Emily Engdahl Oral History Interview, June 17, 2016

Partial Transcript: So you are one of many generations of Portlanders?

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl tells how her family has been in Portland for many generations. She shares how growing up Portland always felt like a small town. She shares that it wasn't until around 2010, that it really started to become the "Portlandia" that it is today. Engdahl shares some of her memories and favorite things about growing up in Portland. She shares that she would only go downtown on special occasions. She shares that Portland seemed like a small town growing up and people just all knew each other. Engdahl discusses how her family was always outdoors doing activities. She tells a story about her dad bringing her brother to climb Mt. Hood even when he was really young.

Keywords: Astoria; Ballet; Bees; Chickens; Fishing; Food; Fresh; Garden; Grandparents; Hiking; Hunting; Lloyd Center; Mt.Hood; OMSI; Organic; Outdoor Activities; Physician; Portland; Portlandia; Powell's Book; Saturday Market; Sauvie's Island; Symphony; Trees; Zoo

Partial Transcript: You went to Grant High School, what were some of things that you liked to do while you were in High School?

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl discusses how she was cross-eyed growing up, and it made it difficult for her to have many friends. She shares that for a lot of school she was on her own, and loved reading and dancing. She notes that her older brother was always really good to her and really involved her a lot of things with him. She shares she finally got her crossed eye fixed the summer between her sophomore and junior year. She discusses how important the arts were to her in high school. Engdahl says she had some drama with a lot of her close friends that caused her to have to find all new friends her junior year. She shares that the day before her senior year started, her father passed away so senior year to her is still a blur. Engdahl discuses the effect of her fathers illness and death on her family and she shares how she had to take care of her mom. She discusses how she had a lot of intrest in math and science in high school, but was never really pushed that way. She shares that when she finally discovered beer, it was trans formative for her because it was the first thing that really spiked her interest.

Keywords: Arts; Brother; Creativie; Cross-eyed; Dad; Dancing; Death; Drinking; High School; Math; Mom; Murals; Pancreatic Cancer; Pottery; Reading; Roller skates; Sciecne; Seattle; Sickness; Singing; Treatment

Partial Transcript: So when you graduated, what was it that you thought it that your next steps might be?

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl shares that she did not really know for sure what her path was after high school, and enrolled at Southern Oregon University. She shares that she really enjoyed her time in Ashland, but it was very brief and she has never been back. She says after a year at SOU, she moved back to Portland and went to the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Engdahl shares that liked her time there a lot, but she didn't understand the metaphors, symbols, and messages were behind the art. She shares that she did not like how people reached and almost made up explanations for why artists did what they did.

Keywords: Artists; Ashland; Bi-Mart; Classes; Co-op; Dyes; Fiber Arts; I-5; Jacksonville; Medford; NW 23rd; Oregon College of Art and Craft; Pearl District; Rouge Brewing; Southern Oregon University

Partial Transcript: So when you came back late 90s, what are some of the food places you remember going to?

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl discusses some of her favorite food and drinking spots in Portland in her early 20s. She shares that there was a lot of really unique independent restaurants she would go too. She shares that she got pregnant in 1999, and went back to school full time at Marylhurst, and graduated with a 4-year degree in communication. She says her degree was complementary to her work that she was doing at the VA doing case management. She shares that she actually still works for them part-time in Astoria, however, she wants to get out of that work because its physically and emotionally hard. Engdahl describes a dramatic situation were a client physical assaulted her.

Keywords: American Dream Pizza; Bars; Full Sail Brewing; Marylhurst University; Original Pancake House; Physical Assault; Pregnancy; Restaurants; Smells; The Hutch; Veterans Affairs

Partial Transcript: Where you doing art and Graphic Design at that time too?

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl shares that her house and life has always been full of art. She says art was always a place you could escape, and balance out your life. Engdahl discusses how she started home brewing, and how she loved the creative outlet that it provided. She says she loved the challenge of doing the graphic art on the outside of the bottle that would convey.

Keywords: Art; Beer; Brother; Colours; Def Leopard; Feelings; Flavors; Graphic Design; Homebrewing; Pink Boots Society

Partial Transcript: What were you gathering in the mid 2000s into the late 2000s is changing.

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl discusses her life during the mid 2000s in Portland. She shares that did a lot of trips to the beach with her family, and a lot of home brewing and other creative projects. She says it was a major time of change in Portland, and she shares that the city really changed. Engdahl shares how it was a really creative time and that she would host people over that she would meet on Etsy for creative projects.

Keywords: Alberta; Arts; Baking; DIY; Etsy; Fremont; Garden; Homebrewing; Northeast Portland; Portland; School; beach

Partial Transcript: At that point, where you meeting professional commercial brewers?

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl discusses how she started doing graphic design for commercial breweries around 2010. She shares stories of how she met different contacts at events around the Portland area. Engdahl shares a memories of the first time she tried an IPA and how it changed her entire thoughts on beer all together. Engdahl talks about how she started PDX Beer Geeks and the inspiration behind starting a beer blog. She discusses being a women in beer, and shares that she is really fortunate to be in Portland because of how progressive the place is. Engdahl discuses the equity issues between men and women in not just the United States but the world. She shares that education is the way.

Keywords: Belmont Station; Blogs; Collaboration; Education; Equity; Gender; Liberal; Ninkasi; Northwest; OMSI; PDX Beer Geeks; Pink Boots Society; Quality of Ingredients; Tricerahops; Twitter

Partial Transcript: I'm curious if you could talk a little about that transition between doing work with Ginger morphed in your position with Pink Boots.

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl discuses how her position with Women Enjoying Beer was all about marketing beer products to women, in order to open up a new demographic to make more money. She shares how that was not the way she wanted to include more women in Beer. She wanted to educate the industry from the inside out that women, given the education are just as good at being in the industry as any men. She says her position in Pink Boots came about because she wanted to educate people in the industry, to bring about gender equity, instead of just marketing products to women. She shares that what Pink Boots is doing for the next generation of women is providing role models, and showing people that women can be in any industry in the world. She says that there are tons of engineering and technician jobs that are just waiting to be filled by future women. Engdahl shares that it is mind boggling how complex beer is now, considering how for hundreds of years beer was only made with four simple ingredients.

Keywords: Education; Equity; Events; Festivals; Gender; Industry; Marketing; Pink Boots Society; Subjectivity; Women

Partial Transcript: So, what do you see as your role, what do you see as your purpose and role in Pink Boots?

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl discusses how fast and rapid Pink Boots Society grew. She shares that there was no infrastructure in place to react to the growth that happened so quickly. She tells how the society put together a board meeting that addressed the growth and became more stabilized. She shares that her goal is for the organization to grow to a size that it can be self supported. She shares that the long term goal for Pink Boots itself is to just go away, she shares that once gender equity is achieved organizations like Pink Boots will not even need to be around. Engdahl discuss the shift in the organization when the new board came into place. She shares how the focus became tighter, one of the major initiatives was to promote gender equity in beer festivals.

Keywords: Beer Judges; Competition; Feedback; Goals; Growth; Mentoring; Mission; Pink Boots Society

Partial Transcript: Do you see differences in generations of women?

Segment Synopsis: Engdahl discusses some of the generational differences between people within the beer industry. She shares that she notices that a lot of people who are entering the industry now are doing it because they see it as a way to make wealth. She shares that some people open up breweries, and are not involved in the brewing process at all. She shares that to her, the beer industry is about making the community a better place. She discuses how breweries and beer in general have an impact on an entire community, and that it should be used to enact positive social change.

Keywords: 10 Barrel; Age; Change; Community; Craft Beer; Craft Brewers Conference; Love; Money; Social Change