Zaelyn Zayid

Zaelyn has done a lot in her life, but the most important thing you should know about her is that she absolutely abhors talking about herself in the 3rd person.

Whew. Now that's out of the way—

I'm a life long creative, and truly, it wasn't a decision. I'm one of those creatives that was given the illusion of 'choice' between "create what is inside of you, or explode" and that isn't really a choice (or perhaps the easiest one ever made, still unsure).

I've been in branding and design since I was 17 years old, and built a wildly successful marketing agency in Chicago that I sold in 2019, escaping to the south just in time for the COVID shut down. Talk about intuitive timing. After that, I took 3 years off to travel, cry, and work at a plant nursery in attempt to regain my sanity before I placed very high up at a world renowned cybersecurity convention's capture the flag that I entered on a whim, which led to a fun little career pivot into offensive security as a Red Team social engineer. (Progress, kids, just ain’t that linear. Remember that.)

There's something about working in corporate America that chews me up and spits me out, so I left the security world last winter to start another business; this time a production company. I like it much better, and find that it allows me to be much more...well, myself. It allows me to create how I see fit, instead of how others tell me it is acceptable to be creative.

I'm talking to you all about how softness has informed every big decision I've made for myself over the last 6 years, from leaving Chicago all the way to leaving my last relationship. There is something to be said about the bravery required in listening to your inner compass, and that is what I believe being soft-hearted allows for us: the chance to hear who we actually are.