April 5, 2017
If You Have A Dream Job, Just Go For It Caitlyn Grimes, Contributing Writer The city of Raleigh has sparked an initiative to shop and create local, a mindset that has spread to Meredith. Senior Haleigh Leonard, was inspired by her father’s entrepreneurship, which eventually led her to create her own company “C’est La Vie Designss” her sophomore year. The innovation took off when Leonard was a Resident Assistant that wanted to decorate a unique bulletin board for her residents. She used a Silhouette Cameo machine to help her with the task, which is the very machine that she uses to create custom made decals for her customers today. Now Leonard’s company “C’est La Vie Designss” creates decals and fine goods with over 8,000+ sales nationwide. Haleigh Leonard has always wanted to contribute to her community, and in starting
this business she took an artistic approach to that role. Leonard is pursuing a double major in Fashion Merchandising and Business Administration with a minor in Marketing to deepen her knowledge of the industry. Her study abroad experiences in Paris, Beijing, and Shanghai, and her internship with Ellie Saab during Paris Fashion week, have helped her hone strategic production skills that she implements through her creations. Leonard focuses the creative development of her products for the southern/ North Carolinian audience. She takes pride in her home, which is evident in her creations; she keeps the “modern girl with southern roots” in mind as the platform of her design work. When Leonard interned with Ellie Saab, she assisted with promoting pieces tailored towards specific
communities around the world, which is a tactic she now uses to target trends geared towards her own customers. The vision for “C’est La Vie Designss” is to “stay small” which is a “shop and create local” mentality. Leonard elaborated, “Stay small because when things get bigger, you lose sight of your customer.” When asked what advice she had for the gogetter college student, Leonard said, “If you have a dream just go
Meredith Students Serve During Spring Break Sarah Smerko, Features Editor
Meredith students spent their spring break in a variety of waysrelaxing at home, vacationing with friends, and participating in national and international service trips. wTwo Meredith students, Annie Morin (Class of 2018) and Deema Sader (Class of 2019) both went on international service trips this spring. Annie went to San Pedro Sula, Honduras and Deema went to Jinotega, Nicaragua. Annie served with the organization, Blanca’s House, which has led 38 medical service trips in just 9 years.
The trip participants provided surgical care to patients needing total knee replacements, and they also performed OB/ GYN surgeries. During her time in Honduras, Annie, a Spanish major, used her Spanish to aid in interpreting between local and visiting doctors. She also had the opportunity to scrub in and observe a surgery. When asked what was the most rewarding part of her trip, Morin said, “I think the most rewarding part is just seeing a different part of the world and learning about how they live. I can say that, after seeing the Honduran hospitals, I appreciate the health care in the United States.” Deema went to Jinotega, Nicaragua on a medical and dental brigade with local college students from Meredith, William Peace University, North Carolina State University, and East Carolina University. The trip participants provided free medical and dental care for almost 1,000 people in 3 days.
They set up different stations including triage, doctor consult, dental care pharmacy, data, and charla (a learning session for adults and children about hygiene and nutrition). They also dug trenches and connected pipes from a clean water source that Global Brigades funded that will go to 5 different communities. Deema worked in triage, Shadowing the doctors, Kids Charla, and Data Informatics. When asked what was the most rewarding part of her experience, Deema responded, “The most rewarding part of this trip is that even though i felt very unqualified to do this and the language was a huge barrier that made communication harder (we had 4 translators for a group of 18 people and only 1 speaks fluent Spanish) knowing that I made a difference in people’s lives and coming out of my comfort zone and meeting all the children that are so bright was empowering.”
for it. No one knows what they are doing, but you will figure it out along the way.”
WomenofMC:Divine Dowd Sarah Smerko, Features Editor
Class of 2019 Activities: Spectrum, RHA, Residence Life (RA), Fem, and BSU Strengths: “I’m really good with people and I think I do a good job with connecting with large amounts of people who may not necessarily feel represented at Meredith. I get along with large groups of people, and I like reaching a lot of different people.” What is your favorite part about Meredith? “I really like the community. You really get to know people and make connections-whether they are other students, advisors, professors, or other faculty. It’s a very supportive community.” What is your definition of a strong Meredith woman?“ I think a strong Meredith woman is someone who puts in effort and is also strong for others. It’s one thing to be strong for yourself, but to try to work towards helping others is an even stronger move.”