Dear Her Campus Readers,
My name is Ashley Napier, VP for Sonoma State’s chapter of Her Campus. First of all, Welcome back! Everyone here is so excited to start off another amazing school year and share our love for Her Campus with all of you!
Now, this may be cheesy, but the only way I could think of to start off the school year is to write this letter to share with all of you what Her Campus means to me.
Let’s start from the beginning. I was a freshman, 420 miles from home (no that’s not a joke, I actually live 420 miles away) with no idea what I was doing. All I knew is that I wanted to find those “forever friends” that you always see on movies and T.V. that all seem to meet in college. After weeks of smiles and small talk, I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Until one day, I had a meeting with my peer mentor and I told her that I have a passion for writing, and that’s when she told me about this. She was one of the editors and told me all about the content, the writing, the sense of community and I was instantly hooked! Every week I wrote. I wrote about current events, makeup, how stressed I was with school, I wrote about anything and everything.
My second year I became the head editor. That was the hardest year of my college life. I joined a sorority, was working part-time, was dealing with school and so much more and I became overwhelmed. I started to drop the ball on this platform, but the community here never put that pressure on me to do it all. Although I wish I could go back and change so many things about that year, I was so grateful that I had Her Campus to vent to. My articles shared my concerns, my mess ups, and what I wanted to do to redeem myself. Now, I learned how to handle and maintain my busy schedule and I am back and better than ever.
There are so many things that I have been involved in since I started school at Sonoma State, but Her Campus is the one thing that I am most proud to be a part of. Being here has inspired me to be a writer for the rest of my life, has empowered me to stand up for myself and what I believe in, to not be afraid to share my opinion. I found my sense of community, expanded my passion for writing, found an outlet where I can share my experiences and hopefully help women my age along the way through college and so much more.
That’s my little rant, schpeel, letter, whatever you want to call it. I hope each and every one of you have something in your life as special as this is to me. If not, and this seems like this is something that would interest you, we would love to have you!
Sincerely,
Ashley Napier, Her Campus Vice President