Sami Gaston ‘02: Creating Space for Community

For Sami Boyle Gaston ‘02, some of the CRMS experiences that have stayed with her most are not necessarily the ones she expected to love.

Take Wednesday night Formal Dinners. At first, she dreaded them. Dressing up and sitting down together after a long day could feel like a lot. Then Sami found a way to make the tradition her own.

“I started wearing costume jewelry and formal vintage gowns,” she remembers. “It turned out to be a conversation piece, something to help break the ice at what sometimes could be a tired and slightly awkward audience.”

Finding the part of the experience she loved transformed Wednesday Formal Dinners from something she endured into something she looked forward to. Years later, that lesson has become part of how she approaches life and her work in hospitality.

Today, Sami owns two Portland businesses: wine bar and kitchen Bar Diane and cafe Négociant, places built around bringing people together.

Sami describes hospitality simply: “Creating space.”

“Hospitality is about creating a third space, somewhere safe for people to come together and share an experience, whether that’s something they eat or drink or just a moment they carry with them.”

That philosophy comes to life at Bar Diane, the wine bar and kitchen Sami opened in Portland’s Northwest District in 2019. Tucked down an alley, Bar Diane draws inspiration from the cosmopolitan café, Parisian drinking culture, and the intimacy of a dinner party. Its wine program focuses on independent producers, emphasizing French and European wines alongside local selections.

Sami’s creative hand is quite literally on the space. With her background in illustration, she hand-painted Bar Diane’s floor-to-ceiling geometric murals during the build-out, drawing inspiration from Bauhaus design and colors reminiscent of rosé, Lambrusco, and red wine.

Her second business, Négociant, expands the idea of hospitality into a neighborhood wine shop, cheese counter, market, and café. Guests can stop in for a sandwich or glass of wine, shop for cheese, wine, and pantry goods, or gather for tastings, live music, and other events. Like Bar Diane, Négociant is designed around the simple pleasure of sharing something good with the people around you.

Sami’s path from CRMS to owning two businesses was anything but linear. Since graduating, she has worked in restaurants, bars, cafés, and local journalism; become a published illustrator; launched flea markets; taught English in Buenos Aires; and worked as a freelance graphic designer. Along the way, she earned degrees and credentials, fell in love, adopted a much-loved cat, and opened two hospitality businesses that made it through the pandemic. For Sami, though, hospitality is never a finished product.

“Hospitality isn’t something you complete. It’s ongoing, more about the journey than arriving somewhere,” she says. “CRMS taught me that: you don’t wait for the experience to be good, you find your way into making it good.”

Looking back, she sees a common thread connecting those experiences to CRMS: self-reliance.

“If I wanted something, I needed to know how to do it myself, or figure out how to build the tool or find a way to get it,” she says.

CRMS also gave Sami something equally important: permission to try things without knowing exactly where they would lead.

“CRMS encourages you to explore, engage, and serve, and it also lets you fail, which is a valuable lesson,” she says. “Not everything works 100% of the time.”

Being able to make mistakes, pick up the pieces, and try again taught her to see failure differently. “I was able to find grace in adversity and discover that ‘failing’ usually meant finding another approach or perspective.”

That willingness to explore remains part of her life today. Sami still makes time for printmaking and illustration, interests that stretch back to her days in the Adobe art building. She is also drawn to architecture, cooking, and thrifting. And while she hikes more than she skis these days, the outdoors remains an important part of her life in Oregon.

Among Sami’s favorite CRMS memories are days on the Nordic team, skiing at Spring Gulch with Mark Clark and, as she puts it, “perfecting the art of the snot rocket.” But another memory is quieter and proved particularly lasting.

Her English teacher, Jeff Leahy, now CRMS Head of School, told Sami she was a good writer and encouraged her to submit a piece she had written.

“No one had said that to me before, and it gave me a lot of confidence,” she says.

That encouragement stayed with her. Sami went on to write for a local magazine and newspaper, and today she writes the newsletters and blogs for her businesses.

It is one example of the lasting importance of the relationships she formed at CRMS.

“It’s not a solo expedition,” Sami says. “The friends I made at CRMS are still who I call first. It’s more than community, honestly, it’s family.”

That understanding of community now sits at the heart of her work. Among her greatest highlights since CRMS, Sami counts falling in love and meeting her husband, opening local businesses, and building the community and team around them. And, of course, adopting her cat, Pinot.

She is still doing what CRMS encouraged her to do years ago: continuing to grow, learn, make, and explore.

Sami’s advice for current CRMS students is to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them.

“Don’t sleep on it. Take classes, take chances. That’s a big part of what CRMS gives you, a community and the space to experiment and find yourself. Stay in touch with people too. That’s something I’m still working on myself.”

And she comes back to those Wednesday Formal Dinners and the vintage gowns and costume jewelry that changed an experience she dreaded into one she enjoyed.

“If you find yourself somewhere you’re not sure you want to be, look for the piece of it you can actually love,” she says. “It’s a skill, not luck, and it’s served me well ever since.”

For Sami, that may be one of the clearest threads between CRMS and the life she has built in Portland: explore what interests you, make something your own, and create a space where other people feel welcome.

And she has one final invitation for the CRMS community: “If you find yourself in Portland, please come look me up. I’d love to see you!”