This week’s Campus Celebrity is one of the girls who started it all at Her Campus BC… Brittany Lewis. As a senior Eagle in 2011, Brittany decided to bring Her Campus to Boston College and we are so happy that she did! Now she is the Director of Campus Development at Her Campus in Boston, continuing to work for the FABULOUS Her Campus group. Read on to learn about her time at BC, her advice to underclassmen, and some of the amazing things she is doing in her professional life!
The BC Days
1. What were you involved in at BC?
My constant activities were BC Irish Dance and then Her Campus my senior year, but I was also involved with SAP, Appa, and ArtsFest, and I led 48 Hours my senior year.
2. How did you discover Her Campus and what inspired you to start a chapter at BC?
Kathryn (my roommate and HC BC co-founder) had previously heard of it from a friend of hers at Mizzou. In the fall of our senior year, we attended the Harvard Women in Business Intercollegiate Business Convention and the HC co-founders were speaking on panels, and I became obsessed. Kathryn and I immediately pulled up HC on my phone to see if BC had a chapter, which it (obviously) didn’t. We got Stephanie’s card after her panel and applied to start a BC chapter just a few days later!
3. What was your exact role in HC BC?
I took on more of the President role at HC BC, heading up our events and PR teams, updating social media, organizing meetings (aka making sure we ALWAYS had cupcakes), forming partnerships for giveaways, etc. I also did some editing, but Kathryn was definitely our Editor-in-Chief.
The 2011 Her Campus BC team
4. What was your proudest accomplishment at BC?
Other than starting HC BC, it would have to be BCID’s annual showcase my senior year. I was President that year and it was definitely one of the hardest but most rewarding positions I’ve had! We had so many incredible, world-class dancers and choreographers on that team, and I was so proud of the work they did for that show. My freshman year, we had ten dancers and performed in the Rat, so to be in Robsham for our second-annual show with almost forty dancers was honestly an out-of-body experience and a memory that my BCID friends and I constantly reminisce about.
5. What do you miss the most about BC?
There are so, so many things, but I think the biggest one is having all of my friends and people I love so close to me everyday! I miss the freedom and ability to have an impromptu cookout in the Mods, go sledding at 2am outside Voute, or just lounge in the Dustbowl (R.I.P.) on a random Thursday afternoon. It becomes a lot more difficult to coordinate with everyone post-college, but it also makes every chance you have to be with each other much more meaningful.
Also, I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss basically everything at Hillside.
6. If there were five things that you would recommend BC students to put on their BC Bucket List what would they be?
1. I somehow made it to Senior Week without trying Che-Chis. It’s not exactly life changing, but it’s certainly a BC experience, so make sure you go!
2. Attend at least one Agape Latte talk, preferably one given by Kerry Cronin or Father Himes.
3. Go for a run around the res on a particularly sunny day and make sure to look up. It is one of the most beautiful spots in Boston, especially when you can see Gasson across the water.
4. Take at least a few days each semester to explore an area of Boston, alone or with a friend. There are so many things I discovered after graduating that I would’ve loved to experience while I was still on campus! Not to mention, your student discount (sadly) does not last forever – you should definitely take advantage of it.
5. Cheer on and high-five the runners during the Marathon!
7. What is your favorite BC memory?
Belting out a very tone-deaf version of “Sweet Caroline” after the last home football game of my senior year with all my friends and then heading straight back to the Mods.
The Her Campus Days
1. What is your role at Her Campus Media? What is a typical day in the office like?
I’m the Director of Campus Development at Her Campus, which means my primary job is to manage and develop our 230+ chapters around the world as well as recruit new chapters. I also work on a lot of our programming – conferences, other large events involving the chapters, regional workshops, etc.—and work with our client services team whenever they’re doing a campaign that involves our chapter team members.
A typical day in the office involves catching up with my coworkers (we are definitely closer than your average office), answering emails, meeting with various departments regarding any large-scale programs we’re working on, interviewing potential Campus Correspondents, and more. It’s hard to define a typical day because it really depends on the projects we’re working on and where we’re at in the semester, and I love that each day is different – it keeps the work interesting!
The Her Campus team takes Miami!
2. What is your favorite Her Campus memory so far?
One of my favorite memories with my coworkers would definitely be our Spring Break trip in 2012 to Miami, but my absolute favorite memory while working at HC is when I interviewed Joseph Gordon-Levitt!
Brittany with the amazing Joseph Gordon-Levitt!
3. Any funny stories from the office?
There are so many that I’m not sure I can pick just a few! I think one of my favorites in recent memory, though, was a few months ago when we all dressed up in black dresses and pearls for an Audrey Hepburn-themed Happy Hour. We have floor to ceiling windows in the office, and at one point we all looked out and someone was walking a pomsky. We all started pointing out the window and squealing, and the dog walker looked up at us. I can only imagine what he thought of that scene, and we still laugh at how ridiculous we must’ve looked.
4. What has it been like seeing the Her Campus BC chapter grow since you started the chapter in 2011?
It has been one of the most rewarding experiences! I’m so lucky to get to work with many amazing teams, but I obviously hold a special place in my heart for the BC chapter. I think anyone who starts something in college worries that their project/team/group/etc. won’t continue to be successful without them, but I never did. I knew we had great women taking over the group, and to see how it’s grown and evolved into such a force on campus makes me so proud and happy that I could’ve been even a small part of it. It’s crazy to think that this year’s seniors are the last team members I’ll have worked with on campus, but I’m so excited to know that it continues to grow beyond anything Kathryn and I could’ve possibly imagined three years ago!
5. How was the transition from BC to the “real world”?
It was a learning experience for sure and there were very strong moments of nostalgia, but it was mostly fun and exciting! I attended the Columbia Publishing Course the summer after graduation, which was almost like a mini extension of college. I made a lot of new friends and it helped lessen the sting of leaving BC. I moved to Boston that fall and lived with one of my best friends from BC, and a lot of my friends stuck around which made the transition a lot more bearable. It’s definitely gotten a lot easier over time – especially once I began to experience all of the incredible things you get to do after graduation. Life doesn’t end once you leave BC, I promise! J
6. What has been your favorite Her Campus event or campaign that you have worked on?
My favorite event is our National Intercollegiette Conference that we do every summer in NYC. I love being able to interact with the HC network in-person and to watch everyone meet each other offline. It’s also such an amazing opportunity for college students to hear from prominent people in the industry and network with other intelligent, ambitious peers. It is an exhausting, but rewarding weekend, and it inspires me to continue the work we do here at HC.
Attendees pose for a picture at the National Intercollegiette Conference in NYC
There you have it! Brittany had an amazing four years at BC, graduated, and moved on to do amazing things in the “real world.” So for all you seniors reading this, there is hope after graduation! If you have any other questions for Brittany, be sure to leave them in the comments below!