Summer Savings and Fall Happenings

Summer is winding down, but Manifesta is heating up with end-of-summer savings and exciting events in our neighborhood! Here are some cool things you won't want to miss...

Back To School Savings for Teachers

We're celebrating teachers with smart savings! Tuesday, August 18 to Saturday, August 22, teachers receive 20% off ALL services and products at the salon. Book an appointment for yourself or for your child's teacher today!

Our New Referral Program

We're better together! Manifesta is now offering rewards to clients who refer friends to the salon. Send 1 friend our way, and you'll receive a complimentary botanical hair therapy service with your next haircut. Refer 3 friends and receive a FREE Aveda Hand Relief as a gift. Refer 5 friends and earn 50% off your next haircut. Spread the love with us!

Wellness Workshops

Meet Rumin Jehangir, one of K.C.'s clients who is also a Certified Ayurvedic Wellness Instructor and owner of Chit.Chaat.Chai. Through workshops and online guidance in Ayurveda, she teaches the wisdom that broadens our vocabulary and understanding of what we consume. Good balanced health is all about what we take in through the 5 senses, all of which have an effect on our environment, emotions, and physical well being. Keep up with Chit.Chaat.Chai happenings, wellness tips, and recipes by following them on Facebook or their blog.

'Festa Happenings

We have some updates! 'Festa partner Woop Woop! Fine Foods will now be popping up the first and third Fridays of every month, from 11am to 2pm. We are also now in the eighth month of the ongoing Manifesta Portrait series by Lisa Hsia. You must schedule your portrait appointment ahead of time. Ask your stylist for more details.

Jasmine's One Year Anniversary

We are proud to celebrate Jasmine's one year anniversary with Manifesta. Throughout the year Jasmine has demonstrated excellence and passion in her craft. She has pursued advanced education to further her skills as an artist and has produced beautiful hairstyles. We couldn't be happier to have her on the Manifesta team! As a reflection of her growth, please note that Jasmine's service prices have increased by $5. Thank you from all of us for your continued support!

This Fall in Oakland

When summer ends, Oakland Pride begins! We're having a little pre-celebration on Saturday, September 12 at the salon. Enjoy a mimosa with your appointment, or just drop in and cheers with us! Then on Sunday, September 13, join the neighborhood parade and empowerment of the Oakland LBTQA community.

Dig into a 3-day celebration of good food and those who make it, September 18 - 20. The Eat Real Festival commemorates local food, growers, and makers with a street fair of food that is 100% free to attend. All of the street food costs $8 or less and incorporates delicious, regionally sourced, and sustainably produced ingredients. A great event for the family, as farmers and artisan food makers educate all of us on regional food systems and what we can do to help food stay local!

Oakland Music Festival (OMF) is upon us again! September 26, make your presence count towards the revival of downtown Oakland and its diverse culture. The festival is known to attract individuals from all walks of life who are committed to unique forms of creative expression. Tune into the good vibes that are happening right in your neighborhood!

Saturday, October 10, be ready to party in the name of art at the Oakland Art Murmur (OAM) Benefit. Bid on unique, locally crafted paintings, prints, and more while enjoying delicious culinary treats and refreshments made right here in your neighborhood. This annual benefit is vital to supporting ongoing OAM projects and programs, as well as the local artist community. While you're there, look out for a silent auction prize donated by Manifesta!

December in Old Oakland: Protests, Holiday Shopping, and the Mayor's New 'Do

We would like to begin this post by addressing the very serious and sensitive issues surrounding the Oakland protests taking place in the wake of two major grand jury verdicts that have so powerfully affected our nation; the non-indictments of police officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed teenager Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who choked and killed civilian Eric Garner in New York City.

Protests in Old Oakland

At Manifesta, we support every individual's right to protest and the idea of shedding light on some of the inequalities in our justice system. It is not news by now that, during the Oakland protests, our salon and other small businesses in our neighborhood were damaged. The salon had a window broken, and we were very lucky to have any further damage prevented by our neighbors.  Unfortunately, many of our neighbors were not as lucky, and we are very saddened for them and also very supportive of their recovery.

Our pride and belief in this community remain untarnished. The majority of protestors that were arrested for causing harm were not Oakland residents, but instead a small group of trouble-seekers taking advantage of the protesting atmosphere. The real story here is that Oakland is an incredible, supportive, multicultural society, made up of people who show up for each other in times of distress. We really thank our communities and those who supported us during these challenging times, including the following:

• The Old Oakland security team, especially Tish and Miles.

• Jeff and Chris from Liege.

• Alfonso from Tamarindo.

• Fellow business owners Kerri, Julie, Yoko, and Kayoko.

• Former Oakland security officer, Ron.

• Jordan, a passerby who voluntarily kept an eye out for us.

• Our clients Ellen and Sean.

• Jeneane and Michelle from PSAI.

• Mayor Jean Quan for checking in on us the next day.

• Mayor Elect Libby Schaaf, for helping us get our window replaced so quickly.

• Clients Dre and Sara, and everyone else who called or emailed to check in on us during the days following the incident.

• Everyone who came to their appointments that week and showed the community that Manifesta is supported and strong.

We are currently brainstorming ways to pay forward the support we have received from all of you. We'd like to find a creative way to raise money for those businesses that have been damaged in Ferguson, while also ensuring that the financial aid finds its way into the hands of those in need.

Shop Local with 'Festa

Thank you to those who came out the next day to support Old Oakland by shopping with us and our neighbors for Plaid Friday! Thanksgiving has passed, but the holidays are far from over. Get your holiday shopping done right here in Old Oakland, with 'Festa popups and our neighbors:

Friday, December 12th

'Festa invites you to come bear witness to the artistic process, and enjoy a cup of tea as we watch local artist Lisa Hsia paint her first portrait of a Manifesta Community Member, right here in the salon! Come on down next Friday, 12/12 at 3pm for the fun!

The Manifesta Portrait Project is a collaboration between Manifesta, its clients, and local artist Lisa Hsia.Through portraits of the Manifesta community (painted live in the salon space) and an eventual gallery composed of these portraits, we seek to present an ongoing, dynamic, participatory exploration of beauty, diversity, and what we consider worthy of appreciation.

Saturday, December 13th

Come out to shop local again with some of our best popups, new and old! Nopal Apparel will be popping up in Manifesta selling tee shirts. We'll also have a few of our regular kiosks, including Woop Woop Fine Foods, selling gluten-free cookies and granola. Marion & Rose's Workshop will be adding to the deliciousness with a chocolate tasting. Meanwhile, the neighborhood will be hosting an ugly holiday sweater contest, so bring your best (or worst)! Stay later into the evening and enjoy the video projections on 9th street, curated by Block Gallery. These projections will be up and delighting us all every Friday and Saturday evening in December.

Sunday, December 14th

Here is your official invitation to the Naked Holiday Art Fest!

    

We will also have awesome popups in the salon all month, including the delicious Natty Cakes on Wednesdays, as well as Summer Sequoia, Fluffy Co., Fat and the Moon, Holy Sponge, and Woop Woop Fine Foods on Thursdays and Fridays.

Lastly, for the month of December only, you will receive 10% off Aveda products if you purchase 3 or more. We will put them in a gift box, ready to go for the holidays!

Say "Hello" to Manifesta's New Client!

Manifesta acquired a very special new client this month! If you aren't following us on Instagram, you may have missed that our stylist Jasmine had the pleasure of cutting and styling Mayor Jean Quan's hair last week. We hope she'll come to Manifesta again for her hair needs. We think she looks pretty fabulous. What do you think of the Mayor's new 'do?

Follow Us on Pinterest!

Are you a Pinterest lover? We are too now! Follow our boards to keep up with local artists and events, seek out beauty and wellness tips, and find inspiration for your next hair appointment. We'd love for you, our clients and friends, to send us pins that inspire you so that we can all stay connected to the conversation.

In with the New: A Recap of 'Festaval and Intro to Our New Stylist

It seems some big "Thank you"s are in order for all those who came out for our Grand Opening, 'Festaval! As a memorial to all the fun of that weekend, we're offering you a recap here, on our blog: 

'Festaval: Day One

The weekend kicked off with an inspiring discussion panel about Beauty & Wellness, featuring Cory, a friend and owner of the restaurant Nido, Danielle from Holy Sponge, Rachel from Fat and the Moon, and our very own Lindsay. One of our favorite parts of the talk was when one woman in the audience related her experience of going through menopause to some of the ideas about wellness that were being discussed. 

Photo Credit: Darling Dear Photography

We also had the pleasure of hearing from Feleciai from Skincare by Feleciai about the obscurities surrounding beauty products within the African American community.

  

It was awesome seeing more people show up throughout the day, some to get a hand massage from our Aveda representative, Shayla, and others to browse some of our vendors, which included the lovely ladies from Holy Sponge, Lisa Hsia, offering ink and watercolor portraits, Susan Mills, Manifesta's business strategist and owner of Well Connected Partners, and Samantha Busa, Manifesta's copywriter and social media person. Tasty refreshments were provided throughout the day by Woop Woop Fine Foods (with their brand new Manifesta Mint cookie!), Natalie from Natty Cakes, Tania and Senet providing natural juices and smoothies from Earthlings Superfoods, and Jeremy and Darren sampling their yummy sandwiches from Big Dipper's Sandwiches.

Woop Woop Fine Foods

Meanwhile, Mindy Dillard treated our ears to her singing and banjo playing.

Mindy Dillard on Banjo

Next up, Lisa Hsia gave a wonderful talk about the intersection of art and beauty. She definitely talked about stuff we can all relate to, such as how you look at a person differently when you see them on the street versus when you are trying to paint, draw, or recreate them in an artistic endeavor.

Shortly after, we hosted a Hair & Identity discussion panel featuring Kevin from Massive, Destiny, a friend and jazz musician, Darshan, a local educator and activist, and our very own Ben. It was seriously cool hearing about such diverse and unique experiences from everyone on this panel, such as when Destiny shared that she went into barbering partly so that she could learn more about men. We finished off the day with an exciting barbering battle with the barbers from Massive. There were so many participants! Everyone left the barbering battle looking hella fly, and we had a blast watching it happen!

Photo Credit: Darling Dear Photography

'Festaval: Day Two

As you know, our second day of 'Festaval was dedicated to Local Business & Community. We were very lucky to have all female entrepreneurs and business owners from the neighborhood come and speak on a morning panel with Susan. We're so proud to be amongst these incredible women! We also loved seeing so many of you shopping for products from our 'Festa partners. On day two, this included Fat and the Moon, Holy Sponge, Fluffy Co, Natty Cakes, Earthlings Superfoods, and more lunches from Big Dipper's Sandwiches. 

Holy Sponge

If you weren't out running the Manifesta Mile, you may have also caught the fabulous Joanna Mack serenading us all with her sitar skills. The day continued on peacefully until the second panel brought some serious excitement. First, we heard from Marguerite Young about the importance of water conservation right here, right now in Oakland as our urban water consumption continues to pose threats to the community. 

Finally, the big moment had arrived for the Oakland mayoral candidates Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, Mayor-Elect Libby Schaaf, and Mayor Jean Quan to speak with us about their plans for the community. Darshan started off the panel with a fun meet-and-greet icebreaker before asking the candidates to speak their stances on important topics for small business owners in Oakland. 

If you were following us on Twitter, you may have seen that we tweeted all of the questions audience members wrote down for the mayoral candidates. 

We sincerely thank everyone who attended and participated in 'Festaval, and we hope all of you were as blown away as we were by this amazing and diverse community. We also want to give a special thank you to John and Marita Dorenbecher, who helped us promote and prepare for this whole event, and to William Lutes, who impressed us once again with his craftsmanship by building the 'Festaval stage.

Lindsay shared that her favorite part of 'Festaval was "seeing people interact who wouldn't have otherwise met." We can all agree with that, and if you find yourself interested in 'Festa, we hope you'll email us at festa.oak@gmail.com.

Meet Our New Stylist

Aside from 'Festaval, we've also been busy adding a new member to our salon team! Please join us in welcoming our new stylist Amy! Here is what we'd like you to know about this awesome lady, in her own words:

"I first moved to Oakland to earn my MFA in art. I worked for 12 years as an educator -sculpting art and minds- before beginning my second career as a hair stylist six years ago. It was through my experiences as an artist and teacher that I found 2 essential callings:

1. I need to do hands-on creative work with excellence.

2. I need to connect with people. 

I love the experience of providing a nurturing environment where people feel listened to...cared for...even transformed. The funny thing is that I also get to be transformed in that same process. Sometimes I don't know who benefits more- me or the client (but hopefully it's the client since they end up paying!). I feel grateful to do something that brings me joy. The reward of doing hair is that I get to help people look and feel renewed all day, every day...in such a simple and personal way."

Stop By for Plaid Friday

We are proud to announce that the salon will be open for Plaid Friday, November 28th, from noon until 6pm. Conceptualized in Oakland, Plaid Friday is a fun, carefree alternative to Black Friday that celebrates local, independent businesses. The name "Plaid Friday" actually comes from the imagery of plaid, the idea being that the threads of small businesses work together to create the strong fabric of a diverse community. Look for the plaid placard in our window and come enjoy refreshments as you shop the locally made products of our 'Festa partners and other local artisans. We encourage you to stop in our neighbors' shops as well!

Destiny Muhammad's 5th Annual Concert

Destiny Muhammad

Lastly, we hope that many of you attended Destiny Muhammad's 5th Annual Concert this past Sunday! Destiny is an incredible jazz musician and an even more incredible woman! If you didn't catch her speaking at 'Festaval about her experience getting to know men as a barber, we encourage you to keep up with her on Twitter or Facebook. Support your local artists!