Meet the Team
Anyia Gillespie is a senior at Ballard High School and actively involved in creating films at her school's filmmaking program. Because of her love of visual arts and her determination to uphold racial equity in the arts, she joined The Colorization Collective as their film editor. In addition to creating films, Anyia is involved in community service: she volunteers at an art store called Recreative and lends a hand at the Northwest Folklife Festival.
Anya Shukla (Co-Founder) is a senior at Lakeside School and has been an artist for as long as she can remember. A proponent of racial equity in the arts, she co-founded The Collective to create space for teen artists of color who, like her, may feel underrepresented in the art community. Anya is also the President of TeenTix’s leadership board, as well as a participant in many community service-and-writing-related extracurriculars.
Aaron Zhang is a sophomore at Lakeside School and also writes for his school’s newspaper. Enthusiastic about racial equity, he hopes to show perspectives from people of color and promote representation for minorities. Aside from writing, he also enjoys cooking and design.
Chika Ezeigbo is a junior attending Central Cabarrus High School. She is a creative person in the areas of art, writing, and problem-solving with her eyes set on becoming an architect. As a writer with The Colorization Collective, she hopes to raise awareness of topics concerning people of color in various forms of art. She is a leader in her school's Technology Student Association chapter and Track & Field team. She is also a lover of YouTube, Webtoon, and podcasts.
Izze Peña is a sophomore at Kamiak High School and has been involved in the arts for her entire life. She has goals of going to college for art as well as environmental science. She is an advocate for accessibility, sustainability, and racial justice. Being a Hispanic neurodivergent person, she joined The Collective to represent those with an intersecting identity like hers.
Jessica Liu is a senior at Madison West High School passionate about lending teen artists of color a platform to alter the world and using writing to advocate for minorities. A lover of creative writing her whole life, she has won various national writing awards for her poetry and flash fiction, and has been published in The Best Teen Writing of 2018. Aside from writing, she loves science and is a co-captain of Science Olympiad at her school.
Joshua Fernandes was just an ordinary senior at Ballard High School, where he makes movies in his school's film program. However, one fateful day, he got bitten by a bug that changed his life. The journalism bug. Since then, Joshua's worked to find a way to satisfy his hunger for stories and is now even more committed to standing for truth and justice by amplifying the voices of artists of color through video and film. Josh is a member of the TeenTix Editorial Staff and has participated in KUOW's RadioActive Internship program and AAJA's 2019 J-Camp.
Josh Harris is a senior in high school from Central Virginia and is excited to join The Colorization Collective team. Passionate about both artistic expression and racial justice, he is thrilled to work with this organization to provide more representation for young artists of color. Josh is involved in local artistic groups and non-profits and is eager to expand his work with The Collective.
Kathryn Lau (Co-Founder) is a senior at Lakeside School who has spent more of her time on stage or in rehearsal than not. She has danced with artists from all over the country, and more recently finished the Seattle Children's Theatre's Young Actor's Institute with Anya. As a co-founder of The Collective, Kat wants to find a way to make the arts inclusive for all audiences regardless of race and strives to have equal, authentic representation in the arts community.
Kira Seshaiah is a senior at Eastside Preparatory School where more often than not she is seen backstage rather than onstage: she works as an member of the backstage crew spends her summers interning at different theatres around Seattle, doing everything from programming lights to building the sets. Kira sees the arts as a platform for artists to get their voices heard and hopes to bolster the representation of artists of color within the community.
louka yeoul started writing to cope with childhood trauma--though back then she was just trying to survive. Growing up has meant constantly delving into the links between art and healing and finding her voice through it all. Now, she strives to help others experience this same healing and spread awareness while doing her part in amplifying the voices of marginalized groups. In her free time, she watches BTS and writes letters to her lover.
Shiva Chopra is a sixteen-year-old high school junior from Mumbai, India. She's very passionate about writing, activism, politics, and human rights. And fun fact: she's been doing martial arts for ten years!