TL;DR
Alyssa Shotwell is a life-long learner guided by her interest—each connected by themes of history, social justice, and creativity. Her educational background features a decade spent in wind ensembles, years sharpening her design skills, and reflecting on representation and public art. Find her award-winning words at UHCLTheSignal.com (2018 - 2021 as Online Editor) and TheMarySue.com (2021 - 2024 as Books Editor.)
For the Readers in the room,
Alyssa Shotwell is a first-generation college student who graduated from the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) with a MA in Humanities with a concentration in Museum Studies. As an undergrad, she earned her BFA in Art & Design with a Graphic Design Concentration and minor in Art History from UHCL, and her AA in Fine Arts at San Jacinto College Central (mostly music performance and studio art electives.) Alyssa worked as the communications intern for the Harris County Democratic Party (2019) and as the Outreach & Education graduate intern for the Asia Society Texas Center (2020-2021.) Upon graduation, she wrote about geek culture from a Black feminist perspective at TheMarySue.
Alyssa’s interests in narrative art, shared history, and entertainment reflects in her non-academic activities. At San Jacinto Community College, she performed in various ensembles (flute) and the Pasadena Philharmonic (cello.) While at UHCL, she was the Online Editor of the award-winning, student-run newspaper The Signal for almost four years, served as an Art Association officer for four years (president for 2.5), and made the Tespa (collegiate eSport organization) recognized UHCL's Overwatch’ Team twice. Post-college, she joined her local League of Women's Voters organization, Friends of the Library board, and organized a Pasadena community book club dedicated to reading works by women / non-binary authors of color.
She has volunteered as a studio assistant for the multidisciplinary artist JooYoung Choi for several years and spends an inordinate amount of time watching movies, reading books, playing video games and casting in Magic The Gathering.
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