Hello, my name is amarah

I inhabit the spaces between—counselor and business owner, artist and community builder. Born in the California desert and now rooted in San Francisco, I carry the lessons of both landscapes in my work.

My worlds might seem disconnected—counseling youth and families at Seneca, brewing coffee at Beacon Coffee & Pantry, capturing narrative photographs, co-facilitating Same Sky workshops—but they're all extensions of the same curiosity. I'm drawn to spaces where people reveal themselves, where shared vulnerability becomes connection.

Through Beacon, I've created what I think every neighborhood needs: a third space where people gather, share stories, heal, and organize. Beyond serving carefully crafted coffee, Beacon hosts our Same Sky workshops centered on community care and exploring how art and storytelling foster connection and collective liberation.

My camera archives what memory alone cannot preserve— a visual inventory of existence across time and place. Before I could name this impulse, I was already collecting pieces of belonging: photographs, handwritten notes, ticket stubs, and receipts from meaningful meals. This gathering has been driven equally by profound grief and moments of transcendent joy. Each image is an act of resistance against erasure, a way of constructing memory and meaning, ultimately becoming a journey toward the discovery of self. Through this personal archive, I document where I have stood, whom I have loved, and what has been lost and found.

I believe in lengthy, caffeinated conversations, the power of a good cry, in the possibility of change. I also believe our liberation must include everyone or it includes no one at all. My family, both here and gone, remains my center of gravity through all of life's chaos. I'm still figuring all this out—including how to write a bio without cringing at myself every third sentence. But I'm grateful you're here reading anyway. I still have so much to learn.