I love a good local clothing store and find it irresistible to walk past one without ducking in and perusing the wares. Even if I'm on my way to somewhere else and running late, I'll duck in and speedwalk my way through the store and take a mental note on whether to come back or not. (Although my mental notes don't have the best gps, so now I take a geotagged photo so I can really find it later.)
I was on my bike again searching for a subject when I passed by Lobo Mau, a store dedicated to Slow Fashion on 700 S 6th street. My eye caught the striking Dalmatian spots painted on white on the out side of the building, the neat rows of pretty clothes on hangers, sweet jewelry and other yummy things in the window and I hopped off and locked up my bike.
I said hello to the shop girl, shop woman, shop miss, perused the store and considered asking her to be part of my project. Being the only one there in the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, I introduced myself and told her about the project. She sweetly said yes, but we were conscientious about not wanting to take too long since she was at work.
Some Stats:
Name: Samantha Schultheis
Age: 20, just turned 20
Photographed in: Queens Village
Lives in: University City
Occupation: Student, studying Design and Merchandising with an extra focus on sustainability. Works at Lobo Mao, the company is really great at that and how she ended up there.
Some Questions.
1. It could be said that life is one big improvisation. Where in your life have you had to improvise?
Sam: oh my goodness I feel like I have to improvise like every single day. I feel like I grew up with a lot of improvising. My family owns a farm in South Jersey so I feel like the life of a farmer and farm child is constantly being on your toes, improvising when something goes wrong on the farm, or like just improvising when something goes wrong in life, you know.
2. What is your hidden talent?
S: I can speak Spanish. I mean I guess it's not that hidden. But my family is
Peruvian so um yeah I know how to speak it pretty much fluently.
K: Do people know that about you?
S: Generally when you first meet me I feel like most people don't. But after
getting to know me I think people can kind of pick that up and pick up on my culture and stuff.
3. What inspires you today?
S: My biggest inspiration is definitely my mom. One thousand percent. She's so awesome. She's done so much work at Drexel, that's the school that I go to, I
don't know if I mentioned that. She's done so much for neuropsychology and research for improving driving and stuff like that for patients with brain injury. So her work just inspires me every day and I just want to be as smart as her and
make as much of a difference in the world that she did.
K: I have a Goosebumps, that's so sweet!
4. How do you feel about being photographed?
S: usually I don't mind. I've been photographed a couple times. I do a couple modeling projects with my friends who are designers as well so I'm pretty comfortable with it.
5. What piece of advice have you heard that you think about the most or use the most?
S: Well I guess it's kind of my dad saying always, "It is what it is." And it's very true. I feel like life is what it is. You have to try your best not to get worked up over the small things. I feel like I struggle with anxiety a lot so sometimes trying to reiterate that saying to myself helps me kind of Let It Go.
6. What is something that you believe but cannot prove?
S: I believe in a lot of spirituality and there's no like hard scientific proof or hard evidence for it, but I believe a lot in the body, mind and the Soul all working as one. And I just think it's so important for you to be in tune with that but I can't really prove it sure.
You can follow Lobo Mau on IG @lobomaufladship or @lobomauclothing