HEY- MEET US!!!

Hi my name is Karla Foster and I’m the NEW Coordinator for African American Student Academic Services here at UW-Madison but of course you already knew that. I’m excited to do this blog entry so I can tell you a little bit about myself. Me and
Vanessa (my FABULOUS student worker) were sitting in the office today and decided it was time for another entry. So I suggested that we timed ourselves for 10 minutes and whatever we wrote would be posted to the entry… 
So far it’s been 2 minutes and counting…

About Me:

I am originally from Gary, IN but I’ve also lived in San Diego, CA, Kenosha, WI, and various cities in Indiana. I attended Indiana University Bloomington (Go Hoosiers!!) for my undergraduate career where I majored in General Studies with a concentration in Arts & Humanities with a minor in African American and African Diaspora Studies. For my Master’s work I attended Indiana State University (Go Trees!!). So during undergrad I participated in the Black Student Union, Student Government, and was very active in my sorority (Z-Phi!). As a graduate student I served as an Academic Advisor for Education majors and interned in the office of Admissions, Housing, and the African American Cultural Center while advising two student organizations (African American Student Educators & #teamSPEAK). Something else about me is that I absolutely love music, it speaks volumes (Get it?? LOL). Right now my husband (who doesn’t know I exist) is Kanye West (I still like Taylor Swift) and don’t worry this whole thing with him and Kim K. will soon blow over. Anywho, I’m super excited to be here in Madison with all new students. I hope that I will be a beneficial resource and help you learn, grow, and navigate this university system to graduate from UW-Madison (Go Badgers!!). I want to make thislarge campus smaller to our community and hope to bring a since of camaraderie and Wisconsin pride to students of color on campus. I have an open door policy so feel free to stop by my office anytime. On Wisconsin! Check out our website  
 http://www.lssaa.wisc.edu/aasas/ and stay tuned for more blogs from AASAS!!

Hey my name is Vanessa Benton and I am a current UW student coming from Milwaukee, WI.

 I am a current sophomore and am hoping to major in Communication Arts and Journalism (aka I will probably end up a 5^th year seniorL). Currently, I am a member of the UW Madison radio station 91.7 WSUM (Tune IN: Talk that Talk 1am on Tuesdays!), the African Students Association Dance team, Hollywood Badgers, and FadeIn Screenwriters organization. I work with the CAE AAP program as a peer mentor and OBVIOUSLY I also work as a Student Outreach Assistant in the CAE African American Student Academic Services office. My favorite thing to do here is working as a production assistant for different companies here is Madison and Chicago- WHICH I DON’T GET PAID FOR.

I have a strong passion for humanitarian work and learning how to create a system that takes care of ALL and provides the youth and poor of impoverished cities an opportunity to get out and not keep them down!  My ultimate goal is to create a venue big enough to expose the world to disparities that are right in their backyard because I think a lot people don’t realize how close poverty is! Lowkey, I want to be Oprah! Hopefully I can skip grad school because I am trying to make this happen NOW (plus my mom says she needs me to hurry up and get rich).  I hope to one day fight against the superficial and self-centered image that we are given by Hollywood and big media corporations, and use the media to be a system of spreading knowledge.  (BAM!)

Speaking of media, social that is, follow us on Twitter @UW-AASSAS and come back to our blog!