TL;DR

Our dear friend is a flight attendant and film student experiencing homelessness and unemployment after a life-altering medical event.

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Zoe Almost Died…

Now she has a debilitating brain condition, no home, and she’s still funnier than all of us. And she needs our help.

Zoe is a gifted writer, student of The Second City and LA Film School, a flight attendant, and our friend. Zoe is also a trans woman, which already means she’s had to fight like hell to live. Like Robin Williams said, “You make them laugh so they can’t kill you.”

On Sunday, June 29, 2025, Zoe’s brain tried to kill her.

Her entire life was instantly turned upside down by a terrifying medical emergency that came out of nowhere. During treatment for what appeared to be a stroke, her doctors also found that she has a serious structural neurological condition that will require lifelong attention and care. Zoë’s medical team found multiple unruptured cerebral aneurysms in her brain.

The famous American playwright and composer, Jonathan Larson, died of a ruptured brain aneurysm. While mirroring the life of a brilliant artist and writer would probably be on brand for Zoë, she’s not ready to go just yet.

Her health condition is stabilized for now, thankfully, but her living situation is not. She is experiencing homelessness, and total upheaval of her life. Her roommate, who is a steaming pile of garbage, became physically violent and Zoe had to leave immediately, with no notice and no safety net. This, and the abrupt loss of income after she was placed on indefinite medical leave by her employer, has caused massive hardship and suffering.

She will need support as she weaves her way thru the maze of red tape in the process of getting long-term disability finalized.

We want to help her get her into a safe living situation ASAP and help her with transportation, care, food, meds, and eventually, tuition to return to school and her art.

The world needs authentic, empathic, funny voices amplified now more than ever, and it needs HER kind of funny. We want to see her feeling better, feeling safe again, back to writing, and back to improv class. Because we adore her. (Also, as an ensemble, we suck without her. )

Please donate, send good vibes to Zoe, and share this fundraiser. You are helping a real one here.

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It's a precious gift to be able to laugh easily and to make people laugh- humor makes us human. We can get thru anything if we can laugh about it.

Our friend Zoe has the gift. From our first Second City Improv class together, it was obvious she could find the funny immediately and inhabit it fully. Zoe brought such a spirit of fearlessness, bold choices and good chaos to our group; her absence has left a vacuum. A lot of improvisers hold back, myself included, but not Zoe, she jumps into the deep end and commits IMMEDIATELY and I NEED for y’all to see her do that, so please throw in some coin so she can do her thing again. Even a couple dollars helps.

Xx,

Erin