Talent Tuesday: Nimble-fingered Know-Hows with Joao Costa DMD AS 25, Emely Cepeda DMD 25, and Paul Wiley DMD 26
We know everyone at GSDM shares a love for all things dental. But what do GSDM students and residents enjoy doing outside of the classroom and patient treatment center?
This month, we will be publishing a four-part “Talent Tuesday” series featuring the talents or hobbies of 12 students and residents.
In the third installment, Joao Costa DMD AS 25, Emely Cepeda DMD 25, and Paul Wiley DMD 26 describe their dexterous pursuits – ranging from calligraphy to wood carving.
Joao Costa DMD AS 25: Motorcyclist and Calligrapher
Harley Davidsons and calligraphy nibs probably don’t go “hand in hand” for many people, but Costa is proof that opposite hobbies can be a perfect match.
Costa grew up around motorcycles and first got his license in Brazil, where it was more commonplace to “ride.” When he came to the U.S. in 2007, he initially just got a car license. In 2013, he was inspired by a dental assistant with whom he worked to get his motorcycle license—and he’s been enjoying that adrenaline rush ever since.
“I like the opportunity that I have to just be out [and get] that sense of freedom everybody tells you,” said Costa, who enjoys riding his Harley Davidson Heritage 2018 motorcycle around his home of Cape Cod with his wife, admiring the beaches and stopping for ice cream along the way.
As for Costa’s calligraphy, he always admired his dad’s handwriting and wanted to improve his own skills. Just before the pandemic started in 2020, he purchased the right equipment (pens, nibs, ink, etc.), started to watch online tutorials, and began to practice.
And indeed, Costa has found that calligraphy demands a lot of practice. But after learning how to adjust the online instructions for “lefties” (as every video he has found is designed for people who are right-handed, and he is left-handed), Costa said he has seen his skills improve.
“When I start seeing my handwriting getting close to what the professionals were doing, I think that that really made my day,” Costa said.
One day, he hopes to be asked to create someone’s wedding invitations. But for right now, calligraphy is a relaxing activity to take his mind off of his dental studies, he said.
“Maybe if I’m not going to make a living out of it, at least I can write really good notes,” Costa said.
Emely Cepeda DMD 25: Meal Prepper and Chef
To Cepeda, who has a side hustle during dental school prepping meals for paying clients, food and dentistry go perfectly together.
“I think of cooking as a creative outlet, it’s an art,” Cepeda said. “I’ve always been very hands-on. You’re not like kneading dough in a patient’s mouth, but yes, you are still like doing very precise movements and each movement matters.”
Cepeda’s food journey began when she attended a technical high school, specializing in culinary arts. That led to a job in a country club kitchen, where she met a coworker who owned a catering company. Cepeda collaborated with them on events, eventually began landing her own clients who were looking for private meal preparation.
When Cepeda moved to Boston for dental school, she was looking for ways to continue working with food, leading her to advertise her cooking/meal preparation services on TaskRabbit, an online marketplace that connects people with freelance workers.
Every client who hires Cepeda has different needs. Some clients have their own ingredients and ask her to make a dish, she said, while others ask her to get groceries and make a menu for the next few days. Others have meal prep services, like HelloFresh, delivered to their house for Cepeda to make. No matter what her clients want or need, Cepeda finds joy in creating the perfect meal.
“I see other people struggling to maintain healthy habits because they can’t meal prep, or they don’t have the time, or they have kids and/or their kids have [disabilities],” Cepeda said. “Being able to alleviate families and people in general of that burden of having to cook and wanting to cook like a healthy nutritious home cooked meal that’s not too expensive is worth it.”
For both her clients and her own personal enjoyment, Cepeda said she likes to make a wide variety of “upscale comfort food,” ranging from ramen bowls to key lime pies. She is looking forward to making more adventurous culinary creations, noting that tiered cakes, pot roasts, and traditional Dominican dishes on her list to try.
“I love working with my hands and dentistry allows me to do that all day, but it’s not the same as making a cake from scratch or making pastries or creating like a soup that’s [enjoyed] by people that you love,” Cepeda said.
Paul Wiley Oral Health 22 DMD 26: Wood/Glass Carver
When Wiley was in middle school, his parents gave him a lathe—a one-time gift that sparked a lifetime of imagination and invention.
Wiley discovered that he could use the lathe to make pens, and in 2012, as a high school freshman, he started selling the pens he was making to his classmates. When school administrators saw his artfully crafted pens, they asked him to make wooden engraved pens for retiring teachers.
He quickly realized he had a potential business and started to reach out to companies and colleges. Throughout his high school and undergraduate studies, he ran this pen making business as a successful side hustle, carving thousands of pens. Wiley eventually even invested in a laser engraver that he could use for more complex logos.
Through his business, Wiley now offers a wide range of products, including custom wine glasses. Despite the time commitment required by the side hustle–one pen takes around two hours to make–Wiley said he enjoys making something people love.
“We make the pens you don’t want to lose,” Wiley said. “It’s something they really treasure honestly for the rest of their life. It means something to people.”
Right now, he said his dental education is his top priority, but he wants to keep carving as a side hustle and a creative outlet. He still travels back and forth to his childhood home in New Hampshire to make his creations with his tools in the mini factory in his family’s basement.
He spoke fondly of his latest project–engraving custom locker room name plates–saying his carving helps him clear his mind.
“I can actually cut down a tree and turn it into a pen,” Wiley said. “Taking it from its raw materials where it’s like a block of wood, a block of plastic, block of metal, and actually creating art out of it, is really cool.”
