People of Rochester - Yarissa

Yarissa (pronounced Jah RISS ah) was 14 when she moved to Rochester from Puerto Rico with her mother. She said half of her family is here and the other half is in Puerto Rico. She has four siblings on her mom’s side and seven on her father’s side of the family. She has lived in other states, but she always comes back to Rochester.

She works for a nonprofit human-service organization, and she loves the job. “I’m the right hand of my supervisors,” she says, laughing. A friend who had been working at the same organization before Yarissa got the job told her it was a good place to work and urged her to apply for a position, but Yarissa resisted at first. She finally decided to give it a try, and now she loves it. She’s been there for almost three years.

During the pandemic lockdown, she got used to working at home, but she missed human interaction. Most of the communication while working at home was over the phone, and conversations were usually short and “not like when you're working in the office.” As covid restrictions eased up, she could have continued working at home, but she wanted to be in a space with other people, so she decided to return to the office.

Yarissa doesn’t plan on getting the COVID-19 vaccine. She thinks the vaccine is going to be like the flu shot, in that we’re all advised to accept it as a necessity. But, she says, she doesn’t get the flu vaccine and she didn't get sick from the flu last year. She believes that’s because she was wearing a mask most of the time, like she does now.

I asked her if anyone from work was pressuring her to get vaccinated. Yarissa said her boss feels the same way she does about the vaccine: she doesn’t get the flu shot and she’s not getting the covid shot. Where she works, everyone wears masks inside the building, and there are only five people in her office space (everybody else is working from home). It’s always the same people, she says. They’re always very cautious, and they avoid physically interacting with others.

Yarissa doesn’t watch TV. She doesn’t want to know what’s going on in the world, doesn’t watch the news. Unless somebody tells her, “this is what’s happening,” she’s usually uninformed about “the news.” She didn't know about the stimulus package benefit until someone told her.

She likes listening to music, reading the Bible, and watching a few shows on Netflix, on her phone. She lives in the South Wedge and walks a lot. On the day I met her, Yarissa had walked to the Memorial Art Gallery to play Pokemon Go. She also likes to dance and is looking forward to participating in a particular dance class, once the instructor informs members of the group that there is a location where they can meet and dance.

Thanks, Yarissa!