Newsletter
#WFH Diaries: Jacinte Faria of Stink Studios L.A.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc around the world, we’re checking in with people in the creative industry to see how they’re doing. Here’s an update from Jacinte Faria of Stink Studios L.A.
Give us a one-line bio of yourself.
Mum/wife/friend living and loving in Los Angeles and managing director of Stink Studios’ office out here, too!
Where are you living right now, and who’s with you?
Crenshaw Manor in South Los Angeles. My husband Hal and 2-year-old Lando are keeping safe and healthy in our home. Thank goodness for a backyard.
What’s your work situation like at the moment?
Myself and my entire team are working remotely. Some folks are working from their home offices, summer homes, kitchen tables, backyards, etc.—I’m working from my little office in our guest bedroom. Luckily my husband already works from home so I was able to follow some of his guides to compartmentalizing his day. Plus he makes a great lunch sandwich.
We’re fortunate at Stink that the current pandemic has caused only minor disruption to our ways of working. Other than being at home, everything else in our day-to-day remains the same, since communications, tools and deliverables are already predominantly online.
Describe your socializing strategy.
In L.A., over the weekend of the March 14-15, a great number of us knew we were staying home indefinitely. This of course prompted my friend group to create a group text dubbed, “FUCV19.” At first, this text group was all consuming, as we scrambled to understand the mounting realty, throwing links back and forth, sighing, ugh-ing, and increasing each other’s anxiety levels. We essentially went through the many stages of grief together. Having gone through that, we’ve been able to get to the other side of acceptance and make good with what we have.
This has led to joint watching of the Westworld and Curb episodes, FaceTime pedicures and masks, and A LOT of conversations around Tiger King. We’ve even come up with the complete casting for our many iterations of a feature film (Kate McKinnon is already Carole in an upcoming series).
The rest of my interactions have been Hangouts, Zooms, FaceTimes with friends, colleagues, peers, family. We even celebrated my son’s second birthday over Zoom with his closest pals. It was really cute.
I even had a remote check-in with Lando’s pediatrician today to review his development at 2!
How are you dealing with childcare?
Our beautiful nanny Maritza and her partner are social distancing at home, which made it a very easy decision for us all to truly become the family we already are. She drives to us every day and is here from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. We are so lucky she’s close, that she can drive to us, and that we’ve all been healthy so far.
We’re very lucky also that he’s not in pre-school yet and his schedule hasn’t been disrupted much. I know he misses the choo-choo train at The Grove, though. He asks for it a lot.
I love this meme and I feel for all of the parents at home struggling to do it all:
What are you reading?
I’ve only been able to Audible during this time. My days are full-on with work. And even though our nanny is with us, Lando knows I’m here, and since it’s not the norm, he’s very much still curious why I can’t play with him all day like I do on the weekend.
I’m listening to two books atm:
• Calmer, Easier, Happier Boys by Noel Janis-Norton
• You’re Not Listening by Kate Murphy
What are you watching?
Have you reached the Tiger King part of your quarantine yet?
• Just finished: Tiger King (Netflix), Curb (HBO), and Next in Fashion (Netflix)
• Still watching: Terrace House (Netflix), Westworld (HBO), Better Things (FX), Dave (FX)
• Thank god you’re back: Ozark (Netflix) and Top Chef (Bravo)
• Waiting for: We’re Here (HBO), What We Do In The Shadows (FX)
IGTV is going off ev.ery.day. Cooking and drawing classes, 15-minute workouts, mini concerts, etc. etc. The endless CV19 meme content.
What are you listening to?
• Those books above.
• Some ongoing podcasts: Curzon Film, Table Manners, The Memory Palace
• The Best of Raffi playlist that I made for Lando
• Throwback: A lot of Late Night Tales playlists on Spotify because they’re very easy to work to. And because one of my colleagues had thrown the Floating Points one into a group Slack last week, and now I’m just streaming the Continuous Mixes of each. I still think the Air one is my fave.
How are you staying fit?
Peloton. Tunde is a goddess.
Have you taken up a hobby?
Does discussing the finer points of Tiger King count? Cooking, for one. I’ve always liked cooking, never loved it. Now that it’s a necessity, I’m thoroughly enjoying the craft, the resourcefulness of it all, and the quality time with my husband.
Any tips for getting necessities?
Instacart. Order ahead and pick-up from your favorite restaurants—a lot of our local restaurants are creating new pickup menus and are linking with local farms and pulling together produce baskets. I have been getting this one from Kismet.
An awkward moment since all this started.
Thinking my video was off and fully lying down on a video chat.
Best work email you got since all this started.
I love all of my emails equally.
An aha! moment since all this started.
That we can do this? Everybody went through their own phases of panic and distress (myself included) and then we all met acceptance. We’re flourishing as much as we can through what this new normal is. (I know it’s not the same for everyone.)
Also, Lando can watch TV a little bit now. And it makes us both happy. Oh, and I can cut his hair myself.
What’s your theory on how this is going to play out?
Well, I’m sure you’ve heard and read this everywhere: It’s going to get worse before it gets better? And the Atlantic has reported it all in a pretty stellar manner already, so.
