About

Alexa Romano

My goal is to promote transparency, justice, and knowledge regarding the commodities we consume and the people who produce them. I believe that listening, storytelling, and experience are the most reliable sources of wisdom.

“Anthropology is less about the study of an object, less about gaining knowledge about the world and the people in it, and more about opening our eyes and minds to other possibilities of being.

Anthropology is a way of attending to and thinking an otherwise. To know another is, in some senses, the most intimate act, and as a “way of knowing it is also a way of being.”

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Yellow Earth

Welcome to Yellow Earth! I created Yellow Earth as my creative space to share my photography, storytelling, and writing reflections.

I was raised in the scenic and vast landscapes of New Mexico. I earned a scholarship to attend Stanford University, where I played basketball and received a BA in Anthropology with a double minor in Art Practice: Photography and Ethics in Society. During my studies, I conducted research on the bureaucratic and affective productions of “heritage” at both the central Andean town and UNESCO archaeological site, Chavín de Huantar, Peru.

I also received an MA in Anthropology from Stanford, where I investigated the coffee commodity chain involving women and youth small holder coffee producers in Costa Rica. My research explored the mystified, obscured, and (un)ethical relations that tether producer societies to consumer societies. I became passionate about climate and social justice. Throughout all my research, I ground photography and storytelling at the core.

Currently based in San Francisco, I keep a presence in coffee spaces, which underlies everything I do. I have been a farm-to-table apprentice with Stanford’s Executive Dining program, a coffee roaster’s apprentice, a barista at Ritual Coffee Roasters, a baker at a renowned Scandinavian bakery in San Francisco (because pastries always must accompany espresso), and now a current manager for a non-profit social enterprise restaurant that employs and trains San Franciscans who are formerly homeless, incarcerated, substance abusing, or citizenship seeking. The common thread between all these experiences is my love for people, the environment, and the commodities that we make and enjoy together. In my free time, I enjoy road cycling, running, baking scones, taking photographs, backpacking, rock climbing, reading LOTS of books, iterating on the best homemade granola recipes, and following any opportunity that expands my skillset.

Although Yellow Earth is just a name for now, a project in Costa Rica in the works.

Stay tuned…

Alexa