As part of Women in Business’ yearly events to engage Skidmore women with career opportunities and networking, ten club members attended the 27th Annual Dynamic Women in Business Conference on Feb. 24 at Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Skidmore’s Women in Business (WIB) club attends this conference annually as it routinely brings together female executives that exemplify success in the world of business. The conference allows undergraduate and graduate students to make connections and learn from other women who have pursued similar interests.
This year, the members who were able to go were Gabrielle Pagnozzi-Schwam ’18, Nosheen Hotaki ’18, Rachael Sprague ’18, Julia Budsey ’19, Simran Shah ’18, Tracey Wingate ’18, Woeser Dolma ’18, Kalika Likhi ’18, Prachee Arora’19, and Selena Sun'19. The group was composed of a mixture of juniors and seniors who all had varying levels of involvement in the club — WIB tries to make its opportunities available to all that are interested.
The group who attended this year was grateful for the opportunity to go, and the stories shared and the knowledge gained was inspirational and useful in their current and future careers. Rachael Sprague’18 said that “The conference had many invaluable lessons woven into each keynote and every workshop and panel. I learned about investing from the Director of Investment at Ellevest during one workshop, and also listened to a panel of professional consultants speak about challenging industry norms. The conference provided me with the opportunity to meet and seek advice from so many accomplished women, leaving me truly inspired.”
The conference was a combination of speakers and panels covering all different aspects of diverse business careers. The two main key-note speakers were Alison Wagonfeld, Chief Marketing Officer at Google Cloud, and Adeana Friedman, Chief Executive Officer at Nasdaq. Both executives shared their career path stories, as well as the series of events and tactics they used to advance and pursue their passions in the field.
Additional sessions — with topics specifically relating to women’s issues in the work place and industry specific advice for young women beginning their careers — were held throughout the day. They covered topics such as: “Women leading Health Care Innovation,” “The Power of Negotiation: How to Ensure You Get Paid What You Deserve,” and “Female Leaders in Turn Around Crises.” The WIB members hope to bring back the inspirations and anecdotes to the Skidmore community in classrooms and also in events sponsored by the club.
On April 14, WIB will be hosting its annual on campus conference to engage all women and men in pertinent discussions. WIB invites all Skidmore students to attend and engage with the speakers who will be visiting. To learn more about WIB events, or to get involved, contact co-presidents Gabrielle Pagnozzi-Schwam ’18 and Woeser Dolma ’18.