I grew up in California until I was like 14, and then I lived in Massachusetts. I went to a boarding school there for wayward Hasidic girls—I'm not observant now, but I'm Hasidic in my heart.

After high school, I went to Israel and lived there for 3 years. For the first 2 years I was going to school, and for the last 8 months I was there I was actually married. And I left his ass and moved to New York. It was a toss up between New York and San Francisco; I had really good friends in both cities. I guess San Francisco still felt too close to L.A. for me, and I'd always had a fantasy about coming to New York and living here.

When I was a kid I loved my bike so much. I learned how to ride a two-wheeler when I was like 5. My neighbor across the street, he taught me how to ride it. And for every scrape I had at the end of the little riding lesson, he would give me a popsicle. He was married, and they didn't have any kids at that point. It was really sweet.

When I first moved to New York, I wasn't physically active. Like everything hurt me, I just felt my body was sort of rundown. Which is not good if you're like 21! And then I met this guy who was an EMT and a bike messenger. And he was like, “You have to get a bike, this is ridiculous. We have to get you a bike, it's silly you're not on a bike yet.” So we went and got me a really cute little red road bike. And then he took me out and we rode around 42nd Street and Columbus Circle, and all the places you're probably not supposed to go when you're fresh in New York City. And I was hooked.

For me, being on my bike is calming in a way that, like, not very much else is. I don't really like going on super long distance rides, and I don't like racing that much. I like riding through traffic. It's fun. I like weaving through cars!

There are so many thousands of messengers here, I don't think anyone can say they know most of them, but I have my crew, the people that I hang out with and go to races and messenger events. I've been to all different cities, for messenger races and messenger events. It's funny, because I feel like, growing up in my community, in the Hasidic community, the sect I grew up in was very much like you could go pretty much anyplace in the world, and there would be somebody Lubavitch there. You could have like a place to stay and food to eat and know that you have somebody that you know there. And I feel it's the same thing with messengers!