Student Profile
Vitals:
Name: Danielle Travali
Graduation Year: 2008
Hometown: Bridgeport, CT
Major: English
Weekend Activity: Attending campus trips to see plays in NYC
Danielle Travali is a senior at Manhattanville, majoring in English with a concentration in American Literature and a minor in Psychology. She is secretary of the Student Government and part of the Catholic Student Association. She is interested in the field of Journalism and hopes to study it in graduate school. “I currently do some freelance writing and I believe I will continue to do that in the future,” she said. “I would also like to have a career in magazine writing and work in publishing.”
One of many subjects that she enjoys researching and writing about are women’s issues and feminism. This interest drew her to an organization called The Dressing Room Project. The purpose of this national organization is to encourage girls and women to develop positive body image and to resist “media imposed standards of beauty.”* After posting some articles on the organization’s website, Danielle was contacted by the site owner who invited her to join The Dressing Room Project’s board of advisors.
“After working with The Dressing Room Project, I realized that I would really like to start a chapter on campus,” said Danielle. “I went through the application process with student activities and I am happy to say that the club was approved and we had 15 students show up at the first meeting. What I really like about this organization is that we are proactive about spreading our message. One of the things that our campus chapter will be doing is decorating cards with positive sayings on them and (with the establishment’s permission) placing them on doors and walls in restaurants, bars, and dressing rooms. The Dressing Room Project also helps members deal with eating disorders and negative body image."