By Lucy Ruscitto | Staff Writer
Her Campus, an online magazine geared towards women, came to Baylor this fall as part of a worldwide publication. Her Campus began in 2008, when three women from Harvard pitched their lifestyle online magazine at the school’s business plan competition.
Her Campus has around 300 to 400 other chapters both national and worldwide, and Baylor was just recently added to this list. A student can bring a chapter to their campus by becoming the “Campus Correspondent.”
McKinney junior Chantal Canales said Baylor’s chapter of Her Campus began after she brought the online magazine to campus. According to the Her Campus website, Her Campus Media is the “#1 media portfolio for college and GenZennial women.”
Canales said Baylor Her Campus posts articles featuring topics like friendship, relationship advice, book and movie reviews, wellness and lifestyle articles — all geared toward the female population at Baylor.
“Everything that we write and do is for women empowerment,” Canales said. “I think it’s a big thing to have here at Baylor just because it’s been an unspoken voice for a very long time. We have a lot to say.”
Canales said that since her junior year of high school, she had dreamed of bringing Her Campus to whatever college she would eventually attend. The addition of Her Campus completed her years-long goal, and Canales soon became president of the organization.
“My freshman and sophomore year, I had a lot of self-doubt in my mind about my skills and how I could lead a chapter here,” Canales said. “But this [past] summer, I decided to send out a Facebook message, asking people what they thought about this idea and who was interested in joining. The feedback was phenomenal.”
Waco freshman Saphiana Zamora said she found out about Her Campus recruitment through Canales’ post. Zamora is now a member of the marketing team at Baylor’s Her Campus chapter.
“I specifically work with designing merchandise or stickers,” Zamora said. “I do a lot of logo work and help make the image of HC available and digestible to everyone learning about us.”
Within Baylor Her Campus, five leadership teams exist: the marketing team, the editorial team, the event planning team, the social media team and the “Her Time” team, the group that plans for “Her Time,” an upcoming event hosted by the organization.
“This is basically a large conference for female empowerment,” Zamora said. “We will have plenty of successful women come, tell their stories and offer advice and mentoring.”
Canales said they have specifically planned to have women from male-dominated fields attend and speak at the event to encourage Baylor women to believe they can do anything they want.
Canales said she is currently attempting to make the chapter an official university organization, and is going through the application process with Baylor Student Activities.
Baylor Her Campus is still recruiting more new members, and Canales said the process is simple, just a “get-to-know-you-style” application, where applicants identify their intentions and what team they would like join.
“You don’t have to be an English or journalism major. We have a variety of people on the team,” Canales said. “We have about 20 members and I love each and every one so dearly. They put such enthusiasm and passion in too.”
Canales said Her Campus is unique at Baylor because it is the first of its kind— a media source for college women.
“Her Campus is a voice that is unlike any other publication on campus,” Canales said. “It definitely allows [girls] to speak their mind about issues that are very meaningful to them.”
Zamora said she wants to continue to emphasize the positive experience she has gained and believes others will gain by being a Her Campus member.
“No matter how far we’ve come as a gender on campus, I think it’s important we have an opportunity like HC to always be available for girls to voice their concerns, excitements, dreams, etcetera,” Zamora said. “Because female empowerment is the best way to ensure a strong tomorrow.”
