Becky’s Fund Welcomes Clarissa

My name is Clarissa and I will be interning at Becky’s Fund. I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University this past May with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. However, I found my true passion when I declared a minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies.

My minor exposed me to invaluable classes that opened my eyes and understanding of the world and inspired me to work to end domestic violence. Perhaps the most moving class was Violence Against Women, a service learning class where I volunteered my time for Planned Parenthood and the Young Women’s Christian Association. In Feminist Theory we theorized why domestic violence and more so, why general violence happens in our society and created solutions that we as students would be able to achieve. These classes inspired me to join student organizations such as SAVES, Students Advocating Violence Education and Support, where we educated the community on red flags in abusive relationships, consent, healthy relationships, and resources for survivors.

Even though I just graduated from VCU, I already have my sights set on graduate school to obtain a Master’s in Social Work to continue working with and for survivors. One of my longterm goals is to become a professor so that I can inspire other students to dedicate their lives to feminism and ending domestic violence. The more people we can reach, the more we can create social change.

I am very excited to start my career off on the right foot. I am interested in participating in the Becoming Your Own Heroine program as well as the Men of Code program. As our society socializes us from a very young age, I think it’s imperative to speak to youth in order to create social change.