A couple of weeks ago, Her Campus Nottingham, UoN Fashion Society and CoppaFeel! hosted The Vintage Show at Lacehouse that displayed a range of collections from day wear to outer wear! All proceeds of the event went to CoppaFeel!, a breast cancer awareness charity that encourages women to check their breasts on a regular basis so that early signs and symptoms of breast can be detected. Emily Reay, a second year French and Contemporary Chinese Studies student, is this year’s team leader of CoppaFeel! at the Univesity of Nottingham.
Why did you choose CoppaFeel! as the organisation to get involved in?
The main reason was really the charity itself. It’s just really fun and I really believe in what they’re doing. The role itself is also really fun.
Give us a brief description of what your role entails.
It’s kind of split into two roles really. So, a part of it is spreading the word on what they’re trying to do, so getting girls and boys to check their breasts regularly. The other part is the fundraising for CoppaFeel! We have this text service that we do to raise awareness and raise money.
What is or has been the best part about being involved with CoppaFeel?
Talking to individuals is actually a great part of being involved, especially during the Fresher’s Fair. We had a lot of people coming and telling us their story of how breast cancer has effected their lives and regular check-ups helped catch it in its early stages. Whether it was their mothers, sister or aunts, a lot of people had a story about it. So, it was nice to hear those stories and know that we’re making a difference.
What has been the most memorable moment you’ve had working with CoppaFeel?
Probably after Fresher’s Fair when we saw how many people had signed up for the texts. It was the first time that we got together as a team as well. Seeing just how many people we were able to, I guess, reach was amazing! We’d spoken to so many people and seeing the result and knowing that they listened to what we had to say was definitely a memorable moment.
Tell us about some of the events that CoppaFeel are hosting that we can look forward to.
We haven’t really got much planned from now on because exams are coming up. But we have just found our new team leader for next year and we know that “boob ball” tournaments will definitely be happening. This year, we’ve started this thing in Nottingham, where on Wednesdays we wear pink on our socials. So we’ve worked with sports teams and doing “boob” activities before their nights out. They were really fun and so we’re hoping to work with more societies with that next year!
A bit like Mean Girls then when you wear pink on Wednesdays!
Yeah, definitely!
How do you think this experience will help you in the future?
It already has to be honest! It’s the first thing that I talk about when I’m going about job interviews. Being a leader, I suppose, looks great on a CV but it’s a different sort of work as well, so it made me look at “work” in a new way.
How can we get involved?
Well next year will be the next chance. The team will be at Fresher’s Fair so there’ll be the opportunity to sign up then but also that’s where they recruit the team. So, speak to us at Fresher’s Fair and get involved because it is a really fun thing to do! Otherwise, just look out for our events!
Quickfire round:
Night in or night out? Night out.
Ocean yay or nay? Yay.
What did you wanna be when you were five years old? Fashion Designer.
Fun fact about yourself, personal claim to fame or special talent? I write songs and do gigs around Nottingham, I suppose that counts as a talent?
Yeah of course it does! What kind of songs or like genre do you write? Quite folk-y type of music.
Main course or dessert? Main Course.
Ultimate karaoke song? Total Eclipse of the Heart.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be? To fly.
Snog-Marry-Avoid: Borat, Justin Bieber and David Cameron. Oh, that’s so hard! I’d have to avoid Borat. I think I’ll have to snog David Cameron and marry Justin Bieber.