Lena Natero W.
About lenanw@g.ucla.edu Download C.V. Download 1-Page Resume
Education
2017-2019
MFA in Design Media Arts
University of California Los Angeles
4.0 GPA | Summa Cum Laude
2011-2015
BFA in Digital Media
Florida State University
3.94 GPA | Summa Cum Laude
Work Experience
2019 - Present
Lecturer
UCLA Design Media Arts
Instructed the Drawing & Color and Video Art undergraduate course. Developed original syllabi, course materials and lesson plans. Introduced students to digital imaging and video software, design concepts in image and motion, animation, and comprehensive video editing and production knowledge.
2017 - Present
Video Producer & Research Assistant
UCLA Game Lab
Creates videos, graphics. animations, interviews, articles and social media posts for the UCLA Game Lab's web presence. Launches online campaigns to draw candidates to job calls within the department, and attract students to the UCLA Game Lab Summer Institute. Completes integral administrative tasks.
2023
Visiting Lecturer
Scripps College
Instructed the Interactive Narrative Design introductory undergraduate course. Developed an original syllabus course work and lesson plan. Introduced students to Twine, HTML/ CSS /JS, Adobe Photoshop & After Effects to build their own interactive narrative games.
2020 - 2023
Summer Institute Instructor
UCLA Game Lab
Develops the course material, tutorials, and lectures to instruct Character Animation class at the UCLA Game Lab Summer Institute for high school students for both in-person and virtual classes. Developed virtual tutorials, class lessons and modules for remote learning.
2020 - 2023
Creative Producer
Anachronic
Co-founded this creative studio to create lyric & music videos, and animations for music industry artists, music festivals, and fashion brands. Producer, project manager, video editor, colorist, animator and VFX artist. Develops pitch decks and budget proposals to conceptualize projects, attracting a wide range of notable clients including Dolls Kill, Mike Shinoda, Weezer, Eminem, Saweetie, Steve Aoki, & more.
2017 - 2019
Teaching Associate
UCLA Design Media Arts
Acted as a teaching associate for the Networked Media, Video Art, Design Culture, and Media Histories courses. Assisted students with technical and conceptual questions regarding course materials and graded student papers.
Selected Projects
2018 - 2020
Nightmare Temptation Academy
PC Game
Conceptualized, directed, developed, animated. Illustrated, wrote & performed a feature length rap musical role-playing game reconciling adolescent apathy, despair, and morality in the face of apocalyptic annihilation.
2018 - Present
UCLA Game Lab Interviews
Video Interview Series
Creates videos, graphics. animations, interviews, articles and social media posts for the UCLA Game Lab's web presence. Launches online campaigns to attract candidates to job calls within the department, and students to the UCLA Game Lab Summer Institute.
2016
Fulbright-mtvU: Outspoken
Video Interview Series
Directed, edited, created graphics & developed a website for a series of video interviews with South African artists researching the intersection of music, art, activism and feminism.
2015
Viral
Browser Game
Conceptualized, illustrated, animated, developed & wrote Viral in collaboration with Costcodreamqurl, with contributions from Owen Mundy & Elizabeth Mputu. A game examining how self-commodification exploitation & identity construction manifest on social media.
2014
F*** Everything
Browser Game
Independently developed & created all aspects of F*** Everything. A web browser game subverting the canon of heteronormative American dating-simulation games through an exploration of sexually, gender identity & power in virtual spaces.
2013
Maybe She Likes It?
Graphic Novel
Wrote and illustrated a research-based graphic novel about a teenage girl's soul search for freedom through the murky depths of the dark web. Research includes an interview with artist Masami Teraoka. Created for the FSU Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Award.
Selected Press
Der Freitag
2024
Porno-Games: Nicht alle Zocker sind Ladykiller interviewed by Nora Beyer alongside Nina Freeman, Robert Yang, and Anna Anthropy
Game Developer
2021
Bitch Media
2020
Nightmare Temptation Academy Is a Video Game Challenging Rape Culture by Greta Rainbow
Audiofemme
2020
Lena NW Brings Rap, Gaming and the Apocalypse to Life with Nightmare Temptation Academy by Suzannah Weiss
All Ages of Geek
2020
Lena NW's Nightmare Temptation Academy: Rap Battles & Subverting Dating Sim Tropes Through Active Consent by Rohil Aniruth
Kotaku
2018
Kotaku
2017
The Needle Drop
2016
It Came From Bandcamp review by music critic Anthony Fantano
Dazed Digital
2015
Viral: the sim sex game on the fight to be internet famous by Hannan Rose Ewens
Dazed Digital
2015
F*** Everything: the dating sim that tackles rape culture by Thomas Gorton
Rhizome.org
2015
Now you can finally experience what it's like to commodify yourself on the internet by Michael Connor
Rhizome.org
2015
Rhizome Today by Zachary Kaplan
Rock, Paper, Shotgun: PC Gaming since 1873
2014
Selected Exhitions
2023
2021
San Francisco, CA
2021
A MAZE. International Games & Playful Media Festival
Berlin, Germany
2019
2019
Los Angeles, CA
2019
2018
2017
2017
2017
XXXHIBITION, BAR SK
Melbourne, AU
2017
2016
2016
2014
Selected Honors
2021
Independent
Games Festival
for my game Nightmare Temptation Academy
2020
A MAZE. International Games & Playful Media Festival
for my game Nightmare Temptation Academy
2020
Lumen Prize
Lumen Prize Longlist
for my game Viral
2019
IndieCade
for my game Nightmare Temptation Academy
2018
University of California Los Angeles
2017
University of California Los Angeles
2016
Fulbright
awarded by the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs hosted by Rhodes University in South Africa
2015
Rhizome.org
to create the game Viral