The first time Jennifer Zalokar dropped off her mother, Karen Tucker, at her UCLA Extension creative writing class, the two couldn’t help but reflect on a bit of life symmetry.

“It was like a total role reversal,” Tucker recalled with a smile. “Here I am with my backpack all nervous and anxious for my first day of school. And there she is, dropping me off and picking me up afterwards.”

Zalokar lives just up the road from UCLA, while Tucker lives down in the South Bay. The opportunity was there for some quality mother-daughter time. Tucker comes up in the afternoon, they spend time together and Zalokar drives her to class. Oftentimes, they have dinner together and Tucker spends the night, has breakfast the next day and then heads home.

“It became another wonderful way for us to spend time together,” Zalokar said.

“It’s brought a whole new layer or texture to my life,” Tucker added. “It’s an incredible blessing, especially late in life, to have this common connection.”

This June, Zalokar will graduate with a certificate in editing and publishing from UCLA Extension.

“My greatest pleasure is reading, and I love working with authors,” said Zalokar. “I’ve had a long career in marketing and finance, while freelance editing books and screenplays in my free time.”

Tucker will follow shortly behind – she is set to complete a certificate in creative writing later this year. She had been looking for a spark of inspiration since her 80^th birthday. For someone who was always on-the-go and tackling new projects, that was a bit unnerving.

“I wasn’t able to see the next chapter, and I’ve always been able to sort of visualize that,” she said.

Zalokar had the perfect recommendation to get Tucker going on a project she had long expressed interest in, writing children’s stories. Her own positive experience with UCLA Extension made it easy for her to endorse the creative writing program to her mother.

“I see myself as a community activist,” Tucker said. “I’ve been very involved with several nonprofit boards and as an executive director of a homeless shelter for families. Children’s writing helps me think about how we can help children learn that hard truths and hard experiences are bearable. Having a message for kids without being preachy has really been my passion and keeps me writing.”

Love of books is nothing new to their family. Tucker grew up on a farm in Ohio and very early on grew a love for the written word. She raised her family in Chicago and passed on her love of literature. The family later migrated to the Los Angeles region, and they remain close.

“Books were kind of my magic carpet to escaping the cows and cornfield,” she said.

“I’m a lifelong book junkie and bibliophile,” Zalokar said. “As a child, Mom took me to the public library every week, and I spent my allowance at the local bookstore. We were always reading and talking about books.”

As Zalokar veered more into her editing interests, she decided to sharpen her skills in the classroom.

“My goal was to learn industry standard tools and techniques and take a deeper dive into story development, so I started taking the UCLA Extension classes,” she said. “The instructors work in their field and provide valuable insight into the state of the industry today. I intend to keep taking classes.”

With her certificate in hand, Zalokar has been working on her own website and looking for work that has a mix of marketing and editing.

One day, Tucker hopes to see her children’s stories in print. She is working on several children’s books, and she enjoys meeting with her writing critique group made up of students she met in her various classes.

“For me it’s a process and I think that is where UCLA excels,” Tucker said. “They really nurture me – the instructors and classmates and colleagues. And UCLA has such a fabulous reputation within the creative writing world.”

So much so that Tucker is thinking about taking some UCLA Extension nonfiction courses. Zalokar might just join her. Through it all, they will enjoy each other’s company and creativity.

“She’s marvelous and I’m very lucky. Of course, some of it is just an excuse to hang out together,” Tucker said with a laugh.

“She calls me on the daily. I’m her personal editor and I love it,” Zalokar said.

For more information, visit the UCLA Extension Creative Writing Program Webpage.