By Alyssa Ayudante
“A quote that I try to abide by is by Rabindranath Tagore, a famous poet and writer from India: ‘I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted, and behold, service was joy.’”
Vaishnavi Ramprasad is currently a sophomore attending CSUCI as a Health Science major. She was born in India and is currently a citizen of India, so she feels she has a close tie to her familial roots. “Doing service and volunteering has been a fundamental philosophy that my family carries,” Vaishnavi elaborates, “I have been raised to have service as a backbone of who I am as a person.” She attributes her upbringing to feed her passion towards serving with Westminster Free Clinic and using her art business to promote philanthropy by supporting charities.
She served as a medical intern at Westminster free clinic in which she served low-income and uninsured patients in Ventura County with free medical and community care. She feels like the hands-on nature of this project fit her desire to do in-person and active service work. She has fond memories of contributing to the treatment of underserved and underrepresented communities. This experience has inspired her to pursue health care as she aims to serve patients with a focus on advocating for equity and social justice.
Vaishnavi has also utilized her business as a henna artist to raise money for charitable organizations such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, the Girl Up Foundation, and other local community efforts. The Girl Up campaign raises money for a global effort to promote education and equity for women, specifically for funding books and menstruation products. “This project is meaningful to me,” Vaishnavi shares, “it is really cool to incorporate my abilities as an artist with service. I encourage anyone who is able to use their talents to serve others to do so. it is something that I love, and I can share it in a fulfilling way.” Great job, Vaishnavi! You can follow her art page, Art with an Impact, if you are interested in seeing more of her pieces: @vaishramart