Are You THAT GIRL?
I AM THAT GIRL: A Club Originally Founded By A USC Alumni & Brought To Campus This Fall By Another USC Student
By Lauren Brose ‘15
Alexa Trujillo is a current junior studying business with a minor in web technologies and web applications. She has been involved in the Alumni Committee for USG, was a USC Song Girl last year and is an active member of Delta Gamma. Alexa, though beautiful inside and out, faces the same feelings of self-doubt that many girls experience throughout college and their entire lives. She has made it her goal to let go of that negative mindset and to start anew with a club that will empower girls at USC and help them find their inner strength and beauty.
I AM THAT GIRL was started by Alexis Jones, a former USC undergrad and grad student. She’s written a novel titled I AM THAT GIRL which was published this past March. It’s been widely popular on colleges campuses around the country and this year USC is now starting their own chapter led by Alexa Trujillo.
Earlier this week, I got the privilege to sit down with Alexa and discuss what I AM THAT GIRL stands for and the objectives she has for the club:
So tell me a bit about this new club.
Ok, so I AM THAT GIRL is basically a community that allows girls to express who they are, love each other and be who they are. It’s a lot having to do with self confidence. You want to turn all of your self doubt into self love. And a lot of what we do is work on self confidence and work on how to be a girl in the society that we live in. It’s basically it’s a safe place for girls to say whatever they feel. It’s a place for them to put away their mask– We all put on a mask whenever we go to school, whenever we step out in public… we have our guard up. And this is a place where we can be honest about what they’re feeling in their situations.
Why did you want to start it on this campus?
At USC I was basically seeing a problem. There were girls that I thought were amazing and beautiful but these girls would compare themselves to each other and say really hurtful things about themselves that I didn’t agree with. And I just got tired of that. I got tired of seeing girls who have everything going for themselves and would put themselves down and even each other down. So a lot of what I am doing here is fostering a community that helps girls be the best versions of themselves that they can be.
How often does I Am That Girl meet?
We meet once a week for an hour on Wednesdays. We’re currently meeting at Delta Gamma but as soon as we become a University recognized club next week then we’ll start meeting on campus.
What goes on at these meetings?
At the meetings we sit in a big circle and we do an activity called “why I am a bad ass–” or if girl’s are uncomfortable with that they say “why I am that girl.” And we all just sit around and brag about ourselves for a minute. We say things like “I am a bad ass because I aced a quiz” or “I am a bad ass because I stood up for myself in this certain situation.” It can literally be anything. So that’s the first activity that we do and once everyone is comfortable with themselves and know what’s going on with the other girls in the group we have a topic we discuss each week. Last week it was “Why are you here today that brought you to be a part of this organization?” and this week we are talking about body image, beauty and how it all relates to self confidence.
So far has this club gotten a really good turn out?
You know when I first promoted I AM THAT GIRL, I did it over FB and I got a lot of positive feedback from girls inside and outside of the Greek community as well as people involved in a bunch of different things. Last week we had about 15 girls show up and this week we expect around 25. I encourage any type of girl, no matter what you’re involved in, to just come by because we all have really honest conversations.
Do you plan to host any events or fundraisers in the future?
We’ve discussed this and right now we are primarily focused on getting the word out about I AM THAT GIRL. Each girl coming can spread the word and talk about how the group is helpful. Eventually we would love to have some type of fundraiser or something that we can do to impact the community. I know of other I AM THAT GIRL groups that have reached out and spoken to girls in elementary schools and have some type of fundraiser to give back to the organization. We’ve been talking about trying to organize a group hike or something for the girls to do for bonding.
Where did you learn about this organization?
It’s interesting because I wouldn’t have ever learned about this organization if I hadn’t faced one of the most catastrophic moments in my life. Something really bad happened to me where I had to deal with a situation where I was basically told that everything was great about me except for the way I looked. After coping with that for a couple months, I was having dinner with some friends at Urth Café and one of them, a transfer student at Chapman, told me about how the club had much such an impact at Chapman. I did a little more research about it and I just completely fell in love with the message and I just knew that this would be so good to have at USC because we live in a culture where everyone is comparing themselves and it’s so hard because there’s so much pressure to be the best because we put ourselves through so much. So learning about that organization through my friend has truly changed my life and I just decided to go with it.
Do you have any advice for girls on how to combat this society of self-doubt that we live in?
We have this one to ten scale in our heads all the time. You see someone and you give them a rating in your head about them. Then for some reason during this occurrence you talk to them and you have to interact with them and all of a sudden that 1-10 number you gave them either goes up because you find out that this person is amazing and they’ve done so many things and they become more attractive in your eyes. Because what you see outside is perceived, when you actually get to know someone that changes. I think that recognizing the fact that we’re going to make these judgments but also realizing it’s okay to pursue these people to truly find out about them. It’s very interesting you know because what you see isn’t always what you get.
All of this negative energy needs to go away. People need to remind themselves that they are beautiful no matter what and I think that you have to have this self confidence and know yourself enough to really think that. Going to the meetings is going to help with that. And I can lie and say “I am the most confident girl in the world” and yeah sure people think that. People think “Alexa you’re confident, you’re bold” but really underneath it all it’s not the same story. Self confidence: it’s something you have to work on every day. Some people aren’t born with it and some people just don’t have it. Like everything else in life, it’s something that you have to work on.
Since you are a junior this year, what are your objectives for I Am That Girl for the future?
I want girls to be more confident and view themselves in a more positive way. I don’t want them to compete with other girls but to life each other up instead. All of these processes take a lot of time. Think about it: all of the things that we have been through has led us to today’s society where we do compete and put each other down and we do compare each other to other people. So it’s going to take a long time. But nothing has started without someone taking the initiative and saying “this needs to be changed.” So I know for right now it wont be a huge change. 2 years is a short amount of time. But if you plant a seed, it keeps growing so maybe one day. I mean it’s the same thing with the founder. Why did she choose to start this organization? She knew that it wasn’t going to be an overnight thing but by word of mouth and by getting other people involved and aware, that positive body image, that positive mind set and that positive way of looking at others is going to blossom.
And that is what I AM THAT GIRL, at USC and Internationally, is trying to do.
To learn more about I AM THAT GIRL, visit their website http://www.iamthatgirl.com/
If you’re interested in attending an I AM THAT GIRL meeting, they meet on Wednesdays at Delta Gamma at 8PM.
