Allow me to introduce you to Catherine Abes, one of the many talented and lovely writers of our Her Campus Ryerson Team and also the woman behind the Her Campus Ryerson instagram account! Check her own personal instagram here.
Catherine is from Milton, where she first met our Editor-in-Chief Lena Lehalih. Catherine is from Brookville specifically, a rural area where the neighbours across the street have cows, chickens, pigs, and “really obnoxious goats (one of them sounds like a man imitating a goat, or a goat imitating a man, I have yet to figure it out)”.
Since Catherine had know Lena for a few years before joining the Her Campus team, I asked her how she became a writer. Here’s what she responded:
“I started writing for Her Campus at the beginning of this school year. My first article covered frosh week. I knew about it way before then though because Lena and I have known each other for a few years. We used to work at the same store as sales associates, and she looked over my portfolio for me when I was applying to Ryerson Journalism. After that she said if I got in I could write for Her Campus if I was interested, and the rest is history! I can’t even tell you how much I appreciate her for giving me the opportunity to get some of my work out there.”
Can you tell me about your relationship with Lena (Her Campus Ryerson’s Editor-in-Chief)?
“To me, Lena is like a cool older sister. Actually, I’m the same age as her younger sister Dena so we really do get along quite well. What I love about Lena is she always says she’s my friend before my editor, and I can really go to her for anything—if I’m having a rough week and can’t get an article in on time, for example, she’s really understanding. She’s also been like a mentor for me; she provides guidance not just in the editorial sense but on life in general, which I seriously appreciate. Basically, Lena’s great.”
What’s your favourite aspect of Her Campus?
“[I love that] Her Campus is multi-faceted. We have a lot of freedom in terms of what topics we want to cover, and I’ve already seen members of the Ryerson team producing content with really important messages. Every week you have the opportunity to explore whatever you want, whether that be a fun, light-hearted topic or something more serious.”
I want to hear more about you personally, What do you like to do in your past time?
“Honestly I wish I could say I used my free time well, but I only ever do interesting things in bursts of motivation. So some days I’ll spontaneously decide to paint something (I love watercolour), or make a batch of cookies. Most days, however, I either lie in bed watching Netflix (currently working my way through That 70s Show), or if it’s been a tough week, I’ll clean. I’ve discovered that the best way for me to relieve stress is to put all that energy into tidying my apartment, which is probably a bit strange, but at least I’m doing something useful right?”
If you could choose three words to describe yourself, what would they be?
“Three words to describe myself? Sporadic, kind, and… human. Are those okay?”
What are your main interests/ passions?
“That’s a broad question. Well, I’m a pretty strong believer in inclusivity and equal rights—I definitely identify as a feminist and I try and advocate for recognizing people’s identities and being accepting of them. I also feel pretty strongly about dogs. I really, really love dogs. They’re just so pure you know? I’m not sure what we did to deserve dogs. I’m a reader too; Harry Potter was my first love and remains to be one of my favourite series ever. Now I’ll read just about anything that isn’t YA.”
Speaking of dogs, tell us about yours!
“I have three dogs named Kola, MC, and Angie. They’re my most loyal and wonderful friends… That probably makes me sound too much like a crazy dog lady but I’m just being honest here”.
What about your family?
“I have two siblings named Victoria and Michael. They’re both younger and not as cool as my dogs but still pretty alright. The three of us are pretty close in age so we have the same humour and interests and get along pretty well. I feel bad that my parents have to put up with our antics, because sometimes we’ll start laughing at something and they just won’t understand what’s so funny.”
Wanna hear more from Catherine? Check out her articles here!