HI! I’M SHAINA.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

I grew up in sunny San Diego, splitting my time between trips to La Jolla Shores and Balboa Park. Growing up, I was interested in everything artistic – music, theatre, books, painting, movies, collaging – the list goes on. There was never a moment where I wasn’t creating something. Once in middle and high school, I had the privilege of performing in my schools’ choirs and theatre companies, and I fell in love with the communities and creative landscapes they provided. 

My experiences in the arts were invaluable to my education and personal development; I learned how to collaborate with others, how to advocate for myself and the arts, and how to conduct deeper analysis of texts to immerse yourself in the world of the show. As a teen, I decided I would pursue a career in youth theatre to provide more of these opportunities for children to learn beyond the classroom in creative spaces. 

So, I packed my bags and shipped up to Boston University to study Advertising, using the lessons I learned in classes to produce extracurricular theatre with the organization BU On Broadway. Additionally, I had the pleasure of working for the marketing departments of professional theatres in Boston, San Diego, and London to develop community outreach strategies and promote their production seasons. 

After graduating in 2021, I pivoted from live show marketing to digital programming and began working as a Graphic Designer Crooked Media, a podcast network that focuses on producing shows that educate the public on the state of American democracy, providing news and pop culture commentary and mobilizing communities to vote. At Crooked, I had the chance to hone my skills as an art director and design the podcast art for 12 original podcasts, including two Tribeca Film Festival submissions. Throughout my tenure, I studied visual storytelling and how design serves as a communication tool while working on promotional campaigns and infographic guides to make complex topics more accessible for audiences to grasp. These experiences especially encouraged me to consider how I could more directly get involved in the literacy cause and investigate methods of improving communication through the arts. 

In the summer of 2025, I enrolled in California State University San Marcos’s Reading, Language, and Literacy (RLL) Masters program to learn more about how I can best leverage the arts to promote a love of literacy with students of all needs and backgrounds. My experience was life-changing; in my studies, I found parallels between teaching and advertising, and through studying strategies to engage readers and promote deeper understanding of texts, I became a better marketer, too. Moreover, it was incredibly affirming to be in a community that confirms the importance of literacy of all forms. For my Culminating Project, I launched the Dramaturg Diaries: a resource guide for theatre educators to learn more about the histories of popular works of musical theatre and spark greater conversations.

Now, I hope to integrate the lessons I’ve learned across my educational and career ventures to promote community, foster a love of literacy and the arts, and support new creative voices.