You may see her strumming her ukelele on the quad or catch a glimpse of one of her fabulous hats zipping by you in Dana. No matter where you see her, there’s no doubt that it’s Daisy. In March of my first year at Agnes, I went to New York with my Journeys class, where I got to know Daisy better. Since then, she has become one of the women that I look up to the most at Agnes, and it has been a pleasure to see her grow into the creative force that she is now.
Hometown: Columbia, SC
Major: Theater, probably
Special Talent: I’ve seen every episode of Saturday Night Live.
Secret TV Addiction: British soap operas
Favorite Study Spot: My dorm room floor or the Lighting Lab
HC: If you could only own five (non-essential) items, what would they be?
Daisy: my sketchbook, my laptop, my ukulele, my hat collection, and my phone. I am nothing without the internet.
HC: How have you changed since you’ve come to Agnes?
Daisy: Well, I came from a very conservative Catholic high school and I had no idea who I was when I started school here. Turns out, I’m most alive when I’m creating. I thrive when I can produce something new and unique, and I get positively giddy when it garners a reaction from others. That last part might just be my constant craving for attention. I’m still Catholic, but now I realize that doesn’t limit me from discovering new things about myself. Agnes also has pushed me to explore my creative talents, including scriptwriting, that have given me the skills to create projects I wouldn’t dream of undertaking. Also, my hair is purple now.
HC: You create your own fashion designs. Where do you get your inspiration from?
Daisy: Most of my designs are inspired by the media I watch. Costume design has always been a passion of mine, and now I can’t watch anything without trying to decipher the clothes of the characters, whether it’s in a Marvel movie, the latest season of Black Mirror, or a small webseries created by an internet friend. Of course, I take great pride in my own clothing as well, unless I am too lazy to do laundry. I am a firm believer in not setting out clothes the night before. Your clothes tell a story, and you create the story at the beginning of each day, even if the story is “I’m too lazy to do laundry,” as it tends to be quite often.
HC: You’re also a Toastie. Can you explain what that means? What do you love about it?
Daisy: The Toast was a website I discovered right before I graduated high school. It combined humor, essays, art history, and feminism in all the best ways, and had the best commenter community in the entire internet. Even Hillary Clinton was a fan! I was a regular commenter on there until it closed on July 1st. The comment section of The Toast saw my pre-move in anxiety, first black cat, my summit trip, finals, my entire first year at Agnes. They welcomed me into this amazing community of queer librarian types and various cool people. I have learned so much from my surrogate elder siblings. I was even interviewed in a Toastie newsletter. Since the closure, the community has flocked to Twitter, where I spend altogether too much time tweeting (@scottiedaisy) about literally anything, including which sitcom characters would make good lesbians. Spoiler alert: Ted Mosby and Jean-Ralphio Saperstein are included in that list.
Daisy’s dog modeling her Toast tote
HC: Your webseries, School Spirit: An Unlikely Webseries, began airing last month. What has been the most challenging aspect of your journey with the series? (Check the series out here.)
Daisy: I started writing School Spirit in late May, after discovering a love for LIWs (Literary Inspired Webseries) such as Twelfth Grade or Whatever, The Adventures of Jamie Watson (and Sherlock Holmes), and The Grey Tarmac Road. People my age were taking great works in literature, in these cases, Twelfth Night, Sherlock Holmes, and The Wizard of Oz, and making them into modern, diverse retellings. Characters were relatable and even had social media accounts. I wanted to make something that people would like, but also something I could be proud of at the end of the day. The most difficult part was not giving up when I didn’t go instantly viral. Small webseries like School Spirit are labors of love. My budget for my show is zero: I check out a camera and tripod from TPS every week and light my set (my dorm room) with desk lamps. However, it’s worth all the trouble to represent characters I don’t see elsewhere. That’s what I love about webseries. When we can’t get non-heterosexual, non-cisgender characters from mainstream media, we create our own. Whether or not it gathers a huge fanbase is irrelevant. I just wanted to create a fun show about pansexual ghosts and non binary lesbian ghost hunters. The fact that I get to make it with my best friends and share it with the world is just a perk.
HC: What is your dream job?
Daisy: Artistic Director of a modern Shakespeare theater. I need to stage a version of Much Ado About Nothing told exclusively through Instagram posts or Macbeth set in a vicious suburban PTA. But I’d settle for a Costume Designer anywhere, preferably for big lush musicals or intense period dramas.
HC: What do you miss about home?
Daisy: I’ve moved around so much, I don’t really think of anywhere as “home.” But whenever I’m apart from my family, I miss them more than I can say, especially my three siblings. My brother played my twin brother in my high school’s production of Twelfth Night, a show that is still the highlight of my life. At one point, mid soliloquy, he started dancing to Wham’s Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go.) He’s the funniest person I know. My sister has a 5.1 GPA (I don’t know how it’s possible either) and plays four instruments. She will occasionally hold full conversations in character voices, including a possessed puppet named Puppet. My littlest brother is 10, speaks fluent German, and can talk about various soccer goalies for hours. When all four of us get together, it gets loud. My family is just as theatrical as I am so a night in for us usually consists of inside jokes and improv sketches during the commercial breaks of trashy reality tv.
Daisy with her three siblings
HC: What advice would you give to your first-year self?
Daisy: Don’t get discouraged. Don’t hide your work. Take the classes that interest you to gain skills and then use them to fuel your ideas. You are not defined by others’ opinion of you. Cut your hair shorter. Drink more water. Keep telling yourself you are funny until you learn how to be. Check your email more, check your Tumblr less. Write down every idea or joke you have. Stop skipping meals. The Cubs win the World Series in 2016, put all your money on it now.