Sophia Okada Callahan

Department: 
Folklore
Bio/CV: 

Before entering the folklore program, Sophia Okada Callahan received her BBA from Parsons the New School for Design in Strategic Design and Management. After graduating, she worked in consumer insights and trend forecasting for various global brands and organizations. While working, she maintained a research-led art practice that took her to residencies in the Philippines and to Berkeley and San Francisco, where she imagined how climate shifts and population migration could impact the future of Filipino convenience stores, the “Sari-Saris,” to how the Japanese American incarceration during WWII affects today's generation of Japanese Americans, the Yonsei. Through oral histories, making practices, and shared symbolism, her curiosity lies in bringing forth non dominant narratives to see how they bump up against contemporary pop culture worldviews.

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