I used to draw a monthly feature for TODO magazine, the hip little Bay area magazine you find given away free in the back of Yellow and Luxor cabs; to find, interview and draw a cab driver. Cabbies are a motley crew…quick on the uptake, eccentric yet sometimes cynical. Most of them are men. The following is about one of the women cabbies I talked to. “I’ve had a few unruly guys in my cab late at night,” says Vanilcy Campana. “But they’re not so dangerous after 1:00am.” Vanilcy is one of several Brazilian women who drives a cab for the Yellow Cab Company in San Francisco. “I can handle myself,” she says. “Once I picked up two drunk guys outside a bar. They leaned into the front and said they wanted to purchase ‘favors’ from me. I just stepped on the brake and they fell back.” Vanilcy continues. “Another time, I changed a flat tire in 10 minutes on the freeway near the Oakland Airport. The guy I was taking to make his flight said he had a back problem and wouldn’t help me out. I didn’t believe him. I think I showed I’m a real woman, not a piece of a woman.” I was impressed.
Vanilcy’s attitude, given the vagaries of her job, is commendable. There aren’t many like her in this business. Oddly enough, most of the woman cab drivers at Yellow are from Brazil. I don’t understand why it worked out that way. Vanilcy carries her self well and is committed to the job. Her shift runs 5:00pm to 3:00am; Monday to Friday yet she still manages to get her two boys, aged 6 and 9, off to school in the morning. “I’m up at 6:30am and that’s important to me,” she says. As if there wasn’t enough to admire about her. That’s important. I want to like the people I draw. After the interview and drawing was published (shown here) Vanilcy said she didn’t like the drawing I did. I told her I really tried to get the essence of who she is correct. She responded, “I’ve since colored my hair. I look real good now”. Even vanity has a kind of power. |
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