Her Campus Hofstra has some badass women, so let’s meet them!
Up this week, we have Cassity Stewart!
Major: Journalism
Minor: French
Hometown: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Member Since: Fall 2018
Why did you join Her Campus?
“I actually joined Her Campus because I was in a similar community in high school, except it was completely online-based — it was called Odyssey. Odyssey Communities are basically the same as Her Campus communities. They are normally on college campuses, but I joined when I was in high school, so there obviously wasn’t one for my high school. I joined as a part of the aspiring journalist community, It was kind of an experiment from their headquarters to see how an online-based community would do. I worked my way up to Editor in Chief, but I hated it so I quit. So, when I got to Hofstra, I found out about Her Campus and it was exactly what I had, but there were actual people I was able to meet and have conversations with, and that was very attractive to me, so I joined.”
What is your favorite part of being involved in Her Campus?
“I really like all of the events we do. Obviously, I like the idea of a very empowering community for all types of people and being able to connect with them in other ways. For example, Her Conference and College Fashion Week — those were things I didn’t have before. The fact that an online magazine can do all of these other things is really cool and I love that.”
What have you gotten out of the Her Campus events?
“It has helped me to be a lot more confident. And it has opened my eyes to how many different people there are that have the same interests as me. And hearing their stories of going after the things they wanted has been so amazing. I also met my idol at Her Conference: Lucie Fink.”
What is your favorite article that you have written so far?
“‘Burning Bridges is Hard: How to Deal With Cutting People Out of your Life.‘ I think it’s my favorite that I have written for Her Campus because I used to write a lot of personal essays when I used to write for my other community and I got away from that in the past two years. But, I am getting back into it. I really like just getting my thoughts out onto paper and word vomiting. Those are my best moments.”
Do you have a favorite form of punctuation?
“Those pretty brackets, because they are fun.” (These for reference! → { })
What else are you involved in on campus?
“I am the philanthropy chair for Zeta Phi Eta and I plan the philanthropy events. We haven’t done any so far, so it’s been a lot of behind the scenes work right now and figuring out logistics. We are doing community service events like going to an animal shelter and doing tabling in the student center. I am the director of membership for PRSSA. I’ve been going around to a lot of PR classes to promote it because we want more people to join. And, I am the PR chair for Overbooked, the book club. I run their social media and I am also planning a bonding event. The book we are reading right now is Gone Girl, so I am trying to plan an event where we all watch the movie.”
Were you a part of initiating the book club, Overbooked?
“I’m not the one who truly initiated it, but someone sent a message in the Her Campus chat last spring saying they were trying to make a book club and they needed people to sign petitions and help start it. I said I would do it, and then she needed people to create the first E-Board and structure the club, and I was like, ‘I want to do that…’ so I did it!”
Do you have a favorite book that you have read with Overbooked?
“I think Gone Girl, honestly. I’m not into a lot of fantasy, and we have read a lot of fantasy so far. I like realistic books. I can’t wrap my head around fantasy. Also, Gone Girl is a big female empowerment story.”
Why do you think it’s important to partake in activities and organizations outside of your major?
“The thing with communications is it is such a young field. We are creating the future of it, so I think it has the potential to encompass a lot of different things. So, everyone has these different inspirations and different avenues that they want to utilize. The differences help make it a better place for everybody because if you are doing something that you love, I don’t think there is a possibility for you to fail.”
As social media’s prevalence has continued to grow, using it in professional settings has gained a lot of traction and become mainstream. What is your take on social media?
“I think social media is a really great tool. I think a lot of people are emotional over the fact that young people are on their phones too much. I think it’s a really great way to connect with people. It really irks me when people say ‘I don’t have social media because I want to be present.’ I’m like, ‘Ok, good for you, but I just sent out a funny tweet and got over 50 likes.’ It’s a way to express yourself and I think the world is moving a lot faster. I think as a generation, the amount of things we are learning statistically is a lot higher, and that’s because of social media and the internet. So, I think if we utilize it in conscious ways, instead of just going on and scrolling for hours, it can be a good thing.”
Why did you choose PR as your major?
“I was journalism and I switched at orientation. I’ve always loved writing, but I hated the idea of writing news. It has never interested me. One of my PR professors actually explained it very well — she got her degree in journalism and then switched to PR after she graduated — and she said she didn’t like the idea of pointing a microphone at someone who had just gone through something traumatizing and try and interview them. I want to impact people positively, so I think with PR I can do that. I can go for things that I really care about and just give out the messages that I think are important to people, instead of just taking things as I see them and indicating it.”
Why did you choose to minor in French?
“So, I chose French because I took French in high school. And when I came to college, nothing else really interested me, and knowing a second language is super valuable. I would really like to go into fashion, so French and Italian are really the two big languages to know if you want to do anything globally. I would love to travel as well, so just being able to theoretically be able to pick up and move if I needed to.”
Where is your dream travel destination?
“The south of France. I went to Nice when I was in high school, but only for a day because I was in Europe with my high school. I still think about it every day, it was beautiful. The Mediterranean Sea — when we saw it, I just thought it was so blue, and it’s beautiful. It was just a lot slower because we had just come from Paris.”
Do you plan to go there any time soon?
“I was trying to plan a study abroad there and trying to go next semester, but with my credits and everything, it kind of fell through. I’m trying to maybe do a summer program. With the time that I have here at Hofstra, I really want to use what I have here to my advantage. So yes, whether it be with school or just whenever I can. That is the new question.”
Where is the coolest place you have ever been to?
“I think just France in general. I remember getting to France and being on the Seine river on a boat in the middle of the day. We were taking a boat tour through Paris, and I was just sitting in the sun and I fell asleep at some point. It was just so surreal for me to be there, it was a dream of mine. We sailed past the Eiffel Tower, and I took a mental photo of it. That’s just a moment that I remember, it was just such a cool moment for me.”
Why did you choose to come to Hofstra?
“I always wanted to move away from home. Going to school in New York was something that I was really thinking of. I wanted to go to NYU, but I never ended up applying because I just knew that even if I did get in, I wouldn’t be able to afford it. So, when I found Hofstra, a school that still has access to the city, but it wasn’t totally in the city, that was super attractive to me.”
What are some stereotypes about people from Pennsylvania that need correcting?
“I feel like they are all pretty correct, I was talking with my French professor a few weeks ago about Pennsylvania and he was saying, ‘I went to college there, everybody there is very German,’ and he isn’t even wrong. Everyone is just built there, which is just true. I am 60% German so I can’t even argue with you about that. We all like pierogies, but again, that’s a correct one.”
Is there anything you miss about Pennsylvania?
“We have so many small businesses in my home town. When I go home, there are a few restaurants that I always have to hit. It’s food that you can get here on Long Island, but it’s the fact that I grew up with the people’s parents that own these businesses that I miss so much.”
Where is your favorite place to go to in NYC?
“I love Chelsea, just as a neighborhood. I can go into the city and just walk around any day, at any time. I feel like Chelsea and Soho both have such interesting people — I love people watching there, Chelsea Market especially. That’s where my love for small businesses is ok because there are a lot of vendors. I love to just go and see what is around.”
Within the School of Communications, and being so near to NYC, we frequently interact with #hustleculture. What is your relationship with it?
“So, I think for me, the whole problem with hustle culture is my fear of failing. I feel like I am a very ambitious person and I can take on a lot. Although, a lot of the time I restrict myself from going and doing things because I see other people going and doing things and doing super well at whatever it is, so I’m like, ‘Why would I even try?’ But, within the Comm. school, a lot of people are open about hustle culture being bad. They express that they don’t think everybody needs to be going as hard as they are, which is really good. It’s been a really good environment for me at least to see other people being very candid about the ways that they have partaken in hustle culture and recognized it was bad. It’s kind of like my stance on social media. If you go into it knowing your limits and knowing where your specific downfalls can be, you can take it on better. I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to be successful in your career or wanting to do everything that you can to be successful at it, but it’s the comparison of yourself to others that a lot of people mess up with.”
What do you want to do when you graduate?
“I love event planning. I want to do something with clothing. I would love to work at a fashion house and work on their PR team, planning events for influencers or the general public. I think I like working with brands more than I like working with products from a PR standpoint.”
How do you use fashion to express yourself?
“My senior year of high school, I started dressing in ‘businessy’ outfits every single day. They always say ‘Dress for the job you want,’ so sometimes I wear blazers to class and people are like, ‘Why do you do that,’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I’m a powerful bitch.'”
What is your go-to power outfit?
“I just got this blazer from Madewell called the Caldwell Blazer in Menswear Plaid. I like that with a black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans and like high heeled boots.”
What is your favorite fashion trend from any time period?
“Controversial: I really like shoulder pads, I think they look cool.”
What is your least favorite fashion trend?
“I don’t like white jeans. I don’t like them. I don’t support them. I don’t understand them. I’m just a messy person. Wearing a white t-shirt is controversial for me.”
What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done?
“Haunted houses. Every year, we have a family reunion at an amusement park and my mom makes me go with her. I close my eyes and scream the whole time. I’m like itchy thinking about it.”
Do you have a mantra?
“No, but I do have a favorite quote. From The Little Prince: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” It always reminds me that behind the face that everyone is putting on, they have things behind that are special, and trying to find those.”
Do you have something you try to teach others?
“I really think that positivity is a big thing. I used to be somebody who would think that one tiny thing that went wrong would be the end of the world. So, being able to understand that failing once is not failing every time and having the ability to get back up. We have all had hard times, but it’s the ability to get past the hard times, so I try to help other people see that in themselves.”
Is there anything you are working on in terms of self-improvement?
“I like being independent, but sometimes it can border on being bossy. I have been put in a lot of team scenarios in the last year, and I want to be a leader and I want to run things. But, I’ve also been working on keeping in mind that everyone has something that makes them valuable and has something to bring to the team.”
What is your proudest accomplishment?
“In college, I always wanted to do something with Greek life, so I think finding my place with the Zetas. Really coming in and finding a home there has been helpful for me. It’s something that I wanted to do from the second that I got here, so accomplishing it… I was very excited about it.”
Celebrity idols?
“I really love Anna Wintour. She is the head bitch in charge of the entire world. She is very powerful and there is a lot of controversy surrounding her because she is known as this ‘hardass’ woman. A lot of people are scared of her, but at the same time, from her interviews that are coming out lately, she is just a regular person. Everyone has this image of her — that she is terrifying, but she’s really just a normal person trying to do her job. She wants to do what she loves and she wasn’t going to let anyone stop her from doing that, and I think that’s inspiring.”
Who is your favorite person that you share a birthday with?
“Greta Thunberg. On my birthday, everyone was like ‘Happy Birthday Cassity… and Greta.’ Queen, I love her.”
What are your pet peeves?
“I don’t like when people are late. That’s my thing, like deadlines… they make me sweat.”
Do you believe in ghosts?
“Yes.”
Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
“No.”
Do you believe in astrology?
“To a point. Horoscopes are where I get iffy, because like… no. But, I think the idea that the planets put out energies when you are born is real. How can you not think that’s real? Everything gives off energy.”
Favorite Movie?
“Pretty in Pink.”
Best DCOM?
“Luck of the Irish.”
Favorite Childhood TV Show?
“The Powerpuff Girls.”
All-time favorite TV Show?
“The Office.”
Favorite Book?
“It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini.”
Favorite holiday?
“My birthday.”
Your coffee order?
“Large hot oat milk latte with an extra shot.”