[3] Recalling her upbringing in a poem-essay as part of the 2018 Dimensions of Citizenship at the US Pavilion of the Biennale 2018, Zewde said of her experience as the child of African immigrants, growing up Black in the American South, "Exclusion fiercely shapes my psychology.
[4] Zewde received her Master of Landscape Architecture degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design, a Master of City Planning degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Art in sociology and statistics from Boston University.
[5] Her thesis at Harvard was titled "Ecologies of Memory: Landscape Architectural Methods in an Expanded Understanding of Culture."
[1] Based in Harlem in New York City, Studio Zewde cultivates work that supports "the aesthetics of being,"[6][7] using a design methodology that brings together the characteristics of the site with the stories it can tell.
[8] Zewde has received awards and honors for her work including the Artist-in-Residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in 2016[14] and National Trust for Historic Preservation's inaugural “40 Under 40: People Saving Places” in 2018.