Daily Inspiration: Meet Juan Zavala

Today we’d like to introduce you to Juan Zavala.

Hi Juan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Juan Zavala and I was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, I am the second in my family to attend and graduate college. Growing up in a neighborhood shaped by systemic inequality, economic challenges, and constant exposure to danger. My goal has always been to better myself and exceed the expectations of where people like me come from. To reach this goal, I have worked and persevered through the struggles and tribulations my entire life. From my father leaving to my mother passing away, I have overcome depression, anxiety, and doubt to reach where I am, although these battles have not come easy, I still deal with them everyday. Despite all this, I still stand where I am, I am Juan Zavala, a hard-worker, a perfectionist, a family and friends guy, a gamer, a film enthusiast, I am me.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My life has always had bumps in the road. Some of these bumps are times when I had no clue of what to do when I graduated high school and was rejected by every school I applied to. Another is my mother passing away not too long ago. The loss of my mother deprived my motivation to continue anything I worked my whole life for. I was in constant depression and I had a bunch of summer classes that I had to pass. To be honest I did not want to do them anymore, but my mom always wanted me to continue my education and do my best. Holding onto her wishes, I found the courage to push forward. In addition, to my family and friends, they know who they are, were an additional push to help me get through this. Because of their support and my desire to honor my mother, I have continued to challenge myself, not only to graduate from UCLA, but to actively begin building the foundation of my career.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I currently work at a marketing agency specializing in film and television publicity and digital marketing for movie studios. My primary focus is publicity, where I support both studio and independent campaigns by tracking media and social coverage, preparing coverage reports, distributing press breaks, and managing media databases across multiple titles. I also assist with junkets and press days by coordinating interviews between A-list talent and media and creating press materials such as production notes, caption sheets, and premiere documents. Working on theatrical and digital releases for studios including Cineverse, Focus Features, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, Amazon Studios, and Lionsgate has been both an exciting and dream come true experience, and contributing to projects featuring films and actors I admire has been one of my proudest moments in publicity. My tenacity, my drive, and my work ethic gives me the advantage over the competition. My background, my upbringing has sharpened my skills to become successful.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
One of the most surprising things people often don’t know about me is that I have an extensive background in biology, which was my college major, despite many assuming I graduated with a communications degree. Although I currently work in the film and television industry, biology was the driving force behind my decision to attend college and remains an important part of my foundation.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.zav15/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-zavala-b467412a0/