Welcome to Woman Crush Wednesday with Katie and Harley, where every other week we interview a member of our chapter of Her Campus to highlight why they are awesome.
This week, Maddie Merinuk, Editorial Contributor and future Co-President of Her Campus Hofstra!
Photo Courtesy of Maddie Merinuk
Major: Journalism
Minor: Disability Studies
Hometown: Woodbury, New Jersey
Top 5 Songs: Any song by Sara Bareilles
“Cosmic Love” by Florence + The Machine
“Something in the Way She Moves” by James Taylor
“Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison
“New York” by St. Vincent
Zodiac Sign: Pisces
Member Since: 2017
We are so excited to have our final WCW of the semester be with our newly elected co-president, a position which Maddie will be taking on with our own Madie Mento! When asked about how she feels about taking on the role, Maddie said, “I’m super excited! So, freshman year when I came into Her Campus, I was like, ‘This is the club I’m going to dedicate all my time to.’ And now, I’m a rising junior, and I’m going to be the president with my best friend Madie Mento, which is super exciting and kind of surreal.” We can confidently speak for the rest of our chapter when we say we are just as excited to have these amazing boss ladies take on the position, and we absolutely cannot wait to see what amazing things they do!
Although Her Campus may be one of Maddie’s main priorities, it is not the only club on campus she actively participates in. She is also the social media chair of Zeta Phi Eta, the newly-elected Secretary of SGA and is a part of Makin’ Treble, the all-female a cappella group on campus! We firmly believe that if you have not yet had the blessing of hearing Maddie sing, then you absolutely need to go to Makin’ Treble performances next semester.
Maddie also has a sister who has Down syndrome, and she has become a huge advocate for not only her sister, but for the community as a whole. “I really think a huge part of my life is advocating for people with disabilities.” Volunteering all throughout high school, Maddie has learned a lot about herself as well as how to advocate for her sister. Maddie’s sister, Eve, is part of a group called Kiids, and Maddie explained that the group helped her and her sister make so many friends, and it was through this program that Maddie realized advocacy was something she was extremely passionate about. “I just realized so much, and that people who have disabilities are just regular people.” Maddie takes issue with and runs into the same problem that most people with disabilities, or those who have a family member with a disability, runs into, which is being treated differently for the sole reason of having a disability. “It bothers me when people say, ‘Oh, your sister has Down’s, that’s so cute.’ Like, it’s not cute, she’s just a regular person.”
Along with her amazing writing power, Maddie used this love she has for her sister and for advocacy to create a personal blog, and in one post, she wrote a personal essay about her sister and how much she has learned about herself and how to treat others. The most exciting part of the article, however, is that it was picked up by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and will be included in their Spring newsletter! “My sister having Down’s has taught me so much about my own life and about strength and what it means to be a kind person.” Maddie went on to say that she sees herself in the future possibly writing pieces for various nonprofits, and writing for the purpose of advocacy, combining her writing career with her personal life.
As aforementioned, Maddie is a member of Zeta Phi Eta, the co-ed pre-professional communications fraternity on campus, and she is definitely not afraid to dream big when it comes to her future professional life. “My dream job is to be the editor in chief of Marie Claire Magazine, but in a more realistic world, I’d like to be a beauty editor at a magazine.” Although Maddie absolutely adores writing about things pertaining to the beauty world, she’s realized early on in her college career that she really wants to write more feature pieces, human interest pieces, and she has also begun dabbling into the world of hard-hitting news stories. This summer, she is studying abroad in Rome, where she will be reporting in “the suburbs of Rome, where the residents are being affected by fascism, natural disasters, and government issues.” We absolutely cannot wait to see what kinds of stories Maddie will be writing and producing in Italy this summer!
Photo Courtesy of Maddie Merinuk
We loved getting to know Maddie more, and we hope you did too! This is our last Woman Crush Wednesday of the semester, but we’ll be back in September to get to know more of the amazing members of Her Campus Hofstra!