Hey Girls,
The lovely Natalie Borton, who has served as one of our Regional Chapter Directors for WM and is now volunteering full-time as our Director of Marketing, featured me on her blog today. Natalie and I first connected via emailed back in 2004 when she contacted me as a Freshman. She stumbled across a poster about WM on campus – it really captured her attention as she was battling an eating disorder and craving community and freedom.
The year before I was a busy bee trying to start WM while I was still battling depression. The summer of my sophomore year I hit rock bottom, was forced to withdraw from Pepperdine and move home to deal properly with the depression, and finish college at Santa Clara. WM at Pepperdine tanked, but that fall it started at SCU when I put up a few posters in the girls bathroom–Kayla and two other awesome girls were the first to be involved.
Fast forward four years–Natalie and I still had never met. I hunted her down on Facebook (thank you Mark Zuckerberg!), stalked her blogs and was inspired by her heart for young women and involvement in ministry. She recommended me as a chapel speaker at Pepperdine and in December of 2008 we finally met–we both shared our testimonies of redemption the same day at chapel. Shortly after she became a member of our exec team and God made it clear He was paving the way for WM to really start at Pepperdine–we now have a phenomenal group of women who are gearing up for their 2nd year of WM and who are passionate about encouraging and loving on the women of their campus and community ! It’s a long back-story, but I thought it was worth sharing as God’s timing is perfect.
No matter the disapointments, setbacks or broken dreams we never know what God might be doing. He is in control–we just get to go along for the ride. Now for my interview with Natalie….
Natalie: What woman inspires you?
Allie: It’s impossible to limit it to just one. Each one of my mentors, role models and closest friends inspire me in a unique way. Collectively they are a constant source of inspiration. I’m inspired by my artistic friends’ creativity and free spirit; my mom’s resilience, discipline and strength has been instrumental in making me the person I am, and my mentor Judy’s humility and loving-kindness inspires me to love unconditionally and know Christ more intimately. Each of my friends stirs me to be intentional in my relationships, love wholeheartedly, live authentically and laugh regularly. That’s a perk about being a girl – instead of being jealous of one another; we have the opportunity be inspired by each other.
Click HERE for the full interview and to check out Natalie’s blog.
