by SHANNON GLEBA & CHRISTINE NAPPI, Staff Writer & Contributor

After about two years of inactivity, Her Campus, an online magazine for students, re-launched at Manhattan College on Jan. 29.

  Her Campus is a blog that’s targeted for college students. Articles are published about topics ranging from student life, beauty, health, pop culture, politics and more. The website has its headquarters in Boston, with chapters located at over hundreds of national and international universities. Each branch is student-run and is not affiliated with the college it represents.

Ally Mejia, freshman social media editor for Her Campus, said in an e-mail statement, “The relaunch entails the online magazine to be deemed ‘active’ again, if you will. Because our previous Her Campus chapter at Manhattan College was discontinued, we wanted to bring it back and make it better than ever!”

Sophomore Michaela Carnesi spearheaded the relaunch of Her Campus after transferring to MC last fall semester.

“Her Campus is basically an online magazine,” sophomore Michaela Carnesi said. “It gives students a way to speak their minds.”

For Carnesi, Her Campus was an artistic outlet that allowed her to be able to write about and persevere through the struggles of her freshman year at her previous college. Her Campus became a huge part of Carnesi’s life, so when she decided to transfer to Manhattan College, she sought to find the creative website she had grown to love. Unbeknownst to her, Her Campus at Manhattan had been inactive since April 2017, until now.

“The goal is to give students a place where they can write about whatever they want,” Carnesi said. “It’s basically like a diary that you write but everyone can read which is really cool.”

Carnesi began to re-establish the MC chapter this past October as the Campus Correspondent and Senior Editor. After talking to the college, applying to re-establish the chapter, and forming an executive team, after months of hard work, Her Campus MC is up and running.

Sophomore Micaela Beatty is part of the executive team as the Events Director and really likes the freedom writers are given.

“You literally can write whatever you want, we don’t like to restrict anyone, but obviously it has to be appropriate, so Michaela [Carnesi] approves the topics.”

She continued.

“I think it’ll be a good destressor, and not something that you need to attend, you can do it from the comfort of your own dorm room.”

The Her Campus team consists of multiple staff positions other than writers. In addition to writing, students can take photos, market and publicize the site, work with social media and more.

Mejia was able to hone her passion for social media within the Her Campus chapter.

“I’ve always had a passion for social media, as crazy as that may sound. I enjoy creating posts that people will like and share and I wanted to put these skills towards something that could benefit many people, especially a cause that i’m interested in,” Mejia said.

Despite the name, students of any gender are welcome to join the staff. Although Carnesi states the articles are more “female-orientated,” the content can appeal to everyone, and is an inclusive community.

“I hope anyone that is interested in the topics we have to offer finds interest in reading our articles. Even though our brand is more directed towards girls, we hope that our articles can help or be read by any individual that has an interest,” Mejia said.

Carnesi describes Her Campus MC as being more unique than chapters at other colleges. The location of the school enables writers to expand their horizon and venture off-campus into the city write stories, an opportunity that not every Her Campus has. In addition to writing, Carnesi states that the location of MC will give the Her Campus team the opportunity to volunteer with local community service programs.

“Since we’re in a city setting, I feel like there’s more that you can do with her campus,” Carnesi said. “I’m really hoping for Manhattan that we do more, of course on campus, but also off campus as well because we have the means to.”

Carnesi hopes that in the future Her Campus MC will achieve the “pink chapter” status, meaning readership levels of the site are consistently high. Due to the fact it restarted last week, the status is currently at the bottom. In order to work their way to the top, the Her Campus team plans to promote the site on social media.

“Pink is the highest, so I’m hoping in the next year, year and a half we can reach that,” Carnesi said. “It’s definitely going to be a lot of work.”

As of now, the chapter is pretty small, but the executive board hopes that will change in the future. Right now, Beatty is looking into planning a re-launch event once a budget is set for the club to encourage more writers to get involved.

In the long term, after Carnesi’s years are MC are over, she hopes that the Her Campus tradition is carried on and does not become inactive again.

“I want to make sure when I’m finished, when I graduate, Campus Correspondent and Editor-in-Chief goes to someone who has experience and that they’re genuinely committed to keeping Her Campus going,” Carnesi said.

For those who hope to get involved in writing for Her Campus, reach out to their social media outlets, including Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. Or email at manhattan@hercampus.com.