Zaya Wade says her first year of college has brought a new kind of freedom, even as being away from her parents has been hard. Speaking on May 30 at the second annual ball for Translatable, she said the distance has pushed her to become more social and more sure of herself.
That is why people are looking at her comments now: she is not describing a vague future adjustment, but the middle of it. In an exclusive interview, Wade said college has already changed how she moves through a room. “Being away from your parents is hard,” she said, adding that it is also “exciting, fun and freeing.”
She said she has learned to get out of her shell more and has become comfortable walking up to people she has never met to start a conversation. For Wade, college is not just about classes. “I think that’s what college is about is just connection,” she said, describing the social side of school as part of the work of becoming an adult.
The daughter of Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union said her father warned her before she started her first semester. “My dad told me not to mess it up,” she said, adding that he also reminded her “that he is paying tuition, and it is expensive.” Her response was simple: “And I would hope that I am doing that.”
What makes the remarks sharper is the split inside them. Wade said she is trying to focus on her classes and have fun at the same time, while also figuring out the difference between “school me and friend me and real me.” That is the part that sounds less like a polished college anecdote and more like the work of growing up in public.
Translatable, the nonprofit she started with her father to create a safe space for LGBTQIA+ youth, provided the setting for the comments. Wade has been open about her transition since coming out publicly as transgender in 2020, and she has said her parents wanted her to become a more “encompassed” version of herself. She also said Wade, who grew up in a traditional Black household in Chicago, was openly accepting in a place where the culture was not very queer-friendly.
For now, the clearest answer is that college is making Wade more independent, more outgoing and still a little homesick. What remains unanswered is how far that confidence will carry once the school year gets harder and the life she is building away from home has to stand on its own.
