With this year’s Alumnae Career Workshop, connecting with one’s fellow Chapin alumnae got a little bit easier. About 70 alumnae attended the January 2015 event’s workshops and roundtables, and stayed to enjoy refreshments and conversations with fellow alumnae.
Liz Borod Wright, Class of ’95, led a session on strategic social media that helped alumnae understand how they could be using social media for their own benefit. Ms. Wright explained the anatomy of a tweet and encouraged workshop participants to use Twitter to promote their work, develop their brand and connect with peers.
In “The Art of Networking,” Kim Karetsky Krinsky ’95 and Bianca Caban ’05 took questions about networking from a range in ages and fields and offered some advice. “Every woman in here is well-rounded…but you have to find a way to tell your story,” Ms. Caban said.
“How have you been trying to figure out what’s best for you?” Lauren Bonner ’99 asked her group in the “Your First Five Years” session she led. She also advised alumnae to ask close friends, coworkers and family for feedback on their strengths and weaknesses, and to ask them how they’ve dealt with their struggles. Brainstorming and reflection can help to shape one’s story to use when entering the workforce, Ms. Bonner said.
A panel of five alumnae shared stories and wisdom from their entrepreneurial efforts. “Going out on your own is scary, but it works,” moderator Samantha Topping Gellert ’89 said. Having a supportive partner, panelist Lisa Harman Gooder ’91 said, can make a huge difference. Katherine Zaleski ’99, also a panelist, added that as difficult as it is to break even when one is running a start-up, it’s important to take a salary from the first day. An audience member said, “I find it really hard to ask people for help or introductions” and many audience members nodded in agreement. Panelist Zelda Owens Waters, Class of ’84, said that she had shared this discomfort and made herself practice her “elevator pitch.” She told the audience, “If you stand by a product or a service, people need to see that.”
Before leaving for the night, the attendees enjoyed each other’s company for a bit longer. Refreshments were served and alumnae mingled with women from their sessions and others. With the many contacts and connections forged at the Alumnae Career Workshop, it was clear that Chapin’s alumnae are eager to be supportive of one another in whatever way they can.
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