Mar 28, 2024
**Breaking Ground as a First-Generation Trailblazer**
In this episode of SA Voices From The Field Dr. Jill Creighton had the chance to speak with Alejandra Campoverdi, a formidable force advocating for women's health and an inspiration for many first-generation college students. Her memoir, 'First Gen: A Memoir,' beautifully encapsulates the emotional complexities that accompany the breaking of generational barriers, a theme that resonates deeply with many of our podcast's listeners.
Alejandra's narrative is both personal and universal, detailing her own struggle with panic attacks and other challenges as she navigated the social ladders of legacy-based institutions. Her experience in the White House, and the pivotal role mentors played in her journey, offers a powerful testament to the lasting impact of educators and advocates across different walks of life.
**Legacy and the Emotional Rhyme of Generations**
Alejandra poetically introduces the concept of 'generational rhyming,' drawing lines between the past and present experiences. By reflecting on the courage of women in her family—those who confidently stepped away from chaotic relationships while carrying the burden of pregnancy—Alejandra emphasizes the inheritance of resilience and the personal choice to either continue or modify the legacy we carry forward.
**The Cultural Tapestry of Health and Sacrifice**
This episode also delves into Alejandra's advocacy for women's health, illustrating the interweaving of cultural expectations and individual wellness. Her frank discussion on BRCA mutation and confronting a familial pattern of breast cancer underscores the critical necessity of breaking cycles, not only socially and economically but also health-wise.
**Systemic Issues and the Imposter Experience**
Alejandra's views on 'imposter syndrome' are particularly enlightening, challenging the notion that it stems solely from personal insecurity rather than also being rooted in systemic disparities. This perspective invites a broader conversation on the structural changes needed to support and validate the experiences of those breaking new ground.
**Connecting with Alejandra Campoverdi**
Listeners can reach out to Alejandra Campoverdi via her DMs on Instagram, LinkedIn, or her website. Her gracious acknowledgment of her mentors, including her former White House boss, and her thanks to the NASPA family and Dina from the First Gen Center, that manifests an ecosystem of support that many 'firsts' heavily rely on.
TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:01]:
Welcome to student affairs voices from the field, the podcast where
we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to
seasoned experts. This is season 10, continuing our season 9 theme
of on transitions in student affairs. This podcast is brought to
you by NASPA, and I'm doctor Jill Creighton. She, her, hers, your
essay voices from the field host. Welcome back essay voices. It was
amazing to run into so many of you at the annual conference, and
thank you again for continuing to listen to us. Today, we're gonna
be releasing the first of several annual conference episodes, and
we were thrilled to sit down with the closing keynote speaker,
Alejandra Campaverdi. Alejandra is a nationally recognized women's
health advocate, best selling author, founder, producer, and former
White House aide to President Obama.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:00:48]:
Alejandra's
memoir, First Gen: A Memoir, examines the often
unacknowledged emotional tolls of being a trailblazer. A national
bestseller, 1st Gen is the winner of the California Independent
Booksellers Alliance Golden Poppy Martin Cruz Smith Award and long
listed for the outstanding works of literature award for the 1st
year experience. 1st Gen is also the 2024 Opportunity Matters book
club selection for the Council For Opportunity in Education, a
national book club for 1st generation and low income students at
colleges and universities across the country. Previously, Alejandra
served in the Obama White House as the 1st White House deputy
director of Hispanic Media. She produced and appeared in the
groundbreaking PBS documentary, Inheritance, and founded the
Latinos and BRCA Awareness Initiative in partnership with Penn
Medicine's Master Center for BRCA. Alejandra holds a master in
public policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of
Government and graduated cum laude from USC. She currently serves
on the boards of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics
and Public Policy, and the California Community Foundation. I hope
you enjoy our conversation.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:01:50]:
We were able to have this one live in person, so you may notice
some slight audio differences in quality. Please enjoy and we're
also going to be bringing you couple more bonus episodes throughout
the next couple of weeks. Alejandra, welcome to SA Voices.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:02:03]:
Thank you so much for having me.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:05]:
I am really excited to get to know you a little bit and we really
appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to talk to SA
Voices here in Seattle.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:02:12]:
I know. It's fun to be in Seattle. Right?
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:13]:
Is this your first time?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:02:14]:
No. I was actually here a few weeks ago for another conference, but
I had so much fun eating my way through the city.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:20]:
Oh, what was your favorite thing?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:02:22]:
That was a lot. The crumpets over at the Pike Place Market,
incredible.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:27]:
Crumpets. Okay. That's a new one. Most of my friends say Top Pot
Donuts is their their jam or, I haven't been to the crumpet
spot.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:35]:
This is my hometown so it's always fun for me to see people
discover it through fresh eyes.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:02:39]:
Nice. Well, you have to give us your tips then.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:42]:
Really, it's just don't eat downtown. I think it's my biggest tip.
Most of my friends and family enjoy restaurants kind of more out in
the community. But we are glad to have you here as our closing
keynote speaker for NASPA 2024 here in Seattle. On our theme of
transitions, you were just an excellent guest to have to talk about
all the transitions you've gone through in your life. Your book
right now is 1st Gen, a memoir, and that has been just a really
beautiful read. I've been able to take a look at least the first
couple of chapters and and really kind of get to know you through
that lens. But I'm wondering if you can tell us a little bit about
your journey as you've written about it.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:03:17]:
Well, thank you for reading it, Amy. I feel really honored to be
invited to speak at NASPA. As I say in the book, the reason why I
felt compelled to write it really was because, you know, as someone
who was a Pell Grant recipient myself and grew up in a lot of
pipeline programs and nonprofits, when I would go and speak to
young people, especially students even before this book was even an
idea in my mind, I noticed that there seemed to be a lot kind of
hanging in the air. Some mixed emotions and almost like looks on
folks' faces that I recognize on my own face at these kind of
transitional achievement moments that should kind of be 1
dimensional but kind of weren't. And as I noticed that, I started
kind of changing the way that I would speak and the kinds of
stories I would share. And the more vulnerable I was about how it
was harder than many times we're led on to believe in inspirational
speeches, really helped crystallize for me how much of not only my
own experience but a lot of our experiences have some shame around
them that there are conflicting emotions that we don't always share
even though they're so completely widespread. And a lot of it
namely about the emotional toll of social mobility and the American
dream as it's been presented to us. And, you know, in the book, I
really talk about how it's for first and only.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:04:45]:
I call us first and only because it isn't just this gatekeeper
definition of who has a right to kinda like that first gen
experience. I understand that in in academia and in different
institutions, you need to have a definition of who qualifies and
doesn't qualify. But for this emotional experience in the book,
it's about being as inclusive as possible because this experience
of cycle breaking and that emotional toll transcends race and
gender and and so many different experiences. So that was a lens
that I discussed this with, and I really use my own story growing
up, you know, as the daughter of a single mom who had immigrated
from Mexico a few years before I was born to kind of be the
companion of walking through a lot of these different dynamics.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:05:33]:
You talk about generational rhyming in your book as part of that
transition story. Can you talk to us about what you mean by
that?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:05:39]:
Well, as a part of this book, I named something called the
trailblazer tool. And I don't name that from a position of
authority as someone who is a trauma specialist or an academic or a
specialist in psychology or so on. The reason why I do that is
because as I mentioned, you can't heal from that which you don't
name. Mhmm. And so how do we create space for this holistic view
that doesn't only include imposter syndrome but includes the way
that being a cycle breaker first and only moves throughout our
entire life even before we get to school and for many, many years
after. You know, once by the time you're a 1st gen student, you've
been 1st gen already many times over and you'll continue to be 1st
gen. And so to that point, how is it that this even began pre
birth? When you're thinking about generational inheritance and
emotional inheritances, when you're looking for those answers, they
say history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Mhmm.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:06:35]:
Well, what is the rhyme that is coming from our family? And they're
not just negative. Many are positive. It's not just about
generational trauma. It's about emotional inheritances and those I
call them invisible inheritances. Many times they're intertwined.
Many times, you know, you're looking at the fact in my instance, I
have a great grandmother and a mother who both left very chaotic
borderline abusive relationships while they were pregnant. Mhmm.
Now that's not an inheritance that I would wanna continue.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:07:06]:
Yet if you say it a little differently, I have 2 women in my family
that left these relationships while they were pregnant. I mean,
think of the strength and fortitude it takes to do something like
that. So, I mean, I'm proud to be a a beneficiary of that
inheritance. And then the third part is the inheritances that we
choose to perpetuate as our own future ancestors right now. You
know, every day, we have a choice to become a better ancestor.
Mhmm. So those are the rhymes that not only we're coming into these
lives with, but the rhymes that we're choosing to continue and be
intentional about and maybe tweak a little bit. That intentionality
is a lot of the end game because I don't have all the answers and
this book doesn't pretend like it has all the answers.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:07:51]:
But it's about validating and acknowledging a lot of what as first
and only is we almost feel like we don't know have the privilege
too many times.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:07:58]:
I'm wondering if you can talk to us a bit about being a first
generation student who entered collegiate spaces that are really
legacy based institutions where maybe you're entering with
classmates who have multiple generations of people who went to
those institutions who know how they work, who understand the
nuance and the subtleties of social culture and enter with a lot
more social capital on how to engage in those worlds and how you
found yourself evolving into those spaces and ultimately thriving
in them.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:08:25]:
Well, just how Invisible Inheritance is kind of where we start, you
know, a couple steps forward is what I call chutes and social
ladders. And I don't know if you remember the board game. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Chutes and Ladders. And the reason why I named it that
was because that's what it kind of felt like to me. You know, you
land on the right spot.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:08:44]:
You do everything just right and you shoot into this different
social class, into this different just like societal plane that
feels so foreign, yet if you've messed up, God forbid don't do it
just perfectly, you can backslide completely out of it. Right?
Yeah. Without warning sometimes. Absolutely. And it feels really
precarious. And to me, that made sense to me as a way to look at
it. In the book, I talk about the familial chaos that I was in,
this kind of pressure cooker, as well as in the romantic
relationship that I highlight in the book. That's also something
else that was, you know, leading to a lot of personal angst.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:09:25]:
Mhmm. Yet the way that I was dealing with that was in a lot of ways
of trying to kind of stabilize and have some semblance of control
in my life by overachieving. Mhmm. You know, how that overachieving
and sometimes that perfectionism can be as well as ambition, but
can also be a coping mechanism for trauma. Right? And so I was
making myself a really good college applicant at the same time as I
was really struggling with a lot of issues around this kind of
dynamics in my home and my relationships. So by the time I get to
USC, it was one blurry summer apart from a very different kind of
cultural experience where if anything, I was teased for, quote,
acting white because I would get good grades. But then you get to
college, and I remember by then, I was already struggling very much
with panic attacks and panic disorder, and I had my mom be on
campus with me. I grew up under 20 miles from USC's campus but had
never visited.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:10:27]:
You know, you don't visit colleges. Who does that? Like, what is
that? So my mom is there with me pushing this running stroller
around with my little sister, and I just didn't want her to be out
of my sight because I felt so much pressure. Like, a lot of these
students I know. I hear from them. I'm traveling around the country
right now talking to them. So much pressure that not only did I
have to do this to kind of this was my chance to, you know, break
that cycle of poverty, but this was also my chance to help my mom,
to help my family. You know, it was this kinda like double layer of
stress. And my mom went to the parent orientation and I'm sitting
there and feeling that, and all of a sudden, my ears start
ringing.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:11:05]:
Everything starts getting spinny, and I run out of Boulevard
Auditorium in USC and pass out in the middle of campus. So when I
came to, somebody had gone to get my mom, and we went to the health
center, and then they gave me a prescription and, you know, sent me
on my way. And I remember sitting on a bench with her and thinking,
oh my god. Am I gonna be able to do this? I worked so hard to be
able to get there, and it felt like everything was within grasp
that I had dreamed of, that we had dreamed of. But I didn't know if
I could physically do it because all of these experiences and these
emotional experiences that we're talking about had started catching
up with me. Mhmm. You know, and that's that's not something that's
unique to me. Right? Because there's a saying I point to in the
book, when you're skating over thin ice, your speed is your
safety.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:11:52]:
Mhmm. And many times that's what it feels like when you're cycle
breaking and you're kind of trying to adjust to these new kinda
stratosphere jumps, you don't have time to really process what's
happening. You're just kind of surviving and morphing and adapting
however you can. And there was a lot that was coming up for me at
that time. I was fortunate that, you know, my mom was able to help
me kind of navigate a little bit but in a lot of ways I ended up
experiencing a whole another big jump that was difficult to
recalibrate. At the time, my mom, not knowing any better,
encouraged me to get involved with the Greek system.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:12:30]:
Okay.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:12:30]:
And we can imagine at that time, USC in the late nineties, early
2000, you know, that was like taking me to the most extreme example
of kind of world jumping and recalibrating and understanding what
that meant for my Latinidad and how it expressed itself on campus.
How I was able to show up and fit into a system that had
experiences that were beyond my comprehension and how it is that I
was able to do that and manage all that while at the same time
trying to keep up with grades. And it it was a lot. And I go into
this a lot deeper in the book about what that felt like, but I
definitely don't. And I'm not saying now nor do I say in the book
that I figured it all out. Mhmm. The point was that I was white
knuckling it. The point was that I was surviving in that space in
those spaces as best I could, but not really understanding a lot of
the dynamics that they weren't personal to me.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:13:32]:
Like many women of color who are leading in new spaces, you've had
transitions in this academic space, you've had transitions with
health, and you've had transitions in career. So I wanna talk a
little bit about your transitions in health because you're well
known as a women's health advocate. When you were going through
your own health transitions, how did you balance that with
everything else that was going on in the world?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:13:53]:
Well, I didn't know that I because I'm a BRCA mutation carrier,
hereditary cancer in my family, but I didn't know that until I was
in my thirties. So what I did know was that women in my family
tended to all get breast cancer. And until my mom's generation,
they would pass away from breast cancer. So it was especially when
my mom was diagnosed and I was in my early twenties, that was a
really pivotal time as far as just graduating from school and
trying to figure out, I call it the lonely hustle, how to kind of
go after my dreams without any safety net.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:14:28]:
Mhmm.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:14:28]:
When my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, I realized I didn't
really have the privilege to do that. I had a little sister that I
assumed I was gonna be a single mom too. And so I went home to help
take care of my mom during that time and, you know, slept on the
air mattress in her living room. And as far as I was concerned,
that was it. Your parents, a lot of times, you feel like they
sacrifice so much for you to have these opportunities and that
feels especially in the dynamics and the cultural dynamics in a lot
of our communities that that's a collectivist mindset about what it
means when you drop everything to be able to take care of the
family unit. And so I didn't realize back then that that was
something that I was also going to have to face. Mhmm. But breast
cancer has been an ongoing drumbeat throughout my entire life.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:15:17]:
You know, I don't go into my own journey with breast cancer in this
book because this book ends before that happens. But, you know,
when you're thinking about cycle breaking even with our own bodies,
you know, how it is we disrupt these cycles in our families and the
choice that I made to have preventative surgery at the time, not
knowing that when it was after the fact of the surgery, we would
discover in retrospect that actually I did have an active breast
cancer already developing, which validated that choice. But all
that to say is our health is another way that we're able to try to
break some of these cycles. And I always say, you know, like one of
the the biggest cycles that we can break and we don't always think
about is to give ourselves the privilege of rest and balance and
that kind of wellness on every different level because we can break
cycles of poverty. We can be the first to go to college. We can be
the first to have a job or buy a house or so on. But unless we do
some of this inner work, one of the biggest cycles that can lead to
illness in our body but for sure in our minds and our emotional
health is not gonna get broken.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:16:32]:
When you think about cycle break in your own life, what advice do
you give to others on how they can also engage in that work?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:16:36]:
I think that the first step is to be conscious of it, to
acknowledge it. And that's the energy that this book is written in
for us to know ourselves and for us to know each other and for us
to know that we're not alone in these experiences because a lot of
it feels so isolating and a lot of it feels just really personal.
And if I I've learned anything I mean, I've been to dozens of
colleges now across the country. I've been really blessed to speak
to so many educators as well. And it's the same experience of
nodding everywhere that I go. Mhmm. Nodding in tears and
acknowledgement. And sometimes people will raise their hands and I
remember I was speaking in Miami, and this gentleman raised his
hand.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:17:17]:
He said, how do you deal with, like, the loneliness? And he started
crying. And I looked out at the crowd, and I and I tell you, there
were so many people crying. And I told them, I said, well, take a
look around. Do you feel alone? Look at all these people that that
are feeling the same thing you're feeling. And that's what the
energy that this book is hopefully calling us to, which is to take
a look around and acknowledge all the nodding heads.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:17:45]:
I think one of the most powerful things you do in this book is give
voice to a common experience that a lot of people are afraid to
talk about or afraid to say out loud because we live in a
capitalist society. We're fearful of being perceived as, you know,
not always out in front of things sometimes. So I really appreciate
that you're naming a lot of this, and it's clearly resonating with
audiences around the country, and I'm sure will be very resonant
for our NASPA members here, especially for our professionals who
are 1st and onlys or are there 1st gen in their family to attain a
university degree and then likely an advanced degree, and now we're
all working in this field where a lot of people don't really
understand our work. It's kind of an ongoing joke in student
affairs that even our own parents don't understand what we do on a
daily basis.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:18:26]:
And I write about that in the book that that's a loneliness
inducing experience as as well that I write about when you go home.
And I mean, I would come home from the White House and I wouldn't
get questions about my work, and that's at a neutral level. Then
there's the hands of the students where they raise their hands and
say, I'm dissuaded from doing these things. They're told, like, why
are you doing this? Why don't you get a more job where you make
more money? Why would you study abroad? That's a waste of your
time. Almost kind of getting this negative messaging. But to your
point, that's why I feel so honored to be speaking here at NASPA
because on so many different levels, a, you guys are the ones on
the ground. You guys are the ones on the ground with these students
every day working so hard and doing so much to support the leaders
of the future. And also because I see very clearly how many of the
educators I'm speaking to are literally these students who also had
the same experience.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:19:23]:
You know, we get called to the work that we do, whether it's
writing books or being an educator because of something usually
very personal. We're called to something because of the empathy
many times that we have for experiences. And like I said earlier,
the book is written not just about that part of the student
experience. There's many many chapters about what happens when
you're on the other side of the sausage maker, which is all of
us.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:19:49]:
Mhmm.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:19:50]:
And you're gonna spit out the other side and you're like, okay,
woah, what happened? Because there is a point where you're the arc
of the first gen experience kind of concludes. That doesn't mean
that you don't have ambitions for the future and you don't have all
these other things you wanna accomplish, but that initial kind of
ascension into breaking out of certain cycles, same things that
originally was driving me? Are they the same things or have they
shifted? And if they've shifted, then how is it that I show up
differently? You also name feelings of imposter syndrome in
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:20:31]:
the book, especially when you're first invited into the White House
spaces and during your process of getting top secret security
clearance and all of those things. How did you work through those
feelings of imposter syndrome even though you're sitting in some of
the most powerful spaces in the world at that point in time and
knowing that so many of our listeners are facing impostor syndrome
in their own careers even though, you know, we're all qualified to
be in the spaces we're in?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:20:53]:
Well, one of the things that I really make a point to highlight in
the book is I actually really have a problem with the idea of
impostor syndrome as it was presented to me. I'll make it personal,
as I've seen it be presented also in general, is the idea that it
really is about this crisis of confidence singularly and not about
the second part of it, the other side of the coin, which is no
matter how confident we are, how it is that the way that we show up
or we're received in these spaces and in these kind of constructs
that is reflected back to us sometimes that we don't belong in ways
that are subtle and not so subtle at times.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:21:29]:
I think imposter syndrome syndrome's a system issue personally.
Right? It's 2 ways.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:21:34]:
Exactly. I mean, it's 2 ways. We we still have to acknowledge our
contributions and show up in that space and there's systemic issues
at play too. And so that's the lens through which I talk about it
at that time at the White House and not just at the White House,
but that nuance, I think, is helpful because I know when I used to
blame myself for feeling a lack of confidence, it's not fair on top
of everything else. It's also we're pointing the arrow directly
back at students to just feel more confident and not acknowledging
the dynamics with which they're operating.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:22:14]:
Is there anything else you want our NASPA membership to hear from
you today? Just that
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:22:18]:
I had several inflection points that I talk about in the book that
really had to do with either an educator or a mentor, someone in a
position of power saying something, doing something that completely
changed my life. And I wasn't someone who had mentors that would
follow my life for decades. You know, it was these angels that
sometimes would step in and sometimes would derail, you know.
Sometimes people help you in ways that are positive and negative to
kinda get you back on track. Mhmm. But the point is that these
people in my life and certain things they said and didn't encourage
me to do changed everything. And so I like I said, my message is
gratitude to this community for being the in the spaces between the
bullet points because that's what I call it in the book. That's
what the book is.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:23:08]:
I wanted to write something that didn't just look at the bullet
points on my resume or in my bio the same way that all of us have
our schools and our achievements and our jobs, but that's not where
the real story lies. It's really in the spaces between those bullet
points and that's where you guys are. That's where the whole story
goes one way or another. And so it's just expressing my gratitude
for the work that you do and for the way that you're changing lives
every day. Before we go to our break, I
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:23:37]:
would be remiss if I didn't ask how cool is it to be on Air
Force
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:23:40]:
There's nothing cooler.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:23:43]:
It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to producer Chris
to learn what's going on in the NASPA world.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:23:49]:
Thanks so much, Jill. Really excited to be back in the NASPA world.
And today, I am really excited to be able to share some amazing
news. If you missed it, an email was sent out after the annual
conference that NASPA has selected a new president. We are thrilled
to share with you that the outcome of the national search of the
NASPA president has concluded. And after a thoughtful and
deliberate process spanning the past 6 months, the NASPA board of
directors have selected Dr. Amelia
Parnell as the next President of NASPA. You may
know Amelia the from her work as vice president for research and
policy at NASPA, a position that she's held since 2015. In this
role, she has selected the association's research policy and
publications portfolio, providing critical thought and support to
the membership. She oversees large scale projects, represents NASPA
globally, is speaking engagements in the media, and leads analysis
of applicable federal and state legislation and regulatory
developments.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:24:53]:
Over the past 8 years, Amelia has secured over $22,000,000 in
philanthropic funding, represented NASPA through service to over 20
organizations, including the US Department of Education, and served
as the chair of the governing board for the Higher Ed Equity
Network and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee for the
EDUCAUSE Board of Directors. Additionally, she has led an 18 month
examination of the future of student affairs, overseeing a large
volunteer and staff task force and engaging in listening sessions
with NASPA members. Prior to NASPA, Amelia served as Director of
Research Initiatives at the Association For Institutional Research
and Director of National Survey Research for the Association For
Institutional Research. From 2005 to 2012, she served as education
policy analyst for the Florida Legislature. Amelia has authored
numerous scholarly articles and has been regularly quoted in
national and trade publications. She is author of the recent book,
You Are a Data Person, Strategies for Using Analytics on Campus,
which has sold over 3,000 copies to date and is widely used by
institutions across the country. She is also a faculty member for
the Institute on ePortfolios of the American Association of
Colleges and Universities. Amelia holds a BS and MBA in Business
Administration from Florida A&M University and a PhD in Higher
Education from Florida State University.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:26:21]:
Beyond Amelia's credentials and organizational knowledge, the
search committee and the board were most impressed by her vision
for continuing to position NASPA as an indispensable organization
serving the student affairs profession and higher education more
broadly. Her collaborative leadership style combined with her
extensive experience and genuine commitment to student success set
her apart in a strong and diverse field of applicants for the
position. Emilia will begin her tenure as president on July 1,
2024, at which time Kevin Kruger will become president emeritus. As
we continue to move toward this next chapter in NASPA's story, we
wanna thank the NASPA president search committee and especially the
co chairs, Betty Simmons, retired vice president of student
development enrollment management at County College of Morris and
Pat Whiteley, senior vice president for student affairs and alumni
engagement at the University of Miami. These volunteers gave so
much of their time to ensure that the next leader of NASPA would be
someone who can build on the successes of the last 12 years and
position the organization to help its members face the challenges
that we know lie ahead. In selecting Amelia, they have done exactly
that. We would also like to extend our thanks to the team at Korn
Kari for their counsel and support in this search. Our largest
congratulations go out to doctor Amelia Parnell, past guest of the
show, and we will be having her in the future to talk about that
vision for NASPA.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:27:47]:
Every week, we're going to be sharing some amazing things that are
happening within the association. So we are going to be able to try
and keep you up to date on everything that's happening and allow
for you to be able to get involved in different ways, because the
association is as strong as its members. And for all of us, we have
to find our place within the association, whether it be getting
involved with a knowledge community, giving back within one of the
the centers or the divisions of the association. And as you're
doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself
where do you fit? Where do you wanna give back? Each week, we're
hoping that we will share some things that might encourage you,
might allow for you to be able to get some ideas that will provide
you with an opportunity to be able to say, Hey, I see myself in
that knowledge community. I see myself doing something like that.
Or encourage you in other ways that allow for you to be able to
think beyond what's available right now, to offer other things to
the association, to bring your gifts, your talents to the
association and to all the members within the association. Because
through doing that, all of us are stronger and the association is
better. Tune in again next week as we find out more about what is
happening in NASPA.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:29:12]:
Chris, thank you so much for this week's edition of NASPA World. We
always appreciate you keeping us updated on what's going around in
and around NASPA. And, Alejandra, we have our lightning round
questions now. I've got 7 questions for you in about 90
seconds.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:29:26]:
Okay. Let's go.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:29:27]:
Alright. Question number 1. Since you are a conference keynote
speaker, if you got to choose your entrance music, what would it
be?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:29:33]:
Well, I don't know if it's a known fact but First Gen has a
playlist cause each chapter title is a song. So I'm gonna pick one
of the songs off of the playlist which is Fast Car, Tracy Chapman
version though.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:29:46]:
Oh, she just performed recently.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:29:47]:
Oh, so good.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:29:47]:
Love her. So good. I'm gonna sidetrack us and say where can people
find your playlist?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:29:51]:
It's on Spotify and in the back of the book, there's a link.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:29:54]:
Alright. Number 2, when you were 5 years old, what did you wanna be
when you grew up?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:29:58]:
When I was 5 years old, I wanted to be Cinderella. I actually write
about that in the book.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:30:05]:
Number 3, who's your most influential professional mentor?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:30:08]:
My most influential professional mentor was my boss at the White
House for a lot of reasons and I I actually there's a whole scene
in the book about the way she modeled to me what true leadership
was like and really had the power to be able to either support me
or not support me in a very pivotal moment at the beginning of the
book. And she, to this day, is somebody who's still in my life and
threw me a book party when the book came out, which meant a lot. So
I would have to say her.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:30:38]:
Number 4, your essential higher education read. I'd be remiss
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:30:41]:
if I didn't say 1st gen. Come on.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:30:43]:
Number 5, the best TV show you binged during the pandemic.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:30:47]:
I watched Breaking Bad again.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:30:48]:
Number 6, the podcast you've spent the most hours listening to
in
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:30:51]:
the last year. So because I actually, over the past year, have been
so crazy promoting the book. I haven't listened to a lot of
podcast. I'm gonna give a shout out to this one.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:31:00]:
Thank you.
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:31:02]:
So SA Voices from the Field.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:31:04]:
And finally, any shout outs you'd like to give personal or
professional? I just like to
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:31:08]:
thank the NASPA family for welcoming me and of course to Dina over
at the First Gen Center. I've had such an incredible experience
getting to know folks in this world and a lot of the folks in
student affairs and 1st gen programs. And so shout out to everyone
here and the work that they're doing and to you for having me. I
appreciate it. Again, the
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:31:28]:
book is First Gen, a memoir by Alejandra Campoverdi. You can pick
it up in the NASPA bookstore or wherever you buy books. Now if
folks would like to book you for a speaking tour on their campus or
reach you otherwise, how can they find you? Well,
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:31:40]:
I'm super in my DMs. So you could DM me on Instagram or send me a
LinkedIn message or on my website. There's an email that you can
also reach out to me there.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:31:50]:
And what's your website?
Alejandra
Campoverdi [00:31:51]:
Alejandracampoverdi.com.
Thank you
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:31:54]:
so much, for sharing your voice with us today. Thank you. This has
been an episode of Student Affairs Voices from the Field, a podcast
brought to you by NASPA. This show continues to be possible because
you choose to listen to us. We are so grateful for your
subscriptions and your downloads and your engagement with the
content. If you'd like to reach the show, please email us at sa
voices at nasa dotorg or find me on LinkedIn by searching for
doctor Jill L. Creighton. We always welcome your feedback and your
topic and guest suggestions.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:32:26]:
We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the
show and give us a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts or wherever
you're listening now. It really does help other student affairs
professionals find the show and helps raise the show's profile
within the larger podcasting community. This episode was produced
and hosted by doctor Jill Creighton, that's me, produced and audio
engineered by doctor Chris Lewis. Special thanks to the University
of Michigan Flint for your support as we create this project. Catch
you next time.