How I Found Belonging On Cal Poly's Campus

As a Queer Woman Of Color

My name is Anusha Sowda. I am a 4th year Art & Design major at Cal Poly SLO. I am involved in Cal Poly Choirs and last quarter I was in the Theatre & Dance Department's Musical Production of Company. I have a tuxedo cat who is very outspoken, like me. I love showing my creativity through my clothing style, decorating my spaces, and painting. I work for the Pride Center on campus, and this is the story of how I got there and all the wonderful things I get to do for the queer community on campus!

Two years ago, I decided to come out to my parents by telling them about my girlfriend.

My parents did not react well and threatened to disown me. I had no choice but to go back into the closet. This put me under a lot of emotional stress in the height of the pandemic and during my sophomore year of college. I turned to my (now secret) girlfriend, and friends for support but I craved a greater purpose for the pain that I was in.

I had been drawn to the Student Diversity & Belonging Coalition's work on campus and desperately wanted a position at the Pride Center, now that I was out as a queer individual.

I had applied to their graphic design position a year ago, and was rejected. The thought of reapplying, was quite intimidating and I knew I would have to recount the painful events I had just been through in order to apply for the position authentically.

My roommate nominated me to be a Panelist for State Of APIDA

I did not realize until I saw the number of people in the waiting room, and the qualifications of the other panelists, that this event was a big deal. There were hundreds of students, staff & faculty in the attendance, who were there to listen to me and four other professors and students who had been at Cal Poly longer and were already deeply involved in DEI on campus. I had a moment of panic, but I had no choice but to read my introduction speech with a shaky voice, and provide thoughtful answers about my experience on campus and how Cal Poly can help APIDA identifying students. I even opened up about my intersectional identities of being brown and queer, and it felt so cathartic and empowering to have a platform and be heard.

State Of APIDA gave me the voice I needed. I applied to work at 3 centers within SDAB, and I got an interview.

The first interview in the application process was a group interview with other prospective applicants. I thought for sure in the aftermath that the role would go to anyone but me, but I was chosen for the next step.

I had 3 interviews with the three centers that I applied for, and I was offered 2 of the 3 jobs a week later! I chose to work for the Gender Equity Center.

some of my work on the gender equity center's instagram

This role was so much more than social media or graphic design - which is what I had originally thought it would be. I was a part of a team tasked with building community on campus for minoritized groups who were also seeking a sense of belonging on campus. I quickly realized how passionate I am about DEI, and how I can use my design knowledge and creativity to market events. All the events under SDAB are student led, planned, advertised, and run. I got to organize Queer Chai Chats- a series of dialogues catered to queer students of color, in which we discuss intersectional identities over tea and popcorn. This morphed into a queer book club. I also was an assistant director in OWN- a show for Original Womxn's Narratives and I decorated and planned activities for our most attended event that year, Palentine's.

While I was focused on creating spaces for intentional dialogue & building community for others, I didn't realize I was also doing this for myself.

This year I work for the Pride Center, where I wanted to be ever since I first heard about Student Diversity & Belonging. I care most about serving queer students of color on campus. This year so far we had a whole week of programming for National Coming Out Day which was a week close to my heart, because of my own experience. We had a spirit week, our booth set up with crafts, two dialogues (one being for students of color only), a movie day, and a mixer to wrap up the week. We through a Thanksgiving alternative dinner event called Queer The Table, and had over 500 people in attendance at our WInter Wonderland Drag show. We had a Queer Relationship Advice panel that I organized and spoke on, and gave a queer sex Ed workshop with a guest speaker.

The event I am most proud of is the Pride Ball. The mission of this event was to remind students of the space Black & Brown Trans/Queer people created in the 70’s and 80’s in New York.

Ballroom can be traced back to the drag scene of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. In the 70s Ballroom Houses became a place for trans and queer folk who were ostracized from society and/or rejected from their families and homes.

The Pride Center has become my favorite place on campus.

I know that wherever I go from here, there will be a place for me. I took an active role in creating one, here at Cal Poly, and proved to myself that if I am authentically myself, I will always be okay.

I will be one of the panelists in State Of Queerness on Thursday April 13th. This will be such a full circle moment and an opportunity for me to reflect on my time at Cal Poly and how SDAB has been a key catalyst in my growth.

THE END.

Appreciate

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