Alia Roth does it all! She is involved in multiple activities on campus and is doing incredible activism work while producing this year’s production of The Vagina Monologues. Alia is not only beautiful, but is also intelligent, dedicated and hard working. Her V-Men video has gone viral on youtube and she is not only a celebrity on our campus, but on campuses across the country. Her Campus was so happy to land an interview with her first! Let’s see what she had to say!
Major: Government
Minor: Human Development
Certificate: Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy
PICA Project: School to prison pipeline in low income communities: Why we mass incarcerate youth with disabilities
Extra curricular activities: CELS Fellow, SafetyNet member, volunteer at the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, Producer and Chair of Fundraising for the Vagina Monologues
Hometown: Millburn, New Jersey
Favorite thing about senior year: There’s kind of an underlying happiness and unification that happens senior year. We have a really incredible class of students who amaze me with the work they do on a daily basis. The encouragement and support that we give each other is inspired. Senior year has kind of been a giant love fest. I’m a pretty big fan of it.
Favorite thing to eat in Harris: The vegetarian bar is my go-to, but now that I live in a house I try to cook as much as possible!
Favorite place on campus: Recently, it has been the little bench next to the Winged Victory of Samothrace statue right near college admissions.
Favorite part about producing the Vagina Monologues: Being able to work with some of the strongest, smartest, most determined and dedicated women I know. Getting to know the underclass women who are thrilled to be joining the cast of the Vagina Monologues. Seeing the transformation that occurs for women on our campus throughout the process of the show. It really is and will continue to be a life changing experience for the cast as well as audience members. I’m also a pretty hyperactive person who could definitely talk about vaginas all day so it makes me feel a little less crazy when I get to work with women who are as excited about the show and the subjects it addresses as I am :)
What inspired your V-men campaign?
With the V-Men campaign, I really wanted those beyond the cast and who always come to the show to understand what the Vagina Monologues was about, specifically the men on campus. My biggest goal was to reach a new audience of people who may not otherwise talk about vaginas, sex, consent and what The Vagina Monologues are. By pulling together a diverse group of men who are engaged in a variety of activities and are all allies, advocates and leaders on campus, I hoped the video would reach a wider variety of students and open the doors to conversations around what this means for our community and why we need men to be educated on and care about issues around women, sexual assault, consent, and power-based personal violence.
You are literally a celebrity now, not just on campus! Has it been weird? Have you noticed the difference?
It’s definitely been weird and overwhelming at times but also really exciting how much conversation has occurred from this. The first week it was released it was the only topic anyone could talk to me about and I have received quite a few emails / messages from students from all over the country inquiring about the video and how amazing the men at our campus are!! I think the men in the video are way more of the celebrities than I am.. although I’ve definitely been called “The Vagina Girl” a couple of times.
Whats next with the campaign?
Honestly I have no idea. The campaign went beyond anything I could have ever hoped for it and whether people liked the campaign or not – it definitely caught peoples attention and encouraged people to talk about the issues that the campaign addresses. Hopefully it will continue to spark conversations on college campuses across the country and possibly another campaign in the spring! :)