Our Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) club hosted two great webinars in late 2018, and we recently caught up with one of GWIB’s VPs of Community Development, Jacqui Snell, to discuss the webinars as well as GWIB’s plans for the months ahead. Interested in learning more? On GWIB’s club page you will find links to all of their recent webinars, as well as a listing of their leadership team. Check out Jacqui’s answers below!
Let’s talk about the Leadership at Darden Webinar. How did you choose this topic? Why did you feel it was important to highlight leadership?
For the first time ever, four out of the five section reps for the first year class (2020) are women, and many of them are also Consortium members. This is an incredible accomplishment, and it shows how female students at Darden are leading in and out of the classroom. Additionally, second year club leadership is over 50% female this year, which is also really impressive.
With the webinar, we wanted to highlight the many ways female students are involved at Darden, and also give some of our fellow students an opportunity to share their leadership styles and techniques. We thought it would be impactful for prospective students to learn from these female leaders and hear about the many ways one can get involved as a Darden student.
How about Intersectional Experiences at Darden? How did you choose this topic? What is important about intersectionality as it relates to the Darden experience?
We wanted to offer a webinar about intersectional experiences as a way to show the variety of identities and groups that form the Darden community. We’ve found that intersectionality doesn’t get quite as much coverage as other topics, so we wanted to offer a discussion with female students who come from a variety of backgrounds. Darden is a diverse place, and it’s important to highlight how individuals both engage with and view the community here.
What does GWIB have planned for the coming months?
So much! We’ll set our webinar schedule in January – so stay tuned! One of our spring highlights is Gender Equity week, which will feature a variety of speakers, panelists and activities focused on gender equity and current challenges for women in business.
Other events include health and wellness activities (yoga, hiking, self-defense), as well as our “breaking into the boys’ club” series. This series focuses on enabling women to access activities typically gendered male that can also help women navigate the business world – from basketball and golf to whiskey tastings and poker, to even how to fill out a March Madness bracket. Additionally, there are academic review sessions, career support and a culminating capstone event for all Darden women to celebrate another successful academic year.
