BRANDI DOUCETT
LIFE REPORTER

At 19, Natalie Quinlan is one of the youngest members of HSF’s Humber Life news team.
She is the managing editor as well as the driving force behind Chat with Nat, an advice column for students.
“I’ve had people ask, ‘What makes you qualified to write an advice column?’ and I just tell them it’s my opinion, it shouldn’t be taken as law,” said Quinlan.
Quinlan, a first-year media studies student at Guelph-Humber, started writing for the paper in September and Natalie Bobyk, communications director, knew Quinlan could handle the responsibilities of being an editor and columnist.
“Natalie is a responsible and sympathetic student and her writing speaks for itself,” said Bobyk. “Her maturity is really admirable for her age.”
Looking to rejuvenate the paper this school year, Bobyk asked her team to brianstorm ideas for the paper.
Since Quinlan proposed the advice column she was given the job.
Quinlan said she, “thought it would be a great way to have students become more connected to the newspaper since they would look for their question every week.”
She said that she hasn’t had any negative feedback from students.
“It’s still a pretty new column, but I’ve only had people come in and say that they love it,” said Quinlan.
One student sought Quinlan’s advice on how to handle a partner who wants to role-play like characters from the movie Avatar.
Quinlan suggested going all out and getting hair extensions and lime-green contacts.
Puneet Ahuja, 21, a second-year accounting student said the advice column is “funny and it’s something that I would say to a friend.”