NerdyKeppie About Us

About NerdyKeppie

If you can't buy it, start making it yourself!

Because we couldn't find the colors and variants of Pride or nerdy kippot that our family wanted, Spider started making kippot for family members. He focused on making these items sturdy, because a lot of the people he was making them for were very active and we needed them to hold up to everyday wear and tear! This ethos holds true for everything we make - we want our clothing to be ethically sourced, well-made, and as affordable as possible for our community.

When people started asking where they could get these items, the obvious answer was to hang out a shingle and open our shop. 'Keppie' is 'head' in Yiddish, and with my focus on geeky and nerdy items, it was a pretty straightforward name. Everything in here comes from our nerdy heads.

This shop is run by a Jewish family in Portland, Oregon. The items we design but do not personally manufacture are shipped from our partners across the world, direct to your front door. We hope you enjoy what we make as much as we enjoy making it

Spider Perry (He/They), Co-Owner

Spider began NerdyKeppie in 2016 out of a desire to provide LGBT Judaica to their daughter.  Spider has been a longtime Queer and Disability activist and blogger, author, and public speaker, and initially intended for NerdyKeppie as a side business.  But the orders kept coming and the business took off, so now they spend the lion's share of their time designing new products and doing everything that someone else doesn't do.

Spider also writes queer fiction and poetry on Patreon, and has written for Onyx Path Publishing and StarTrek.com, among others.

You can find him on Twitter and Tumblr at @vaspider.

Emet Perry (They/Them), Co-Owner

Emet joined NerdyKeppie in mid 2017, stepping away from a career as a mortgage broker.  They now serve in the role as head of Operations, managing the flow of orders through the shop and keeping the production line moving.  They also oversee the layout and design of NerdyKeppie show spaces.

One part pack mule, one part seamster, one part emotional support Viking, Emet's most important contribution to the shop is in making sure Spider has coffee so that he can continue churning out the designs that make NerdyKeppie so unique. 

You can find them on Twitter @UrbanProle.

Jake Lucas (He/Him), Operations Lead

Jake joined NerdyKeppie in 2017 to help take care of customer service and data entry during conventions and vacations. Now Jake spends his time designing clothes, updating the shopping sites, and filling in any gaps that he can. A Jake-Of-All-Trades, he spent twenty years working for The Man in a variety of industries and settings and is thrilled to use those skills for a company he loves, run by people he loves.

Jake is also a DIY musician, cat dad, Zoom assistant, nature enthusiast, and the kind of guy who always gets asked, "So why don't you do stand-up?" He lives in a historic punk house in New Brunswick, New Jersey and is currently teaching himself the drums. His favorite Star Wars is The Last Jedi. 

Erykah Fasset (She/Her), Customer Service

Erykah (she/they) is a bi/grey-ace writer and casual sea witch out of West Michigan. She's written for Scion 2E, Vampire: the Masquerade 5E, Trinity Contiuum, and Pip System Primer. When not writing, she is wrangling her very own Cerberpug. You can find her at @rosiewrecksit on Twitter or at www.erykahfassett.com

 

David Castro (They/Them), Customer Service

David is a non-binary bi afro-latino and disabled writer out of New York City. Their credits include Scion 2E, Trinity Continuum, and Modern AGE. They can be found on Twitter @theinkedknight, on Patreon at patreon.com/inkstainedstudios, and at DavidCastro.net

Catherine Perry (She/Her), Fulfillment

Cat is a Jewish trans lesbian and daughter of owners Spider and Emet Perry, joining the team in Mid-September of 2021. Her tasks include filling orders and keeping the 4 dogs fed, walked, and happy so they're not little gremlins during the work day. Cat will be starting college soon at the Portland Community College after the embodiment of a gap year that was 2020.