Faces of New Bedford

Meet Abrah Zion, 42-year-old Photographer, and owner of Miss Z Photography. Abrah has always been into photography, stealing her parent’s polaroid and film cameras as a kid, taking photos of anything she could. With both of her parents as teachers, she knew she wouldn’t be able to go to college …

Meet Nataniel Barbosa, 35-year-old master barber and co-owner of United Barbershop. Nataniel grew up in Cape Verde and moved to New Bedford at the age of 16. Coming to the country at that age made it very difficult for him to learn the language like a younger child would, but …

Meet Matthew Jezierski, 33-year-old Executive Chef, and co-owner of New Bedford Noodle Bowl. Matt grew up in a family that was always cooking, so it was no surprise to him that when he graduated high school, that he went to school to pursue a career in culinary. He wanted to …

Meet Jack Leao, 30-year-old DJ. Jack’s parents moved to the US from Cape Verde prior to his birth in the mid 80’s, which is where dad began DJing local events and parties. When he and his brother were old enough, their father began taking them to events to help him …

Meet Daisy Ormseth, 40-year-old Nurse Practitioner. At the age of 14, Daisy found out that she was pregnant and decided to move in with her now husband, to be able to raise their daughter together. Living with her boyfriend and their daughter, they struggled to get by and she even …

Meet Warley Williams, 33-year-old Assistant Principal of Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech. After high school, Warley attended UMass Dartmouth hoping to graduate with a degree in Computer Science, but shortly into his first semester, he found out that his now wife was pregnant with their first child. Out of his father’s …

Meet Kayla Mederios, 27-year-old Occupational Therapy Assistant, Applications Specialist, and Buti Yoga Instructor. Growing up Kayla always struggled to maintain weight, fluctuating up and down into her mid-20s. After graduating from BCC and she began her career as an occupational therapy assistant, which was inspired by working on an Alzheimer’s …

Meet Wilson Alix, 23-year-old professional boxer. Wilson moved to the US when he was 12 years old from Portugal. The transition for him was a bit difficult and during that time he got himself in a bit of trouble. At the age of 16 though, he saw two paths for …

Meet Victoria Wood, 26-year-old Math Teacher at Our Sisters’ School. Growing up she felt like she went through school blind to the idea of privilege. When she got to UMass Dartmouth though, through studying and observing society in her sociology courses, she quickly became aware of the social injustice in …

Meet Roger Chouinard, musician and owner of Purchase Street Records. Growing up his uncle played for a band called Billy Squire and tour with acts like Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, and Gary Moore, just to name a few. This uncle’s influence drove Roger to start playing music and he fell …