Jane Grant, the New York Times first female journalist, was a passionate writer who wrote about women’s issues, questioning public figures about their views on the status of women and interviewing women who worked in traditionally male professions.
She wrote for the New York times for 15 years and because of her and many other early women, journalists and women today are able to freely write and express themselves while producing top notch journalism.
Her Campus is one of many websites that gives college women the power to express themselves while producing professional writing.
Her Campus is run by women only and produces light and fun lifestyle like pieces. There are many targeted audiences but the main one is for college women. Some topics written about are health, love, beauty, friendship, style and much more.
“The name Her Campus comes from this empowerment that women have, not just in journalism but in life and the acceptance of being a woman in society today,” Mackenzie Harris, senior digital communications social media major and social justice minor said. “This is the main reason why Erica and I wanted to bring this to campus. We feel something like this is lacking here at Cabrini.”
Her Campus is spread all around the world but mainly has a higher population of chapters in the United States.
Her Campus has come to Cabrini College and is on the road to success. It was launched on Oct. 20, and started by senior communication major, Erica Abbott and assisted by Harris.
“I started this chapter because it gives another outlet for students to express their creative side and there are many different options to do so, such as social media, publicity, and of course writing,” Abbott said. “I believe it is a great outlet for writers that want to get their work out there. It already has gotten to a great start and we are all really excited to make this a big thing on campus.”
The process for being able to have Her Campus on your campus is quite extensive.
“We were not originally accepted by the national Her Campus Board,” Harris said. “Erica and I did not take no for an answer and worked extremely hard to ensure we were going to [receive confirmation of acceptance] from the national board. With getting signatures and sending in pieces of writing for approval, it was a hard process but very rewarding with all the support we had from those students that were interested.”
“It took us a lot of time to come up with the blog ideas and being put in the interview setting was very interesting but my experience so far has been great and everything I expected,” Abbott said.
When launching this new platform, Erica and Mackenzie had to choose strong editors and writers to get the ball rolling. They have a few stories posted and new and upcoming ideas that are in the process.
For those who have not seen the website yet, a spoiler would be that there is a Her Campus Cutie, Celebrity and Features being posted daily.
“We chose the first few writers due to their experience with our Loquitur college paper and we know how strong they are,” Abbott said. “There are only about twelve stories on our website but there is much more to come.”
“Being a part of the Her Campus writing staff is amazing because with previously being an editor, I missed writing for the Loquitur,” senior communication major and Spanish minor, Jessica Paradysz said. “This is something I will enjoy doing because I love the topics that Her Campus centers themselves around and that I can be creative and put my own spin on it.”
With Her Campus becoming a club on the Cabrini College campus there needs to be an adviser that is over-seeing the club.
“I am so excited to be the advisor but I really am leaving this in their hands,” Jill Smith, HerCampus adviser and manager of student operations, said. “I want them to feel like this is their piece and their creation. They know what they need to do and I am supporting them no matter what.”
Smith feels this is a great opportunity for the female population to have their voice be heard and promoting positivity, friendship, female empowerment is always a great asset to any college.
There has only been one Her Campus meeting and a launch party at Cabrini so it is still up and coming for the campus.
Abbott and Harris want to bring as many people as they can to join this new news platform and grow.
“I really wasn’t expecting a big turnout in people to come to our launch party,” Harris said. “The fact that a ton of people continue to email me about applying and being apart of this excites Erica and I. It just shows how well our campus comes together to make something happen. If anyone else was interested they can email me at mackenzieharris@hercampus.org.”
“We are looking for people to send us emails about why they want to write for Her Campus and why is this so important to you. There are no wrong answers here, we really are interested in what students are thinking,” Abbott said.
