Jen Russo is a SUNY Old Westbury student currently keeping busy with four classes and an internship, all the while “crying on the inside – but it’s so worth it”, she promises. When she isn’t at school or interning at Planned Parenthood, she raps to Kendrick Lamar’s album “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City.” “Just the way he tells a story- it gets me so bad,” she said.
Her passions do not stop here! Jen’s recently attained internship at Planned Parenthood has proven to be extremely rewarding and exactly where she needs to be at this time in her life. One day in class, they were talking about what to do “if you really want to get your s#!t together, if you really want to do things with your life,” she recalls. This immediately made her anxious. She asked herself “what really tickles my fancy?” The answer? “Activism: women’s rights and reproductive justice!” What’s cooler than that? “I get really fiery about it,” she laughs.
The first time Jen stepped into Planned Parenthood, she felt it was a “great place to be” and she found that everyone was young, like-minded, and shared her love of sarcasm and “SpongeBob humor.” One lesson she learned from her internship is the importance of intersectionality. “If you want to plan a family – or don’t want to plan a family – it all has to do with so many different things.” With this she includes where you come from, your job, and simply where you are in your life. She mentioned that this includes men and she has also met great and knowledgeable guys through Planned Parenthood!
It makes Jen “unbelievably sad” to hear about efforts to defund Planned Parenthood but she remains confidently positive in light of president-elect Donald Trump. “There’s no way they’re going to stop it. The movement is not just going to stop.” Jen applauds President Obama’s efforts to protect PP.
She praises the organization for bringing attention to a variety of different issues and for getting people “talking and thinking.”
In that regard, Jen is pretty similar to Planned Parenthood. When asked what she loves about herself, Jen says “I have a lot of energy and I like to think it’s infectious.” It surely is; Jen’s boisterous laugh rattles her petite frame and her red hair is as bright and fiery as her passions. She said her energy “gets people talking and moving” and she is not timid in sharing her opinions. She recently heard a quote that she liked from a feminist speaker: “White supremacy doesn’t just affect people of color.” Jen said, “really awesome thing to hear” and she immediately wrote it down in her “Book of Wonders.” “I write stuff down all the time,” she remarks as she flips through the pages filled with notes and doodles.
Seeking a career in media and social marketing, Jen says she “just wants to be successful” to quote Drake. Social justice, however, will always be a part of her life, she concluded with, “it is so important to me.”