Please Help to Support my Studies Abroad

Hello Friends and Family!

I am grateful for the opportunity to have the chance to go abroad to London. I have always wanted to travel and understand international business. I recently got into another, University and the only thing stopping me from attending is the cost to go abroad, I was told that I need $27,000, and I am $12K short. The privilege to travel outside of the US and explore different cultures and lifestyles than my own is vital to the area of work I want to get into, and I would appreciate any help in my journey. I am grateful to anyone willing to help send me off, financially or with a share!

A little backstory about me:

My name is Zah-Rah, and I'm from South Central, California. If you are unfamiliar with South Central… to put it short, most of my community comprises people doing their best to get by. They tend to have limited resources to invest in education beyond… Along with this, the representation of black individuals within higher education or even a mirror of black excellence was non-existent. My schools always talked about what you wanted to do with your life when you “grew up” but never had any avenues to obtain them. If they did, they were in fields that didn’t fit into how I pictured my life or were only talking to the Latinx community. The black kids were constantly left to figure it out themselves. I was able to make it to where I am today because of my inability to take no for an answer. I have always been the type of person to have at least 3 or 4 plans to get what I want in life. I might not always know whether or not my first go-around will lead me to where I want to be, but I am always willing to come up with more ideas and put in the work it takes to get me to my goals. I am not a quitter, and, like many, my motivation comes from the struggle I’ve seen from the people in my community and my desire to not go through the same.

Currently, I am studying to get my bachelor's degree in business marketing. I hope to go forward then and obtain a master's degree in fashion management to succeed in my dream of marketing for fashion companies.

In my three years of college, I have been highly involved within my campus leadership community. As a freshman, I searched for a community that I fit into and found sprinkles of a black community on campus and completely immersed myself within it. I started with research to see how to better the sense of community for black students throughout all Cal State Universities. By my sophomore year, I had become one of the first student employees of a new program established for black students, formally known as The Center for Black Students Success (CBSS). I was hired as a social media manager of the program, but I became so much more. I created and hosted events for the program and became the beacon of communication for the African diaspora students on campus to relay their concerns and wants to the exec board of the campus.

It didn't take long for me to be immersed in everything black on campus. In my third year of college, I was the vice principal of Black Students United, Social Media Manager of CBSS, and Residential Advisor for the black floor of housing. I continued my research for three years while maintaining a GPA of 3.4. It was a lot, but I loved being a part of something that could make a difference in someone's life. Even though I will not be able to reap the benefits of the work I created on my campus, it is comforting to know that all the incoming black students on campus will have a community where they can feel at home and understood.

Now I am a senior in college trying to go abroad to London for my last year of undergrad.