In loving memory of Sonia Peterson

I wanted to post about the death of friend. She passed last year in early 2004, in her 5os.


Sonia was a true web trailblazer who i got to know while i was still a chef busy with serving a true NYCity brunch for Amsterdammers about 5 years ago. Back then i was known as James Brownies as i also owned a bakery supplying my intense chocolate incarnations to the locals.
Sonia aside from being a member of the Black Panthers and roll-skating instructor got into hairdressing when she turned 35. She helped develop a novel technique called "dread-perming" allowing even people with the straightest hair to have dreadlocks(even oriental hair, and that's straight!). She got into the internet very early on and used it as a platform to reach her niche group of clients that wanted hair that was off-the-beaten track. She had a steady clientele counting amongst her regulars, George Clinton from Funkadelic, Paul Boothe, tatoo-meister extraordinaire and numerous extravagant divas, rock mums, metal girlz and boys from all walks of life. She was the first person i knew who described herself as having gone "off-planet". She started Hair Police Salon in Minneapolis and opened a further shop in Amsterdam. Later she tired of staying in one place and "went on tour" through America and Europe, managing her clients using Yahoo Groups, her website and email to tell her clients where she would be, at which date, to enable booking an appointment. I once had her staying at a my royal home in Amsterdam on the Egelantiersgracht, where people would just ring on the bell and come and get their cuts at the place i was living in at that time (A huge 3 storey building with confession booths and catholic chapel). She was in my eyes a true innovator and example to us all that, you can change career at any age, and live your passion in the way you decide. God bless you Sonia and rest in peace.
j