On December 4th, Her Campus at UCLA had the opportunity to attend this year’s Teen Vogue Summit in Hollywood. The day was packed with inspiring panels and activations, giving guests the opportunity to learn from role models in areas like climate justice, marketing, athletics, film and TV and more. Hayley Kiyoko started off the day with a bang, performing acoustic takes on hits like “Sleepover” and “Demons.”
We then moved into a panel on climate justice featuring the youth climate activists Xiye Bastida, Isra Hirsi and Leah Thomas. On fast fashion, Leah noted the importance of first blaming the corporation over the consumer, saying “There is a lot of shaming when it comes to people who are buying fast fashion, but maybe that’s what’s accessible to them in the moment.” Xiye and Leah both attended the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) and discussed the complex experience of feeling inspired by meeting like-minded individuals but also being ignored by top politicians who failed to enact strong changes. Xiye hoped that “rich countries’ commitment to the rest of the world [would be] bigger” for next year’s COP27.
The next panel we attended was “A Career Flex” with panelists Achieng Agutu, content creator and self-proclaimed “confidence queen”; Brooke Berry, the head of talent development at Snapchat; Angie Jaime, head of social media at TOMS; and Katie Welch, the chief marketing officer at Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty. When asked about how to avoid compromising personal values in the workplace, Katie emphasized the importance of asking questions and finding allies, saying, “You have a voice. The more that you use it, the better.” Angie also discussed the struggles of sometimes not feeling heard or not “being trusted yet,” but reminded the audience to never lose confidence in their worth, because “[your boss] hired you for a reason.”
After a quick break for attendees to explore the Block Party, which included booths from Condé Nast Careers, Recycle2Riches and Rare Beauty, as well as plenty of food trucks, we returned for a panel on mental wellness and community healing. This panel featured Giana Darville from Truth Initiative; Reservation Dogs star and indigenous rights activist, Devery Jacobs; and WNBPA president, Nneka Ogwumike. Devery shared that she aimed to tackle mental health issues within her native communities by being open with her own struggles, “destigmatizing the idea of therapy” and “pushing the conversation forward.” Giana echoed similar sentiments: “Sharing ‘Hey, this is what I’m going through…’ makes people more likely to share things with you.” Mental health issues often get pushed to the side, especially in communities of people of color, but sharing your own struggles helps open up the conversation and provide an opportunity for change.
The last panel of the day was “You Have to See It to Be It: Brown Girls Taking Up Space in Media” with Mindy Kaling and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan from Never Have I Ever. Both Mindy and Maitreyi agreed that some of their harshest criticism on the show came from within their own South Asian community. “I’m not trying to represent all [South Asian] families, the way that the show Succession isn’t trying to show all white families,” said Mindy. Representing a hugely underrepresented population can almost be a burden. For a watcher who has perhaps never seen themselves on screen before, it can be disappointing to “[wait] so long for representation…to find a character that looks like you” and still end up feeling unseen. The two saw a light at the end of the tunnel, however, hoping that soon, there would be so many shows with South Asian representation that everyone could find themselves in a character.
The eventful day came to a close with a stunning nighttime performance by singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo of an acoustic rendition of “good 4 u.”
This year’s Teen Vogue Summit saw a remarkable amalgamation of inspiring women from all sorts of fields. It was an incredibly powerful and uplifting experience. Thank you Teen Vogue for the opportunity to cover the event!