the woman in press brothers juicery

It was my sophomore year of high school. My photography teacher took us to Los Angeles on a field trip. A few of us has recently watched the film, “La La Land”, and were excited to visit Grand Central market to photograph and see where they shot some of the scenes of Ryan Gosling (eek) and Emma Stone.

We kind of were wandering aimlessly checking out all of the different stands and restaurants, cafes, and shops. I can’t entirely remember if it was my friend or myself who suggested we get a juice, but we waited in line for “Press Brothers”, where there was a single woman working.

She had this joy about her, almost excitement and just pure satisfaction for serving the people in front of her. We approached the register and I remember she greeted us very kindly, probably asking what she could get for us. We asked her how she liked working there and her response struck me.

I can’t give you the exact words she used but I can summarize what she responded. After asking her how she was doing and her day was going, etc, she responded to our question of how she enjoyed working in grand central market with something unbelievably remarkable.

She told us she loved working there, it was an opportunity to meet people and talk about her love for Jesus. Genuinely and in complete authenticity, she shared her heart for God and told us how much she loved sharing about who Jesus was and what he’s done for her. She expressed immense gratitude for where she was working and shared a testament to faith in bold confidence.

I was astonished by her boldness and vulnerability with a few high school girls, and couldn’t help but think about how often she probably had conversations like that throughout her day. As a follower of Jesus myself, I admired her honesty and commitment to her faith. She was unashamed and unafraid to stand confidently in His promises to her.

It was a moment I cherish deeply and a reflection of faith that influenced my own honest pursuit of Christ and daring decisions to share him with everyone I meet.

Now to how I got the photograph.

At the time, we were working on a project about semiotics, and our theme was “value”. We were instructed to photograph things that reflected value, or in some cases, were valuable to us.

After my brief conversation with this woman, who I don’t even recall asking her name, I found myself desiring to capture the moment. I wanted to remember her, and I wanted to incorporate her into my project somehow.

After some deliberation, after all I was a 5’2 high school student nervous about asking someone for their photograph, I decided to wait in line again a bit later on, (right before we had to leave), and asked if I could take her picture.

I explained to her about the project I was working on, and remember mentioning how I valued her kindness and authenticity or something along those lines, hopefully how much her faith inspired me though I don’t remember mentioning that, and how I wanted to make her one of my 6 photos.

She obviously said yes, or I wouldn’t have captured this photo, and then I left, thanking her and I can’t remember much after that.

I wish I knew her name, and I wish I could contact her, to send her this photography, so she could see how clearly her beauty was reflected, and to tell her the ways she impacted my heart and my faith that day. I am not even sure she works there anymore, nor have I attempted to revisit.

But, regardless of if I ever encounter her again, I want to share this story along with the photo with the rest of the world, hoping to make known the woman at the Press Brothers Juicery.