Dell Makes Glamour College Top Ten List

Glamour Magazine is not just about being fabulous.

It’s also about recognizing driven and successful women as role models.

In that role, Glamour Magazine named Harvard senior cross-country and track runner Melissa Dell to its list of “Top Ten College Women.”

One would think the process of being named to this prestigious list requires a lot of effort and pressure.

But to Dell, the process was not too unusual and nothing like the time it takes to handle her busy schedule.

“Actually, the selection process was not too different from applying for scholarships or things like that,” Dell said. “I don’t think that there is necessarily a lot of pressure associated with it. I see it more as a reflection of the fact that the issues that I care about and the work I have been doing are things that matter to other people as well, including the editors of Glamour.”

To some of her friends and teammates though, Dell’s work and extracurricular load seems daunting.

“[Dell’s] the type of person that someone not going to Harvard expects everyone here to be like—she does everything—she’s involved in so many different things I can’t even begin to keep track of it all,” said Danila Musante, captain of the women’s cross country team.

Since high school—in her hometown of Enid, Okla.—Dell has been involved in a number of activities that include running. In those days, she started the cross-country team at her high school because “that’s one of my main passions—I love running,” Dell said.

Dell has been a member of the Crimson cross-country team for all of her four years at Harvard.

“Melissa is also an awesome team member,” Musante said. “She always encourages everyone else and her positive attitude is an awesome addition to our team. Her hard work ethic is also very admirable.”

Glamour Magazine’s Top Ten College awards are a 47-year-long tradition that judges women on leadership, academics and community involvement. In her first three years at Harvard, Dell immersed herself in a number of different activities that caught the eye of Glamour Magazine Editor-in-Chief Cindi Lieve. One of these primary activities has been running with the Crimson cross-country and track teams.

Additionally, Dell is the managing director of College Matters—an organization to help underprivileged students apply to universities. The organization recently released a book entitled “The College Matters’ Guide to Getting into the College of Your Dreams.” All of the proceeds go to a scholarship fund with College Matters.

Other recent endeavors at Harvard for Dell include co-founding A Drop in the Ocean—offering microloans to poorer women.

“We basically raise money, design Web sites and provide other technical help in things like finances and impact evaluation for organizations that help very poor women start small businesses and escape from violent situations in the home,” Dell said.

The decision process included an application—including everything from a personal statement to pictures—and a phone interview for the finalists to narrow the field.

An important part of the application process was the portion devoted to the plans that each woman had for the future.

“I plan to work in international development—global economics is what they called it in the magazine,” Dell said. “More specifically, I hope to work with those who tend to be impeded by societal injustices—most notably women and minorities—helping them to break down structural barriers and take advantage of opportunities that they might not otherwise know about or have the support to pursue.”

This work has taken Dell to places far from Harvard’s campus. Last semester, Dell studied abroad in Chile, researching the benefits of immigration to the United States for the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Currently, Dell is writing her economics thesis on how the North American Free Trade Agreement affects the female labor force in Mexico.

During her research on the topic over the past couple of years, Dell has spent her spring breaks leading high school conference committees on women’s studies in Latin America.

In previous years, Glamour Magazine named the first women accepted to The Harvard Crimson editorial staff to this annual list.

Additionally, the first Hispanic female Rhodes scholar and Martha Stewart, amongst others, have been past nominees.

This year, each woman named to the list was given a cash award and a trip to New York City to meet with the other winners and professionals in their respective fields, as well as a gift basket from the list’s sponsor, L’Oreal.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.