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I'm Doctor Kayla Day and this is
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Humane Rights.
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A show that flips the traditional talk show on its head.
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This isn't about debate. It's about dialog.
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Each episode, I invite guests from different walks of life to unpack the messy, beautiful realities of being human,
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Welcome to human rights, where being human is the ultimate act of resistance.
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Unknown
Hi. Hi. Welcome to Human rights. So excited to have you here today. We have to get to the stuff that's really important when your name is Dave. Hey, Donna. Yes. Hello. But
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you need to describe your outfit to the listeners because you look fucking fantastic. You do? And I'm judgmental.
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Unknown
I'm a Virgo, so. But you do look great coming from you. So honored So there is no one else. I took a little sneaky picture of your outfit before. Yeah, just like as a mental note, I was like, well done. Well, don't dream like somebody just sneakily, like, taking photos of me. Congratulations. Today was the day I can show you the photo.
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Like to prove it? I was like, I need a shirt, and I like it. So
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let people know what you're wearing. Oh my God. It just describe how beautiful you are, your pronouns and what you're wearing. She her. She.
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Unknown
And those are my pronouns. I am, I am a big, second hand shopper. So this is all second hand. Honestly, I think the shorts, actually, I've had for like, 15 years. Levi's like 15 years. Okay. Shoes are shirts. Oh, and hat, obviously. Pixar. Yeah. And Pixar hat. So you have on this red crimson Pixar hat.
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You have on a bright electric blue blazer with a lace top with a prairie collar black. So much better. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But then you have on jorts, you have on like, the typical Levi's jean shorts, and then the boots are like a snakeskin crocodile with a crocodile snake, whatever. But like a light blue. What people don't understand is that.
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They're like. They're afraid of color. Yeah. And you obviously are a multidisciplinary artist. You're a painter. So color is not anything that you're afraid of. On the same vein, just for listeners, I have golden long braids right now. I am also a vintage which had auto body pronouns. She her. But I have on a 100% silk, track suit jacket with a funnel collar zipped all the way up.
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Unknown
It is a loud print of floral polka dots, red, black and yellows and then embroidered on it. It says Keeping Amazing. And this is actually from my new line that I'm dropping tomorrow. It's sold already. It is actually already sold. Sorry. Not sorry for me. Happy for everyone when it comes out, to it. I'm wearing some Proenza schuler, thrifted, little kitten heels.
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And then I'm wearing. Yes, rocawear jorts and a dark jean print. Now, for those who don't know what is. In short. Thank you for not asking. A short is a jean short that comes just right above or below the knee. And it says, I mean, business. Now, there was a time in the 90s where you dated someone that had them on, and you may have hated them.
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Unknown
Or maybe there's a time, the 2000 where it was like your friend's dad who had them on, but they're very in style right now, and you look great. It is. It's like the thing. It is a thing. Yeah, it is the thing. You are a proud Filipina. Yes. Very proud. Yeah. Which is great. Yeah. We love to, remind everyone about the different places in the world where colonization has happened.
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But it also is important to who you are as an artist. But before we get into that,
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what does human rights mean to you?
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Oh my gosh. Yeah. Oh, this is a casual question. Yeah. You know, out the gate. Out the gate. Human rights. Seeing one another in all the layers and loving all of them, whether it is broken, ripped, all the layers, all the pigments, and then appreciating with empathy and love.
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That's what I that is where I'm at. Empathy and love are the things that are missing when we're thinking about humanity. And you have done so many beautiful pieces. I've been a fan of you for a while. I have all your pieces, which I'm happy about because you gifted it only to certain people. I have I have jewelry from you.
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I have your artwork. I have your bottle of wine I like, I have all of these things. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I can't open the bottle. I mean, I should I it's a wine. Good. I, you know. Yeah. I don't think I'm going to open it though. Oh my God. Yeah. Because it's just it's like it's so honored I didn't know you had the bottle.
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Unknown
Yeah. No, I pay attention I do. But you also do something with my former employer,
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the San Francisco,
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General Hospital and the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. And you have designed a few hearts. Yeah. And for those of you who may not know, I would love for you to share all about this beautiful heart that you have out.
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Unknown
That was just, debuted last week. Yeah, yeah. That's Wednesday. Yeah. October 1st. Yeah, yeah. Oh, happy one week there. Yeah. Thank you, thank you. It's it's been a busy week. Yeah it is. Yeah. So tell us about the hearts.
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Oh my. So it's my third year with San Francisco General Hospital. It's been one of my favorite partnerships I've had.
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And and honestly, it came from just really innocently. We were walking around Union Square just one of those days with my family. And my kids were like, mama, you should try for this. And so that night, I just searched and then realized that the due date wasn't the next day. Stop it. Yeah, yeah. Stayed up all night. Really drove me to do it because there were just so much magic in their eyes.
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Unknown
And just, like, wonder when they were seeing these hearts. And I just wanted to try for it. Right. Because you you never know what's going to happen. And so I, I had the concept. The concept was basically I wanted to celebrate San Francisco. I want to celebrate the Bay area. And then my kids at that time were really talking about at their school, especially about how the poppies used to blanket our this lonely land that we live on.
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And I wanted to honor San Francisco, the Bay area, in a way that was I wanted to honor what was indigenous and what was, native. And I thought the poppies was something that was innocent, but also just showed a lot of resilience for me once they were telling me all the history about it. And so I drew these little kids holding poppies and then that was my first heart.
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Unknown
It was the mini one. It was for their 150th anniversary. And then the second year I tried for it again. And then I got the tabletop size one. And then this year, 2025, I'm one of two of the large heart artists and then got the. Yeah. And let everyone know where the heart is. It is on Geary and Powell and Union square and Union Square.
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Unknown
Union square. And it's absolutely beautiful. I love your use of poppies and a lot of your art, including the collaboration that you had for have for your gold jewelry, which I absolutely love. It naturally is a way to kind of get back to humanity. Yeah. And in addition to being a multidisciplinary artist, you're also an educator.
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And you put together this incredible kit. So tell folks about that. It's our kit with mojo ideas, with me and Kennedy Wylie. And who is that? Oh, incredibly famous artists. And everyone really started knowing who he was because of the Obama portrait. Yeah. So the thing we both have in common, as we both have worked with Candy Wylie, which is so cool, and we always have to say he painted Barack Obama.
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Unknown
Oh, you know, like, oh, but like the real art folks are like Candy Wylie like, yeah. How did that happen? So tell us how that came about. The kids started really out of, out of frustration and anger, honestly, but in a way that the whole situation and anger was just the world. George Floyd oh yeah. Yeah yeah yeah.
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Unknown
Yes. Okay. Yes. You didn't want to be passive. Yeah. Well I also had little kids. Yeah. And then I knew, you know, I wanted to be out there with everyone. I wanted to do my part as well. But I also had small children, like, at the time they were going to school and, you know, at home. But I how I speak, how I connect, I realized was this is my language.
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This is the way I am able to do my part in a way. So I just kind of put it out there on my Instagram. Hey, I'm going to host these self-portrait classes. I did not realize. I thought maybe like 20 kids will sign up first class online, 200 people signed up. Wow. To just do this self-portrait class.
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And the parents were the adults were really, really kind of, wondering, are they really going to stay there for an hour and a half? And these kids, they're now in the heart of these classes. It's really simple, right? It's very simple. I wanted them this is in response of how I was feeling, especially when George Floyd died, especially the rise of Asian hate.
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It was this reaction that I wanted to do when able to so we could connect with one another. In the heart of these classes was at home all these kids. How was it the kids had crayons, right? Most of us have crayons,
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especially when you have little ones at home. And
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I wanted to use materials that was easy for them to access.
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So just regular white paper and crayons. That was it. And as long as you have, pink, yellow, brown and black crayons, that's all we needed to create these, self-portraits.
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Now, I taught them, I taught them a little bit of color theory each which, each which I, which I, and then each class actually is inspired by a sunset in different part of the world.
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And, and and how you layered. I taught cross-hatching as well, how you layered the pinks and the yellows and the browns and the blacks came close to our skin tone. So in the end of these classes, there was this deep connection within the kids that all of us had these pigments within us and without me even explaining it to them.
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Unknown
It was a realization throughout these classes that, no matter where everyone was, because we were all at home in different parts of the world, there was a deeper connection, and I wanted them to celebrate who they are. And so those classes started, and I thought it was just going to be a three class series. It turned into like a two year thing.
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Unknown
And then I started doing like, workshops. And I was actually doing it for teachers. So anyone would ask, I would lead these classes for free and I yeah, I Oakland Unified, Berkeley Unified Avenue. And after we started, you know, we started doing that. I was learning also. It was great for me because I'm not a you know, I didn't train as a teacher.
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Unknown
So I would learn from these teachers to how I could lead these classes better. And, and parents started wanting to pay it forward. And so they would ask me, how can I donate for this? Because everything was free. Yeah. And I said, well, if you want to donate like $5 to $20, you can, and then I could put that towards an art kit for a family who asked for it.
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Unknown
So actually, by last year, we had counted how many art kits we had given out. It was close to 250 art kits. And then you're just, like, solving the problem and these public school systems by giving them art. And we all know that if you don't have access to art, then you can't create. And you can't imagine.
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You can't dream, right? That's why art is so, so important. Yeah.
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There's such joy in it. I mean, I think that every time we would say like, oh, this class is going to be an hour and a half, the adults in their lives were like, I don't know if they're going to see an hour and a half. They would hang out with me for two hours.
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Unknown
We had like we had like dance breaks. I would put dance breaks in there and usually it's Beyoncé. It's like Rihanna. Pretty much. Those are both. I mean, approved, right? Yeah. And then they would stay after because everyone wanted to show their art. Yeah. Everyone wanted to share their art. If you think about it, like even just thinking about the current state of where we are today and just just like in this place of humanity, you're providing a space for people to be human, to be celebrated, and to be seen because you're not at work.
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Unknown
You're like, look at this email I sent, right? This emails fire, right? So then right, like, you don't have a lot of times to celebrate because in America, as adults, celebration is the big thing, right? It's the wedding, the graduation, the promotion. It's not that I took time to draw today right? Right. Here's my picture. I was able to doodle in this meeting and actually help me focus better.
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Unknown
Or, you know, I was able to have our time with my kid, or I made dinner, right? You know, there's so many things that we can celebrate, right? And I think art provides a foundation for that. And it was so beautiful because then major ideas, you know, reached out and was like, do you want to collaborate on an art kit?
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Unknown
And it was everything that I wanted. Yeah. And then the idea behind it was basically these kids get to create their own museum, and it's celebrating them in the museum. Yeah, it was really it was it. I felt I had no idea that from a place of hurt and sadness, you know, that it would span for the next five years now.
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Unknown
Yeah. Now to an art kit that is, that was sold with Danny Riley. Yeah, that was sold that as a bummer, you know. And that is I've only been sold at the Dime Museum. Yeah. No.
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Unknown
Which are things to celebrate? No, I have, because being women of color in art space, I am not, artists. I don't maybe I'm. I struggle with that. I'm for sure creative. Your and for sure creative. And I know like I express myself through fashion. Express myself through like my San Francisco Giants collection. And I express myself through, being able to work with other creatives and, like Taylor Smalls, you know, with her painting here and, and connecting the dots, because I think when we think about being an artist, we're expecting an artist to also be their business person.
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Unknown
But that takes away from creativity. So it's really important. I don't know. I just love that I have a brain to, you know, be both, and be tired. Right. At the same time, I'm putting that together. I'm curious to know that, like, since the murder of George Floyd, which is also the pandemic, which is also the increase and, stop AAPI hate, I had to deal with a lot of folks who were like, yeah, but I'm supposed to be Black Lives Matter, and if I do Black Lives Matter, I can't do stop AAPI hate or if I only do, do I only do you stop AAPI because.
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Unknown
Because like, the black guy harmed an AAPI elders. Yeah. So it is Black Lives matter. But like, you know, people didn't understand the intersectionality that was happening in the space and how white supremacy one on one is, you know, if we can get everyone else who aren't white people to just go at each other, then it'll make our job easier because we don't want to do it.
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Unknown
But have you seen things change since that time period because there was more interest and you, there was more interest in doing things at home? I mean, yes, there's you mean between like black and Asian? I mean, because you're saying a lot of, you know, you didn't think 20, like 20 people sign up for class during a pandemic.
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Unknown
And it was great. And, you know, you have this collaboration with Kendi Wiley and, you know, you and and how are you now today as an artist? We're in this place where the online co is attacking a lot of people, a lot of your intersectionality, a lot of those things. Has art changed for you or more things happening or do you feel it's easier or harder?
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Unknown
Do you feel like I'm I'm definitely more fearless. I've gotten even more fearless. Okay. Speaking about it, being unapologetic about it, I have been. Hence the Beyonce. Your pro. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And Lorena. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, all of that. And you. Well, I don't have no music yet. No, I mean, just working on it. No, because I'm in the studio right now.
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Unknown
Yeah. Freestyle. We're actually going to sing after this. Just a little ditty. Yeah. We just came up with. We don't take it anymore. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, Diddy. I mean, I'm going, but I mean, I love that you're, you're more fearless in stepping into. Yeah. Being, you know, unapologetic and authentic because, we have to be.
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Unknown
Yeah, we really have to be in these times. And I really feel like folks who are just like, oh, we sit this one out, we've done this before. We know what we're doing the second time around. It's like, all right, so you just want to be a follower? Yeah. I mean, what you were saying about, you know, people were like, where should I go?
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Unknown
Either because you know, there was like a racial Asian hate and Black Lives Matter. What I, I actually also started working with, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, and they did a lot of events that was celebrating both, you know, Black Lives Matter and, and they were actually, talking more about the, partnership between the Asian communities and the black communities, especially during the Black Panther movement.
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Unknown
So that to me, I feel like those are really important. I feel like these are conversations that need to be told and discuss, because we were pinned next to each other. I mean, we were like, look at these Asians doing great. Like almost like separating them from the black community. And then but then we are all really going against the same thing, you know, dealing dealing with similar issues.
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Unknown
Right. These are conversations that need to be had. And I think that still needs to be talked about so that it can not repeat over again. I it is necessary. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing that is necessary is, Joy. Yes.
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Unknown
So how are you finding pockets of joy? Oh my gosh. I mean, I get to play with our.
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Unknown
Yeah. How cool is that? That's my goal. That's what I get to do. I, I was just talking about this about about play. And it is just a five minutes of creativity every day. No. No expectation. No. It could be the worst thing I've ever created. And that five minutes always helps me because it makes me feel like, oh, it's doable.
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Unknown
Yeah. And and it always turns out more than five minutes. Always. And so that's my joy. And and I get to, you know, and not necessarily like a necessity in life to have children. But then my
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kids, I, they kind
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of they remind me that there's like wonder in it. So it's nice to, it's nice to be reminded that because I forget that sometimes because I'm on, like, I'm in like tunnel vision.
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Unknown
Sometimes I'm on, like, I got to make this happen. Or if I get denied or not get something that I get a major proposal for, I'm always like, okay, what's the next step? Yeah. And I'm, I, I'm reminded to kind of pause and then somebody just remind me this week actually to like, enjoy having the heart at Union Square.
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Unknown
Enjoy. It's like take a moment because I was like, oh, I just got I didn't get this one pitch that I worked so hard on. It was between me and another artist, you know? And he was like, just stop, like slow down a little bit. And I didn't realize, like, I just, you have to you have to be present and be in the moment.
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Unknown
I, I left San Francisco General Hospital 13 years ago, and anytime I see a heart, that's the thing that brings me joy. They're kind of be problematic. But the heart brings me like some something story. Let folks know how they can find you. Yeah, they can find me on Geary, and I'll.
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Unknown
I mean, not at the corner, not me. Okay. The heart. Instagram. Dev. Hey, Rana. And, yeah, I'm around, hanging out, supporting my friends, I love it. Well, all you have to do is just remember to. Oh, my God, keep king. Amazing. You know that? I just did this just so I can get a free shirt. It's.
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Unknown
What? Oh, gosh. Well, you know that. Boom. Yeah. There you go. Thanks for being on human rights. I, I think every shirt. Yes. Every time. Do you know when you like post that on Instagram. We're like when do you like respond. Keep doing amazing. Even in our dams. Yeah. I like get giddy. Really? Yes. When I'm like yeah.
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Unknown
You know, like if I, if I cheer you on Instagram and I don't take care of it and then I do this, oh no, I know I love it. That's the way I get it. Which is why it's trademarked. Yeah.
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Unknown
Big love and gratitude to our guests for showing up with truth, humor, and of course, humanity. If this conversation moved you, you got to like it. You got to share it. You have to talk about it, bring it into your circle, spaces and places because that's how change multiplies. You can catch more episodes wherever you get your podcasts and watch the full series produced by social media.
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Unknown
And me on the social media YouTube channel. Now what is that YouTube channel? What you need to subscribe to so you can get more of this. But until next time, stay curious. Find your joy and keep being amazing.