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Merna Amer

Dr. Kim Fox

Multimedia Writing and Production

22nd of March, 2023

Interview transcript

Interviewer: Merna Amer

Interviewee: Menna ElBakary

Date: 22/3/2023

Topic: Fashion club at AUC

Interview:

Interviewer (00:00):

So would you please tell me more about yourself?

Interviewee (00:01):

Yes, of course. My name is Menna Elbakary. I am a sophomore at AUC. I major in Integrated

Marketing Communications. I am also the president of the fashion club in AUC and I like to do a

lot of fashion-related things in my life. So, the club is just one of those things. I originally

wanted to study fashion design and to travel abroad, but I came to AUC instead so I really

wanted to make a community of people that really are passionate about the same things that I am

passionate about and that is where the idea of the club came from.

Interviewer (00:57):

Did you find it easy to like manage a whole club from A to Z?

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Interviewee (00:57):

It’s not easy at all actually, especially to establish yourself as a new club at AUC is not at all an

easy task to do because there are already so many clubs and so many events all of them have

been around since really long time. So, being a new club is very difficult, especially when big

clubs might have events that overlap. Uh, I, I, I struggled a lot with, um, with certain clubs where

there are events with, with overlap with, with fashion, and it was a big struggle also with, um,

with like rules and regulations and just trying to make sure that all fashion events are done by my

club. And unfortunately that's not always the case because as I said, it's still a small club and

we're not as established as bigger clubs. So, it can become difficult in that sense and can become

difficult to really establish ourselves. And that's what we're really focusing on right now. Like

we're trying to do bigger events and you know, like to try to scale up so that more people know

about us and so that we can have more of an impact on people. At the end of the day, it's all

about having impact. So yes, it's difficult, but, um, it's all about creating value for people and I

think that's what makes it worth it. Um, but uh, it does become very stressful to be in charge of

everything. Like it's not, uh, it's not an easy task and uh, it's inevitable to encounter struggles and

to encounter problems, but I think, um, it's whether we choose to give up or not that, uh, that

makes a difference at the end of the day.

Interviewer (02:21):

Does it cause you any kind of stress or pressure since you have to study for uni too? Like, tell

me, how do you manage your time between your personal life and the club?

Interviewee (02:41):

That's actually a great question because it does cause me a lot of stress and pressure, and it does

get really hard to balance sometimes. Um, I think it's a very big responsibility to be responsible
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for a whole club and to have, you know, a lot of people depending on you and to be expecting

things from you. So this can get very stressful and overwhelming, especially when you're the

president of a club. At the end of the day, yes, you have people working with you and you have a

whole theme, but at the end of the day, everything is your responsibility so it can get very

stressful and overwhelming and, uh, I can't tell you how many times I've actually thought about

giving up because also like establishing a new club is not a super easy to do. So, um, sometimes

giving up was the easier choice, but, uh, I didn't want to do that because like I said, I'm really

passionate about it and, uh, you know, like I would've appreciated if a year ago when I was still a

freshman, there was really someone going out of their way to create fashion events and that's

what always keeps me going and keeps me motivated. Like I'm sure there is some freshman that

was once in my shoes that wishes that there were more fashion related things at the university.

So that's what always keeps me going. Um, as for managing my time, you know, it really

depends on what's going on, whether with the club or with uni. So if I have a big event coming

up, uh, the club, I usually prioritize the club just because that's my passion. And, uh, when it

comes time management, I, I usually don't really struggle with that because with IMC it's a lot of

practical courses, so at the end of the day it's, it's, I guess it's a little easier to manage my time,

but, you know, sometimes like that's really stressful. Like right now my, uh, like the fashion

festival event, uh, overlap all of my midterms, so it actually was very hard to manage my time. I,

I, I couldn't study nearly as much as I wanted to because I was so passionate about making this

event work. So I try as much as possible to keep things balanced, but uh, sometimes things are

not in my control and uh, things go out of balance. But uh, you know, I always try my best, um,

to allocate time for the club and to allocate time for my assignments and all of that. But more

importantly, I try to allocate time to rest because bringing out is one of the worst things in the
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world and being burnt out makes me not able to do anything, whether it's uni or uh, or the club.

So my biggest priority is always taking care of my mental health and getting enough rest so that I

can do all the things I want to do to the best of my ability.

Interviewer (05:14):

I heard a lot of people say that the AUC generously supports and funds or clubs. Is that even true

or do you as clubs, face any kind of difficulties somehow, like while organizing or asking for

funds?

Interviewee (05:30)

Essentially there's a really strict process when it comes to budget allocation. Um, each club has a

budget cap of 200,000 pounds per semester. Essentially. You can't always get the cap because,

um, the total budget is not enough for everyone to get the cap. So there is a student entity called

Triple C, which is the committee of clubs and conferences. Um, and they're responsible for who

gets how much money each semester. So based on my events and how much costs I'm going to

need, I have to present this committee and, uh, break down all of my costs for them and they get

determined if I really need that much money or not. And, um, I find that this process is really

important so that clubs don't get more money than they need, uh, because I do feel that this

sometimes happens. Cause at the same time, uh, clubs could also get less money than they need.

It really depends on how the committee sees, um, the value to the spending that you're going to

spend during the semester. So essentially, I would say that they are pretty generous, but it

depends on your activities and it depends on how much you're going to spend. And it depends on

you, that what you're planning to spend is also balanced and you're not just throwing money

away, you know what I mean? So, um, they are strict about the process and I think that does

make things a little more difficult sometimes. But I think they, this is a process that they do need
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to be strict about because it's not a small topic. And, um, like I said, yes, it's sometimes make

things, makes things more difficult because you do have to justify everything you're going to

spend and you have to plan it in advance. But I think that that makes everything much more

organized, whether for the club or for the officer, for the committee. So it can be kind of an

annoying process, but uh, I think it's very necessary.