Carly Yoshida is not afraid to be herself.
She’s worn headgear to school by choice, chopped off half of one pant-leg after seeing the style in a Vegas musical, and dyed her hair blue, pink, and bleached white.
“She puts herself out there for the world to judge – that’s not something I know I could handle and it takes a special person to do it with that stamina and wherewithal and dignity,” said Beverly Yoshida, Carly Yoshida’s mother.
Yoshida said her unwavering sense of self and her courage to stand by her convictions makes her a strong leader and advocate for the UCLA student body – a reason why she is running for Undergraduate Students Association Council president on behalf of the Bruins United slate.
After serving as the student body president of her elementary, middle and high schools in the Central Valley, the third-year English student said she knew she wanted to stay involved in student government once she got to college.
Yoshida said working in USAC the last three years has been the most meaningful experience in office because college student governments have the power to implement tangible changes on campus through student programming and fund allocation.
Yoshida said she was not exposed to much diversity before she came to UCLA. Yoshida said her interactions with students from different backgrounds have constituted her favorite times in college, and she wants to work to make UCLA a safe place for students of all backgrounds.
“I know there are a lot of people who don’t think (UCLA is) diverse enough,” Yoshida said. “It breaks my heart when people don’t feel comfortable on campus.”
In her first two years at UCLA, Yoshida worked in the offices of former USAC president Jasmine Hill, former USAC president Emily Resnick and current USAC president David Bocarsly when he was a USAC general representative last year.
“She has no preconceptions, she just comes in wanting to love and wanting to serve,” said Joel Ontiveros, a fourth-year communication studies and world arts and cultures/dance student who met Yoshida in the UCLA Alumni Scholars Club. “She’s good at splitting up her priorities and making sure everyone gets a piece of the pie.”
Serving as General Representative 2 this year, Yoshida said she has worked to promote sexual health and safety on campus because she wants every student to feel safe and empowered at UCLA. She said she plans to continue expanding her sexual health and safety campaign, work to secure alternative sources of funding for student groups to empower student voices.
Yoshida added that she also plans to improve alumni relations next year and connect students to alumni mentorship and job opportunities made available to them through networking.
Lili Kroll, a third-year human biology and society student and a member of Yoshida’s sorority, Delta Gamma, said Yoshida serves as a leader among her friends and the larger student population.
“I’ve seen countless girls come to her with tons of problems, myself included,” Kroll said. “She truly cares about her friends and others in the most genuine and deepest way possible.”
Yoshida said her qualifications for USAC president extend beyond her student government experience and are rooted in her character.
“A lot of who I am has to do with the fact that I generally like people,” Yoshida said. “Everyone has something good and redeeming about them, and that’s why I think the students are worth it.”
Carly Yoshida. You inspire me daily — with your words and actions, but mostly with your heart. You are the most welcoming, warm, and wonderful woman I know and there is no one who deserves this more than you do. We are truly blessed to have you in our lives.
Easily the best candidate for president.
Let’s be honest––the only good thing Carly Yoshida did for USAC was expand the sexual experiences of the invalid and pathetic males on last year’s USAC. Going around playing the “make-out with as many inexperienced members of the council” game? In 4th grade it’s cute. In college it’s slutty.
Taylor for Prez. Real change! #yolo #swag #yoloswag #makeoutorbreakout #daddyissues
was it seriously necessary at all to personally attack carly in order to support taylor? why don’t we let taylor’s credentials and experience speak for themselves? this is coming from someone who knows all three presidential candidates – personally, I am an acquaintance of carly’s, though I am not voting for her because I feel taylor has stronger platforms that I support. but I would never slut-shame her for what she chooses to do in her personal life, especially on an article pointing out the things she’s achieved. from reading the comments on some of these USAC daily bruin articles, I would expect this from others – but not taylor’s supporters. I believed his campaign was above petty, derogatory remarks like this until I read your comment. you didn’t like her youtube videos? fine. you didn’t think she did enough as gen rep? fine. you don’t care about farmers markets? fine. those are all things that carly either did or didn’t do during her term that are logical reasons for why she would not be a good president, and you are more than welcome to voice those criticisms. vote for taylor or john all you want, but please don’t resort to dragging carly’s name through the mud with misogynistic language. all that does is feed into a patriarchal culture that shames women for the same things men do on a daily basis. what it DOESN’T do is effectively point out criticisms that actually matter to a USAC election.
To Zachary Rosenberg – Are you really “proud” of your comments – hope you feel like a better “man” now. Can’t wait until you are a parent – what comes around, goes around. Think about this in about 25 years, please. Interesting way to show support for a candidate.
To Rodger and Bev – I will definitely think about this in 25 years when I am teaching my daughter about “reputation” and what not to do when building a legacy. Keeping in mind the inversion theory of mathematics, I will take your lack of “reputation” lessons early in Carly’s childhood and suggest to my children that they simply don’t do certain things (like make-out-or-breakout). I can see the lesson now:
“Little Zachary––if you are ever attractive enough and get elected to a meaningless student government position, don’t spend months planning a full week devoted entirely to teaching students at a top university how to put a condom on when a Chimpanzee can do the same thing in less than 10 seconds (thereby making your government position even more meaningless)!”
#yolo #carlyandthecondom #perceptionisreality #badchoices #swag
She’s hot