Try @ TXST

- Hi, my name is Emily Davey, and you're listening to "Try @ TXST." Today, we talked to "Her Campus," the editor-in-chief, Piscis Martinez, about the all-female ran magazine here at Texas State, "Her Campus," and how they brought the Olivia Rodrigo "GUTS" Tour bus here to Texas State. Let's get into it. Piscis, how are you doing today?

- I'm good. Thank you so much for having me.

- Of course, of course. So, could you please introduce yourself and say your role in "Her Campus"?

- Yes, so, my name's Piscis Martinez. I'm a senior here at Texas State. I'm majoring in public relations and double minoring in human resource development and training, as well as comm studies. And I've been the editor-in-chief for now two semesters. This will be my second semester. And I've been with "Her Campus" since my freshman year, so it's gonna be my third year with "Her Campus."

- Awesome, yeah. Okay, so for someone who hasn't heard of "Her Campus" before, what would you say this organization is about, and what do y'all do?

- Yeah, so, "Her Campus" is a national organization. It's the number one online magazine for college students by college students. It's a group of women who come together to write, and "Her Campus" allows us to write about basically anything. That could be current events, politics, opinion pieces, and things. But at "Her Campus" here at Texas State, we're made up of four teams. We have a social media team, our marketing team, events team, and of course, our writers. And we all come together as a community of women, you know, really promoting "Her Campus."

- That's awesome, so it's a female-run magazine?

- Yes.

- Wait, that's awesome.

- Yeah.

- Okay, so could you tell me a little bit about your story and kind of how you got involved with "Her Campus" in the first place?

- Yeah.

- How did you hear about it?

- Like most people, I saw "Her Campus" on Instagram, and I was just a measly little freshman who wanted to, like, join somewhere. And I really liked writing in high school and things. And so, I saw "Her Campus," and I really fell in love with it. I went to the Org Fair and things and really liked the people that were there, especially the editor-in-chief at the time, AnaBelle Elliot. She's such, like, a wonderful person and she really encouraged me to apply and things. I was able to get in, and I started as a writer. And then soon after, the semester after, I became our section editor. We have an advise column called "Ask Her," and I was the first editor there. And then the following semester, I turned senior editor, so really been, you know, in all the roles. And then the following semester, I was able to be editor in chief, and now that's me.

- Yeah, that's awesome.

- [Piscis] Yeah.

- So, a typical semester, what does it usually look like for "Her Campus"?

- Yeah, so usually, you know, we have applications come in at beginning of semester. We'll have an interest meeting, and we'll go to Org Fair every semester, and we'll do some tabling here and there. And then from there, we have our new members come in, our returning members, and we start working as soon as we can. We start publishing articles and writing them. And then we usually have an event, like, first thing. "Her Campus" allows us to work with a lot of brands for PR, and it's really cool. You know, we've worked with Valentino, Laneige, just brands like that that really, you know, call to college women. And from there, you know, we plan an event. We host it. We have Texas State students come in.

- So wait, talking about the brands, is there a particular brand that y'all have worked with that's been, like, your personal favorite?

- My personal favorite has been the Olivia Rodrigo "GUTS" tour bus. That came with a makeup brand. I'm not totally sure what brand it was, but that was a super cool thing that we did. We brought the "GUTS" tour bus on campus. It was on the Quad.

- Wait-

- This happened, like, two years ago.

- That was "Her Campus"?

- Yes, that was us.

- That's awesome.

- Yeah, so that was really cool. We got to work with them, and you know, really, I don't know, it felt so professional, like, you know, talking to the people from the brand and Olivia Rodrigo's, you know, people. And yeah, so that was "Her Campus," and we were able to give a lot of freebies to a lot of the students and things like that. so it was great.

- Okay, wait, so just about, like, the Olivia Rodrigo, like, collab, how long did it take y'all to kind of reach out to them and then finally get that on campus?

- Yeah, so "Her Campus" does all the reaching out almost. So they reached out to us. They were like, "We're interested in bringing the tour bus onto Texas State." And I think it took around, like, two months of planning, but we also did the collaboration with the School of Journalism. So it was a lot of that of, like, going back and forth and, you know, really finding the perfect spot, the perfect day. And yeah, then we were able to make it true.

- Man, that was awesome.

- It was so cool.

- I saw that all over social media.

- Uh-huh. All right, so on y'all's website, y'all divide the articles into culture, style, wellness, life, and career. Do you have a personal favorite you've written for or a certain article that stuck with you?

- I think one of the last articles that I wrote, it was about the "Vogue" article called "Is Having a Boyfriend Embarrassing?" And I kind of did, like, my take on that and like, what I thought about it as, like, someone in college and how that really translates to college students and things. And I think that was one of, like, my best written articles that I felt really proud of. I think after we published it and things, it felt like so many people were, like, coming back and telling me like, "Wow, this is so cool. Like, I really resonated with that." And I feel like that was, like, one of the first times that I felt like, wow, like, I'm actually doing what I maybe want to do. And yeah, so I think that was, like, one of my favorite articles that I've ever written.

- I read that one. So good.

- Oh my God, thank you.

- So good. Kind of to piggyback off of that, what inspires you to write some of your articles, and how do you come up with these concepts?

- Oh, this sounds so bad, but just being on the internet, just, like, reading what people are talking about, you know, reading what people are talking about. And I think, you know, just having this community of girls who are so easy to talk to. Usually, our writers will pitch together, and it's super cool. So it's just really bouncing ideas off of each other. So maybe I'll see a TikTok that I found or something and then I'll bring it up of like, "Oh, I was thinking about writing about this." And then, you know, we'll just bounce back on each other of like, "Oh, well, what do you think about this? And what about this other opinion?" And things like that. So I don't know, I think being able to really have these ideas, like, develop with each other makes, like, such a good article.

- Being involved with "Her Campus," how has it helped you with your career and future goals?

- Yeah, so currently, I'm a peer consultant at the Writing Center. Come visit me. But I really think that because of "Her Campus," I was able to get that job and really flourish in that job. I feel like I was already editing prior to working at the Writing Center, and I feel like it just made things a little bit easier and kind of have, like, much more perspective on things. This summer, I was also able to study abroad. I went on the business communications program, and I think had it not been for "Her Campus," I don't think I would've gotten into the program to begin with, and also feel confident enough to be there with such other amazing students who are such great leaders. And I think that "Her Campus" really, like, allowed me to do that and, like, built me up for it.

- Wait, where'd you go for study abroad?

- We went to Amsterdam and then Paris, and then we went down to Portugal. We went to Lagos and Lisbon.

- Oh my goodness.

- Yes, it was great.

- Wait, that's awesome.

- Yeah, yeah, it was so fun.

- "Her Campus" covers so much pop culture, from celebrities to TV and social media trends. And I recently saw an article about how Ariana Madix is a triple threat, and I personally have to agree. How do you guys decide what pop culture stories are worth covering?

- We usually do what's timely. So the way that "Her Campus" works, this is, like, so deep, like, a lot of people don't know this, but we have two teams usually, and they're alternating. So it's like they'll pitch one week, and then the following week, their article is due. So really it has to be a timely manner. So if something just happened, we, like, address it right away. And sometimes we even speed up the publishing process. But yeah, it really just matters on, like, if it's timely and also if the writer is passionate enough to write a whole article about it and also have an opinion on it, you know, have a voice in it, not just, like, depicting details about it.

- Yeah, I gotcha. So is there anything you've learned from "Her Campus" that you wouldn't have learned in a classroom?

- Coming back to that leadership, I feel like, I don't know, being a leader is something that you really have to step in on, and there's no way to teach that, like, sitting in a lecture and, like, hearing that from a professor. Like, there's only so much you can take in. And so I think being "Her Campus" and being their editor-in-chief, I think it really allowed me to, you know, step in that role, and I don't know, hone in my skills that way. So, yeah, and also I think having these, like, uncomfortable, like, conversations with people, I think on, you know, so many levels of, you know, between writers and also like eboard and things because, like, we are a growing org, and at the end of the day, like, we are always, like, putting stuff out there, not just, like, in the website, but also in social media and, like, our events and things, so it's like we really have to, like, have uncomfortable conversations and have difficult decisions to make and things. So I think without "Her Campus", I really wouldn't know how to act in these things.

- So "Her Campus," it's not just women who write, it's also if you're interested in social media. And wait, tell me what other kind of teams y'all have.

- We have a marketing team, and we have an events team. So, you know, if you're interested in event planning or in marketing and all these things, it's really for just, like, so many women to come together. And I think that's so important. I think right now, it's important for women to, you know, be able to come in and, like, have their opinions shared and their voice shared. And I think that that can also be translated through our other teams, not just our writers team.

- Do y'all collaborate with, like, other school chapters as well?

- We haven't yet, but we're hoping to collaborate with "Her Campus" at UT.

- Oh, they have one over there in UT?

- Yes, yes.

- Oh, that's awesome, man. All right, so this is a little this or that game, and so basically, I'm just give you two kind of topics or ideas, and then it's just no stress, whatever first comes to mind is your answer.

- All right.

- Long form article or short social media post?

- Long form article.

- Fair. All right. Reality TV or scripted TV?

- Reality TV all the way.

- Wait, what's your favorite?

- Anything Bravo, but especially "Real Housewives of Atlanta."

- Okay, yep, I get you. All right, writing for pop culture or lifestyle?

- Ooh, pop culture.

- That's fair. All right, and so coming up with a story idea or coming up with a headline?

- Coming up with a story idea.

- Wait, is headline like?

- Headlines, I am kind of bad at headlines, actually. I think it's something that I have to, like, get better at, but yeah, I think once you have everything written out, then you kind of can work on the headline. That's just the way that I work, though.

- All right, I feel like I know this one, but writing or editing?

- Editing.

- For sure?

- [Piscis] Mm-hmm.

- Man, oh my goodness. All right, and then this is the most important one, Casa Amor or movie night?

- Movie night. I like seeing the reactions.

- Oh, yeah. All right, and then if someone listening wanted to join, how could they get involved?

- Yeah, so our applications are usually out at the beginning of semesters. So it would be, you know, waiting for our applications to go out, and you can apply only to one team. And you know, you fill out your application, and then, you know, maybe join an interest meeting or something or go to our Org Fair, but it's not required. And then after that, you'll hear back from us, and then our first meeting will have you with us.

- And so should somebody reach out through Instagram or y'all's website, or which is y'all's preferred?

- Instagram is better just because that's just to us, and so we're able to, you know, be there a little bit quicker and answer questions a little bit faster.

- I gotcha. Yes, well, thank you so much for this conversation.

- Yes, thank you so much for having me again.

- Of course, yes, ma'am. ♪ When you wake up in the evening ♪