Gabby Bird Vogel (Jonathan Edwards, 2015) is the president of Kappa Alpha Theta’s Epsilon Tau chapter and a member of the Yale Women’s Volleyball team. Read more to hear about Gabby’s activities, time management, and more!
Name: Gabrielle Bird-Vogel
College and Year: Jonathan Edwards, 2015
Major: Economics
Hometown: Mercer Island, WA
HC: What extracurricular activities do you do at Yale?
GBV: My freshman year I was pretty involved in a subgroup of YSEC, Think Outside the Bottle, which aimed to change the way we think about tap versus bottled water. It supported a few alternatives to bottled water such as our “Hydration Station” in the aim to bring a more sustainable Yale. Our goals were to educate the benefits of tap over bottled water and point out some flagrant contradictions such as Yale’s own brand of bottled water in our culture of sustainability. Unfortunately, our group no longer exists, but hopefully others are working towards a ban on bottled water. My biggest time commitments have been with the Yale Varsity Volleyball team and Kappa Alpha Theta. I played on the varsity women’s volleyball team my freshman, sophomore, junior years as an outside hitter
Over my four years I have served on the nomination committee, membership development committee, I was COO, and (since December 2013) have been serving as President.
HC: Tell us more about being the president of a sorority.
GBV: It can be a bit stressful. When I was COO (December 2012-December 2013) of Theta, I oversaw all planning for social events, sisterhood events, membership development (standards committee and recognition), as well as implementing risk management protocol for the chapter. I definitely did more task-oriented planning, making schedules, and basically anything else that comes up—it was a crazy job but really prepared me to take on the challenges of being president. This past year has been less about tasks—although I am always making to-do lists—and more about accountability and responsibility. To be honest, being the president of an organization is stressful because when anything happens to the organization, good or bad, it is a direct reflection of your job. Most of my work consists of making goals and planning schedules for Theta, working with our national advisors, working with the Yale administration or Yale police on topics such as alcohol policy or Greek Life on campus, and answering a lot of questions from our officers. Being president requires that you do have full knowledge of all of the workings of the chapter, having a hand in planning everything, but also knowing what will feasibly work with the chapter and national’s standards. Although this can all be really hectic and stressful, being president requires that you do develop relationships with all members. In the spring we have about 140-150 members; I am so proud to have had the privilege to represent and consider these women my friends. I really am amazed by the diverse accomplishments and leadership positions they hold outside of Theta. I love to be so involved in the chapter that I do get to develop relationships with women I would not have met otherwise on campus—it has been especially rewarding to develop strong relationships with our newest pledge class (spring 2014) and stay involved with younger students at Yale. You can check out more theta at www.yaletheta.com.
HC: Do you plan to continue being involved with Theta after graduation?
GBV: Ha, not in a formal sense—at least for a while. Regardless, I will informally be involved with Theta as my best friends from Yale are in the organization as well as my older sister and several of my closest high school friends. It is such an amazing network of women that does offer many resources after college. I may want to attend Theta convention in two years or help with a chapter, but I do not see myself being an advisor or education consultant any time in the immediate future. I have become particularly close with the women on our facility board, based in Fairfield County, and I could see myself involved in a chapter’s operations after I am established in my career.
HC: Tell us more about Yale Women’s Volleyball.
GBV: Yale Women’s Volleyball has been such an amazing experience and a family for me at Yale. I am unable to play, which is pretty upsetting, thanks to my knees. We are a small team, especially compared to some schools that carry large rosters, but have accomplished amazing things. My proudest moments have been winning the Ivy Championships and competing in the NCAA DI Volleyball Tournament in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Our class of 2014 actually won the league all four years. Volleyball is such hard work, but there is an understanding between the players and our coaches to take everything day-by-day, match-by-match. Working your hardest in the moment, while keeping an end goal in mind but not center, has clearly paid off. The energy on the team is unparalleled: we all genuinely counted each other as sisters and hold each other accountable to be our best. I am quite sad to not play this year, but still attend games, check up on the other teams and our stats, and consider the team and our coaches as my family on campus.
HC: Is it hard to manage your time between the two?
GBV: This fall, I have a very different schedule than the past—ha—when I was juggling the two, I’m not going to say it was easy, but it was rewarding. I really enjoy being busy and multitasking—I like to think that a busier schedule pushes me to be better. Since I am not playing volleyball this fall, I have been staying busy by taking up painting and music lessons again (my painting skills are pretty sub-par, but they are a work in progress). At times, I do run myself into a wall and realize that there are not 40 hours in a day, but again I have fun staying busy in the commitments and relationships I care about.
HC: Do you have any time managing tips for others with big extracurricular commitments?
GBV: This sounds so trivial, but use a planner. I write everything down, usually with time stamps, so I know where I need to be and when I am completing my tasks. When I don’t and simply make mental notes, I tend to forget the details or get lazy. There is something really satisfying about crossing things off of a list. At the same time, it is really necessary to relax—sleep is necessary (my roommates will laugh at this). Also, taking time to sit down and just talk with your friends about each others’ well being and state can be so energizing: it really is a reset so you are not thinking about the “next thing you need to do” 24/7 and allow others to offload—I mean, we are at Yale so by virtue everyone is crazy busy—is very cathartic. Back to your commitments, I keep harping on “holding yourself and others accountable”, making lists but also checking up on the other leaders in your groups is vital to execution and success.
HC: Do you know what your plan for next year is?
GBV: I have not set anything in stone, so I am still undecided where in the world I will be, but most likely in New York or LA. This past summer, I worked at both a production company as well as a talent agency in Los Angeles. I know that I want to pursue a career in the Entertainment Industry; I want to be an agent. I love being around creative people and I want to execute deals to help develop their careers. Right now I think that I want to be an agent in commercials or maybe in digital. Entertainment, especially at the agencies and management companies, are fast paced, competitive, and constantly working with people—at least I think suitable to my skills and personality. Next year, it is pretty safe to say I will be in the mailroom starting to work my way up.