Source: Amy Sussman / Getty
Seventeen-year-old Zaya Wade is stepping into her power with beauty and grace, and she hasn’t even graduated from high school yet.
The model and LGBTQIA+ advocate recently sat down with Seventeen for her digital cover story, published on Feb. 24, where she shared her excitement about entering a new “era.” Zaya, the daughter of NBA legend Dwyane Wade, and stepdaughter of actress Gabrielle Union, discussed her busy schedule, including applying to college, running her new nonprofit Translatable, which focuses on protecting the LGBTQIA+ community, and gave insight into her current dating life.
1. Zaya is applying to college.
Zaya is applying to college, but she isn’t sure where she will be attending just yet. An Instagram post shared to her famous father’s account in May 2024 captured her browsing around the University of Washington in Seattle during a college tour, People reported.
As a high school senior, Zaya hopes to attend a university where she can fully embrace her identity as a transgender teen. However, with the rise of anti-trans bills being enacted across the country, she worries about her safety. Twenty anti-trans laws were passed in 2025, alone, according to Translegislation.
“It would be a little too idealistic to say I’m going to be safe anywhere I go. Even if I’m in a blue state or blue city or blue county, it’s not to say that it will be free of Black and queer discrimination. But I’m obviously factoring in the safer choices,” says Zaya, who came out as transgender in 2020, to Seventeen. “I really want to put myself in spaces where I know I can find my community and my community can find me, and we can work together to keep the queer community across the country strong.”
