From working in fashion merchandising to interning with Parliament at the young age of 20, it seems Elizabeth Grady has done it all.
Today, she arrives to our interview and greets me with bubbly hello, smiling ear-to-ear even though it’s 9:30 a.m. the day after LDOC and hardly anyone is out and about yet.
Her lively personality and astounding resume are enough to captivate me for the next half hour as she shares about her experience at UNC and time she spent interning in London last spring. Without further ado, meet Elizabeth Grady, this week’s Campus Celeb at Her Campus: Chapel Hill!
Year: Junior
Hometown: Greensboro, NC
Major: Broadcast Journalism and Political Science
Minor: Education Policy and Leadership
HC: What are you involved in on campus?
Elizabeth: On campus I am involved in quite a few things. I am the president of Ashton’s Angels, which is an organization that helps college students with cancer. I am also an admissions ambassador, so I give tours for the University. I work with the football team as a student office assistant, and I am in ADPi. Off campus I am a visual intern for Moon and Lola. So I design and create the window display’s and implement them in their store. I also help merchandise the store, which is laying out the sales floor, and I have worked with production, which is more of the logistic type things. And finally, at home I work for J. Crew.
HC: You must be busy! How did you get involved in fashion merchandising?
Elizabeth: I have been designing t-shirts for a long time. I love art and design and things like that. I have always loved J. Crew’s style and brand. They were my first official experience. After that it just kind of evolved from there.
HC: Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
Elizabeth: Honestly, I would just have to say the people around me because there is not one specific path I have set out to follow. I just wanted to make the most of my time here at UNC and experience as much as I could. So that’s why I’d have to say the people around me have been my biggest influence. Learning from them and watching what they are doing has made me want to get involved in lots of different things. Whereas, if one specific person had been my influence I feel like I’d be down a path very similar to theirs, but I am not. I am doing my own thing. There are so many people doing amazing things at this school so it’s cool to pay attention to what is going on around you.
HC: Has your college experience been different than you imagined?
Elizabeth: Yeah. A lot different than I imagined it would be.
HC: What did you think it was going to be like?
Elizabeth: It’s a lot more fun than I thought. But once again I am blown away by the people at this school. We have top-notch athletes, top-notch leaders in their field doing research, artists. We have every type of person you could want to be. I just never expected that. To have a common bond with someone so different than you is just really cool.
HC: So you studied abroad in London last spring. How did you land an internship in Parliament?
Elizabeth: I went on a program with an internship component, but we had to apply for our placements. I was looking at a few things. I was looking at Parliament, a law firm, an apparel manufacturer. I really thought about where my talents would fit into the mix and where I would grow the most. So then I decided to pursue Parliament as my number one choice.
HC: What was that experience like?
Elizabeth: It was a really interesting application process. The number of background checks and security things I had to go through was insane! Especially not being a British citizen. On my first day of work, I had to go down to the security office for an additional screening process. I had my own card that gave me unlimited access to the entirety of Parliament.
HC: What did you do as your job there?
Elizabeth: I interned for a MP, which stands for a Member of Parliament, in the House of Commons. The House of Commons is more like the House of Representatives here, but in the House of Commons only some people are appointed and some positions are still handed down. A lot of it is legacy, like aristocracy. But it was absolutely incredible. I was like a research intern. So what I did was help respond to constituents who contacted the office, assist plan my MP’s schedule, write press releases, and update social media.
HC: Did you ever see any of the royal family?
Elizabeth: I saw Kate, George and Princess Charlotte! I was at Kensington Palace two days after she was born and the family walked out into the courtyard.
HC: Wow, that had to be amazing! What did the experience working in Parliament teach you?
Elizabeth: Oh, gosh! Everything. That is such a high stress environment, but I thrive off of that and working there reaffirmed that. I think the biggest thing I learned though was that there are pros and cons to all systems. I would see things the British system was doing that I was like, “Wow, if we had this aspect in the American political system that would be so helpful.” But I also saw things that worked for them that wouldn’t work for us. It just increased my global perspective. I realized that to really understand who you are and where you come from you need understand other people and where they come from.
HC: What was it like making such a strong networking contact with the MP you worked for?
Elizabeth: You know what, if there is someone that inspired me most in college, it is probably her. She was really, truly incredible. She has two kids and she was a party whip. She was young when she was elected to office in 2005. She was only 31.
HC: Just hearing about all the things you are involved with being so young, did it inspire you to work for someone so successful at such a young age?
Elizabeth: Yeah. It was just really cool to see once again that everyone’s path is different. As long as you can do something that works for you, you can be successful. There are a million ways to success and it’s up to you to find that.
HC: After everything that we have talked about today, do you know what your dream job would be?
Elizabeth: (She laughs and hesitates to answer. Then laughs some more.) Something working with people, I love people. Somewhere in a big city. I love New York, LA and London. It would be an interactive environment where I lead a team and negotiate contracts or conflicts between different parties. I would love to be doing this for politics or for some type of apparel company. Or I would want to be a news anchor for a big political outlet like CNN or Fox.
Keep up with Elizabeth on social media @elizabeth_grady.