The Peak

SFSS Profile: 20 questions with Shara Lee

By Kelli Ross

1. What is your favourite thing about SFU?

The kinds of experiences it has given me. I’ve had a lot of good opportunities from working at The Peak — a lot of doors opened for me after I became an editor and then from there, going on to be university relations officer. I also really like my major, I love the English department, I think it’s amazing. There’s so many good things about SFU.

2. What is your greatest struggle in life?

Figuring out how I’m going to get to where I want to go in life. I’ve always wanted to go into journalism and I guess being in student government isn’t really helping . . . but I want to experience different things.

3. What is your guilty pleasure?

I’ll sit down for a weekend and not leave my computer because I’m downloading sitcoms. I watched the whole series of How I Met Your Mother in a week. I don’t like waiting for the next episode, I like to do it in big chunks.

4. Where do you hope to be in 10 years?

I want to go into journalism. I want to be somewhere, doing something. When I was in grade seven, my dream in life was to be a news anchor on CNN and a few years ago I wanted to be married to Anderson Cooper. I hope to be somewhere in the field of news.

5. Are you still a fan of Anderson Cooper?

Definitely. I don’t obsess over him as much any more, but I still have him taped to my wall. I managed to catch him on Ellen Degeneres the other day, he’s so fun and down to earth. When he reports, it’s from the heart, and he lets his emotion get into it. He’s not like a stiff Walter Cronkite.

6. What was the last book you read?

I’m reading Moby Dick right now in my English class, but the last book that I was reading outside of school, which I haven’t finished, was The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields. I didn’t like Canadian literature before, then I started liking the whole lonely, desperate type of feeling that you get only from reading Canadian literature.

7. What was your most embarrassing moment?

In grade seven, I had a boyfriend and we attended an elementary school barbeque-potluck together, and we were outside and he was standing far away. I ran towards him and I slipped and fell and hurt myself. It was so embarrassing. I tend to fall a lot.

8. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Israel . . . I really want to float in the Dead Sea and see all the ruins. Another place I want to go to is Italy. [SFU] is doing an English field school there and I’m thinking of doing that if I can save up enough money. I love places with culture.

9. What is your greatest fear?

My greatest fear is that people won’t listen to me and that I won’t be taken seriously. I really want to be the type of person that is able to contribute to society in some way, and if you don’t have a voice, you can’t do that.

10. What are you most grateful for?

My family. My mom and my dad have both been really strong people in my life. My mom especially, because she’s so loving and giving, and she can solve any problem. She’s [a] very industrious, do-it-yourself lady.

11. What is your biggest pet peeve?

Slow drivers in the fast lane, that annoys me, but I only get upset when I’m in a rush to get somewhere.

12. What is the most important thing you look for in a potential mate?

Intelligence and being able to connect on an intellectual level. So many guys will hit on you, they’ll use superficial lines, and it really turns me off. I’m attracted to someone’s mind.

13. What is the worst date you’ve ever been on?

A long time ago I went to a Japanese restaurant with my then-boyfriend. He forced me to eat a chicken heart. It was really gross to me, at the time, and I felt pressured to eat it, but since then I’ve eaten them and they’re fine.

14. Who do you admire the most?

Barbara Walters, because she paved the way for women in journalism. Before, women weren’t treated as equally as they are now, and I think she had a lot to do with women’s equalization. I like that she’s still working now. I think that she did a lot for women.

15. What is your life motto?

This is what I always say to my friends when they don’t know what to do in life, it’s a quote from Joseph Campbell: “Follow your bliss, and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”

16. What are your favourite movies?

The Sound of Music and Gone with the Wind.

17. If you could switch lives with anyone, who would it be?

President Michael Stevenson. I want to see what he does all day, or whether he just throws dinners every week. Another one would be Barack Obama.

18. If you could choose any five people to have an imaginary dinner with, who would they be?

Anderson Cooper, my 15-year old sister, Rick Hansen, Barbara Walters, and Jesus.

19. Your father’s a pastor, you grew up in a very religious household. Do you think that influenced the people you want to be around?

I guess so. Growing up I was always the oldest child — I’m seven years older than my younger sister, I was around adults and serious people a lot. I’ve always been drawn to people that are more powerful than me because I’ve been around that a lot.

20. Finish this sentence: Student politicians are . . .

Before, when I was the News Editor at The Peak, my answer would be: Student politicians are useless. But I think that if you elect the right people, then student politicians are trying to do the best job that they can do.