Happy Birthday, America.

I was born in El Salvador and came here when I was two. My mother’s family made the move, and San Francisco is the only home I’ve ever known. The chances I’ve had all trace back to that.

To me, being American is plain: be a good citizen and a good human being to everyone, welcome people from every walk of life, and treat them fairly and with dignity. It’s how my mother raised me, and what I want for all of our kids, who’ll inherit this and shape it again.

We aren’t perfect, and I know that. But we’re the stewards of what this becomes, and it’s the reason I do the work I do now — giving people who don’t usually get a fair shot, and doing right by those around me.

Two hundred and fifty years. Happy birthday, America.

— Wilfredo Valle · Founder, Studio Practice · San Francisco · July 4th, 2026