC is there anything that comes to mind?
G: that it’s still the greatest city on earth… Maybe that’ll change one day, but I don’t see that happening as long as it remains diverse. I’m going to keep saying that because I think that's what makes it the most amazing place: diversity. You have to make an effort to be ignorant living here because all you have to do is step outside and the whole world is right there at your doorstep.