05.02-04.16 : CHEYENNE SERENE : CHICAGO, IL

"Meeting at the Plant for the farmer's market. My spirit vegetable is a cayenne pepper. Jana's is crowder peas. What's yours?"

Cheyenne and I were put together haphazardly as housemates our senior year of college by a couple girls who were trying to fill one of the "coolest" on-campus houses as quickly as possible. We had never met before that year and we both were bumbling around trying to fit in (or fit out) of a place we didn't quite feel we belonged to.

Fast forward to the move to Chicago post-graduation and yet another chaotic scrambling for cheap housing, and after some trial and errors, Cheyenne and I became roommates once again, and even better friends. Transitioning from a conservative religious bubble to the rest of the world was not smooth, but was refreshing and exciting to both of us.

We've both had a unique seat to watch each other grow up these past couple of years and witnessed the awkward growing pains and beautiful moments that entails. After bouncing around in the circuit of food industry madness, Cheyenne is getting her feet wet in a world she's had her eye on: bee-keeping. Specifically through Bike-a-Bee, which combines her passion of biking as well.

Cheyenne is one of the most compassionate, passionate and strong women I know, and I'm so glad we've been stuck together all these years: