Students in the Centerfold

Glamour Magazine’s September issue features their annual pick of the country’s Top Ten College Women who they believe are going to change the world, and inevitably, a Harvard gal usually makes the cut. This year, Pforzheimer resident Marisa S. West ’10 joins the fold. FM caught up with past Harvard finalists to ask them about life after the feature.

For Nancy A. Redd ’03, life has been pretty glamorous since she made the list in 2002. After being crowned Miss Virginia two weeks following her graduation, she went on to place in the top 10 during the 2004 Miss America pageant. Soon after, she wrote “Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Bodies, Real Issues, Real Answers”—a bestseller—and has another project for girls in the works. “It’s going to be the same kind of concept,” Redd said. “About what every girl goes through, and how to deal with it healthily so that we’re actually enhancing our lives instead of taking away from them.”

Meghan Pasricha ’08, a 2007 pick, also works to solve social issues. “I like to focus on empowering people and giving them resources and skills, and training them so that they’ll be able to stand on their own and train other people,” she said. Pasricha co-founded Global Youth HELP (Health, Education, and Leadership Program) with her sister, Sarina Pasricha ’04. Now, as an investment banker at UBS, she continues to run the program. Meghan plans to attend business school, and hopes to create and run her own socially responsible company.

Like those before her, Rebecca P. Buckwalter-Poza ’10, a 2008 winner, is more interested in public policy. She worked on the 2008 US presidential election and for the deputy press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. She’s also worked for political strategist James Carville and contributed to his new book. “I know that I want to end up in Washington, probably on the Hill, or maybe working in the administration on policy,” this 2009 Truman Scholarship winner said. “I love it there.”

Wanna be like these girls? “I encourage anyone at Harvard who’s trying to figure out what they want to do, to listen to their gut and their heart, and follow their dreams and their own individual aspirations,” Redd said. With advice like that, it’s easy to see why Glamour loves these women.