Spotlight on GWIB: Weekly Newsletter!

Today, we continue our spotlight on women at Darden with a post from GWIB! New to the blog? Want to catch up on our women’s coverage? Be sure to check out our recent student profiles (Sophie Nossier, ’19 / Ximena Velez, ’19 / Caitlyn Unsworth, ’19 / Karen Li, ’19 / Zhana Edmonds, ’19), Professor spotlights (Lalin Anik / Elena Loutskina) and webinar recaps. 

Darden’s Graduate Women in Business (GWIB) club has six primary goals:

  • Accelerate the individual, interpersonal, and community development for women at Darden via high impact events such as our annual GWIB conference.
  • Develop an authentic & connected community by leveraging key relationships to create a sense of belonging for women at Darden.
  • Drive broader community learning around issues of Gender Equity while celebrating the role of women at Darden and in the business community.
  • Celebrate the diversity of our community by hosting events and programs that highlight the intersectionality of women at Darden.
  • Promote an inclusive classroom & academic experience.
  • Engage others in the happenings of women at Darden including male allies, prospective students & the broader Charlottesville community.

As part of these efforts, GWIB publishes a weekly newsletter, and today on the blog, we’re excited to share one of their newsletters from October of last year (from around the time of Resilience Week). GWIB newsletters contain news, articles, tips, event highlights and more, and they also publish a regular ally newsletter. Check it out!

In preparing for this year’s conference for the FY women, which took place this past Friday, our board made it a point to keep the Best Self breakout session from last year. If you attended the event last year, I’m sure remember the waterworks that ensued as we talked about who we are as our best, most authentic version of ourselves. Reliving the experience again, this time as a facilitator, I was reminded just how important it is to lean on each other, to lift each other up, and to offer whatever strengths we have to offset weaknesses in others. If we help each other, we all succeed. After all, a rising tide lifts all ships.

The conversations sparked during the conference around our personal sources of strength flow perfectly into Darden Resilience Week, which starts tomorrow. The goal of this initiative is to take time to prioritize your mental health and stimulate conversations that help break down stigma surrounding mental health issues. Resilience and the ability to overcome setbacks is so critical in the business world, especially for women since we often face additional hurdles compared to male counterparts in the form of unconscious bias. Start the week off by reading what a few female founders have to say about how they have prioritized their mental health and see which of their tips you can incorporate into your own life.

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You can see some highlights from the conference on Instagram (and follow @DardenGWIB while you’re at it!).

Did you know…

… there is a wellness room for practicing self-care at the UVA Women’s Center on the Corner? The Room to Breathe is a spot for you to catch your breath and de-stress when you need a moment of serenity. Inside you’ll find a stress-relieving finger labyrinth, white noise machine, books, chocolate, and some peace and quiet. Room to Breathe is a resource open to the UVA community to utilize whenever they need that moment of privacy, safety, and quiet. It is open 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday.

GWIB Happenings

Yoga with GWIB- Resilience Week Edition
Tuesday 10/23, 5:30-6:30 PM
North Grounds Multipurpose Room 1
Led by FY Saule Kassengaliyeva
Link to Signup

GWIB is excited to partner with Resilience Initiative to bring another yoga session to North Grounds led by FY guru Saule! Come join her and your peers for some physical activity with a meditative touch. Yoga mats will be available at North Grounds for your use or feel free to bring your own!

Annual Pink Party for Breast Cancer 
Thursday 10/25, 9:00PM
Zocalo, Downtown Mall
Add to calendar

Join BBSA & GWIB at TNDC for the annual Pink Party to help raise money for Breast Cancer Research! Come for the lit DJ, and $1 off Tecates and Mojitos! Zocalo will also be donating $1 for every Tecate and Mojito sold!

Dames Hoo Dine- October 
Up to 30 women each month– FYs & SYs welcome!
Link to Signup

Our first month of Dames Hoo Dine was a success (see photos from Cava and Red Pump below) so it’s time for round #2! As a reminder, this dinner club initiative is your opportunity to develop meaningful connections with other women between both class years and across sections! GWIB sponsors a max of 6 dinner groups of 5 (30 women total) and we’ll cover up to $10/person for however you all plan to coordinate dinner – eat in or dine out, just keep your receipts! Please direct questions and photos of your dinner to Anisha.

Community Happenings

HackCville Presents: Female Founders Panel
Thursday 10/25, 6PM
HackCville

Mark your calendars for the next upcoming public event! On Thursday, October 25th at 6pm, HackCville will be hosting a handful of Charlottesville’s women entrepreneurs. They’ll be telling their businesses’ stories, sharing their experiences as women in the field, and answering your questions. RSVP here.

Career Exploration

Dell Marketing Diversity Event: Open to FYs and SYs
Monday, October 22nd
4:00pm-6:00pm
Three Notch’d Brewery (520 2nd St. SE)

You are invited to Dell’s Diversity Event! This will be a time for you to learn more about Dell’s Business Case for Diversity, our D&I Strategy, Dell’s focus on inclusion, and more! You’ll be able to meet our team directly and we’ll have a round table after the presentation. Attire is business casual. We look forward to seeing you!

🌟 Shine Theory Shoutouts! 🌟

Vipasha Agrawal, Claire Dufek, and Mansha Sharma for their tireless work on the GWIB conference. Thank you for such a great day!!

Alice Melton for helping prisoners improve their lives.

Submit your shoutouts HERE- will feature a few each week in the newsletter.

GWIB is proudly sponsored by

Platinum: Accenture | Deloitte
Diamond: DaVita | Liberty Mutual
Gold: Amazon | General Motors | JP Morgan