This week’s campus celebrity is a former graduate, athlete and lobbying feminist: Mary Lee Mahony. Besides her love for watermelon and her desire to become the face for Women’s Advocacy around the world, we wanted to see what Mary Lee was up to post-graduation!
1. How has post-graduate life treated you thus far? Post-grad life has been very exciting, but I urge Stonehill students not to be in a rush to graduate. I took a chance by moving to DC and it has been incredibly rewarding, but I miss my friends from Stonehill. While being so far from my friends has been tough, I will say that taking this risk has absolutely been worth it.
2. What do you miss most about Stonehill? My friends, professors, and the women’s lax team. Lately, I’ve especially been missing our bus rides to away games. Those bus rides gave me a chance to see who on our team had terrible taste in movies and who could not sit still or stay silent for more than 4 seconds. I’m just realizing now how much I miss them and never thought I would give them a second thought. Lots of important things were discussed and decided on those bus rides.
3. Can you explain what you do for work? I am a content editor for PBS KIDS. I write descriptions for video assets and help with updating the PBS KIDS video library system by uploading, modifying, and scheduling clips and episodes. I also manage videos for the PBS KIDS YouTube channel. I have been an avid fan of PBS my entire life and still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I am working for them. I grew up watching Sesame Street, Arthur, and several other PBS KIDS programs, so I’m honored to be a part of their team. I also write the column “MsRepresentation” for the Women’s Campaign Fund on the weekends. I completed my fellowship with WCF last month, but took this project on because I love covering news on women in politics.
4. We hear Hillary Clinton is one of your idols, how excited are you that she decided to run for prez? Yes, Hillary Clinton is one of my idols. When she announced that she was running for President, I was on the DC metro and started crying happy tears. Kids can’t be what they can’t see, so when we have a women president in 2016, I think a lot of young women in America and abroad will realize what they are capable of. Clinton is a champion for women and families and I think she’ll make for an outstanding president.
5. Have you picked up any hobbies since graduation? If by “hobbies” you mean television shows, then yes. Empire, Broad City, True Detective, Scandal, House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and so on. Also, most of the museums in DC are free, so I’ve spent a great deal of time just wandering around them.
6. Is there any particular professor that you miss most and why? So many. Professor Boyle was such a great teacher because she always gave excellent feedback. Professor Mbure was also excellent. I especially liked how a lot of our conversations were about feminism and Beyoncé, which are two things I could talk about endlessly. Also, I never knew how interested I was in foreign policy and political science until I took a class with Professor Buckman. Finally, Professor Leone because he knew so much about film and Angela Paradise because she was a wonderful adviser and also a fan of PBS.
7. When are you planning to grace this campus with your presence? Hopefully very, very soon.