Name: Allison Faccenda
Major: English with a minor in Journalism
Year: Senior
Hometown: Denville, NJ
Favorite Female Celebrities: Blake Lively, Kristen Wig, Sophia Bush, Leighton Meester, Taylor Swift
Role Model(s): One of my biggest inspirations has always been my grandmother. She’s always had such an authentic perspective on life and always believed that you could do anything you set your mind to. She had always been one of my biggest supporters and I am so blessed to have been able to have her in my life and with me in spirit every day.
HCM: What made you choose Montclair State?
AF: I chose Montclair State after I visited it when my older brother moved in for his freshman year. (He ended up transferring to Rutgers) but I fell in love with the quaintness of it and the size. It’s not too big and not too small and I felt comfortable here.
HCM: What are you involved with on and off campus?
AF: On campus I write for the Montclarion, where my sorority sister and I have our own feature column about Greek Life. I’m also a sister of Phi Sigma Sigma national sorority on campus where I have been the public relations chair and in charge of the website for the past two semesters.
Off campus I love doing volunteer work, especially for Comfort Zone Camp which one of my sister’s in my sorority introduced me to. In addition to that I own and write on my own beauty blog called The Beauty Chapter by Ali which I started roughly two years ago.
HCM: Can you give us a little background on The Beauty Chapter By Ali ?
AF: Of course. I started it about two years ago around this time of year. I started it on a whim honestly and it has grown so much since then. I initially wanted to be a teacher going into college but makeup has always been a passion of mine and finding a way to connect my love for writing and my love for makeup has been life changing. My blog made me realize that I wanted to switch career paths (which I thought I’d never do in a million years) and hopefully write or work for a magazine.
HCM: You also said you write for The Montclairion, how did you get involved with that and why did you chose to stick to just writing about Greek Life? Do you enjoy working with one of your best friends?
AF: I got involved writing for the Montclarion through one of my journalism professors, Tara George (the advisor of the paper) and through meeting the editor-in-chief Kristen Bryfogle in my journalism class last semester. I had written for them before as a contributing writer, sending in random feature pieces I had written but they approached me this year about writing for the paper on a consistent basis.
Jaimee Laurie (my sorority sister and co-writer of our column) had taken Professor George’s class as well and when we were approached for writing for the Montclarion we pitched the idea of writing on Greek Life since it is such a huge part of our college careers and we felt was important to shed light on since the community does so much on MSU’s campus. It’s a blast writing with her and we both get equally excited when we see our work published even though it’s not the first time; it never gets old seeing your work on paper.
HCM: You are involved with a lot so naturally you have great time management skills, any tips for readers?
AF: Oh boy, time management is always a work in progress. Life is constantly throwing obstacles your way and all I can say is to invest in a great (and also cute!) planner and roll with the punches. I’m someone who tries to write down important things but also tries my best to “wing it” and make the most of my time. Also never be afraid to ask people for help or questions.
HCM: What are you looking forward to after graduation?
AF: Right now I’m focusing on the new journey I’m about to embark on next semester doing the Disney College Program which is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m excited for that and to meet new people and work in such an amazing environment so once I finish up there I’ll be back at MSU as a 5th year senior finishing up my credits. After that I’m looking forward to watching my sorority continue and to come back for events as an alumnae and support all my sisters.
HCM: And to finish things off, what is your dream career?
AF: My dream career I can sum up in two words: Carrie Bradshaw. Haha! I love her so much and I would love to be my own writer with my own voice. Working for a magazine is something I’ve wanted to do for most of my college career and I want to live in NYC while I do it. There’s so much I want to see and do in life. It’s stressful figuring out that one thing you want to do for the rest of your life but I know that as long as I get to be creative, I’ll be happy no matter where my career path takes me.