Meet this week’s Campus Celebrity, Alexandra LaRosa ’14! You may have seen Alex organizing social awareness events on/off campus, or encouraging women to love their bodies no matter what other people tell them (or maybe even both!).
What activities are you involved in on-campus?
I work as a Project Manager at the Office of Community Engagement. I really love my job! I get to help organize events like MLK Day of Service, Social Action Week, and Incarceration Awareness Week! I’m also on leadership for Nia Akoma, a group for women of the African diaspora, and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.
I am site leader for Adopt a Block at the Los Angeles Dream Center. Adopt a Block is a weekly outreach where hundreds of volunteers reach out to over 135 different blocks in LA by cleaning homes, painting over graffiti, giving out food and clothes, organizing games for the children and visit with the elderly. It’s been a really rewarding experience! I’ve been going to my site for over 2 years and I’ve built so many great relationships! I also spend some of my free time working as a model!
Why did you choose to attend Oxy?
I knew I had to go to a school in Los Angeles. This city has my heart! I also really liked the small class sizes! The beautiful campus and the financial aid package helped also, haha!
So many. I would say that racism is the issue that I am most passionate about because it plays such a huge part in so many social injustices. When we look at poverty, the prison industrial complex, access to good education and healthcare, and police brutality, people of color are overwhelmingly and unfairly disadvantaged. I am also really passionate about changing society’s understanding of beauty. So many men and women look at magazine covers and fashion editorials and believe that they must look a very specific way to be considered beautiful. I want people to refuse to hold themselves to an impossible (literally because of photo-shopping and airbrushing) standard and instead learn to love themselves where they are at! I love when people of all sizes, shapes, and colors love themselves! It’s so refreshing!
How did you get into modeling?
Most people don’t realize this, but plus size women have to buy a lot of their clothes online. Shopping in a actual store is a lot more limiting because there are only a few plus size companies that have physical stores. I started shopping online in high school and I remember thinking that it would be so cool to be one of the models on the site. A year or so later, I was telling my friends that I love to do that and some guy basically told me that I couldn’t. The next day I did some research and found out how to submit my photos to Torrid Clothing Company. I ended up emailing all of my information and some photos off of facebook to Torrid management. A few months later, I got an email asking me to go in for a go-see (kinda like a model interview) and a few weeks after that I had booked my first photoshoot! That was in 2009! A few years later and I’m still loving it!
Who are your role models? Who in your life inspires you the most?
My mom is definitely one of them! She is one of the most hardworking and selfless people I know! Some of my other role models are Angela Davis, Dean Ella Turenne, Plus Model Tess Munster, and Beyonce. Each of these women are powerful, passionate, and living with a purpose. They are confident women who genuinely love themselves and others well. They inspire me to go after my dreams and not let anyone stop me from doing what I want to do!
What advice would you give to first-years who are aspiring to be leaders on campus?
I encourage everyone to find something that you are passionate about and go after it! In that process you will discover just how much you are capable of when your heart is attached to something! I would also encourage aspiring leaders to find people on campus who share similar passions! Community is so important! :)