Tthe leaders of the Women in Business Council aim to create a space for women to learn and build confidence within the business world. The club is open to women in any field of sutdy and meets biweekly to give its members inspiring speakers, mentorship opportunities, resume workshops and networks to help them be successful in their future careers.
“Our mission statement is to connect, empower and educate women in business," Grace Owens, a fourth-year international business student said.
Owens, the club's president, said the club has built her confidence in the business world. She said she has gained valuable skills from the resources the club has given her and through the community she has built within the club.
“I know for me, it helps me develop my self-esteem and my ability to talk to people and to be confident in my soft and hard business skills," Owens said.
The council aims to fight the stigma of the male-dominated business world that may be creating barriers for women looking to go into business. This male domination may make it more difficult for many women to land jobs, Owens said.
“Some industries are much more heavily male-dominated and those industries are usually pretty dependent on networking and who you know and how you get your foot in the door, so I think that barrier does still exist," Owens said.
The club creates these networking opportunities with professionals in its biweekly meetings by inviting them to be guest speakers said Ashleigh Szydlowski, a graduate international business student.
Owens said these connections help the members in their job search post graduation.
“I think all of business is really about who you know, and sometimes, historically, especially, there have been spaces that women have been excluded from and have found it difficult to kind of find their (way) in," Owens said.
Building a network with fellow passionate business women is important in the business world, Szydlowski said.
Szydlowski is the conference director for the club, and one of the things that drew her to it when she joined as an undergraduate was the ability to network with other collegiate women.
“I thought it'd be a great opportunity to join a super inspiring group of women and learn as much as I could from people who had gone through the business school before me,” Szydlowski said.
The club offers a mentorship program that Mia McEnerny, vice president of the club and fourth-year marketing student, said benefitted her.
The program has the upperclassmen paired with the younger members to serve as their mentors. McEnerny said her mentor helped her pick the best classes with the best professors at the business school which gave her an advantage in her education.
The club also provides opportunities such as the ability to travel to meet similar councils from other schools and to network with big corporations Szydlowski said.
She said her most memorable experience from the club was when she got the opportunity to travel to Austin, Texas to compete in a case competition sponsored by Apple. The case competition challenged the students to solve real-world business problems.
“It was just a really cool opportunity to be able to say that like women in business, gave me this opportunity to network with Apple and compete in this competition," Szydlowski said.
The club does not have a competitive rush process, something McEnerny said sets it apart from other business organizations on campus. This is something that drew her to the club because other business organizations seemed too intimidating.
“We're not really judging people. And it's very inclusive ... It's something that I was attracted to," McEnery said.
Owens said the club chose not to do a competitive rush process because they aim to be different than other business organizations on campus.
“I think the community aspect of it is huge for us. It's really popular for business organizations to have a competitive rush process, which we just opted out of doing. Obviously, that's a great process to build skills, but it just didn't quite fit our organization," Owens said..
The clubis hosting an Inaugural Business Conference on April 12, where guest speakers from companies such as JP Morgan and Deloy will come to network with the attendees, Szydlowski said.
This conference will be open to all students, giving anyone the opportunity to network with big companies and hear from keynote speakers and panelists.
Owens said she is very excited for this event because it is the club's first biggest event yet, and that it has been in the works for two years.
The opportunities the council offers its members are meant to help them in the long run, Szydlowski said.
"It can be a little bit nerve-wracking to start that first job or to go into your career because you don't really know what to expect," Szydlowski said. "Having this network of other women who are doing it right alongside you is super empowering and super helpful."
The club is open to women in any field of study and everyone has the opportunity to join the club every semester. Members can attend an interest meeting held at the beginning of each semester and find more information through its Garnet Gate.