Working: Syracuse

Meet Annie Wilcox, a caregiver at Francis House on Syracuse's Northside. She has worked at the hospice care provider for eight years. Currently, Francis House accommodates 16 residents and is often at capacity. They are cared for by 29 professional staff, like Wilcox, and a group of around 450 volunteers that offer help with jobs including cooking, gardening, and cleaning. The staff-to-resident ratio allows for personalized care that provides a sense of home and family. However, the reality that patients are facing the end of their lives remains an ever-present subtext to the work of those at Francis House. The staff focuses on forging relationships and delivering attentive care so residents can escape the confines of just being terminally ill patients. Instead, they and those who care for them spend their days as friends who are aware of the limited time they have to know each other.

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Meet Tony Marji, owner of Select Express Auto, a used-car dealership located just outside Syracuse. An automotive enthusiast, Marji managed to find a career that allowed him to spend his days surrounded by what he is most passionate about — cars. Life as a business owner keeps his schedule full, but after his heart attack a few years ago, Marji decided to focus on the important things in life — his relationships with his family and finding contentment within himself.

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Meet The Doula Chicks, Sherri Morris and Christine Herrera. They offer everything from pre-birth assistance to postpartum consultation; as well as breastfeeding support, childbirth education, placenta encapsulation, and prenatal yoga. They started working together in 2016 after meeting each other within the Doula Connection of Central New York. The two women realized that the long hours required for the job would be better tackled together, so they teamed up. The job demands time sacrifices because of the intensity — and unpredictability — of pregnancy.

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Meet Luke Parkhurst of Disaster Cleanup. The 40-person company specializes in biohazard, fire, mold, and water damage jobs within a two-hour radius of Syracuse. The biohazard jobs are the most difficult of the bunch. Many of those cases involve the suicide of a family member. But even though he's scrubbed away blood and bodily fluids for 14 years, Luke believes those years of cleaning up after one of the saddest days a person can face hasn't changed him. He's married with two kids — a six- and seven-year-old — and joined Disaster Cleanup two years ago. He's held jobs in welding and factory work and can usually be found around the company warehouse wearing his blue-denim overalls. And while this particular job hasn't changed him, Parkhurst says it "makes you think about all the other jobs that people are doing that you don't want to think about."

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Meet Nick Calabria, a postal worker for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) since 2001. Calabria works for an agency that began a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed. Today, Calabria delivers letters, packages, and parcels across Syracuse in different mail trucks, including the Grumman Long Life vehicle, a specialized and iconic truck developed in the late ‘80s. In the past 10 years, packages have become the bulk of what is delivered. However, the additional weight of boxes makes for back-straining work. The USPS continues to face economic challenges and is considering terminating Saturday delivery and closing thousands of postal plants nationwide. But Calabria remains optimistic about the agency's future and says most employees are "lifers" who remain with the USPS until retirement.

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Meet Tim Hoda, a beekeeper based in Taberg, N.Y. Hoda uses his bees to create products such as bee pollen, chapstick, and beeswax candles, which he sells through his business, the Rainforest Spice Company. Despite the tropical name of his company, his bees faces less-than-sunny weather in Central New York thanks to the long, harsh winters. Last year, the season took 80 percent of his bees. In fact, a phenomenon known as "winter kill" accounts for the annual loss of about 50 percent to 60 percent of the state's bee population. Fortunately, this winter all of Hoda's hives survived.

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Meet Jenn Cordero, one of Syracuse's few female tattoo artists. She works for Carmelo's Ink City on Hiawatha Boulevard. Cordero is a 30-year-old artist, gamer, and proud owner of an ugly cat. In a tough, male-dominated field, Cordero employs her smart mouth and sharp eye to set herself apart and attract clients. In the decade since she first picked up a needle, Cordero has worked to elevate her craft. Cordero's small frame features pieces that illustrate her life story, but she's saving space for a few more chapters. She believes a good tattoo encompasses more than the artistry and execution of the design. The experience of getting each piece also plays a role. "I watch and I listen and I pay attention — even to the tone of the voice and stuff like that," Cordero says. "And being a female, I know how to feminize everything."

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Meet Darren Chavis, owner and head chef of Creole Soul Cafe. He opened the restaurant in 2015 and credits his family for developing his work ethic, saying he is just one in a long line of stubborn entrepreneurs. Chavis surrendered a lucrative career in construction to spend his days making the food of his home — New Orleans. Chavis describes New Orleans cooking and Louisiana food culture as a melting pot. A standard bowl of gumbo serves as a perfect Exhibit A: the roux is from France; the name, from West Africa; and the filé, from Choctaw tribes of North America. And when asked the question "what's the difference between Cajun and Creole?" the answer is simple — country food vs. city food.

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Meet Dan Meates, a zookeeper at Rosamond Gifford Zoo. When the zoo was founded in 1914, just a handful of animals called the four-acre facility their home. Now, more than 700 diverse species reside in the zoo's 43 acres. As a general curator, Meates oversees specialized zookeepers who care for the expansive variety of species. But as a master falconer, Meates' speciality in birds of prey means he spends more time in that area of the zoo. All who work at the zoo, including Meates, consider animal conservation the primary goal of their work.

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Meet police officer Leonard Brown, who has served on the force since 2011. About 18 months ago, he joined the elite Crime Reduction Team (CRT) within the Syracuse Police Department. With headquarters located on Erie Boulevard East, the CRT is a proactive, 12-man unit that has focused on fighting some of the city's toughest issues since 2005: drugs, guns, and gang violence. He enjoys the physical nature of his work, which reminds him of what he loved about sports when he was younger. As a teenager, Brown lived for the thrill of scoring touchdowns. Now, he gets his adrenaline rush from putting on a different kind of uniform every day.

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