Allison Chou ’17 has over 1,000 likes on her Facebook profile picture, and while she isn’t exactly a celebrity right now, she will probably be in the future.
For Chou, a huge part of her identity comes from her family. Her parents and two older sisters helped develop her sense of female empowerment, inner drive and outspokenness.
As president of KDE, Chou is an unafraid presence on campus, speaking her mind.
“I make things happen. If I think something’s wrong, I want to fix it. If I think someone’s saying something problematic, I’ll speak up. Hopefully that’s what people see in me. I try my best to walk the walk as well as talk the talk,” she said.
The belief that women’s rights are human rights is fundamental to Chou’s worldview.
“Locker room talk is a no-no,” she said, referencing recent comments by Donald Trump and the subsequent debates about the power of language.
She dreams of opening a restaurant, where she will likely serve foreign foods. On weekends, Chou can usually be found eating some sort of ethnic food off campus.
As for her beauty secret, Chou says she rubs Vaseline on her face every night before bed, a trick she learned from her mother. She describes her style as luxury loungewear (“shapeless high quality fabrics”) and sneakers.
Not taking oneself too seriously and dressing well are major pluses for Chou.
It isn’t all about serious discussions about intersectionality. She’s an avid fan of “The Office,” the NBA and pug puppies. She knows how to beatbox. Her celebrity crushes are the Obamas. Even her feminism can take a lighthearted turn: she is a frequent peruser of a feminist fashion blog entitled “Man Repeller,” created with the goal of dressing for oneself.
