Name: Lauren Pleasants
Year: Junior
Major: Editing, Writing, and Media
Minors: Communications, Political Sciences
Hometown: Longwood, Florida
Campus Involvements: 2016 Orientation Leader, Alpha Phi Omega
Courtesy: Lauren Pleasants
Her Campus (HC): What do you want to do after graduation?
Lauren Pleasants (LP): After graduation I would really like to be a journalist, preferably either for an alternative news source reporting on civil rights issues around the world, or writing for my own blog which would also touch on similar issues. My dream is to travel around the world and lend a hand wherever help is needed and report on it so that we can learn more about places around the world that need our help and increase everyone’s knowledge on the world outside of US walls.
HC: Where would you go if you were to go somewhere to report on or help with an issue now?
LP: I would either be in Paris due to the terrorist attacks, or some other lesser known area, preferably one I don’t even know about currently. I want to learn about these new places just like everyone else and gain a greater knowledge and understanding for places wildly unlike what I’m accustomed to. I want to go to places not knowing much and learning things hands on from this new perspective and giving that perspective back to people in the U.S. and around the world who are interested in learning more about what’s happening globally and what we can do to change people’s lives.
HC: Does that make you nervous at all going somewhere that you don’t know much about?
LP: It does, but that also really excites me. I’m honestly afraid of a lot of things, so one of my biggest goals in life has always been to do the things that scare me the most, and one of those is traveling somewhere completely new, and going alone. I’ve actually traveled alone twice before, once to go stay with my exchange family in Holland, and another time to go stay with my friend who was studying abroad in Paris. It’s absolutely horrifying to go into a place with such a wildly different culture, and a language that you can’t understand a lick of, but that’s also the fun of it. You get to learn all of these new things and gain an incredible appreciation for a place you never thought you could feel so at home in.
Courtesy: Lauren Pleasants
HC: Do you currently have a blog?
LP: I do! It’s titled “It Goes On” to signify that no matter what happens in life, it will continue on and get better, as long as you allow it to. I’ve written about my personal battles with anxiety and depression, coming out as pansexual and even things from writing about presidential candidates to creating a ‘”how-to” for getting through break ups.
HC: Why did you start writing?
LP: One of the biggest things for me is showing people that there is no reason to hide who you are just because it might make other people feel uncomfortable. Sexuality, physical and mental illnesses, and so much more should be talked about My goal is to help people find their voice talking about what others are afraid to.
HC: When did you begin to write?
LP: I started blogging back in my freshman year of high school, but I never realized how much I enjoyed truly writing until about last year. Since then I have written articles on my blog, joined the EWM major, and this semester I actually decided to take a Fiction Technique class that has shown me how incredible it is writing fiction! I never knew I could write until recently, and since realizing it I’ve just absolutely fallen in love with it.
HC: Are you interested in getting anything published in the future?
LP: Oh definitely. In my class we’ve been focusing on short stories, which I love writing, but I would also really like to write some novels in the future. I have a feeling that short stories will be more of my main thing, though. I’m pretty bad at starting things and not finishing them, so short stories give the me option of constantly writing about something new rather than focusing on one long story for a long time.
HC: As part of your EWM major, you planned an event on campus. Can you tell us more about that?
LP: My Writing and Editing in Print and Online class requires a group Viral Ad Campaign project, so my group and I decided to work around Free the Nipple! The three of us decided that a #NoBraFSU day would be a great and easy one day event to raise awareness for the campaign and spread the idea that a woman’s breasts should not be sexualized. If men can walk around with their nipples showing, there is no reason we shouldn’t be able to either. Men’s nipples are constantly shown on television and in movies, yet women’s are always blurred out. Just because women have some fat behind their nipples they somehow become sexual, and we wanted to help end that stigma. And it actually turned out really successful! People from other colleges were joining, commenting, and sharing on our event! We were so excited that it turned out so well.
Courtesy: Lauren Pleasants