Name: Maya Alvarez
Year: Junior
Major: Media Studies and Latin American Studies
Hometown: La Crescenta, California
First things first, are you the realest? Why or why not?
I’m too cool to be the realest. Yeah I’m real but I’m so fascinating I’m practically a myth
What kind of activities are you involved in on campus?
I’m the captain of Awkward Silence, the school’s improv team, I just finished my second year on GO Team, I’m a member of Latinas Unidas, plus I’m a CA in Fromm.I am also heavily involved in college players, and audition for shows whenever I can, and have am a DJ on KUSF (tune in on Fridays at 12:30)
Who or what inspires you to get and stay involved?
Fun. Everything that I do, I do because I think it will bring me joy. That’s how I got into all of the things that I am involved in, and why I decided to stay in them. There are a lot of things that I’ve tried, and realized that I wasn’t having a lot of fun doing them, so I stopped. It’s important to try different things, and to only stay with the ones that make you happy.
Do you have any favorite real life celebrities? If so, what about them do you like?
I really love Matt McGorry (Bennett on Orange Is The New Black) because he’s very vocal about feminism and social justice in general. Also J. Cole because he’s all about the #BlackLivesMatter movement and more social justice topics, too, and makes that very known. I have celebrities that I like for less serious reasons, but definitely what makes them favorites is when they use their celebrity status to spread awareness. That’s the hottest thing for me…Oh also I have a huge thing for Obama. Yum.
You have a really cool style that I think contributes to your on-campus status. Do you have any tips for the Plain Jane looking to achieve star status?
LOLLLLLLLL IS THAT A JOKE?! I do not have any kind of sense of style!!! I wear whatever clothes I have in my closet and avoid spending money at all costs. However, whatever I do wear, I wear with confidence. I guess my protip is to love yourself and your style and I guess that will show itself to the world!!
Is it hard keeping your personal life private in a world overrun with paparazzi? What is something most people don’t know about you?
I’m so not a private person and adore the attention so if anyone wants to take candid pictures of me please hit me up. I think something most people don’t know about me is that I love alone time. I am such an extrovert, and get so excited and energized when I’m around people, that I think people believe that that is what I want to be doing all the time. But in reality I crave those moments where I can sit down with a book, my journal, or Netflix and a cup of tea and not have to socialize with anyone. In fact, a lot of the time I skip out on plans, or dread going to them, just because being with myself is more important than going out.
Whats next for Maya Alvarez? Is it in fact, a “new year, new you”?
Up next for me is adventure!!! To be honest, I don’t really like planning things because I like to live every moment in itself. But I do have two really incredible things I’m looking forward to in the near future: 1. Being in charge of Awkward Silence this year means being in charge of auditions! More than half of the team left this past year, so I’m really excited to start the year off with a brand new team full of cool people. And 2. I’m hoping to study abroad in Brazil during the Spring semester, so be on the look out for pictures of me dancing samba at Carnaval.
For future reference, Would you ever consider doing celebrity rehab?
Maybe if I was being rehabed for my Sims addiction. Honestly that habit needs to go.