Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Tully.
Hi Maria, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
So, I was born in the Philippines, adopted, and brought to the States. Welcome to California, Maria! Yeeeeew! As a kid, I played sports, was artistic, a bit shy, and looked up to my big brother. Growing up in the Bay Area, to college at Long Beach State for Product Design and Marketing, and then joining the “workforce” as an adult here in San Diego, I’ve honed in on that artistic nature and have always considered myself a Creative. Whether it was with office jobs, retail, or restaurants and food service, I’ve managed to find ways to express that side of myself. Visual merchandising products and apparel, creating training materials and presentations, graphic design for logos, business cards and menus, running restaurants’ social media accounts, as well as food and event photography.
In my personal life, I’m always designing or building something: random furniture, sneaker customizations, digital art, or making fun activity books for my friends. Believe it or not, I’ve made not 1 but 2 board games just to play with friends! I love to cook, I love to eat and am always taking pictures of my food (@mariaishungryagain #cameraeatsfirst). I feel that being a Creative has been one of my biggest assets and defining components to who I am. It’s something that can be carried through to everything I do.
A few years ago, after deciding that an office job, where I didn’t see the sun or interact with as many people as I’d like to, wasn’t the place for me, I found myself as a beertender/food server at a local restaurant, chatting with people and being around food. I love craft beer! I love food! I ended up running their social media too, with all my food pics. After a year and a half, a better opportunity came along to help open a new restaurant as a manager and head of social media, marketing/events, and in-house design. Less than five months later, in March of 2020, Covid-19 shut everything down and we were in quarantine.
Then a month later, my older brother, by a year and a half, died from Covid. Thankfully, I have a support system of amazing friends. I grieved by reminiscing about his favorite foods and started recreating them or going to get takeout from restaurants in his honor. In May, George Floyd’s murder happened, and a visible revolution in activism and social justice was brought to the forefront. I started to focus my food posts and pics to small, local, black-owned, or minority-owned businesses and restaurants to show support and promote them within our community. I was in what I called “activism school” too: Reading, learning, sharing, and using my very small platform to amplify voices telling us to open our eyes, educate ourselves more, and have those hard conversations. I also was passing on information regarding Covid, sharing my story about losing my brother and the importance of limiting possible exposure to it.
Because I wasn’t working, I also needed an outlet. I started hiking, became a plant lady, made it a point to continue donating blood every eight weeks, and started making candles out of beer cans with cool can art. The process of candle-making became very relaxing and a way to zen out. Listening to music while melting wax, pouring wax, smoothing out cracks with a heat gun — it’s all very cathartic. Drinking all the beer to empty the cans is cathartic too, but let’s not focus on that! Lol! I surprisingly didn’t drink a ton and actually had “beer elves” help me out. With empty cans, I created a “beer garden” on the patio and eventually started monthly candle pop-up events for the candles I made. It was a way to make some extra money, highlight local breweries and artists, as well as show off important topics and people that were the cans’ themes, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gay Pride, or BLM. But also, it was just a cool way to preserve fun can art by up-cycling.
Once the vaccine program started rolling out at the beginning of this year, I continued to share that information. I even started volunteering with Sharp Healthcare and their vaccination clinics. I didn’t do it for too long, but I was at the Chula Vista location, which was purposely set up there to help with health equity and vaccine disparities in those surrounding zip codes. It was very humbling and inspiring, and it felt amazing to help out.
So here we are, over a year later. I’m still making candles after a little 2-month break. I needed to find a job but didn’t want to go back into the food industry. Being paid a livable wage is a necessity and a human right. The threat of Covid is still a deterrent, but I found a chill retail position with a Certified B Corp that I feel good about showing up for, and the exposure risk is much less than restaurant life.
Who knows what’s next, but there is a certain standard and quality that I live my life by now. And no, not money, luxuries, or fame! God, no. LOL! Living with purpose and doing more for myself and the community. Was it always there? Or is this the outcome of my specific and our collective trauma(s)? Who knows? But being a Creative means tinkering, figuring it out, working the problems and finding solutions in the simplest of things. Did I just “hack” Life?! Not by a long shot, but my friends call me “Zen Panda,” and I wholeheartedly believe that they, along with the meaning behind that nickname, have saved my life over this past year and some change. I’m still searching for my place in the world, still hustling and striving for what’s next, but what I have found is my true sense of self, who I am, with my chosen family reminding me to keep going. I guess my story is about perseverance. The ups and downs, and having the right people in your corner to keep you going. ✌🏼
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think it’s a smooth road for anyone. The fact that I was adopted isn’t a big deal to me at all. I think I’m very lucky to have grown up in California. The same goes for me being a gay, female minority. Of course, there are challenges. I am probably more aware of my surroundings and more aware in general. I’ve had to deal with micro-aggressions, but I’ve been fortunate to live in places that have been diverse and cultured and where I didn’t feel like I had to literally fear for my life in any way.
I did grow up in a very Catholic, Conservative household. This created difficulties being able to productivity communicate with my parents, which is why my relationship with my brother was so important to me. Issues about identity and what should or shouldn’t be can be damaging to a kid’s growth if you’re always put down or criticized. I have always played sports competitively, so I’ve had that mindset to overcome, but I also hid a lot of my emotions. I get that’s all a part of life and growing up, so I’m so glad to be on the other side of that. I could have easily gone down a different path.
Of course, other struggles with money and jobs presented themselves, but those eventually get sorted out. I’m a grown adult now and still deal with those identity struggles and confidence issues that had initially manifested as a child. I’m in a place in my life where I have the tools and the wherewithal to recognize and maneuver, grow, adapt, and accept me for me. It’s a constant practice: loving yourself.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Being hungry. Can that be a thing I specialize in? Hahaha! I’ve always only ever wanted to do “fun projects”. That’s what I’d call my dream job. Aka: starving artist! (In the most loving way to call it) Whatever creative idea comes to mind, like making candles in quarantine. Now, fully being able to sustainably monetize that, well, that’s another thing. So, I’ve gone the route of finding “stable” jobs with a certain amount of expected income.
But my hobbies have been what I’ve become known for… if I can even say that. I mean, that’s how you found me! My food posts! I don’t even call myself an influencer. I have like 600 followers, but I post for myself, for my love of food, and the hopes that it inspires people to try that spot or get excited about what I ate. No one pays me to do it. Not to say that I wouldn’t be open to it since there’s a noticeable passion behind what I do. And that creative drive that is ingrained within me. I’ve had to deal with “influencers” at the restaurants I worked at, and it was ridiculous what their contracts would say and for how much and the deliverables we’d receive. I could go down a rabbit hole about that side and then seeing how the pandemic quieted them all.
Food is love, for real! And I could see through the facades. I remember posting about their silence or lack of visibility when takeout, re-plating, community support was still all accessible and attainable. Their platforms are so much larger than mine and could reach so many more people about any number of topics (food-related or not), but restaurants weren’t paying for influencers, so they went into hiding. I was doing this already from the heart. Coming from that social media background, I did make sure to tag and hashtag, but ultimately, I’m most proud when the food pictures truly do the meals justice. Drool-worthy! Let’s go! The local spots that I regularly go to and the people I’ve met because of this pop-up event, or new menu item, etc. has been what I think sets me apart. Those relationships and friendships I’ve made because of photos of food I’ve taken, man, that’s validation that warms my heart.
Content creation is what I specialize in, then. You need photos? Design work? A menu? Tutorial on composition or staging a picture? IG posts, Stories, or fun videos? Let’s do it! I just like being creative. And if I don’t have the skills to do something, I can probably recommend someone or still figure out the process. I use a DSLR and my iPhone, and do minimal editing. “There’s an app for that!” I’m not fancy like some truly amazing food photographers I know and follow, but they inspire me for new shot angles, as well as new food spots to try!
I also like going into Think Tank mode too. True creator vibes! Bounce off ideas about utilizing space and decorating. Things that could be used as other things. Let’s talk design and ergonomics: user experience or their journey through a store layout. Sometimes, I’m in Photoshop and Illustrator playing with some design in my head or artwork to create too, like a new tattoo design or photo manipulation I wanted to try. The lists go on and on. The wheels are always turning about something creative.
Having gone to school for design and marketing, I find the two compliment each other very well and has been applicable in all creative areas I find myself in.
Alright, so before we go, can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Doing my beer candles, I think there’s an opportunity to work with local breweries or boutiques. Restaurants and other businesses are always fun to collab with for product shots and food pics. I’m always looking for good snacks to eat or fun events to promote! And also, anyone who needs design help. Of course, there are apps, but it’s also cool to get involved with others on projects. It feeds that craving to design something and usually inspires a new project for myself to work on.
I love supporting others in my small way. I love to hype people up, especially when I dig your food, your art, your cause, your vibe. Allowing me to do that is supporting me. But also, follow my IG @mariaishungryagain and let’s chat food! Follow my IG @craftbeercandlesSD to check out fun candles or have me pour a specific one for you.
I am also that friend who is on the ground, up a tree, balancing on boulders to get the shot. I will take all the photos, at all the angles, eating all the foods, or whatever you want! You have a photoshoot idea? Let’s do it!
Contact Info:
- Email: mariaishungryagain@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mariaishungryagain?utm_medium=copy_link
https://instagram.com/craftbeercandlessd?utm_medium=copy_link
