Name: Sage Adams
Age: 22
Hometown: Brooklyn
Now Lives: In a five-bedroom house in Hidden Hills, Calif., with two roommates.
Claim to Fame: Mx. Adams, who identifies as gender nonconforming, is an artist who works as the creative director for SZA, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter. “A lot of my work is trying to figure out how I can bring ideas from the idea world into the physical world,” said Mx. Adams, who shot the cover and promotional videos for SZA’s 2017 album, “Ctrl.” Mx. Adams is also a founder of Art Hoe Collective, a platform that promotes works by queer artists of color and other marginalized people through Instagram and gallery shows.
Big Break: For Mx. Adams, Instagram is not just a place to post images. “I’ve been online since I was like 14 and on Tumblr, so pretty much all my friends I’ve met on the internet,” Mx. Adams said. In 2016, Mx. Adams sent SZA a message on Instagram complimenting her outfit. “I messaged her once, like, ‘Oh, your fit is fire.’ And she messaged me back like, ‘Dude, I love your fits, too,’” Mx. Adams said. “We started hanging out, and I guess she saw in me that I needed to channel my creative energy into something outside school.”
Latest Project: Mx. Adams appears in a Nike advertising campaign called Women Coach LA, which recruits female coaches for youth sports in Los Angeles. “As a weird boy-girl, I feel like it’s important for kids to see that there isn’t one type of girl who does sports,” Mx. Adams said. “As a novice skateboarder, I’m partnering with them to show that sports can be a cool, fun thing rather than something full of pressure.”
Inside the artist’s studio. CreditTracy Nguyen for The New York Times
Next Thing: Work with SZA continues at a feverish pace. One of their new projects is Ctrl Fishing Co., a clothing line that uses sustainable fabrics like recycled tie-dye. “One of the really cool ways we can do that is through fashion, but we’re also working on some programming to get that out to kids,” Mx. Adams said.
In Their Blood: Mx. Adams’s father, Marino Adams, was a huge artistic influence. “In his free time, he D.J.ed and co-produced my mom’s play, ‘Black Girl You’ve Been Gentrified,’ and helped her get it at Joe’s Pub. He was artistically inclined, but ended up doing business his whole life and passed away kind of early,” Mx. Adams said. “For me, it’s about making sure I pursue what makes me happy.”
