Bruin Belles Service Association: Blog

     With the Thanksgiving season behind us and the end of the year rapidly approaching, I find myself once again flooded with reflection. This year has brought, undoubtedly, an immense amount of personal growth and transformations. I began the year in D.C, working for a Senator and preparing to travel to the Middle East in the summer. Like the rest of the world, life was quickly grounded back to my hometown in March, a place I had not spent more than 2 weeks in since graduating High School. An unexpected 6 months brought hard conversations with those I love most, reshaping of internal and external expectations, and lessons in communication.     It taught (and is still teaching me) the value of quality time and that it is OK to slow down. It brought the little wins too, something I am still learning to appreciate. I read some great books. I had the chance to rethink my role in our political system and educate myself. I learned to cook some Indian food! I went on...

     Coming to UCLA, I always knew that I wanted to serve my community. I had joined a service organization my freshman year, but the club and its members were not very active, and so I didn’t feel like I was a part of a community. Bruin Belles attracted me because not only is it a philanthropy organization, but it is also an organization focused on sisterhood and fostering women’s leadership - two values that are very important to me.       I would hear from my friends that were already in Bruin Belles that the women in the organization were strong, inspiring, and kind. My one friend put it this way: each Belle is passionate and compassionate. I felt like those two values were core to who I am, and so I decided to pursue recruitment and subsequently had the honor of becoming a member.       Right from my first Bruin Belles event at the Baby Belle brunch, I saw that my friends were right about Belles. Every Belle that I met had had ...

     I will always remember the night that I was accepted into Belles. I was with friends at cafe 1919 eating gelato (what a throwback) when my phone started blowing up with instagram requests from current belles. Right from the start, this made me feel so welcome. When I came home to my dorm a few hours later, I was so excited to see a cutout belle on my door with my name on it. That weekend, I met the board at the board/baby belle brunch and then the rest of the belles at fall retreat. Since that day, I have been honored to have so many amazing women in my life to look up to, learn from, and be inspired by. Whether it was my six fellow freshman baby belles, the wonderful women on executive board, or most recently my alumni mentor, I have gained so much from being in the presence of belles.       Watching senior spotlight presentations this year at general meeting, I was struck by A) how incredibly diverse in interests, passions, and experiences belle...