After graduating from high school, she moved to New York to attend Pace University, where she went in undecided but two years ago graduated with a bachelor’s of arts in film and screen studies with a minor in art. She has been working in the city since through behind the scenes videography and photography and also production assistance. Now, she is revisiting the dance world through At the Ballet.
“Like many jobs these days, it’s really hard to find a job in the field that you want to do and sometimes you have to create opportunities for yourself, and that was kind of my spark,” she says.
Having now secured her first paid job within the industry at an audio post production company, she is exploring her filmmaking passions off the clock, too. She recently launched “alt + 164 productions” to coincide with the At the Ballet production process.
“I really want it to be a company that can uplift voices of all backgrounds and specifically minority backgrounds,” she says.
Her upcoming short film does just that, following the story of Elsi as she reminisces about her former dance passion and how it has affected her, a storyline that draws from Peña’s own experiences dancing in Dallas.
“Dance speaks loudly, and it’s spoken loudly across different cultures and different types and styles of dance and even the history of dance itself speaks so much of what it is,” she says.
“I think it’s a story that many people who have ever gotten discouraged by whatever reason to stop pursuing something that they love can hopefully give them another spark and realize kind of how I did like, ‘Hey, I don’t have to hate it, but I can love it a different way.’”