Alumni Spotlight: Leah Aldin

Some things a person does in college stay with them, sometimes a person decides to change direction. For CSUN alum Leah Aldin, this rings very true. One aspect that has remained a constant in Leah’s life from before college through now is her sense of belonging to the Jewish community. “I grew up being very involved in my Jewish community and I went to a private Jewish high school. When I got to CSUN I wanted to keep some of that Jewish value in my life and to find Jewish classmates. I joined SAEPi, the Jewish sorority, and through them I found Hillel. I did Birthright through HillelI and worked the front desk at Hillel for a while and I loved doing that. I think I’d say Birthright is my favorite Hillel memory though; that winter is something I think about all the time.”

In Leah’s post-college life, she found herself going in a different direction than she saw herself going prior to her graduation in 2017. She told us, “I was a Deaf Studies major at CSUN. After graduation, I decided I wanted to get into the beauty industry so I became a makeup artist. I started at Sephora and was there for about 3 and a half years. During my time there, they started trending away from makeup and more towards skincare which is when I decided to pursue a career in skincare and get my beautician’s license which is a total 180 from what I was studying in college! I’m really passionate about it, find it all fascinating, and even have my own skincare business (@theskinhippie on Instagram).”

However, despite pivoting where she wanted her professional focus to be, one thing she has still maintained: her Hillel community. She said, “I’m still really close with all my sorority sisters and some others I met at Hillel, whether it was through working there or from attending events. I’ve stayed really close to quite a few people from the Hillel 818 community.”