We all look better with "make-up" on

Are all sororities really that different?

I mean really. At our core -what do we stand for? You see the same words pop up at every sorority recruitment event... sisterhood, leadership, love, loyalty, service, yadaa, yadaa, yadaa! I have been seeing this more and more and sorority recruitment is getting ready to be in full swing across the country. Women at colleges and universities everywhere are signing up for recruitment, getting ready, buying new outfits, and accepting bids to their forever homes. YAY!

As exciting as this is.... What are we REALLY looking like during recruitment? What do we look like with our sorority make up on?

What is make up for? What does it do for a women? Give us confidence, makes us look awake, hides imperfections. Well, guess what ladies, our sororities have make up too -and its called recruitment. I mean it, look at the details. Notice the color of everyone's nails, the decoration on the walls, the intent in the conversation. Sororities dress up to make you want to be them. It's a harsh reality.

The NPC (National Panhellenic Conference) issued a "no frills" recruitment strategy a few years ago. This means the organizations should not be spending upwards of $10,000, like my undergraduate chapter, for recruitment. In a nutshell, this forwards the idea that recruitment is based on conversation and people vs. talking points and wall decor.

Here are the facts, with no make up: We sell something during recruitment. We sell an image, and idea, and a lifestyle. This is what we want the new members to see, to fall in love with, and to say yes to. This is our recruitment experience with make up.

Take the make up off.... What do you see?

Many women think it is interesting that after 2 weeks the recruitment is over, you have a big, and the image, idea, and lifestyle you fell in love with during recruitment is gone. The make up has been removed -and all you're left with is pure (sometimes ugly) truth. Cause after the glamour and the "pretty girls" go away, the real sorority (or fraternity) comes out.

It's time we have a real conversation between what we are selling during recruitment and what we actually are as an organization. Guess what, If you sell sisterhood and service events during recruitment but rage nightly and talk shit about your sisters while drunk... Your Make Up and No-MakeUp face are TOTALLY DIFFERENT! and our new members don't even know until it's to late.

A few weeks ago I was talking to a chapter of women and said "Ladies, if you are the party organization, you should talk about beer, drinks and parties during recruitment. You should sell what you are. That way, you attract the women who are about that life. And when you get enough of those women in your chapter, we will shut you down because those values are not what we, or your founders, stand for."

How do you "take the makeup" off during recruitment? Are you selling your true self? Or are you giving an image and lifestyle that even you cannot keep up?

Wearing make up can alter the way people see you, and let's be honest, we all look better with make up on.