Another year starts at Her Campus! I say another year (we’ve only had a few) but I’m excited that I get to lead this publication as it keeps growing its presence at Bristol.
The difficulty with running publications online is that everything is online. Despite being ‘Gen Z’, most people respond more to print being thrust in front of their face than reading my Facebook status begging people to “please read!”
Also, keeping the attention of freshers is the Everest of Her Campus. With hordes of bright eyed and bushy tailed first-years coming to our stall at the Fresher’s Fair, we’ve had the overwhelming total of less than ten respondents reply to my editors this week.
I don’t want to do us a disservice. I have 200 email addresses of interested writers and our reading rates have increased by 65%. We’ve had people genuinely interested in writing articles and coming to meet ups and I believe our somewhat anti-climactic starting week all boiled down to a confidence issue and the panic that once you sign up to something you’ve written your life away. But this just simply isn’t the case.
Imagine Her Campus to be your ideal relationship. You get treated equally, you feel excited, a little nervous – you can laugh with us, rant at us, introduce us to your friends and family and know that we will adapt. And, ultimately, you can shit with the door open. We accept you for who you are which is (typically) a commitment-phobic “real woman” with limited writing experience but a lot of unformulated yet strong views on the world.
And that’s great! People look at me in utter shock when I tell them you can write whatever you want in whatever way you want to. Her Campus pledges itself as a feminist publication (which it very much is) but the term ‘feminist’ is literally yours to own and make of it what you want it to be.
If writing, sharing your article or even coming to a meeting makes you feel empowered then that’s what it’s really all about. So, drop me a message if you’re interested and join our Facebook Contributors page! I can’t wait to see what you have to say.
Zoe x