Growing up in the Market
Gabrielle (right) is an activist, a performing artist, and a nonprofit arts employee in Seattle. Most importantly, she was once a Pike Place Market kid.
From her grandma who sewed hats and made paintings; to her mom, Tsuki (center)—often the friendly face selling grandma’s art in the vendor stalls—to her dad who used to come home stinky after a full-day of throwing Alaskan salmon, they were a true Market family. But that family didn’t just include people she was related to.
When she was a tiny baby at the Market, she napped in hat boxes while her mom and grandma worked. As the months went by and she got a little older and squirmier, they realized she needed a place to go where she could put some of that energy to good use. Thankfully, there was the Pike Market Child Care and Preschool. While Gabrielle was there, she met her first role model who looked just like her: her preschool teacher Kiyomi. This made such a strong impact on Gabrielle that she named her now 5 month old baby Kiyomi.
Pictured: Tsuki and Gabrielle in the 1990’s
And, she wants her daughter to be like her in some ways, too – to grow up honoring the most important people and places in her life; the people and places that will shape the person she becomes.
