Over the next few weeks, we'll share student stories from our Creative Career Cohort (CCC) program. CCC is a 6-month long career connected learning program specifically for BIPOC students to develop professional skills and networks in the local creative industry. And because creative work IS work, we are also paying them a stipend to participate.

You can help us continue our work to give students furthest from educational justice free access to our classes! Will you join us for Give Big to help our students Dream Big? Your donation during Give Big directly supports keeping our classes free of charge, providing student stipends, and allows us to work with partners on a sliding scale to expand our reach. Give Big is May 3rd and 4th, but you can donate early starting today!

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Meet CCC Student Xandra

‍"I came to the Creative Career Cohort in an artistic slump. I couldn’t touch my camera for months, and I couldn’t bring myself to draw a sketch. It felt like writer’s block in all the creative aspects of my life, and I wanted out. ‍Now, I hope to work towards an artistic career and do commissions. I want to keep creating. I love the idea of helping others make memories through my art."

If you look a little closer you can see I’m an enamel pin collector. I like to collect cute pins that hold meaning to me and remind me of the important people in my life. One of them is my little cousin who created the green necklace laying next to the pins. She also made the earrings I am wearing in the image and told me it was because she supported my film career, which meant a lot to me.

The necklace that I am wearing has my name, “xandra” and it was made by a Filipina artist named Jenna who created the necklace based on traditional Filipino jewelry.

Since a garden is a variety of plants and flowers, from my perspective, this image is my garden of significance. It holds subtle, yet impactful moments that made me the person I am today.

In my second photo, Dizzy, my first impression of it was that it felt distasteful. Then I looked again and I fell in love with the perspective. It feels like an album cover. The slight blurriness made me dizzy, but it’s the type of dizziness that I get from new experiences. It can start out terrifying and then end up rather captivating.

After I leave Youth in Focus, I hope to work towards an artistic career and do commissions. I want to keep creating. I love the idea of helping others make memories through my own art. From this program, I discovered that I am interested in exploring different types of photography, like fashion, & portrait photography.


You can see more of Xandra's art on her website!

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