Our Member of the Month has always been a go-getter; a team player. She’s the girl who has the answers to anything, and when she doesn’t she invents it. This month we would like to acknowledge our lovely Manu Garikipati, freshman business major from Dallas, Texas.
Her Campus Texas A&M: Manu, what do you do for Her Campus?
Manu Garikipati: I am a Chapter Advisor for Her Campus Nationals, so I make sure that six universities in the United states are meeting their chapter’s content upload and social media requirements. For Her Campus TAMU specifically, I do a lot of things! I am really into graphic design so I design banners, flyers, icons and whatever else needs to be done.
HC TAMU: What challenges have you encountered recently?
Garikipati: Time management is my biggest challenge right now. I find that I want to do so many things these next four years, but I still need to figure out how I can do those things without totally annihilating my GPA. However, I do think wanting to do a lot is better than not wanting to do anything, so I manage.
HC TAMU: What do you hope to get out of this experience?
Garikipati: At the end of the day, I just want to have fun and do the things I love. I adore how everyone at Her Campus has a very chill yet responsible mindset and that is exactly the kind of environment that I want to be in.
HC TAMU: You’ve been in college for one semester now, and in one semester a lot can happen. What’s changed for you?
Garikipati: A lot. I honestly do not even remember the person I was just a year ago. A single semester taught me so much and forced me to really get my life together. So many people say you go to college to get an education, but I can already see that it is so much more than that. During my senior year of high school, I was not in the best place emotionally. I had no motivation, I hated the things I used to love and I had to just keep telling myself, “it’s okay, college is right around the corner. You just have to get through this year and everything will get better.” And this proved to be true. The freedom and independence brought out a new mindset in me and I truly believe I can accomplish anything I want and I have peers and mentors who would love to help me along the way. It’s a great feeling and I want every person to feel this way.
HC TAMU: What’s something you’ve learned that should’ve been taught in school?
Garikipati: I learned that independence is okay. As a woman (and a teenager) I always thought that I needed someone else to complete me and the culture we grow up with encourages that. I would not give up my experiences for anything, but I wish I was taught that it is okay to want to be alone. In fact, it is great to want to love, nourish and put yourself first.
HC TAMU: We know you as someone who’s diligent and reliable. How would your best friends describe you?
Garikipati: Weird. I’m quite an odd soul and sometimes I can’t help but feel bad for my friends because they have to deal with my antics. But then again, they’re crazy too.
HC TAMU: If your life was a book, what would you want the reader to get out of it?
Garikipati: If there is one word that describes me, it is ambitious. If I have a personal goal in mind, I will not be happy with achieving it if I did not also achieve three other goals simultaneously. The story of my life is overworking myself and committing to too many things because I have mad fomo. I would want the reader to realize that they too can achieve everything they want on top of everything that they are told to achieve.
HC TAMU: What are three things you love about yourself?
Garikipati: My creativity, my ability to hide my terror in social situations—I am very introverted but sometimes, just sometimes, people can’t tell—and this might be cheating, but my family and friends. They are a big part of who I am today and I am so thankful for them.
HC TAMU: Lastly, if you could advise someone with just one quote, which one would it be?
Garikipati: “Hold on, I’ve got to overthink about it.”