Ten years from now, when she’s working for Vogue, make sure to call her Ashlee Winters, not Anna Wintour.
She’s a sophomore at the University of North Texas, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and minoring in English and Social Sciences. When asked what’s after graduation, she replied, “There are two paths I can see my career going in – working in advertising or writing for a magazine. [Although] I [only] just recently developed an interest in advertising, it’s definitely something I can see myself doing [in the future]. I’ve always wanted to write for a magazine though, and maybe even work my way up to editor one day. Either way, I just want to pursue journalism and be in a position where I can create something and express my ideas.”
Writing for her is an outlet; she needs a place to “let her thoughts run wild”, that’s why she joined Her Campus. Her Campus is a huge network organization that “provides a safe space where women empower each other and aren’t judged, it provides an opportunity for girls to get their ideas out there and have their achievements recognized.” According to Ashlee, the best part about Her Campus is it allows her the freedom to “write more of what [she] want[s] to write about, and [she] especially [loves] that it focuses on empowering women.” In fact, most of Ashlee’s articles are centered around “topics that are very relevant to college students and women in general, especially in today’s society”. She writes about “a range of topics [from something] as simple as study tips [to] as serious as women’s rights.” She’s best at “writing stories that people find relevant and feel they can relate to because [she] feel[s] that these kinds of stories have been some of [her] strongest work and received the best feedback.” Being in Her Campus has “introduced [her] to a whole group of girls who are just really focused on supporting each other and empowering other women, and it’s taught [her] that [she] shouldn’t be afraid to hold anything back in [her] writing.” When asked what motivates her to go above and beyond in the org she stated, “I want to get the word out about Her Campus because I had never heard about it until recently, and I feel it’s a great organization for [women] to join. I also just want to gain as much writing experience as possible, so getting ahead in this organization is a great way for me to get my name out there.”
She defines her biggest achievement in Her Campus as her very own member spotlight, “I’m so used to being the one writing about other people, so it’s interesting to be on the other side of a story for once.” When asked what made her want to become a writer/blogger in the first place she responded “I’ve always loved to write, even when I was a kid. For the longest time, I wanted to be an author, but then I took a journalism class my freshman year of high school, and I just fell in love with the field. I started writing for the school newspaper and it made me realize that this was what I wanted to do professionally. I just loved being able to write about stories people would find interesting and newsworthy, and I liked the range of topics that was available for me to cover.” What sets her articles apart from other articles featured on the UNT Her Campus website is “some of [her] articles are about things that really need to be talked about but aren’t.” For example, the pieces she did on “overtly sexualized Halloween costumes and the lack of strong female roles in television shows.” Overall, her articles are just things that college students, especially women, need to be aware of and she wants them to feel like their voices are being heard.
…Once again, it’s Ashlee Winters, not Anna Wintour.