Send Zenaida to grad school at UCLA!

I am pursuing my MFA in Directing at UCLA, starting Fall 2025! Grad school will finally afford me the time to focus and hone my craft, and work with new collaborators to create new stories.

I am THRILLED to be starting this next chapter, and I'm extremely lucky to have my tuition fully funded by the school. (holybuckets-YAY!)

Even still, moving to and living in LA is very expensive.

Here's what I'm seeking to fundraise for my first year in LA:

TOTAL: $10,200

*Robert, Vixie, and I will be road tripping in a moving truck, so this covers truck rental, gas, and motels for the trip down.

In undergrad, I was deeply concerned with survival, and I worked a bunch of jobs: tutoring, custodial work, box office shifts, editing for the school newspaper, clopening shifts at Jimmy John's, judging & coaching for high school competitive speech, even writing essays for my peers under the table. And I feel like the hustle hasn't let up since.

This time around, I will be TA-ing, taking contract work in voiceover and copywriting, and helping out dear ol' ArtsWest as I can. However, I'm trying keep my drive for the next 3 years on creativity and curiosity instead of survival.

I deeply appreciate any donation you're willing to give. Thank you for your consideration!