Laurette

Name: Laurette

Occupation: Non-Profit Consultant

Decade Born: 1980’s

Location: Texas

If you were to have a mantra tattooed on your person or carved into the wall, what would it be?

Be you. The community arts organization that we run is all about radical expression and inclusion and that’s our doctoration; whoever we are, whatever freak flag you fly, we don’t care. Be you. Let your freak flag fly.

When you think of the memories from your childhood home versus the memories you’re creating in this environment, how do they compare?

I think for me the difference is that my father’s Columbian, South American so the home was very structured. There was a lot of dominance, and structure, and control in the house, but that diversity of him and my mother and the styles of food they made and their upbringings, definitely made it interesting. So in that sense of the diversity and culture expression, I feel like I’ve maintained that here, but no structure- and I like that. All of our Airbnb guests, we tell them there’s no check in and check out times, you come and go as you want, you can take a shower at midnight if you want, bring someone home if you want- we don’t care! Fly your freak flag. Be you.

So similar memories, but very different for me in that sense. The reason we decided to be Airbnb hosts is we wanted folks to experience a different side of Houston and not get stuck in a conference room or a hotel room that’s institutionalized. If this is the only thing they see outside of a meeting room, at least they know that Houston’s cool. I cannot stand the reputation. We are a cool city with a lot to offer.