Tammy's Magical Treasure Island Getaway

When I walked into A Tran's Bay Bike Shop, I was greeted by brightly painted signs, plants and murals. The entire shop was covered in floor-to-ceiling designs, with bright whirls of color and whimsical figures pedaling their way through a beautiful, enchanted world.

Tammy, the owner of A Tran's Bay Bike Shop, is extremely proud of her shop—she invited local artists to complete the murals, and she decorated the borders of the space with her own fun creations. There are cool tricked-out bikes (like the one below) and an awesome collection of trinkets, photographs and toys.





Tammy’s life has not been easy, and she has overcome many obstacles to pursue her dream of owning a bike shop in the Bay Area. She is an experienced mechanic and entrepreneur, but she faced employment discrimination in San Francisco while transitioning from male to female. During this period, she also overcame homelessness. She applied for a Kiva Zip loan in July 2014 to purchase more inventory for her shop, and successfully raised her funds from 28 generous lenders.





In person, Tammy is engaging and optimistic—she dreams big for her shop and the impact she can have on empowering the transgender community. The city is building a new bike lane to Treasure Island, which should be a huge boon for her business. And at some point soon, she hopes to become “the largest employer of trans people in the United States!”

You can support Tammy by visiting her bike shop and touring beautiful Treasure Island! A Tran's Bay Bike Shop’s website is here- http://www.transbaybikes.com/


Support more California-based borrowers like Tammy at https://zip.kiva.org/loans!