SLO LIFE AprMay 2020 Low Res

More documents

Recommendations

Info

40 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | APR/MAY 2020
kay, Marisa, you know the drill. Where are you from? So, I’m originally from Ventura County. Moorpark to be specific. It’s a small town, maybe 30,000 people, in southeast Ventura County near Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. I was born and raised there. I have an older sister. She’s nine and a half years older than me. In a way, for Oa good portion of my childhood, after she left, it was like I was an only child. We’re really close now. She lives in Texas now. San Antonio. By coincidence, both of my parents were born near Miami, Florida. And both of their families moved out here when they were younger. And they both ended up in the LA area. My dad grew up for most of his life in Simi Valley. And my mom spent most of her life in Agoura [Hills]. They were introduced to each other through mutual friends. After they were married and were looking for a place to settle down, they chose Moorpark because of its relatively low cost of living and the tight-knit community as a place an ideal place to raise a family. And, what about your parents? My mom was a teacher for over thirty years, mostly second grade. Sometimes first or third. She just retired. My dad was big in real estate. He also owned a 7-11 during part of that time. I was really young when he had it. I think I was just nine or ten when he sold it. I was the one just doing tasks for some extra allowance money around there. But never was an official employee. My sister worked for him which is kind of nice. She got to set her schedule and have a nice after school job. It was great until he was held up at gunpoint. That was it for him. He told himself, “You know what? I have a family and I can’t risk it.” We were always in the store there, too. We weren’t there when that happened, but he knew we could have been. It was a crazy thing to watch him go through. So, after that, he decided to sell it and he went on to get his broker’s license instead. He’s still in real estate to this day. What were you like as a kid? I grew up dancing. I started when I was just three years old as a lot of the kids do. I did it for a few years and then fell out somewhere along the way because I wanted to try soccer and do some different things. I did a lot of musical theater, as well. And by the time I turned nine, a lot of my friends in elementary school were dancing, so I ended up going back to the dance studio and getting super involved. I danced competitively. I was also on the dance team for my high school. My life was dance. After the school day ended at three o’clock, I was at the studio until eight. And the weekends were all about the competitions. I did jazz, ballet, hip-hop, and lyrical which is now classified more as contemporary. The only one I never really got into was tap. I think, because I’m such a rule follower, it would always get me so upset when people were just going off doing their own thing. Like, so many beats and it’s like, “Ah, I can’t focus.” [laughter] That’s the same reason I don’t tap dance… With dance I did a lot of musical theater, I was huge in the performing arts. I did a lot of productions and things like that which led to doing voice lessons at some point. I actually ended up trying out for the show American Idol. I was sixteen. It was a crazy experience. Tons of people everywhere, some of them dressed in funny costumes and things like that, doing whatever they could to get picked to move on to the next round. You realize how much talent there is out there, too. I was able to see a lot of them perform because they have you sing for producers first. I did get to sing the longest in my group, but it’s pretty much, “Yes. No. Yes. No.” And that’s it. They’re just working through that crowd. It’s all day. That was the only time that I tried out. It was kind of my one shot. But, really, I did it just for fun to see what would happen. After that, the path was to come to college. Get a degree, get a good job. It sound like you were very focused. I was pretty much a straight A student throughout. Always super honest, never really got into trouble. I might have been grounded a couple of times with my parents, but never for anything serious. Initially, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Loved animals growing up. But once I started getting further along in my schooling, writing always seemed to be a recurring theme and passion of mine. At some point, I saw the movie “13 Going on 30.” It’s a major chick flick about this girl who wakes up and she’s the editor of a magazine. I said to myself, “Wow, that’s what I want to do!” It was just so glamorous. I imagined sitting at a big desk somewhere, striking with my red pen saying, “No, take this out.” [laughter] I thought I was going to become the editor of People magazine. That was my top goal. I was like, “You know what? That’s where I’m going to be.” I just liked all the different types of stories they did. I like the entertainment and news side of things. I’ve always liked fashion. And I like some of their other stories that they do that are unrelated to entertainment. Some of their deeper, investigative pieces. I felt like it had a wide variety and I always pictured myself living the big city life, whether it was LA or New York. Yeah, that was my big goal. What was the next step? So, later in life, I started to really take an interest in journalism. I looked at [the] Walter Cronkite [School of Journalism] at ASU. Sonoma State, all the way down to San Diego. My top three choices ended up being USC, ASU, and Cal Poly. I did not get into USC. But it came down to ASU and Cal Poly. I visited San Luis and just loved the community here. I fell in love and decided it was far enough from home but close enough that I could go back and visit if I needed to. I love the downtown and all the little shops. For me, it has always felt like the best of a bigger city and a small town. And going through the journalism program was amazing. I loved how hands-on it was. And getting to write for the Mustang Daily. Getting to go out into the community and do stories but then also taking the other courses as well, some PR courses, some broadcast. They gave us a little taste of everything. It was during my time there when the industry started to change a lot. But it really was the hands-on “learn by doing stuff ” I love the most. And that’s when I met you. That’s right. You were our very first intern. Yes, you were just getting started. I had been looking for an internship when the first issue of SLO LIFE came out. I wanted to do something with a magazine, so I just kept calling and calling until you finally gave me a job. [laughter] And it was so cool because it wasn’t just busywork. You actually sent me out on a real assignment. You had me write an article about Dan DeVaul. His farm, Sunny Acres, the rehab community, was causing some controversy around town at the time and you were wanting to find out what was going on out there. I remember sitting down with you and you said, “Okay, here’s what I’m looking for.” I’ll never forget driving up to his house. As I was parking my car, I thought, “Oh, man, what am I getting myself into?” I mean, I had done stories for the college paper by that time, but this was my first semi-professional assignment. It was so cool. I got to talk to Dan and ask him whatever I wanted as we toured around the property. Then I wrote the draft and brought it back for you to edit, and the story turned out to be so much more than I originally thought it could be. The collaboration was the part I’ll remember. I got to see actual editing, not just one played in a movie. That was a difficult assignment. Dan’s a tough nut to crack. It’s true, but >> APR/MAY 2020 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | 41
Page 1 and 2: LIFE SLOmagazine CENTRAL COA WINE &
Page 3 and 4: M O D E R N • C L A S S I C • J
Page 5 and 6: GENERAL BUILDING CONTRACTORS . LAND
Page 7 and 8: Love your legs again! Before & Afte
Page 9 and 10: 805.574.0777 www.sagelandscapes.net
Page 11 and 12: © CAMBRIA 2020 || 404585_AD PORTRU
Page 13 and 14: True Community Banking “You never
Page 15 and 16: APR/MAY 2020 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE |
Page 17 and 18: RAJA AMPAT, INDONESIA GRAPEVINE LAK
Page 19 and 20: LEARN BY DOING WAS BORN HERE CAL PO
Page 21 and 22: PADEN HUGHES writer Reading “Girl
Page 23 and 24: Reserve your seat now: unlock-poten
Page 25 and 26: A LIFESTYLE OF HEALTHY, Fresh Choic
Page 27 and 28: DISTINCTIVE COLLECTION 1475 1475 LI
Page 29 and 30: Dear Central Coast Neighbors, For d
Page 31 and 32: MARCH ’20 3/3 Unofficial results
Page 35 and 36: What Put On Your Big Boy Pants and
Page 37 and 38: UPCOMING PERFORMANCES May 2nd . The
Page 39: APR/MAY 2020 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE |
Page 43 and 44: CALIFORNIA MID-STATE FAIR JULY 22 -
Page 45 and 46: TIMELESS DESIGN FOR A CHANGING WORL
Page 47 and 48: We Service ALL Makes and Models. We
Page 53 and 54: CONSUMED A PODCAST Join SLO Life fo
Page 57 and 58: Sleep Under the Stars, Connect with
Page 59 and 60: PERFECT APR/MAY 2020 | SLO LIFE MAG
Page 65 and 66: ARCHITECTURE LANDSCAPE INTERIORS ME
Page 69 and 70: #805STRONG W E W O U L D L I K E F
Page 71 and 72: LIFE IN THE SLO LANE STARTS HERE La
Page 73 and 74: Get growing on your home purchase L
Page 75 and 76: EST. 1999 Drought-Tolerant, Lifesty
Page 79 and 80: Sustainable Materials | General Con
Page 81 and 82: 3076 Duncane Lane . San Luis Obispo
Page 83 and 84: 181 TANK FARM ROAD . SUITE 140 . SA
Page 85 and 86: HEATED NECK WRAP. EYE MASK. COZY BL
Page 87 and 88: 䰀漀挀愀氀䔀琀栀椀
Page 89 and 90: MOBILE HOME LOANS IN OR OUT OF PARK
Page 91 and 92:
JESSIE’S TIP: Both of these dishe
Page 93 and 94:
Saving energy never goes out of sty
Page 95 and 96:
June 19-21, 2020 El Chorro Regional
Page 97 and 98:
Personalized Landscape Design 805.2
Page 99 and 100:
APR/MAY 2020 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE |
show all

SLO LIFE AprMay 2020 Low Res

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?