The other day, I was online and I came across this fantastic quote from Audrey Hepburn:

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles."

As a good Phi Mu, anything that starts with “I believe in pink” is going to get my attention.  I shared it with fellow Phi Mus … I even made it my facebook status.  And then I started thinking about it … I used to hate pink.  And that made me think about the journey I took from hating pink to having pink become an important color in my life.  All of this also made me think about the ways that Phi Mu has helped me to grow as a woman.

I never thought I would be a “sorority girl.”  In 1994, I arrived at the University of Houston and moved into the residence hall.  While I was decorating my half of the room, my new roommate flew into the room like a hurricane, looking for the right pair of shoes for her outfit.  Her name was Rebecca and she was getting ready for her first day of recruitment.  I will be honest, she seemed a bit crazed, and I was not really sure I wanted to spend the next two semesters with her.  Fortunately, I was very wrong about that, and it was one of the best lessons I learned about a first impression not always being the right impression. 

A few days later, Rebecca returned to our room with a whole lot of pink.  She had pledged Phi Mu.  And there was a lot of pink from that point forward.  During that year, Rebecca introduced me to her sisters and I really began to enjoy their company, but when I would see them I marveled about how much pink there was. 

I began to change my mind about never being a sorority girl.  Rebecca convinced me that I should wait until the beginning of fall and experience formal recruitment to make sure I selected the sorority that was right for me, not just the one I had met through her. 

The next summer, I turned into Rebecca – flying through my room, scaring my new roommate as I searched for the right pair of shoes to go with my outfit for the first day of recruitment.  Each day of recruitment, I could not wait to get to Phi Mu.  I felt comfortable there - I laughed and did not feel like I had to constantly worry about my posture or whether my smile was just right.  But I will admit that in the back of my mind I kept thinking … so much pink.

I ended where I hoped I would, with Phi Mu.  I embraced the pink, and it was the start of a journey I never expected.  I expected that Phi Mu would be fun.  I expected that I would get some good networking out of it.  I expected that it would make our very large campus a bit more intimate.  My Phi director talked about our “lifetime commitment,” but I did not have a concept of what that meant.  My time in Phi Mu as a collegian was wonderful, no doubt about it.  But somewhere in all the fun, Phi Mu was turning me into the woman that I am today.

While I was in college, I was co-recruitment chair, panhellenic delegate, and panhellenic recruitment chair.  Those offices prepared me for my professional life in ways that I did not even think of at the time.  I am now an attorney, specializing in labor and employment law.  I imagine that the majority of this world would not think that sorority membership would help you become an attorney, but they would be mistaken. 

When you sit through conversation workshops and learn how to speak to a complete stranger, you learn how to interview better than anyone else.  When you learn that special skill of handing off a conversation with a potential new member to another sister, you learn how to market and develop relationships with potential clients.  When you work the recruitment table in the university center, you learn how to work your company’s table at professional conferences.  When you stand up in front of a room of hundreds of women and speak to them about recruitment, you learn to conduct seminars and trainings for hundreds of people.  When you stand up to pushy alumnae who think the sorority down the hall has two more balloons in the room than they are supposed to, you are well-prepared to argue with opposing counsel.

In addition to that, the networking possibilities are endless.  All of us are panhellenic women, and that makes us part of the largest women’s organization in the world.  All of those women – be they Phi Mu sisters or other sorority women – share a common history with one another.  That common history can open a door for you and sometimes an open door is all you need.

As an alumna, I finally understood what my Phi director meant when she said that Phi Mu was for a lifetime.  College was only the beginning.  What I learned in Phi Mu helped me in ways I could have never imagined.  And as much as I was hesitant about all the pink, I can say now that I agree with Audrey Hepburn and I truly do believe in pink.