Writers: Morgan Williams and Erica Kam Editor: Iman Hariri-Kia Creative Direction + Design: Jenna Freitas Designers: Megan Charles, Cailey Tervo, Sumi Dey © Her Campus Media 2022
Nia Dennis always seems to stick the landing. From her viral floor routines to her perfect winged eyeliner, the 23-year-old gymnast appears to be the epitome of balance.
Her Campus Spring 2022 Cover:
The Balance Issue
Nia
Dennis
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Letter from the Editor
Inside the Issue
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INSIDE THE ISSUE
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
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Letter
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Iman Hariri-Kia
@imanharirikia
Hey Besties! Welcome to the Balance Issue and meet our spring cover star, Nia Dennis. How do you balance being a full-time college student and a part-time young professional? This is a question that many members of Gen Z have come to contend with. Remote learning allowed some students to start lucrative side hustles, from buying and reselling secondhand clothes on Depop to managing the careers of emerging musicians. But when every second of your free time is devoted to running your business, academics, friendships, and love lives can be deprioritized. This is an experience that college athletes are all too familiar with. Upon arriving at university, athletes are expected to devote the majority of their time to training, whether that means physical conditioning in the gym, practicing with their team, or meeting with their coach. The demands of their program can often isolate them from their peers, encouraging these students to build trust with their teammates and pushing them toward other athletes who share in their experience. While navigating the highs and lows of a typical four-year collegiate cycle, student athletes also have to grapple with the pressure to succeed, the strain of being relied upon. They’re balancing the anxiety of elite academics with real-world consequences far before graduation day. In 2021, Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open to focus on her mental health, stating “It’s OK not to be OK.” Osaka’s actions opened up a global conversation around mental health and athletics, encouraging many student athletes to come forward and communicate their struggles with their teammates, coaches, and family. Several months later, Simone Biles dropped out of the all around Olympics final to tend to a mental health issue. Her decision had an immediate chain reaction: Women athletes, especially women of color, took to the internet to voice their support. For the first time in years, physical and mental balance felt like an achievable goal. Nia Dennis epitomizes balance, both on and off the mat. After going viral last year for her Beyoncé-themed floor routine, Nia had to come to terms with balancing the expectations of all of the eyes that were suddenly on her with her own. As a student and a young woman, she had to dig deep — turning to journaling and manifestation — to figure out who she would become without the sport that long defined her. In these pages, I hope you get to know Nia. Not Nia Dennis, the gymnast. But Nia Dennis, the woman. The powerhouse. A force to be reckoned with. So, now that the internet has made us all pros in multitasking, what does achieving balance look like? Nia has inspired me to take a good, hard look at who I am, and to separate it from what I do. I am Iman, the writer. But I am also Iman, your friend. And remembering that keeps me balanced. Reader, who are you? Love, Iman
the
Hey Besties! Welcome to the Balance Issue and meet our spring cover star, Nia Dennis. How do you balance being a full-time college student and a part-time young professional? This is a question that many members of Gen Z have come to contend with. Remote learning allowed some students to start lucrative side hustles, from buying and reselling secondhand clothes on Depop to managing the careers of emerging musicians. But when every second of your free time is devoted to running your business, academics, friendships, and love lives can be deprioritized. This is an experience that college athletes are all too familiar with. Upon arriving at university, athletes are expected to devote the majority of their time to training, whether that means physical conditioning in the gym, practicing with their team, or meeting with their coach. The demands of their program can often isolate them from their peers, encouraging these students to build trust with their teammates and pushing them toward other athletes who share in their experience. While navigating the highs and lows of a typical four-year collegiate cycle, student athletes also have to grapple with the pressure to succeed, the strain of being relied upon. They’re balancing the anxiety of elite academics with real-world consequences far before graduation day.
Hey Besties! Welcome to the Balance Issue and meet our spring cover star, Nia Dennis.
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HOW DO YOU STAY BALANCED?
Hair & Makeup Artist
"I stay balanced by making sure I'm taking care of myself. I always try to do some type of a nightly routine to give myself the self care and relaxation we all deserve after a long day! I also love to spend my time with my friends. It's also nice to be around the people you love to take your mind off of the daily stresses."
Reporter
@mobywilliams
"I'm constantly negotiating with myself! If I have a lot on my plate I literally talk to myself and say ok we'll fill out these applications and work on this script but then at 5 we're going to stop, get dressed and go see friends or binge 5 hours of TV. I think the key to being balanced is just being honest with yourself about what you have to do, what you want to do, and what you have the mental capacity to do. Prioritize what needs to be done now and what can be done later so you can balance responsibilities with enjoyable things as well. So I try (key word try) to live like that."
Morgan Williams, 23
Stylist
@lilac_david
"Having quality alone time with no social media helps me stay balanced and clear my mind from everything going on in my life. Reading a good book and doing my skincare routine is my go-to routine if I need to unwind and reset. Decluttering and getting rid of old clothes also helps me with clearing my mind, and prevents me from getting overwhelmed."
Lilac David, 21
Photographer & Creative Director
@photos.bymeli
"Balancing work as a student and content creator is challenging at times, but I make sure to set aside time to catch up with friends, reward myself after finishing sections on my to-do lists, take power naps and stay physically active. Retail therapy is great too! It's important to prioritize your mental health because having a balanced headspace creates a clean slate for optimal productivity."
Melinda Chang, 20
Production Assistant
"Listening to my body. Although I tend to fill up my plate as much as possible, I prioritize my needs and make sure that I am both mentally and emotionally present. If I am not, I take the breaks that I need until I come back and give my best!"
Ivy Raye Magruder, 20
Jacquii Lea, 23
@thejacquii
@ivyyraye
Jacquii Lea
Ivy Raye Magruder
Morgan Williams
Melinda Chang
Lilac David
Nia Dennis always seems to stick the landing. From her viral floor routines to her perfect winged eyeliner, the 23-year-old gymnast appears to be the epitome of balance. You would never know that her journey hasn’t always been on steady footing. You might remember Nia as the UCLA gymnast who went viral for her 2021 floor routine, the one that included backflips to Beyoncé and a step show. During a time of extreme social unrest, Nia chose to pay homage to who she is. “I wanted to bring some of my Black culture to the sport and my floor routines,” she tells Her Campus. “As I became an upperclassman, I wanted to exercise my voice. It was about dang time.” That expression elicited a digital standing ovation from the likes of Michelle Obama, Alicia Keys, and Simone Biles. Nia became a gymnast at just four years old, in Columbus, Ohio. Growing up, Nia was always flipping around on the monkey bars in parks, doing her own little stunts. Her antics finally convinced her parents to put her in gymnastics classes, where she developed a natural love for flying through the air. Nia didn’t choose gymnastics. Gymnastics chose Nia. “I’ve always loved feeling free and gymnastics has allowed me to feel free,” she says. Nia’s coaches were immediately impressed by her talent. They encouraged her to live up to her potential: eventually qualifying for the Olympic team. At the time, she didn’t really believe the hype, but doubled down on her commitment to the sport. And at 11 years old, she began homeschooling to give herself more time in the gym. “That’s when my relationship with gymnastics began to shift,” she says. “I felt like I had no childhood, no personal life, and no friends outside of the gym. I always felt like I was missing out.”
By Morgan Williams
Sticks the Landing
Nia Dennis
Shop The Look From
Lulus
When I first started playing volleyball, it reminded me of that game kids play where they try to keep a balloon from touching the ground. The feeling was exhilarating and just plain fun. But when I reached high school, the fun began to get buried under pressure and fatigue. I began to lose sight of why I started playing in the first place. At 15, in an effort to continue her gymnastics journey, Nia and her family moved to Chicago, in order to join a new gym and continue to finetune her skillset. While Nia’s training became more intensive, she remained optimistic that all the work she was putting in would be worth it one day. But when she suffered a torn achilles going into her senior year of high school, shattering her Olympic dreams just three months before the trials, her faith in “one day” began to wane. “It was a total let down,” she says. “Everything my family and I sacrificed just went down the drain.” Frustrated, disappointed, and seemingly defeated, Nia considered quitting gymnastics altogether, which led her to struggle with depression. “I had to dig deep within myself,” she says. Eventually a new “one day” came into view, as Nia was recruited to attend the number one public university in the nation, University of California Los Angeles, and compete in college gymnastics. A university known for their dynamic and outgoing floor routines, UCLA felt like the start of a new dream, a new era. At UCLA, Nia began falling back in love with gymnastics — a feeling that not a lot of college athletes get to experience. In fact, many have found that the constant hitting of the pavement tends to dull, more than sharpen, their love of the sport. She credits her mindset shift to her former gymnastics coach, Miss Val. “Miss Val helped me look internally and reflect on what was holding me back,” Nia says. “She helped me prioritize my mental health, a complete 180. I started to thrive. I started to love gymnastics. I started to have fun.”
“She helped me prioritize my mental health, a complete 180. I started to thrive. I started to love gymnastics. I started to have fun.”
as a fellow athlete, I can relate.
In 2021, major athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka withdrew from competition in order to prioritize their mental health — a move that many athletes know can be extremely difficult to make, especially at such a high level. Nia, and others like her, found their courage inspiring. “I really commend them,” she says. “At the top level, we are all struggling with some type of mental health issue or trauma. They are creating spaces where coaches are going to be more aware and can start creating the right environments for their athletes.” In elite gymnastics, balance starts and ends on the beam. Nia says she felt a lot of pressure to perform and meet the expectations of her coaches, which often meant pushing through injury. She also felt the weight of wanting to financially support her family. Nia wanted to show her parents how grateful she was for their encouragement. During this time, important aspects of her were lost to the desires and expectations of those around her. At UCLA, Nia also struggled with the adjustment from elite to college gymnastics. College gymnastics regulated the hours athletes could spend practicing, and adjusting to less time in the gym, on top of her rigorous class schedule, led to a period she refers to as "the dark ages."
"They are creating spaces where coaches are going to be more aware and can start creating the right environments for their athletes.”
The conversation around mental health in professional athletics is both new and developing.
Watching my teammates work hard while I sat out a practice left me feeling both uncomfortable and restless. In an effort to avoid feeling that way, I’d force myself to play instead of taking a break. For Nia, it took hitting rock bottom to open up to her coach about what she was going through. “At one practice, I was performing so badly that I ran out of the gym in frustration,” she says. “I was being really hard on myself, beating myself up and saying nasty things, repeating negative comments. It was out of habit from elite gymnastics.” I can tell you firsthand how rare it is for athletes to run out of practice — in fact, in some cases, the play could even be punished. But Miss Val followed Nia and asked what was wrong. She knew that the problem was much bigger than Nia taking an error in practice and pushed for a genuine explanation. “I didn’t want to tell her what was going on, but she forced me to have a conversation,” Nia says. “Not only was I having academic issues, but I had a lot of trauma from elite gymnastics that I wasn’t dealing with. I was triggered and I didn’t know what to do.” After opening up to her coach about how she was feeling, Nia was able to be more honest with herself and her teammates. She became more comfortable talking about her trauma, which helped her balance all of the other components of college athlete life. After a rocky freshman year, Nia learned to speak up about what she needed to succeed. “The saying ‘closed mouths don’t get fed’ couldn’t be more true,” Nia says. “You need to ask for guidance. You need to ask for help. I started learning how to balance by writing things down. I had to learn to take life one day at a time, one moment at a time.”
"I had to learn to take life one day at a time, one moment at a time.”
Nia’s experience reminds me of my own. As a college volleyball player, I found it difficult to prioritize my mental health.
As a child, she dealt with bullying and harassment about her hair and her skin, as well as the way that chalk marks were more visible on her. She noticed that there were very few people in her sport who looked like her, and she experienced more subtle commentary that reflected how the gymnastics world saw her at large. “I was never described as elegant or beautiful,” she says. “I was always ‘the powerhouse,’ or ‘the muscle house.’ But I bring grace to the floor as well. I worked hard so that, one day, people would see me for me and accept me for me. They wouldn’t look at me differently because of my skin color, but because of my talent.” Gymnastics has long been considered a predominantly white sport. According to a report by the USA Gymnastics Association, 4.6% of members identify as African American. As of 2021, 8% of NCAA gymnasts identify as Black women. As a member of the minority, it would have been easier for Nia to allow negative comments to hold her back. But through self reflection, resilience, and embracing the positivity of her teammates, Nia began to heal — and raise her own voice. Balance requires a renewed focus on rest and self-care, which can take on many forms. For Nia, that looks like “vegging out” and maybe marathoning a tv show. (Yes, Nia is caught up on all the Inventing Anna and Insecure tea. Spoiler alert: she’s “big mad” about this season of Euphoria.) But balance can also mean going to therapy, getting your nails done, and getting a massage. Above all else, Nia has found journaling to be her “saving grace.”
“I was never described as elegant or beautiful, I was always ‘the powerhouse,’ or ‘the muscle house.’ But I bring grace to the floor as well. ’’
Nia spent years not asking for the help she needed.
“It really helped me track and monitor where I was at, day to day or even week to week. That was my release of trauma, energy, and whatever was getting built up. It’s really refreshing to be able to see how far I’ve come, to see the improvements I’ve made.” By making time for other activities, Nia also began manifesting receiving the recognition that she felt she deserved. One day, her manifestation arrived in the shape of a notification: her floor routine had gone viral. Nia realized that it was one thing to be making strides and impressions in your community. But now, she was making impressions nationwide. Her two now-viral floor routines boast millions of views. “I’ve always aspired to inspire,” she says. “When my floor routine went viral, I felt like these young girls, the next generation, needed to see it. I wanted to show them that you can thrive in college gymnastics, not just at the Olympic level.” Nia has a great sense of gratitude for how far she’s come and where she’s going. Since graduating from UCLA, she’s admittedly struggled with what to do with all of her energy. But she’s excited to tap into her other interests, like acting and fashion. “Now that I’m out in the real world and don’t have sports as a part of my everyday life, I’m trying to get 1% better at so many different things,” she says. I’d give her a little more credit: Nia is already taking the real world by storm. She was just appointed brand ambassador for Adidas by Stella McCartney, has a partnership with Pressed Juice, and recently signed with the talent agency CAA. She also hosted the Rolling Stone Live Red Carpet event at the Super Bowl, which was a way of challenging herself. In the past, public speaking hasn’t been “her thing.” As the saying goes, “heavy is the head that wears the crown.” In 2020, Nia fittingly ended her floor routine by holding her hands over her head in the shape of a crown. At the time, no one knew the weight that Nia carried to reach that pinnacle of success. But now that she’s learning to exercise her voice and live a more balanced life, I have no doubt that she will continue to hold her head up high.
“My guide is authenticity and getting back to my roots, I feel like I’ve already lost myself one time. I’m not ever going to allow myself to lose myself again.”
“Journaling helped me realize why I was acting a certain way,” Nia says.
Interviews were edited for clarity and length.
Back To
Beginning
Be honest: Are you getting enough sleep every night?
Cleaning?
Which area of
It’s complicated.
Sleep is my favorite hobby.
or
Which Internet rabbit hole did you get sucked into most recently?
An unsolved true crime case.
Yummy TikTok cooking videos.
Finish this sentence: Self-care to me means ____.
Spending time with friends.
Taking a moment to check in with myself, alone.
What’s more important to you in a career?
Stability
Passion
What are you more likely to put on when someone hands you the aux?
A throwback bop.
The latest trending song.
Your Relationships
Start
Start Over
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Your Career
Your Health & Wellness
Your online presence
Spring
Your Life Needs
Physical, mental — whatever aspect of your health you’ve been neglecting, enough is enough. Whether this means finally going to therapy, taking up yoga, or even something as simple as journaling, you should put yourself first this spring. (P.S. This is your friendly reminder to drink water!)
Your Online Presence
It might be time to put the phone down for a bit, bestie. Consider setting app limit timers on social media, unfollowing people who don’t spark joy, and touching some grass, as stan Twitter likes to say. The spring sunshine won’t always be here — the Internet will.
In the midst of the Great Resignation, it’s never been clearer that you don’t have to stick around in a job you hate, and you can go after your dreams, whatever they are. If you’ve been scrolling through your saved jobs on LinkedIn in your free time lately, this is your sign to hit “send” on that application.
Are there toxic people you’ve kept in your life that aren’t being good friends or partners? Breakups, romantic or platonic, are never easy, but spring cleaning season is the perfect time to reconsider what bad energy you’re keeping around, and whether it’s time to let that go.
