The struggle between figuring out your career, deciding what extracurriculars look best on your resume and fitting in things you actually like to do is a constant battle for college students. They are often asked to give up their passions in the name of financial security, which can make college life a lot less enjoyable. Rachel Servidio, FCRH ’26, however, has found a way to bring her interests in her school work, extracurricular activities and other jobs while also shaping her creativity into marketable skills for the job market after graduation.
As a communications and culture student with minors in film and television, as well as digital technologies and emerging media, Servidio has found a path to combine her creative passions with interesting and useful academic pursuits. On campus, she has been involved with Fordham Flava, Humanities Student Alliance (HSA), The Fordham Ram and MODE Magazine. Off-campus, she has a graphic design internship with Orion Magazine.
Initially, Servidio came into college not knowing what she wanted to study, and it took a little while for her to figure it out. After settling on communications, Servidio thought she might lean into public relations. However, after taking a class in public relations, she realized she preferred more visual aspects such as social media and digital design, so she added her two visual minors. Growing up, Servidio said she was always an artsy kid, spending hours on arts and crafts projects and consuming a lot of media. “When it comes to more tangible, physical media I think I like that more and that’s what kind of drew me,” she said about what drew her to graphic design.
Through her positions, she has brought her creative talents to the table with graphic design, public relations and journalism. Working with the career center through the Humanities Student Alliance for three semesters, Servidio was the co-president for HSA, handling public relations tasks, like making fliers for networking events and creating reels for the career center’s social media accounts. In addition, she helped plan HSA events, reached out to alumni to connect them with students, and helped students with resumes, cover letters and interviews.
As one of the fearless leaders of Fordham’s only hip-hop dance team, Servidio dedicates a lot of her time to dancing, choreographing, leading and advertising for Flava as the public relations manager. She’s been a member of the team since the spring of her first year, joining because she missed dancing after taking a short break in her first semester. “I’ve been dancing since I was three, and when I took that break off from dance … I realized I missed getting around and moving and having something to go to,” Servidio said.
Flava can be an intense time commitment, with practices four times a week and many performances, but for Servidio, the people and the style make it all worth it. “I love the people, I love the vision, I love how it’s different from other styles of dance on campus … so we get to create the things we want to create,” she said. “The most valuable part of Flava has been getting to meet new people only because it’s then changed me as a person. I don’t think if I had not joined Flava I would be myself.”
Servidio has a graphic design internship with Orion Magazine, which she described as “a nature and culture focused magazine which bridges that gap between culture, art, poetry, and nature.” She got the internship as a part of Fordham’s Serving the City program through Handshake. As a graphic design intern, she’s currently working on 10 graphics for the company, including ad graphics for the online articles, cover photos for social media and graphic design for their e-newsletter, working mainly with Photoshop and Adobe. The internship has many opportunities to connect with members of different departments, and has even allowed her to write, with her mini movie review set to be published in the upcoming winter issue. It is certainly keeping her busy amongst all of her other work, but she enjoys it and feels it is worth it. “I like it because I get to scroll through the website and see my work,” Servidio said.
With her plate filled to the brim with activities, it can be difficult to juggle it all. “Knowing that I’m proud of the work that I’m doing, and especially with Flava I want the people that I’m leading to also be proud of that end result,” Servidio said about what motivates her to mentally manage all of her positions and work. She added that being a part of the creative vision in her PR and graphic design positions is fun and motivating for her.
When she’s lucky enough to find some free time in her hectic schedule, Servidio likes to spend it with friends exploring what New York has to offer without stressful distractions. “Exploring the city, I don’t do it that often, but even staying around here, going to the botanical gardens, taking a nice walk without music, without distractions, I think is really nice,” she said.
In the future, Servidio hopes to continue working for a culture-based magazine and work somewhere she can showcase her journalistic and digital design skills, similar to what she is doing in her internship. Her well-rounded but still specially curated student life is setting her up for success after graduation, where she will keep creativity and connection at the core of her life and career.
