Picture this: It’s 7 pm on a hot summer night. You have a growing pimple on your chin. It’s bulbous and ugly, and you are supposed to take cute Instagram pictures the next night with your besties. What else could you do but look up quick pimple fixes?
That’s exactly how I stumbled onto hercampus.com, an online magazine, earlier this year. I had to admit, beyond the satisfactory pimple advice (I was able to effectively cover up the pimple that next day thanks to the advice from Her Campus), I was incredibly intrigued. This magazine was entirely written by young college womxn like me, and the articles ranged topics from study tips to politics. It seemed to be such a safe and inviting place where womxn could freely express their thoughts and I immediately felt the desire to join the chapter for UCSC.
There was only one, itsy-bitsy, tiny problem. The last time someone participated in the UCSC Her Campus chapter was in 2015, meaning there was absolutely no chance of me joining the UCSC chapter of Her Campus. Or so I thought. I had texted my friends, Alexa and Briana, about my discovery and they both seemed so excited about a club that had triggered a latent desire for such a womxn-friendly environment. On a whim, I suggested that we restart the Her Campus chapter at UCSC. To my deepest surprise, they both jumped at the idea.
Quite suddenly, Alexa and I were submitting an application to restart the club at UCSC and the ball just kept rolling. A few weeks later we had an interview, and then just a few days after that we were completing our onboarding process. Though this process took us the better part of four months, it felt like it had gone so quickly. Before I knew it, Alexa and I were hosting our very first meeting.
I don’t think I’ve ever had something fulfill me as deeply as this. Providing a safe, loving, gentle space where women, non-binary people, femmes, and other feminists could write their truest thoughts without filtration warms my soul. It’s been my greatest honor to restart the Her Campus chapter at UCSC and I hope that it only continues to grow after Alexa and I graduate and pass Her Campus at UCSC on to the next cohort.