Name: Judi Joseph
Year: Senior
Hometown: Palm Beach, FL
Major: Business Management
Age: 24
Her Campus (HC): Many people may want to know what exactly is BEFSU?
Judi Joseph (JJ): BEFSU (Black Excellence FSU), is an organization that is dedicated to shedding light on the greatness of the Nubian Kings and Queens at Florida State University.
(HC): When was BEFSU founded and what inspired you to come up with the organization?
(JJ): BEFSU was founded January 19th 2016. It all started as an Instagram page, it all came from my love for photography, as well as wanting to keep a history of black students and their accomplishments on and off campus. I wanted to shed light on that. I was involved on a lot of orgs on campus and felt like a light needed to be shed on minority students.
(HC): Which is most important to your organization — mission, core values or vision?
(JJ): My mission is the most important, because it is to create unity with the black community and bring more positive awareness with black students on FSU’s campus, as well as help encourage the students to get involved on campus by promoting others black excellence.
(HC): Do you have a team within your organization or is it just you?
(JJ): Right now, it is me and a few others, but for the school year 2017-2018 I will be looking for more students to be involved with BEFSU and create an Executive Board for it.
(HC): What is your platform for your organization?
(JJ): The main platforms are Instagram and my website befsu.com, which is still under construction, but accessible. BEFSU is also, on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
(HC): Do you feel like you’ve made an impact thus far with the platform of your organization?
(JJ): Yes, because to me it is basically just giving back by promoting those who have a black business, minorities with talents and minorities who are involved without them even asking to be promoted, I just share their excellence. For example, there is a singer name Joshua Williams, who is also an employee on campus. He posted an Instagram video of him singing an R-Kelly song and I reposted it on the BEFSU Instagram page, showing his talent and R-Kelly was in town that weekend and ended up seeing the video of him singing on my page and reposted it on his own Instagram and Twitter. It was a great moment not only for Joshua, but for BEFSU as well. With BEFSU, I focus not only on students, but alumni, faculty and staff and future students. I’ve seen high school students become very interested in FSU because of the content shared on BEFSU Instagram.
(HC): Why is Black Excellence so important to you?
(JJ): Black Excellence is important to me because I want to show the world that as black people we are more than just what they depict us as in the media – only focusing on our athletic ability, the drama in our lives, and us as victims. In the media, like TheShadeRoom or BallerAlert I noticed, they don’t really promote the positive side of minorities on a daily basis, but I always see negative content. With BEFSU I share positivity and the greatness of Black people, because it is one great thing that we need, not for the person individually, but for our community as a whole. All in all, I’m not saying that every other race doesn’t have excellence, but it is time for the world to notice that we are more than just our black athletes, singers and rappers, Oprah and other public figures. We are black excellence on college campuses and everywhere you go. That is why my motto is, “BE here is BE everywhere.”
(HC): What are your future plans with BEFSU?
(JJ): I don’t want to spoil it, but just be on the lookout because more greatness is on its way and it is coming sooner than you think. Stay tuned. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @BESFU and on Facebook Black Excellence FSU.