Millie Suero ’24 is the president of SJU Naturals, a student-led organization that focuses on healthy lifestyles for college students. The organization not only promotes physical health, such as hair and skin care, but also brings attention to mental health awareness. An international business major from New York City, Suero spoke to The Hawk about what it’s like to assume the top leadership position at SJU Naturals, as well as what new ideas she has for the organization.

The Hawk: How have you been feeling in the president’s role with SJU Naturals?

Suero: I’ve been feeling pretty good. SJU Naturals is not one of those clubs that needs to meet every single month. We don’t need a set plan or a goal for each meeting other than people come and they enjoy themselves, they learn something new, and they leave with more knowledge than when they came. 

The Hawk: What do you do to take care of yourself?

Suero: For my mental health, one thing that I do is go to my therapist sessions, and it’s something that I do by myself. And I always take time to meditate during the day, like once a day, maybe at night or in the morning depending on whether I have time or not. I always meditate and always prepare myself for the next day, taking that time to either do a face mask or making my own lotion that I can use, stuff like that. Something that just kind of slows a fast moving day.

The Hawk: What made you realize that taking care of yourself is important?

Suero: I don’t know if most students realize this, but the water that they have here at college is much different than the ones that you have at home. They have much stronger bacteria and minerals in them that can be harmful to your skin. That’s why many people break out here, have a lot of hair loss and stuff like that. … Once I got here and I started washing my hair and washing my face on campus, I realized a lot of things, and my hair got thinner. It could also be stress-induced and not taking enough time for myself, but I feel like water was a main factor. Not that the water is really bad, it does what it needs to do for cleaning, but that doesn’t always mean that it’s the best source when cleaning things that are so sensitive like your skin and your hair. 

The Hawk: What are your goals for SJU Naturals this year? 

Suero: Some of our new goals are to make more interactive events where it’s not just do it yourself, but make it within a group so that people can talk to each other while they’re doing it. And to try to build more of a community where it’s not just, we wait for these programs for people to connect, but more like they can reach out to each other [without] needing us.

The Hawk: What role does diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) play in SJU Naturals? 

Suero: DEI is definitely one of the biggest focuses we do have. We tailor to every one of our members regardless of their race, where they’re from, or ethnicity, but we do try to have more of a focus for Black African American students because their hair textures are different. There’s not many options on campus or near campus. And many times some of them don’t even know how to take care of their hair. Many of my eboard didn’t learn specific products or what different products could do to their hair. They didn’t know what exact techniques they needed to take care of their skin because, you know, each race has different types of skin textures, we have different types of hair textures, and that all means that the same thing that other students can use are not the same that someone with more curlier-textured hair can use.

The Hawk: Why should someone join SJU Naturals?

Suero: All of our events are fun. They’re all quick activities, and you don’t have to spend 30 minutes doing them. So it’s really five to 10 minutes. Sometimes you’ll stay for 30 minutes, but it’s not doing the activities, but more talking [and] interacting with people. We usually set up activities or goals, not for the event but more for what we want you guys to leave with, and it’s always new knowledge about something that you probably didn’t know about.

Hannah Madeya ’24 contributed to this story.