3 minute read
Meet Adem, Shayna, Sam and Andrea: A family created through friendship
www.NorthgateLivingCA.com @NorthgateLivingCA #NorthgateLivingCA
By Kara Navolio, Resident since 1991
Adem, Shayna, Sam and Andrea have created a unique family – four adults sharing a home in Northgate in order to be closer to the people and things they all love. They also share their Diablo Shadows neighborhood home with three 4-legged family members: Buster, Chewy and Ally.
Adem and Shayna met in 2005 while taking salsa dancing lessons in Portland, OR and have been together ever since, living in various spots in the Bay Area. Adem started his career at Intel in research and development and now owns his own software company, Mental Nexus, with a focus on helping the behavioral health industry. Shayna is a graduate of The University of Missouri, Columbia and Lewis & Clark College in Oregon. She also owns her own business, Prepare to Bloom LLC, which is an educational and therapeutic consulting firm. “We work with children, adolescents and young adults to create plans to get back on track when things go sideways due to mental health, learning differences, substance abuse and family relational issues,” says Shayna. Her company also runs the successful Alternatives to College Fair each March where students can learn about alternate paths after high school. Shayna adds, “I started the Alt Fair 6 years ago, seeing the needs of my clients who were not seeing themselves represented at their schools or by their counselors in the 2 and 4 year college path. At that point my friend Stacy, who worked as the Director of Admissions at Fusion Academy Walnut Creek, and I had the idea to start a fair that allowed families to start learning more about the alternatives to that path.”
Sam and Andrea became friends with Adem and Shayna through mutual friends and moved in with them in 2016, sharing a home in Pittsburg at first. In 2018 they all moved to Northgate together. The housemate situation grew into a wonderful friendship, and Shayna was invited to officiate their wedding last year in Hawaii. They occasionally share “family dinners” and always celebrate their birthdays together. Sam is the manager at Orangetheory in Pleasant Hill, and Andrea is a medical assistant in the pediatric department of Sutter Health.
Both Sam and Andrea, along with Shayna, can be found most days at the gym or walking their pups on the trail or through the neighborhood. Shayna also enjoys being crafty and works with fused glass in her studio called Curly Q Glass Studio where she makes jewelry, plates and artistic pieces. They all enjoy family game nights or movie nights with a close friend group. “We are board game geeks; we play games like Splendor, Century Spice Road, Unlock and Lost Cities. While each of us has our own game playing style, Sam is by far the most competitive, and Adem is the most strategic of the four of us. There are typically drinks mixed in with our game playing nights, and we can get into some really deep conversations…”
The 4-legged family members include Buster and Chewy, 10-year old Labradoodle brothers. They were adopted when they were two years old. Even though Shayna did not really want two dogs at the time, the previous family wanted them to stay together. Luckily, she fell in love with both of them at first sight. Buster is the ring leader of the pack, while Chewy “is really a cat in a dog’s body.”
He loves being petted more than anything and will squeeze his head under your arm or knock your elbow to get attention. Ally, a 4-year-old rescued pitbull mix, is just like any annoying little sister, alternatively loving her big brothers and then bothering them. She has a very stylish wardrobe that she enjoys wearing around town.
Adem, Shayna, Sam and Andrea all love being part of the Northgate community, and they especially enjoy their neighbors. They enjoy taking advantage of all the great food and beverage spots close by and are happy to call Northgate “home.”
