The Page Turner

While Mimi Dutta’s graphic-design talents have earned her posts at Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated Women and now Mill Valley–based Ode—a thought-provoking monthly that reports on positive social, economic and environmental stories—the India-born art director is the first to admit that serendipity has played a part in her career.

“It helps to be in the right spot at the right time,” she says. “I was at Vanity Fair from 1995 to 2000, when celebrity culture was taking off. In 2002, I moved here and became the creative director at Business 2.0, when the tech economy was exploding. And now, with more people concentrating on positive, actionable change, I’m at Ode.”

It also helps that Dutta is equally left- and right-brained, thanks to her parents, who moved the family from Kolkata, India, to Pennsylvania when Dutta was two, then to Mississippi when she was nine. “I’m culturally complicated,” she says. “My mom is a painter and my dad is an engineer, and I inherited both their skill sets. I spent my childhood making miniature scale models of faraway things like the Ponte Vecchio. Of course, at the time, I was a 13-year-old Indian girl marooned in Mississippi, so it was probably an escape too.”

These days, Dutta’s escape is the Sausalito floating home she shares with her boyfriend, writer John Tayman, and their dog, Kali (named after the Indian goddess of destruction), which she says feels like a permanent vacation. “You wake up to great blue herons on the deck or seals cruising by. It keeps the dog entertained.”

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Q&A

What would you change about SF?
I wish there were more Avatar’s Punjabi Burrito joints around here. They make amazing burritos with lamb, curried chicken, chickpeas, chutney, rice, raita—the list goes on. Really great combos. There’s a takeout in Mill Valley and a sit-down restaurant in Sausalito.

Hottest thing about living in SF?
Diversity. San Francisco is a great mash-up of different cultures, lifestyles, arts, food, downtown/uptown scenes, urban/natural environments. Even the micro-climates are diverse.

Who would you choose for the Hot 20?
Todd Lappin, except that he just turned 40. He’s a writer and editor whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Business 2.0, ReadyMade, Make and 7x7. He’s currently launching a new travel magazine for 8020 Publishing called Everywhere.

More 2007 Hot 20 Under 40 Picks