ERASe: Engineers Reducing Anxiety, Stress, Etc.

During my senior year of undergrad, one of my engineering professors approached me with an idea. Due to my outspoken passion for mindfulness and his passion for helping student’s, he suggested that we pair to try to change our university’s culture to better support student’s mental health. I knew there was a real need for this work, LOVED the idea and took off running.

We collaborated to plan, organize and put on mindfulness events for engineering students, ranging from meditations, painting, group journal sessions, walks, and picnics. Our main goal was to create a community - a safe place for open conversations about personal struggles. Three years later, ERASe lives on and impacts more and more students every semester!

I visit OU each year to volunteer for Wellness Week, an annual event aiming to shift stigmas around mental health and well being, and to get to know the active student leaders.

The Body Project

When I first moved into college, I really struggled with my confidence and body image. It seemed like everyone around me was so attractive and mature. I aligned with a student organization called The Body Project, where students could sign up for group conversations about body positivity. It was a welcoming place where I built self esteem, discussed the rejection of societal beauty standards, and found peace with my body image struggles.

I was able to become a peer mentor, where I facilitated groups through discussions on the idea that our body is “wrong”, the impacts of patriarchal society, and how to build self worth and self esteem.

I stepped into a leadership role when a group of mentors decided to form a student organization. Our goal was to aid in creating community in addition to our ongoing group sessions. As the first Vice President, I organized and promoted self care events to help build our community! I am deeply grateful for my experiences with the Body Project, as they shifted my relationship with myself and my body in a beautiful way.

Technical Project Management

I started my career in 2022 at Epic Systems, a healthcare software company. My focus was on women’s health, and I worked with a hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While I did form strong relationships with my team and coworkers, the American healthcare industry rubbed me the wrong way, and there were weeks where I worked 70+ hours.

Due to the inability to find balance with that workload, I chose to move on and found a new opportunity at a local custom software startup. I felt blessed to have aligned with a close knit team, to be able to create a beautiful balance of productivity and life, and to take on significant ownership through that role. I learned a lot and finally released my imposter syndrome! On the unfortunate side, I was forced to handle a lot of interpersonal conflict between management, involving manipulation and substance abuse. I ended up walking away to prioritize my mental health, but I believe that the skills that I refined will aid me for the rest of my days.