Windsor Western: The digital media world’s newest female icon
Harvard University, 2007, Windsor Hanger Western and two others, and a simple idea with a whole lot of passion. Fast forward to 2021, now a mother, wife, feminist, leader, and co-founder of Her Campus magazine. Western makes her mark in the digital media world creating a space and incredible platform for the voices of all empowered college women.
When asked where she saw herself in 10 years, 10 years ago, Western wrote “as the leader of a media conglomerate built on empowering women. Pretty good prediction,” she added.
What started as just an idea for a business competition at school, has become a world-renowned women’s-based magazine ever since it was officially launched in 2009. Western and classmates, Stephanie Kaplan Lewis and Annie Wang, had noticed there weren’t many opportunities for women who were interested in media and writing to explore or pursue their passions. The amount of potential they saw in their classmates was too great to let go to waste, and that is what sparked their idea to design a magazine where these students could really thrive in. Her Campus had been born, they just didn’t know it yet.
“There’s so much potential and so much opportunity with college women if you give them a platform to just shine,” Western adds.
At its core, Her Campus is an online women’s-owned-and-operated publication, but in reality, it is so much more than that. Windsor didn’t just contribute to creating a new publication, but a community as well. There are over 300 chapters that have emerged at universities, all having their own unique branding. While publishing articles on lifestyle, college tips, health, and more, or promoting your pieces on social media, you are also forming a sisterhood with others that share the same passions. Her Campus allows you to explore practices in journalism, marketing, or the PR field, and gives you the ability to network and build your resume for future endeavours. “Serving and empowering the next generation is at the core of everything we do, and we are proud to have launched our community members into prestigious jobs and internships all throughout the media and marketing industries and beyond.” (https://www.hercampusmedia.com/about)
Sitting down (virtually) with Windsor, she was really able to dive into the meaning behind Her Campus and the power that it holds, especially today.
“The whole idea is just believing in and supporting young women and knowing the power young women have within them. Making sure we are giving tools and resources and opportunities for them to really unlock and unleash their potential. Her Campus’ growth is all built with the women who are our members and who are creating the content and community within their chapters. They are the strength of what we do, they are the heart and soul of what we do.”
Along with the Her campus branch, Western also organized events such as College Fashion Week and Her Conference with some topnotch tastemakers and guest speakers that have attended. Windsor, like most of us, knows how exclusive the fashion industry can be, focusing on who is not included, and their whole idea was to plan an event that is inclusive, “something that celebrates the diversity of all young women and their real bodies.” Windsor and her team wanted to hold an event where women had the opportunity to sit in the front row of a fashion show, something very few would actually get the chance to do. While Her Conference, held in New York and Los Angeles, became their annual celebration of the most passionate Her Campus community members where keynote speakers shared their stories of how they got to where they are today to inspire other members to strive for their similar goals.
Her Campus not only gives a space for female college students interested in writing and media, but their whole virtue of women empowerment sheds light on a much bigger idea to the collegiate audience. By having the media brand give this platform solely to encourage women, it shows the world how much women can do when given the opportunity, starting at a younger age especially. By learning this at a school level, the amount of growth that can come from this in addition to expanding our knowledge of women’s rights and advocacy is extraordinary.
Here at Cal Lutheran, our chapter has many parts to it that makes it the special community that it is today. While being known for our International Women’s Day celebration, we have a writing and editing team, a social media team, and a marketing and publicity team in addition to our sisterhood. Many of our team members have described Her Campus like a home to them at Cal Lutheran, a place that took them in with a warm welcome in the craziness of entering school. It’s a place where we are all able to work together and build a network of determined media connoisseurs, but also build meaningful relationships with others that will last a lifetime. It’s far beyond a second home, to say the least.
Coming from our very own Her Campus President at Cal Lutheran, Sophia Placencio, “Her Campus has brought me friends and experiences that I couldn’t have found anywhere else and has been one of the most rewarding parts of my college experience. Being a part of it has given me such a sense of pride and has taught me valuable life skills that can be applied everywhere, no matter the field.”
“Forecasting that Her Campus would become this big and make this much of an impact was definitely something I didn’t imagine,” said Western.
The impact the media brand has had in student’s lives is indescribable. Windsor and her team have created this platform that has inspired thousands to pursue their dreams.
Vice President in Brand Partnerships, Emily Shechtman, describes Windsor as “a visionary leader. She is always providing creative solutions and ideas to push the business forward and is constantly dreaming up smart ways to monetize new products and offerings, while keeping our amazing clients happy and coming back. (We call her team the “money team” for bringing in the revenue to support the business).”
You could hear it in her voice and see it in her face. Windsor not only shares her passion, love, and commitment in impacting future female leaders, but in her work environment as well.
“Her commitment to her loved ones is incredibly clear at work, and it carries over into her leadership style. She cares so much about her employees and their personal lives, it makes her a boss I love to work for and motivates me to want to work as hard as I can for Her Campus Media. As we evolve, we’ve stayed 100% committed to our mission to support college women, and it brings me so much passion and fuel every day both in my professional and personal life,” says Katrina Campanale, vice president of sales and business development.
While recently being named in Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies for 2021, Western talks of what is to come for the future of Her Campus.
“There’s always new ideas for Her Campus,” Western states enthusiastically.
Already in the Her Campus brand, there are several other branches that Windsor and her team have launched. This includes Spoon University, a community full of aesthetic food lovers, College Fashionista and InfluenceHer Collective, geared towards Millenial and Gen Z females as a space to emerge students into practices in either the fashion, beauty, or lifestyle industries within the digital media, and their newest branch, Generation Hired, focused on helping students network and connect with creators in all types of fields that could potentially be their next internship. While these branches are all unique and have a different focus, all of them are designed to “connect college influencers with like-minded peers to build their skill set from their campuses, and gain access to industry experts.” (https://www.collegefashionista.com/apply/)
When she’s not as focused on coming up with new ideas for the Her Campus brand, Windsor talks on the importance of integrating your work and family life to find true harmony and balance while setting boundaries, and modeling a strong working woman to her children.
“If your work is something that drives you, it’s not going to feel like, now I’m alive, and now I’m working. I have children and I have a company that I run and I find a way to make them work together.”
Taking your ideas to the next level to create something like Her Campus is certainly not an easy thing to do, and it certainly won’t happen overnight. But, by staying committed to your goal and taking away lessons from your failures, you definitely have the potential to “make the next great thing happen” as Western puts it.
“If you have an idea, if you have something you’re excited about, just start.”
Watch me interview Windsor Western live on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMKis0lJjXc/?igshid=dt0x3ycxxtft
