When Anastasia Gerrans was considering which college to attend her senior year of high school, she was confident that she wanted to go to a school that had some sort of fashion program. When the University of Washington piqued her interest, she researched its fashion programs and came up with nothing. Eager to attend UW but drawn to the world of fashion, Anastasia delved into some outside research and came across the fashion magazine, Muse at UW. Today, Anastasia is wrapping up her second year at UW and is the current executive director and editor-in-chief at Muse. Here’s how she was able to cultivate her interests outside of school while pursuing a degree at the college of her choice.
The Journey
Anastasia has been infatuated with fashion for so long that it’s difficult to pinpoint when her love for it began. She recalls insisting on picking out all of her own clothes in elementary school and onward, though she looks back on some of her old outfits and cringes (don’t we all). “High school outfits are always so bad,” Anastasia laughs, “my style was questionable until about two years ago.” But as she grew older, she realized that fashion was her main outlet for self-expression. While some people paint and others make music, Anastasia harnesses her creativity through styling clothes.
When Anastasia began her first year at UW, she was eager to get involved on campus. She explored the RSO directory, searching for anything she was remotely interested in. Since her intended major is marketing, she attended some marketing- and actuary-related events to see if anything sparked her interest. Even though few of these programs stuck with her, branching out allowed Anastasia to become more confident interacting with others and networking. Eventually, she came across Muse through the platform College Fashionista, an online community of college-aged influencers publishing fashion and beauty content online. She began working at Muse as a contributor and later worked her way up to the executive director and editor-in-chief roles.
The Takeaways
Moving forward, Anastasia sees Muse continuing to produce annual, high-quality magazines and fulfill its mission of providing community and self-expression to contributors. Her vision is to transition Muse into being more like a community than just a publication. She shares that Muse is hoping to hold some more events following the pandemic to create its desired community in a more tangible way.
Anastasia’s advice for students who want to get involved on campus is to explore the RSO directory and look into as many clubs as you can to see what you like. She stresses that students can easily start their own clubs too is they don’t find what they’re looking for in the current RSO selection. It’s typical to be nervous joining new clubs, especially as a freshman. “But everyone is in the same boat freshman year,” Anastasia stresses. Keeping that in mind, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and challenge yourself to dive into something new. And if there’s nothing out there that suits your needs: run to the drawing board and create it yourself.
For those interested in getting involved with Muse, applications will be open around the first week of the fall quarter of 2021. Muse accepts all types of artists, including writers, photographers, graphic designers, and those interested in marketing.
Get Connected
You can follow Muse @muse_uw on Instagram, where you can find links to previous issues of the magazine, its Spotify playlist, and more.