COUTURE ZEN FOUNDATION / ABOUT
Style can be a way back to ourselves.
Making peace with style. Clothing, identity and agency belong in the same conversation as practical support.
The Foundation grows from real community work, with a focus on sustaining the boutique and building responsibly from what we have learned.
Melynda Choothesa
Melynda Choothesa believes clothing can help people feel like themselves and see new possibilities for their lives. As a second-generation Thai-American who grew up with limited means, she sees a close connection between what we wear, our sense of belonging and the opportunities we feel ready to pursue.
She brings 17+ years in fashion, production and consulting to that belief. Her career includes founding Couture Zen and Quirk, serving as Senior Fashion Editor of Desnudo Italia, and creating work for Google, YouTube and Kaiser Permanente. Along the way, she built experience in creative direction, production logistics and bringing people together. Her elected volunteer service on the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, including its Livability Committee, strengthened her ties to the neighborhood she calls home.
When the January 2025 fires displaced neighbors, she put those skills, relationships and showroom resources to work alongside co-founder Adrianna Parra and community volunteers. At The People’s Free Boutique, her professional experience and personal convictions come together: people rebuilding their lives deserve clothing they can choose, a welcome that respects their dignity and room to feel like themselves again.
Adrianna Parra
Co-founder of The People’s Free Boutique.
Adrianna brings experience in fashion wholesale, showroom operations and retailer relationships to her work as TPFB’s co-founder. Her background supports the inventory and operations that make a welcoming shopping experience possible.
Why fashion is part of the work
From Melynda
When I was about eight, my mother told me to speak well and dress well because “people will always see us as ‘different’.” Those were things we could control. She thrifted, or went “junkin’,” to find the clothes we wore. She was an artist, too. Clothing and creativity were part of how I learned to think about expression, access and the way people see us.
As a Thai-American woman, I know how it feels to have someone decide which parts of your story count. For me, belonging means room for the whole person, beyond a stereotype or an expectation.
Fashion gives us a language for that individuality. We can express culture, gender, profession, creativity or simply how we want to feel that day. Choosing a garment is one way to influence how we present ourselves and move through the world.
At The People’s Free Boutique, that freedom matters. A neighbor rebuilding after a fire deserves useful clothing and the chance to decide what feels like them. My work in styling, costume and art direction has taught me to pay attention to what someone wants to express, and to use those skills in service of their choices.
Couture Zen is Melynda’s professional fashion, styling and creative practice. Quirk is the retail and showroom business where The People’s Free Boutique began. The Foundation carries this community work forward, drawing on the creative, operational and neighborhood experience behind it.
Read why a free boutique is about choice · Meet the people behind the daily work.
Building the Foundation carefully
Couture Zen Foundation is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. Federal 501(c)(3) recognition is pending.
The People’s Free Boutique by Quirk has an established service history. Foundation development and proposed future programs are described separately from that work.
Monetary donations are currently paused. Please contact us about useful goods, volunteering or partnerships.