Who's Who: Emma Esper

Name: Emma Esper

Age: 22

Occupation: Waitress at in Kensington and also wait staff at a senior living facility in Berkeley

Are you working over full time these days? No, they’re two part-time jobs. It’s really hard to find full-time now.

How did you get involved with the Berkeley living facility? They were looking for someone with waitressing experience, and that’s what I had. It’s not quite like waitressing, but it’s close to it. I just found it on craigslist.

If you could be doing anything right now, what would you do? In theory I would like to go to school and study psychology. I had to drop out of school: it got too expensive to go. Right now I have to focus on working as much as I can. But that’s what I would like to do if I had all kinds of money and didn’t have to worry about it.

You’re just working really hard right now trying to make ends meet? Yea. Trying to pay the bills.

Do you live in Berkeley? I live in North Berkeley.

Did you grow up in the area? I was born in Berkeley. I lived here on and off throughout my life. I moved to a few different states but I always came for the summer. I moved back and then moved to Sacramento and then moved back, so I’ve always kind of been here.

Do you prefer to live here as opposed to other places? I like the people here. It’s too expensive to live here, but otherwise I like it a lot.

What do you like about the Kensington/El Cerrito/Berkeley area? I just like how much there is to do, and Kensington is just a really cute nice little town. I don’t feel afraid walking home at 11 o’clock at night. It’s really safe. And Berkeley has got a lot of culture. You’ll never get bored there.

What are your hobbies? I like to go out and walk. I go to the gym. I hang out with my friends — around the campus usually — and I go to work. That’s pretty much it.