Suzette’s parents moved homes 31 times by the time she was 18. At 18 she won admission to, and attended, the Columbus College of Art and Design, in Ohio, studying fine arts, 3-D animation, and color theory. This is the basis for her career working as a color stylist in hair, being part of the Salon which won the Best of Alameda Award in 2018. She opened her own salon, Odelay A Green Salon, in Alameda in 2020.
Suzette’s background is one of being “othered”— an adopted, Asian-looking child raised by White Russian and German parents, transplanted to Southern California. This deeply influences her nuanced approach to portraiture, showing vibrance and joy but also more meaningful things under the surface. Her background in art, community activism, and the “beauty industry” has created a focus on the connection between identity, confidence, and the power of visual storytelling to elevate marginalized people. This inspired our “Modern American Royalty” series, which re-envisions classical portraiture with multicultural subjects, creating portraits that critique the current rigidly-maintained unequal social structure forced upon minorities in the United States.
