A fearless Californian who packed her bags and moved to Boston in order to pursue higher education, Camille McDaniel is an ambitious, cosmopolitan girl who has a passion for music and photography.
Camille, who introduces herself as Cam, is rarely seen without a smile on her face. She plans on majoring in mass communication with a concentration in advertising. However, her interests are anything but limited. She enjoys fashion, animals, sports, movies, photography and music.
In fact, her dream job is to be the front-woman of a band and tour the world. Her love for music began at a young age, so early that she doesn’t even remember what sparked her passion.
“I don’t want to sound cheesy but [music] was something I was born into. My family is a super musical family. My mom plays the piano, my dad sings, my brother is a drummer, and so I’ve just always been around music. I remember in the fourth grade, that’s when we were allowed to start playing instruments in school, I was like, ‘I want to play the clarinet!’ So I guess it started there.”
To date, she can play the clarinet, the flute, a little bit of the piano, the guitar, the bass, and is learning how to play drums.
Her love for music can be equated to her love for photography, which also began at a young age.
“When I was little my dad had this huge, bulky polaroid camera and he never used it. So I would always use it but he would yell at me because film is expensive! But I just loved watching the pictures develop and so, I don’t know, since then I’ve been into photography.”
And why does it intrigue her so much? “There’s something so beautiful about being able to capture a moment and being able to remember it forever. I guess I love it so much because I’m afraid of forgetting things. So I just take pictures of everything.”
Her epic move across the country was prompted by her dream to live on the East Coast. However, she plans on spending her adult life in California, so she figured college would be the best time to come to Boston.
The one thing she likes better in Massachusetts than in California? The public transportation.
“I know people from here complain about the MBTA but, like, it’s so efficient compared to California.”
Where does Cam see herself in five years? “I have no clue, and that’s what’s terrifying” she admits. But one thing is for sure, she will be back in her beloved home state.
When asked about her goals, she confidently declared that she views herself as ambitions, so much so that she oftentimes gets to the point where she is no longer realistic. But she is absolutely fine with that, exclaiming “If you never shoot, you never know!”
However, she knows that her main goal is to be genuinely happy no matter what she ends up doing. She is on the constant pursuit of happiness and places it over almost everything. She also hopes to have a family one day, as she is very family oriented.
“And I’m so adamant about this whole band thing, even if it only lasts for a a couple of years. I just want to tour and play music. Sorry mom and dad” she laughs.
Her dream venue? The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco
“It’s super small, it’s in, like, the roughest neighborhood in San Francisco. But I just have so many good memories going to concerts with my best friends in that concert hall. So that would just be a really special place for me to play.”
When asked why she is majoring in mass communication rather than music or photography, Cam took her time to formulate a response that articulated her inner thoughts.
“How do I explain this… I love music so much but college is expensive! If I’m going to invest a lot of money into an education, I’m going to want to get a degree that is very versatile and that I can use if my plan A doesn’t work out. I can use it for a plan B and a plan C and so on.”
The quote she lives by? “Fear not”
“Fear not is in the Bible 365 times, so my dad used to tell me that it’s one ‘fear not’ for every day. So every day of every year you can live without fear. I guess I’m ambitious and I like to try different things and it does get scary when you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. I always try to tell myself ‘alright, fear not, you can do this. You never know if you never try.’”