Simply Liv

This is my obligatory introduction post so that you get to know the person behind the blog a bit!

There are of course the standard introduction topics that I will cover, but many of these so-called ‘classifiers’ don’t actually tell you anything about me, so I’ll try to illuminate a bit more about who I am during this post as well. Additionally, staying true to form, I rarely stay on topic, so expect many digressions, but I almost always get back to the point eventually… enjoy the journey 😉

First and foremost, I am Alyvia Bruce, from a town that I always refer to as the cornfields of Michigan, but the more correct name is Charlotte, MI. I graduated valedictorian from Charlotte High School in 2019 and began my undergraduate journey at Harvard College in August of 2019. I was there before, and at the start of COVID. In March of 2020, Harvard gave us all five days to move our belongings out of the dorms and leave campus. When it became apparent that we were not going to be returning to in-person instruction the following year, I took a full gap year as I was not about that online Harvard life. I resumed college in fall of 2021, and am in the midst of my junior spring.

Here at Harvard I am a joint concentrator (Harvard’s pretentious way of saying double major) in Government and History, I have a secondary (minor) in Education and a Language Citation (another minor) in American Sign Language. Additionally, throughout my time here I have been actively involved in my groups, projects, and organizations from rising through the ranks and eventually becoming a secretariat member for Harvard Model UN, and a board member for Harvard Model Congress Europe and San Francisco, to being a board member for Harvard Women in Law, to joining a sorority–Alpha Phi–and being elected Vice President of Recruitment, to co-directing PBHA’s Deaf Awareness Club, and assisting with projects with the Institute of Politics, Harvard Strong Women Strong Girls, and playing in Harvard’s Wind Ensemble. Basically, I have done everything and anything I possibly could have hoped to be a part of, met many amazing people along the way, but ultimately realized that filling my plate to the point of overflow (a habit cultivated in high school) was no longer serving me, but we’ll get to that 😉

During COVID, I started a private tutoring company working with students of all ages, from all over the world, mainly via zoom. This started as a way to make a bit of quick cash and quickly became a business that required 100% of my attention. I have continued to tutor even while being a full-time student and last summer while I worked a 9-5 remote internship. During COVID, the 2021-2022 school year, and the summer of 2022, I worked with a private consulting and venture capital fund as an analyst and content manager, which led me to begin applying to jobs in the finance / Econ world and subsequently led to my summer 2023 plans which I will be working as an intern for a private transactional insurance company in NYC for 10 weeks. I will get into recruiting and internships later.

From everything I have just told you, you may have gathered some sense of who I am–overachiever, driven, academically focused, etc.–while those may be correct, there things that this brief bio doesn’t shed light on:

1. My passion for music (I have played piano, alto and soprano saxophone for over 12 years)
2. I love to travel, explore, and go on adventures
3. My passion for education equality and helping students from lower-income districts have access to any and all academic and mental health resources necessary to be a happy/healthy human firstly, and secondly a successful student
4. My commitment as an ally to the deaf and hard of hearing community around the world
5. That I am dog-mom to the cutest Cavachon named Czarina
6. The fact that I always show up in 100% authenticity in whatever I say, do or write
7. I am a first generation college student
8. I have suffered from, and learned how to navigate extreme anxiety, depression, disordered eating, and ADHD
9. I have persevered through what I can only explain as the implosion of ‘life as I knew it’ when I lost a parent my senior year of high school, but most importantly
10. I have learned how to find myself and begin living my life for me.

May this blog provide plenty of unsolicited advice, inspiration, guidance, and amusement. Enjoy, share, and Simply Liv(e)!

With love,

Liv