Beck, 36
Occupation: Full-Time Parent, Part-Time Instacart Shopper
Oakland Neighborhood: Fruitvale
Personal Background
Beck is 36, African American, originally from Ohio, moved to the Bay Area after college and never left. They married their wife, Sally, in 2010, and the couple had their daughter Bianca in 2017. Beck and Sally lived near Lake Merritt when they were first married, but moved to Fruitvale to have more space after Bianca was born.
Beck came out as gender nonbinary in 2014 and uses they/them pronouns. They’re pretty comfortable in Oakland, but going to new places makes them nervous--will they be forced to misgender themselves to use a bathroom, for example? They’ve found a supportive community of nonbinary BIPOC parents who’ve told them they frequent the library with their children for play dates.
Beck has a BA in Political Science from Ohio State. They don’t know what to do with that now, though, besides follow political arguments online. Beck quit their full-time job at a nonprofit when Bianca was born, and they plan to parent her full time until she starts school--what comes after that is less clear! For now, Beck spends whatever free time they get (while Sally is working) shopping for Instacart and completing software tutorials in CodeAcademy (which is $40 a month--geez, would they love to find a free replacement).
Motivators
Finding fun things to do with their kid, family friendly activities that are FREE or cheap, meeting other parents, enjoys a mix of outdoor activities and city life, doesn’t love working for Instacart but likes the flexibility because their main priority is parenting Bianca.
Life Stressors
Money. Oakland gets more expensive every day. Will they and their wife ever be able to afford a house in this market? Getting Bianca into a good elementary school--she’ll start kindergarten this fall. Connecting with their wife, a busy social worker, once in a while! Keeping up with old friends who don’t have children.
Computer SkillsExcellent. Beck picks up new technology easily and likes staying on the cutting edge of software knowledge. They use CodeAcademy in the evenings to learn to program--it’s fun, and maybe one day there will be a career in it for them. Bianca won’t be little forever, after all.
Internet Knowledge
Excellent. They use the internet daily.
Mobile
They have an iphone SE. Instacart demands good mobile skills; Beck is good at jumping between multiple apps and quickly learns the lingo of native apps. They don’t mind staring at their screen sometimes, but get frustrated waiting for good jobs.
Social Networking
Beck is all over TikTok right now for entertainment. They like Twitter for news and analysis, and use Instagram to share pictures and videos of Bianca learning and experiencing new things.
Favorite Media
Beck feels like they see mostly Pixar movies these days. They do like watching Oscar nominees on Netflix with Sally after Bianca’s bedtime. As for music, Beck is really into black midi, CHVRCHES, MF Doom, Digable Planets, and A Tribe Called Quest, which they listen to on Spotify.