What really goes into planning one of SHS’s biggest nights of the year? The Leaf editors sat down with Fashion for the Cure’s co-chairs: Anya Mehta, Dani Pereda, Lizzie Barans, and Winnie Zolla to understand what it’s like to coordinate and plan the FFTC show while maintaining a strong friendship.
Q: How does your relationship as friends affect your time working together on FFTC?
Dani: “I think that because we all know each other from being on the committee since the end of freshman year together, it just makes the work a lot more collaborative. We’re always willing to help each other. There’s a lot less miscommunication because we talk so often. Just being close with one another helps us reach our goals.”
Anya: “I feel like because we are friends I can yell at you more because, I know that, even if I yell at you, you still have to lead this. You still have to be part of this, so it’s not gonna push you out of it.”
Dani: “Yeah, I will say one thing that makes it harder is that I feel like, because I want to help you, sometimes we end up putting a little too much on our plate. You could easily be like, “Oh, I can’t do that right now,” if you were less comfortable with the person, but I want to help so badly that I’m just like, oh, I can do it.”
Winnie: “We all have a mutual understanding that we all get so overwhelmed, and so it’s always like, just let me do it.”
Q: How have you grown as leaders and as people in this position?
Lizzie: “I think it’s made me a better leader. I think I’m better at communication and teamwork, and that Fashion for the Cure also helped me grow as a person. It can get pretty high stress sometimes, but we just have to remind ourselves that it’s for such a good cause, and that we’re helping so many people.”
Dani: “It’s a lot of work, and it gets very stressful when you’re just thinking about how much money we want to raise. So the way that it’s helped me grow both as a leader and as a person, is to just focus, not on the end goal of how much we want to raise, but what we’re actually doing all along the way. The little meetings with the dragonflies, getting to see them like when they come to our show, the little things that end up being huge demonstrations of what we’re doing, kind of motivates me to keep going and always keep that actual goal, rather than just the monetary goal.”
Anya: “I feel like communication is probably the biggest thing. Without communication, nothings ever getting done. It’s helped me with learning how to communicate and who to communicate with.”
Winnie: “It’s taught me definitely not to procrastinate, but also to be patient. Now it motivates me to get things done, because building them up and just leaving them for the end is never good.”
Q: How has this year, as co-chairs, differed from previous years as committee members?
Winnie: “I feel like in past years on the committee, as an underclassman, there’s a lot of things that are above you and go over your head that you don’t have to deal with, little logistic things. Now as group leaders, you see every little thing and all these things that you didn’t know people had to deal with.
Dani: “Every wrong thing feels like it lies on you because you’re the co-chairs. So if we don’t hit our monetary goal that we’ve hit the past three years, if we don’t make each fundraiser as good as it was the year before, it feels like that was our responsibility, and the advisors look to us for every little mishap that happens. We had to learn for these past two years on the committee from our upperclassmen, but now, everything is just like, whoa. We have to do all of that. No one’s gonna do it for us.”
Anya: “Yeah, I’ve done my treasurer and ticketing job for the last three years and that stuff I know. But I didn’t know anything about PR and I had to learn it all. This year’s just been a big learning journey of how to do everyone’s job. I feel like now that we have so much responsibility and look over so many people, it definitely adds a lot more to your plate and a lot more stuff to get done.”
Lizzie: “I also would say that I feel more passionate about achieving our goal. I feel like the reason that we’re doing it is because it lies on us now.”
Q: What do you appreciate the most about FFTC?
Lizzie: “I love the committee. I think it’s so inspiring that there’s so many high school kids that are willing to do this work to make positive change in their communities.”
Dani: “I definitely say the committee too. You get so lost in the work and working together and just working towards this goal that sometimes you lose how crazy it is all that we do. We’re working with local businesses, we’re doing stuff that most people in high school don’t even think of doing. The impact that we’re having on the Dragonfly Foundation is huge. Feeling that satisfaction that we’re doing good for our community, and we’re actually impacting those kids with people that we work well with, is so rewarding.”
Lizzie: “I also think about this all the time, someday in the future, I could be walking down the street with a friend, and I could run into somebody on the committee, and the person I’m with is like, ‘Oh, who’s that?’ And I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I raised $100,000 for kids who had pediatric cancer with them.’ And that’s just insane.”
Winnie: “I also feel very prepared for a career. Solicitation, especially, working with business. I know how to email and communicate. It’s difficult, but it has built a lot of those skills.”
Anya: “Yeah, I’d say the mission is one of the things. Just knowing that we all come together for a common cause. And it’s not just us, it’s really the community that brings us all together. Everyone can see it, that we’re just teenagers trying to reach a common goal. Bringing a community together to support this one cause, is one of the best parts.”
Q: What is your favorite memory of FFTC?
Dani: “Every show night. On show night, all your work of a year, just like, comes together.”
Anya: “I feel like last year’s show night. Sophomore year I was more stressed because I really had no idea what to do.”
Lizzie: “My favorite memory is absolutely getting the check on stage last year because Anya wouldn’t tell us how much money we had. There are pictures of me on the stage, jumping on Anya and screaming when I found out.”
Winnie: “My favorite memory is always show day because we’re with the committee all day. It’s so stressful and I’ve definitely cried the past few years, but they’ve been good tears. And at the end of the night, when you’re cleaning up and everything’s over, and you realize it’s all done, it’s the biggest feeling of relief.”
Q: When is the FFTC show?
All: February 21st!
Anya: Tickets are live!
