She's coming to us from her gym, where she's fit us in her busy schedule. As other members walk around her holding court into her Mac, AirPods firmly in position, she's pulling us into her gravity. Two Gs worth.
Miss Arizona, as she likes to call herself — unofficial, sure, but Lord help you if you disagree — is never not on the move. Which is just what you'd expect from someone who sets her life by her schedule, not her diabetes.
"Diabetes now fits my life," Kemak said. "I don't have to choose my life to fit diabetes."
Glitter Glucose Enters, Stage Fright
Paloma Kemak was born on a chicken farm near Maricopa, Arizona — not to be confused with the semi-infamous county of the same name in the state — a town in the valley outside Scottsdale.
From a young age, she was always into being put together with the latest styles and trends. She attended Fashion Institute of Design in California and graduated with a degree in fashion merchandising before going to work as a sales rep for a fashion accessory company, traveling around the Southwest.
A dream job in her early 20s.
But her health was taking a nightmarish turn.
It didn't add up. Something was … off.
"I felt so tired and so thirsty and had no energy. And I was like, 'This is my dream job. Why am I not excited and energized?'" Kemak said.
2013. Diabetes.
Time and space being relative, the distance from her doctor's lips to really registering in her ears took something in the neighborhood of two years. Adulting is not always what it's made out to be. Her new reality was decidedly not in her plans and for those two years, she kept it to the side.