Meet Our Scholars

Kassidy Penso is an artist, educator, and fashion designer from the Bay Area in California, living in Los Angeles. They graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing and went on to pursue teaching art to children and adults in a way that championed underrepresented artists and encouraged self-expression above all else. They went on to create their own jewelry design business, designing garments for QTPOC performers, and hosted a craft fair for QTPOC artists in their community. Now, they want to continue the work they have done as an artist and designer in the fashion and entertainment industry by pursuing a formal education in fashion design. They are a mixed Black person of Jamaican and Irish descent, and they like to explore their heritage through cooking dishes they grew up with and learning new ones. When they are not cooking, creating art, or doing something boring like filing taxes, they enjoy reading and watching Sci-Fi books and media, roller skating, and hanging out with their partner and chihuahua.