In a society where women are often rewarded for violent and promiscuous behavior, Tiffany Spraggins is uncompromising in who she is. A soft-spoken young woman with a childlike face, Tiffany may not look all of her 26 years at first glance. After a single conversation with the senior Broadcast Telecommunications and Mass Media major, however, you at least realize that her maturity level far surpasses that of the average college student.
“It’s just my personality,” says Spraggins matter-of-factly. “I’ve never made decisions based on the popular choice.”
And it’s exactly this self-realization that fuels her show “Waiting to Become Her” on Temple’s own student-run radio WHIP. The show reaches out to women of all ages, races, and creeds by addressing topics relevant to what every woman goes through in today’s day and age.
The show is new to the air, but Tiffany had prior experience with WHIP before it was ever even an option. In the fall she worked as the Digital Media Specialist for the station, listening to all the shows and lending a hand in providing the hosts with constructive criticism. She was also informally the person who people came to with problems.
Upon noticing how much she uplifted those who crossed her path, WHIP’s Programming Manager, Jaclyn Soto encouraged her to come up with her own show. Although she was nervous, she spent her winter break pondering what her show would be. A very reflective individual, Tiffany found her answer one day when she realized she wasn’t sure who she was going to be, but that whoever it was, she would simply wait to become her.
Now she uses her show to empower ladies by showcasing everyday women and exposing the extraordinary things they accomplish. She sits down with a different guest each week and talks to them about life to the neo-soul and gospel tunes that serve as the soundtrack to her message that it’s okay not to know who you are because everything that you are going through in the waiting process to self-discovery is building up to who you’re going to be.
And Tiffany certainly is the person to listen to. The hard-working student comes from a driven family headed by an altruistic matriarch where she serves as the eldest of seven. She has also been putting herself through college for the past eight years. Although drinking, partying, and (ahem) other things are seemingly inevitably prevalent in the college community, Tiffany has been able to steer clear of all these temptations all this time just by having a strong sense of who she is, what her values are and living by them.
Tiffany is representative of the message women should be receiving: it’s okay to be your unique self, whether or not it contradicts with what society tells you you have to be. That’s the only time you can find out who you really are and the standards that you set for yourself. And once a woman knows her true value, she never falls below it.
For more Tiffany, check out her show, “Waiting to Become Her” on WHIP Radio Wednesdays at 11am: http://whipradiotu.com/