■FresYes is Saturday, 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., in downtown Fresno.

■The free event features food, music, and vendors.

■Palestinian immigrant Ahmad Hussein will be at his Xtreme Shawarma food truck.

Ahmad Hussein is finding his American Dream inside his food truck.

A Palestinian from Jordan, Hussein moved to Fresno seven years ago seeking a better life. He is finding it by serving a food he loves, the Middle Eastern treat shawarma.

“The only work that I got it was in a Mediterranean restaurant. I like working in a restaurant and making food for people, especially when you make something good and the people love it … It’s like an art you do here … Why do I work for people? I’m going to open something for myself, and I work for myself,” Hussein said.

Hussein and  his Xtreme Shawarma food truck will be at the FresYes Fest in downtown Fresno this Saturday.

Hussein actually returned to Jordan to learn the finer art of shawarma and Mediterranean cooking. He started his food truck in 2022, seeing an opening in the market for his specialty food.

“I got the original way. I got the original spices. I bring all my spices from back home. I got the real one. And I make the thing that I love to eat. I don’t serve anything to the customer that I don’t like to eat by myself. So let’s say it didn’t look nice. I don’t serve it to a customer,” Hussein said.

How does Hussein describe shawarma?

“Shawarma are the spices that you mix with the chicken and beef. The original way how we used to do is to put the shawarma and the beef on the skewer. You slice it really thin,” Hussein said.

Learning English was the hardest part, Hussein said. His wife, Tala Aljaiosy, helps him in the truck. His goal is to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

He said owning a food truck is less risk than playing the stock market.

“I can sell the truck and get my money back,” Hussein said.

About FresYes

FresYes returns to downtown Fresno on Saturday, from 1 p.m. until 11 p.m. It is five blocks of music, food trucks, artists and fun. Admission is free. Last year, more than 25,000 people attended.

Most of the activity will run along Fulton Street, between Tulare and Ventura streets. The event features five stages for music, 50 food vendors, and a family zone inside Chukchansi Park.

“We’re hoping for more people. We’re really excited to showcase downtown again, encourage people to go into the retail shops that we have down here,” said Madison Beard, event coordinator for Tioga Sequoia Brewing Company.

Former Bitwise Employee Pursues Lipstick Passion

Bianca Camara already was selling lipstick and cosmetics, a side hustle from her job at Bitwise Industries. She started Lips by BB in March 2020, right before COVID hit.

“It was like a passion project that turned into a business that I love now,” Camara said. “I always carry lip cosmetics in my bag, and so I was like, you know what? Let me see how people make these. Maybe I could do it myself. And a couple months later, I was formulating my own.”

She will be one of 110 makers and vendors at FresYes.

Lips by BB is an online store selling hand-made “vegan and cruelty free lip cosmetics,” Camara said.

Born and raised in Fresno, Camara said no one else was making and selling local lipstick. She makes them in a home lab.

“You don’t see a lot of smaller vendors doing that. Usually you see them doing some free packaging with other vendors. So I take pride in handmaking and mixing all of my own cosmetic products,” Camara said.

Camara worked at Bitwise as an event marketing manager. She had a positive experience with her employer, despite the company’s June 2023 bankruptcy and laying off of its employees.

“With that transition over to the next steps for me, I kind of leaned on my small business, which was so huge and vital, which actually helped me grow it more and something that I really am looking to pursue,” Camara said.

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