The door swung open as I spoke, cutting me off mid-sentence. The evening was unusually warm for April, and the Wheeler classroom windows were propped open, letting the streetlamp light stream in with the wind. I spoke at the front of the room as I always did, rambling about event planning and writing techniques, but all of it came to a close as Siena Chai, founder of Xoxo510, walked in. 

“Siena! Come in.” I said, waving her in, “This is the one I’ve been telling you all about — she’s our phone case girl.” 

The room erupted in a wave of chatter and laughter as I asked her to hand out the cases, each member snapping them onto their phones immediately. They’re beautiful — our colours, burgundy and blush pink — hand-painted into a star, with our name, Brainscramble Mag, typed into the middle. To feel the product, to hold it in the palm of my hand, and to know that our members would carry it with them wherever they went, was like knowing that a pipe dream was real. 

The excitement runs deeper than representing our publication. The painted star is lined with their company name — XOXO, 510. 

Weeks ago, Chai had reached out and asked to meet over coffee. I agreed. 

Siena Chai, like her products, is maximalist magic. Her personal style could be described with ballerina flats, mixed metal jewelry, zip-up sweaters and Diet Cola, wrapping her brand in authenticity and undone, downtown California.

Growing up in Oakland, Chai was exposed to fashion at a very young age. 

“I have all of these friends back home that are so cool in an effortless way. They don’t really give a fuck — except for sneakers. Sneaker culture is huge, and so is repping our city. Sneakers and the city.” 

When she enrolled at Berkeley, she joined Fashion and Student Trends, or FAST, immediately immersing herself in the fashion sphere. As she moved through different pockets of campus culture, from Lower Sproul fashion shows to late-night study sessions in Moffitt, she kept coming back to the same question: What makes something worth wearing?

For Chai, the answer is always personal history. Her childhood in Oakland was shaped by the vivid, expressive language of graffiti art — colour, abstraction, tags on concrete. “There’s just so much texture in the city,” she said. “It’s raw, and messy, and beautiful.” That’s what I wanted Xoxo510 to feel like.” The idea for Xoxo510 came to her in fragments. At first, she wanted to create the perfect school bag — something that felt grounded in both function and identity. But it was the combination of three numbers — 510, an area code — that unlocked the vision. 

“Everyone had 510 in their Instagram bio at home. It represents the East Bay – Oakland and Berkeley alike. It’s like a love letter to home.” 

With no funding or business plan, she wandered into a Blick store and asked a sales associate to walk her through different paints — what stuck, what faded, and what would hold strong to canvas. “I spent an hour asking her everything,” she said. Then she went home and started painting. 

I wanted to be subtle – something you carry and don’t have to explain, but when someone asks, “What’s 510?”, it opens up a whole story.” 

From the beginning, Chai knew Xoxo510 would give back. “I’ve always been drawn to public service,” she said, referencing her internship with the Oakland mayor’s office. “But I didn’t want to donate to just any cause. It had to make sense with the product.”

That’s how she found Chapter 510, a nonprofit writing and publishing center for youth in Oakland. “I would’ve loved something like that growing up,” she admitted. “Writing was always hard for me.”

Chai was diagnosed with dyslexia in fourth grade. “I remember scoring higher in Mandarin than in English,” she said. “I used to be so embarrassed. I hated writing because I wasn’t good at it.” Over time, though, she began to think differently. “Dyslexia is my superpower,” she said. “It taught me to see things in new ways, alternate ways. And it made me realize how important access to the arts is — especially for kids who feel like they don’t fit into traditional academics.”

So now, every Xoxo510 purchase gives back to Chapter 510. “It’s small,” Chai said. “But it matters. Even if one kid gets to publish something or feel proud of their voice, that’s everything.”

It’s an honour for BrainScramble to be a part of something larger. Something that doesn’t only represent a magazine, a phone case, or colour palette — but a movement. Upon founding BrainScramble, I wanted to create a platform for creativity and a path for alternative innovation.

From the beginning, I envisioned building an extension of our brand — The BrainScramble Foundation — a scholarship to support queer and underrepresent youth in the arts. Although it hasn’t materialized yet, Xoxo 510 has reminded me of what is possible. 

Xoxo510 reminded us that movements don’t start with spotlights. They start with paint on canvas, a number on a bag, a story told anyway. They start in small rooms with open windows, where someone dares to make something — and give it away.