Why I joined a sorority AFTER I graduated from college...

Today at work I explained to a coworker that I was in a sorority. NBD, most of the time they assume that I joined during my undergraduate years. I succinctly explained to her that I actually joined after I graduated while in graduate school for my MSW. She, as well as most people when I confess that part of my life, seemed surprise. The culture of Greek life is mythically undergrad and filled with parties and underground hazing to cultivate the pledges in to the sorority members you want them to be.  I did not have that experience AT ALL and I am quite grateful for that. 

I graduated with my BA in 2008 from CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. As a full time employee and full time student my life was not in the proper context to devote myself to the process of pledging an organization and still focus on my life and figuring out where the hell I am going career wise.

Once I started grad school in 2011, a jolt of a memory came back to me when a professor stated, "It doesn't matter what kind of grades you get, what matters is who you know." Aha! I knew... no one. My network of professionals was minuscule and I quickly realized that my classmates were no better. Grad school was all about self-sufficiency and survival. Since graduation in 2014, I am in contact with three people! Once graduation is done, everyone is off running into their own world worrying about themselves let alone networking with one another. I figured I needed to make a decision to put myself at an advantage. I remembered my cousin, an Hermana of Latinas Promoviendo Comunidad/ Lambda Pi Chi Sorority, Inc. mentioned a professional/graduate chapter in NYC and thought "Hey, I can do that." 

That for me was the decision that changed my life by allowing me to become part of an organization that is so deeply entrenched in their philosophy of empowering Hermanas, as well as members of the community that it only took me one conversation with one Hermana to receive 25 emails with job opportunities at my fingertips. 

While I did miss out on some of the undergrad nuances of pledging, I gained a plethora of knowledge and a whole new family when I crossed. I wear my letters proudly because I worked hard to earned them but also because I love what they represent to me. Respect, professionalism, self-worth and empowerment. 

Nadia Chanté