During my time at Cal Poly, SLO, I was part of Wav Zine—a scrappy, chaotic, beautiful collective amplifying the voice of the local underground. We threw DIY shows in garages, interviewed artists, curated playlists, screened films, ran art galleries, and dropped seasonal zines filled with work from the San Luis Obispo community.

I started on the art team, making graphics for socials, picking themes, building moodboards, laying out spreads, and helping shape the visual identity of each issue. We worked fast, gave each other honest feedback, and kept things weird in the best way possible. We did everything in the name of art and community—which sometimes meant spending a saturday covered in yogurt to promote a zine drop.

Eventually, I joined the inner team as Physical Media Director. That meant designing and printing flyers, stickers, pins, merch, access badges, condom wrappers—anything we could hand someone or slap on a wall.

In fall 2023, I launched a campaign to get Cal Poly freshmen curious about Wav and coined the phrase “What the f#@% is Wav,” which captured the unabashed rowdiness and notoriously undefinable nature of the collective. It led to our highest number of applicants ever—and the phrase stuck around as Wav’s unofficial slogan.