To relax, psychotherapist Valerie Johns always enjoyed painting images inspired by Buddhism and Japanese culture.
Johns eventually turned her paintings of characters based on the Japanese term for small child, chibi, and the Buddhist figure that serves as the protector of travelers and children, Jizo, into a line of jewelry, books and apparel.
And now, Johns, 49, has gained a celebrity following since her jewelry collection was featured in a gifting suite at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards.
Much to Johns’ surprise, California first lady Maria Shriver recently called her about the jewelry, which includes necklaces, earrings and pendants of the chibi and Jizo figures.
“Someone brought her one of my chibis,” said Johns, who practices in Hermosa Beach and Westwood, “and she called me and left me a message.”
While Johns has been encouraged by the attention the jewelry has received from Shriver and others, including Candy Spelling, she’s in no rush to make big bucks off her designs.
“I’ve got a five- to 10-year plan,” she said. “I don’t believe in such things as overnight success.”
Vote of Confidence
Most days, attorney Miles Cooley handles business litigation for clients ranging from musicians 50 Cent and Lenny Kravitz to multinational corporations. But on Nov. 2, Cooley arrived at 5:30 a.m. to the Century City office of Reed Smith LLP, where he’s a partner, and got to work overseeing an Election Day call center.
Since 2004, the firm’s office has been handling calls to the national hotline of the Election Protection Coalition, an association of voting rights groups. Cooley was on a management team supervising more than 100 volunteer attorneys from all over the county, who throughout the day informed voters of their legal rights and took reports of potential problems.
Attorneys were dispatched to Beverly Hills, where a man had parked outside a polling place and was yelling at people not to vote, and to one polling place in L.A. County where a poll worker and a voter almost came to blows. Cooley, 40, sits on the national board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, one of the groups in the coalition, and brought the idea of hosting a call center to Reed Smith six years ago.
“It was a lot of making coffee,” he said of his 16-hour day.
But, he added, “as we’re watching the returns come in on CNN on the big screen, you feel a very direct connection to the process; that you’re a part of the nitty-gritty of democracy.”
Stepped-Up Fundraising
Debbie Lynn Padgett recently crossed a finish line holding her daughter’s hand. It was at the conclusion of the 39.6-mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer where Padgett, 41, director of education for Pacoima hair products manufacturer Zerran International Inc., and her 19-year-old daughter, Jessica Rees, walked in honor of the pair’s respective mother and grandmother: longtime breast cancer survivor and Wrightwood shop owner Adrianne Edgerly, 62.
Other team members included Wrightwood businesswomen Jill Haller, Delene Rodenborn, Joy Ray and Courtney Hutherson.
“It was very inspiring,” said Padgett, whose team raised about $18,400.
She prepared for the jaunt by taking daily walks; she was careful in light of her recovery from heart surgery in May. Even so, Padgett said, she ended up with a serious shin splint from the two-day event.
“It was hard,” she said, “but I couldn’t stop – I just kept going. By the end we were struggling, but I just kept thinking, ‘This nothing compared to going through chemo.’ ”
Staff reporters Alexa Hyland, Alfred Lee and David Haldane contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
