Juliette Selye is a third-year Management student from Long Island, New York, and is incredibly proud to be involved in so many amazing initiatives here at McGill. Besides being a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, you can also find her working at the SSMU office by day and bartending at Gert’s by night. However, one of the initiatives that Juliette is most proud to taking on this year is serving as the Co-Director of Logistics for The Desautels Business Conference on Sustainability. For those of you who are curious about how this conference works, Juliette describes the event as a student-run annual conference whose aim is to address social, economic and environmental sustainability as growing issues in the business world. Each year, the conference invites leading experts from corporations, non-governmental organizations and academia to provide students with the knowledge they need to help ensure a sustainable future. Juliette is especially excited about the role she is taking on with the conference this year. “As Co-Director of Logistics, I’m in charge of organizing things such as the venue, liquor licenses and catering”, she says. This year she is especially excited to try and innovate within her role to “move the conference away from campus and look for a venue that is more relevant to our theme of sustainability“.
Juliette originally joined the committee to get more involved within her faculty, and because “sustainability is something [she’s] passionate about”, it seemed like a perfect fit. “Sustainability is quite possibly the most important social and environmental issue right now. What could be more important than protecting the earth we live on”, she says. For Juliette, it’s very important to take note that “tree-huggers aren’t the only people who are passionate about this issue; the number of new start-ups related to sustainability are growing, and many big businesses are moving towards more sustainable practices”. Juliette is excited to work with The Desautels Business Conference on Sustainability to educate students “not only on the importance of sustainability, but also on how they can run their future businesses sustainably“.
While the sheer amount of projects and activities that Juliette is involved in may seem intimidating to some, Juliette notes that it is “definitely really rewarding to be involved“. She explains that getting involved in more activities on campus since her first year at McGill has helped her to get out of her comfort zone and really enrich her McGill experience.
Juliette knows that for incoming students especially, the large amount of involvement opportunities may seem daunting at first, but the important thing is to just do it. “There are so many different clubs, committees, events and services to get involved in. There is definitely something for everyone. Find what interests you and sign up! McGill can be pretty intimidating at first, but once you’re involved you meet so many diverse and interesting people. You won’t regret it“.