On Tuesday April 21, 2015, SafeRide’s hosted “The Maddys”, a satirical beauty pageant that featured organizations across campus. The winners were Katie Sarah Fitzgerald and Courtney Brown of JMU’s Bare Naked Ladies. Here’s a little bit about the club’s president, Katie.
Year: SeniorMajor: PsychologyFavorite hobby: Sketching (while drinking coffee) and watching cat videos
If you could eat with any celeb or historical figure, who would it be? Karlie Kloss, absolutely. Karlie is an excellent representation of some of BNL’s ideals. Yes, she’s a Victoria’s Secret model who doubles as Taylor Swift’s best friend, but she also owns her own line of cookies (Karlie’s Kookies) that she sells for proceeds to benefit hungry children through FEED Projects, she partnered with Flatiron School for a scholarship program that awards girls across the country free tuition to a Software Engineering course, and did I mention she’s leaving VS to finish her schooling at NYU? Every time I see her she’s growing personally or in philanthropy. Inward and outward beauty are not reliant on one another and Karlie’s a great example of that.
What is your favorite thing about Bare Naked Ladies?It’s the way it makes me feel. We all have the opportunity to be empowered. To feel confident, beautiful, and loved for just existing as we are. But sometimes that can be a really difficult feeling to find. This organization gives it to me all the time, especially through loving and accepting other people.
What does winning The Maddys mean to you? BNL taking the win at the Maddys is absolutely huge for us. We are a very young, very small organization on campus and each semester we grow a little more. We weren’t expecting to even place in the event because the winners were based on voting (so higher member attendance at the event meant higher chances of winning)—that’s not to say our amazing little group of girls weren’t there to support us the entire way—but honestly we were just happy to be participating in the event at all. The fact that we were able to pull first place I think speaks to just how powerful our mission really is. The things we want to spread around campus and in the community—acceptance, courage, love, positivity—they’re all values at the heart of JMU. We’re hoping that the Maddys will help us get our name out there even more so that we can spread these principles even further, one girl at a time.