Profile: Brittany Allen

Brittany Allen grew up heavily involved in her church, singing in her gospel choir every Sunday.
Yet, since taking a class on black religion, she has questions about her faith.
“I've been debating with whether I should go on with what I've known all my life, or whether I should go for new stuff,” Allen said.
This search for finding meaning in her life also extends to her studies, where she debates about what she wants to stay in broadcast journalism.
Allen became attracted to broadcast journalism her in high school.
“I was talking to my mother one day, and she was telling me that one of her co-worker’s daughters was majoring in broadcast journalism at Virginia Tech,” Allen said.
“Most ideas that I had for college before broadcast journalism my mother didn’t like, and I was really into doing something she would like as well,” Allen said.
Allen, though, isn’t so sure she wants to stay in broadcast journalism.
“I want to do a double major with African American studies so I can go either way, and instead of having to be a newscaster I could help the community,” Allen said.
Allen became attracted to African American studies by what she can’t discover on her own.
“It’s not something that is given to you, you have to find it and want to learn it,” Allen said.
Her plans for beyond college though aren’t certain.
“I plan on being a reporter at first, since they have contracts that go for three to five years, and then seeing what I want to do after that. Or I could be in graduate school in five years, who knows?” Allen said.
While Allen holds high hopes for the future, her best friend, Anekye Louis, sees Allen in a slightly different place.
“In five years, I see her in a cubicle at a TV network, working a nine-to-five job,” Louis said.
However, Louis praises Allen for her questioning a lot of beliefs she has held dear to her.
“She talks about faith quite often, asking questions, and not getting into what people have told her all her life,” Louis said.
Louis met Allen in middle school, where they both lived on the same street.
“We met because her house was the one where the bus stop stopped to pick us up every morning,” Louis said.
“During the summer, I had nothing to do, so I would go over to her house since it was just down the street and hang out with her,” Louis said. “I sort of forced myself as being her friend.”
Their friendship led them through high school, and into college, where by luck they lived right across from each other.
“We had planned on being in the same residential hall, but we ended up living right across from each other on the same floor,” Louis said.
Allen is 20, and her birthday is November 16, 1987.
She grew up in Henrico County, with her parents and a younger sister, Jillian, who is 12.
Allen went to Henrico High School, which is a majority black high school, and experienced a culture shock when she came to Virginia Commonwealth University.
“High school was more predominately black, and when I came here it was so much of a culture shock, and I wanted [my classmates] to see this, to see what it was like,” Allen said.