In downtown Los Angeles at a Starbucks off Figueroa Street, Anneisha Williams wears gray scrubs and yellow sunflowers on her mask. Her curly hair, framing eyes that smile, is full of life, as if each coil is tethered to the sun.
She speaks of her home care client Mr. Lion, a 103 year-old Holocaust survivor. "His face just lights up when he sees you," she says. "It's a joy. I wouldn't trade it.”
Anneisha is both a home care worker and a fast food worker, trying her best to support her six kids. But she's a person of gratitude, and she loves both jobs.
"Care work is family," she says. It's about connection. It's about emotional bonding.
Fast food service is also human bonding, she says, such as knowing her regulars' orders by heart. Service work is human connection.
"It's all a flow. I slide across the floor when I'm at work. It's like I'm skating. Workers like me take the time out. …If it weren't for these workers, where would these companies really be?"
When asked about being an advocate for the Fight for 15 and coming together in union with her fellow workers, Anneisha says it all makes her think of dinner with her kids, the most important part of her day, a most important moment for bonding and connection. With her union siblings, she says, the bond is strength and the connection is protection.
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