Loving Los Angeles Overcoming My Anti-L.A. Bias

Author Jen Bilik and dog Paco in front of the Hollywood sign
This picture is clearly an “After”—as in, after I learned to love Los Angeles. It was taken as part of a photoshoot for our book "Lick" by Ty Foster. A subsequent post will explore my “Before,” both my Bay Area bias as well as the unidimensional Los Angeles of my actual childhood experience (here’s a teaser: malls, Disneyland, freeways, Sam’s Club, trailer parks).

When I moved to Los Angeles from Manhattan in 1998, exactly twenty years ago, my interest in the city had only recently been piqued. Growing up in the Bay Area as I did, hatred of Los Angeles was our birthright—though we characterized it as a rivalry (little did we know, it was totally one-sided). But New York certainly looked down on L.A. too, and I found I had to do lots of explaining about my decision to move here.

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Knock Knock Gets Knocked Up!

Emily McDowell - Jen Bilik - Sara Stein - Who's There Group
Left to right: Emily McDowell (founder of Emily McDowell Studio; and no, the name is not just a coincidence), Jen Bilik (founder of Knock Knock), and Sara Stein (founder of Sisters of Los Angeles). We make up the Who’s There Group, and we are more than the sum of our lady parts.

Have you heard the news?

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Knock Knock’s Jen Bilik Moderates AIGA Y21 Conference San Diego’s Premiere Design Conference Was “Distilled” with Insight

Knock Knock CEO Jen Bilik with Adobe's Brian Wood

AIGA San Diego's Y21 Conference, themed “DISTILL/Design with Spirit,” gathered creatives from around the world for a symposium of all-things design through keynotes, titillating Thinkshops, and hands-on Workshops. Jen was delighted to meet, chat with, and interview top creatives and guest speakers from around the world.

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Jen Bilik to Moderate AIGA Y21 Design Conference “DISTILL/Design With Spirit”

Jen Bilik - AIGA Y21 Conference

Knock Knock’s founder and overall head honcho Jen Bilik will be moderating AIGA San Diego’s Y21 Conference, a premiere design conference held April 1 and 2, 2016 in San Diego.

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