Faith, family and fashion: How one BYU law student navigates her busy life

Isabel Hallows Hawkes was born in American Fork and later moved to Salina, Utah, where she lived from third grade through high school. It was in third grade that politics first piqued her interest.

I remember when Mitt Romney ran for president, I was in third grade, and I was invested in that presidential election, she said. Basically, Ive been invested in politics ever since.

Since the presidential election that first drew Hallows Hawkes into politics, she went on to write a political column for her small-town newspaper in high school, graduate from Brigham Young University with a degree in political science and is now a 1L student at BYU Law School.

She attributes her success and drive in these accomplishments and others to her parents.

Everything that I am, I owe to parents who raised me to believe in myself and to find opportunities and take advantage of them, Hallows Hawkes said.

Life has not always been simple for Hallows Hawkes family. Both of her younger siblings have progressive, profound hearing loss, which adds obstacles to the simple action of communicating.

We had speech therapists at our house all the time, she said. We (would play) all kinds of games about how to listen and speak, and we had to cover our mouths so my (siblings) wouldnt depend on lip reading too much.

She explained that this experience shaped her childhood and taught her the importance of communication.

I had a reverence for the beauty of being able to communicate from a really young age, and I think that has shaped a lot of what Ive done in my professional and academic life, and some of the aspirations that I have, she said.

In middle school, Hallows Hawkes realized she could combine her love of politics and communication by going to law school.

(Law school) has kind of always been the plan, she said. Deciding what you want to do is really hard, so having clarity has been a huge blessing for me.

After graduating high school with big dreams in tow, Hallows Hawkes set off for BYU Provo.

I was definitely nervous, she said. All of a sudden, I went from being a relatively big fish in a small pond to being one of 35,000, and it was really intimidating.

Hallows Hawkes was not completely alone, though; she began her freshman year at BYU as a member of the cheer team, and she said it felt like a built-in community. She lost that community quicker than she anticipated, though.

During the season, I tore my ACL for the third (time), I had it reconstructed and then I tore it the fourth time, she said.

Hallows Hawkes chose to medically retire from cheer because of her injuries, and she described feeling lost without this part of her life.

Id rooted a lot of my identity in being an athlete and being a cheerleader, she said. I felt kind of lost for a minute to not have that part of me anymore, and to not have that sense of purpose.

It was then that Hallows Hawkes decided to lean into her major, her future career and her personal relationships.

Later during college, Hallows Hawkes married her husband, Ammon Hawkes.

(My husband) is amazing. Hes everything: hes my brain twin, hes my intellectual counterpart, hes my number one fan. I could not ask for a better life partner, she said.

Another struggle for Hallows Hawkes was her and her husbands ambitious goals and how they would coincide. Hallows Hawkes is currently in her first year at BYU Law School, and her husband was just accepted to medical school to start next summer.

When we got married, I was pre-law, and he was pre-med, and everybody was like, How is this going to work? And we were like, How is this going to work? she said. But we knew we wanted to be together, and we just thought that it could work.

Hallows Hawkes explained that gratitude has played a big role in working toward their future.

We completely acknowledge that there are lots of hard things ahead of us, she said. He has so many hard tests he has to take before he can become a physician, and there are going to be so many days that are hard, and years that are hard, but to be past a first threshold, and to the point where we are starting to live in the dreams is just kind of surreal sometimes, when you stop and think about it.

Even with hard days ahead, Hallows Hawkes and her husband have learned to rely on Gods plan for them.

Its been really cool to have all these ideas and goals and dreams and have no idea how theyre going to work, and then to see the Lord unfold it all in a way that you could never have guessed, but that is just better than you ever could have planned, she said.

Another aspect of Hallows Hawkes life is her love of fashion, which she found another way to tie into her love of communication.

I like to share things, she said. Ive always had a reverence for communication and storytelling, and I think social media is a fun way to do that."

Hallows Hawkes started posting on social media more seriously for an audience that wasnt just personal this past summer. Since then, her Instagram account has grown to have more than 11,000 followers.

Really, for me, its just been a fun thing. Its just a fun platform for me to talk about things and share my outfits, she said. I do a lot of intellectual work with school and internships, but Im also a really girly girl. I love fashion and I love frivolous things and pop culture, so its a fun outlet for me to share all sides of my person and not just be completely intellectual.

Through her love for her family, her faith in Jesus Christ and her passion for fashion and social media, Hallows Hawkes has been able to feel fulfilled in all aspects of her busy and ambitious life, despite the uncertainty the future holds.