Last summer for me was spent like hundreds of other Michigan undergraduates – interning in New York City in hopes of blossoming our careers. I worked more than full-time and when I came home from my internship, there was nothing I wanted more than to sleep in on Saturday morning and then explore the city at night. In July, however, I received an e-mail that got me (dare I say it) excited to wake up at 7:30AM to network in a professional setting until the late afternoon. As a contributor for Her Campus at the University of Michigan, I was invited to attend the first ever Her Campus Intercollegiette Conference, sponsored by Intel. So why am I just now, in the midst of a Michigan winter, and in preparation for the holidays, writing about a summer event in New York?
I decided to register for the free event with a friend in the City, who was also a contributor for our branch at Her Campus – UMich. I was nervous and excited to meet women from all over the country who represent the same thing – Her Campus. The first ever conference took place on July 29th in New York City’s Sentry Center in the earlier hours of the morning with a dresscode that requested we be “professional-chic”. Tons of other collegiettes were in the lobby with their fellow branch members, many of whom travelled from far and wide to attend the day’s conference. Fashionably dressed (especially our Her Campus co-founders!), we all received incredible freebies including Honest Tea, Chipotle, Stila lipglosses, NYX make up, and so much more.
We first began the day with keynote speaker Anna Post from Intel, who discussed social media etiquette and mobile manners in a constantly changing digital age, where everything and anything about a person can be found online at your fingertips. The rest of the day day was set up in fantastic informational sessions or panels covering topics from how we can brand ourselves, the differences between marketing and public relations, the power of blogging, how to stand out from the crowd of applicants and land a job, and my personal favorite, a visual history of Her Campus. Panels were led by women who represented Glam Media, Ogilvy & Mathers, Contiki Travel, numerous fashion blogs, and more, including our Her Campus Founders!
I was really excited to hear from Ann Shoket, our afternoon keynote speaker, who is the Editor-in-Chief of the iconic Seventeen Magazine. Her informal and candid speech resonated with all the women in the room as she gave very frank, honest, and inspiring advice to all of us on how to get started in the industry and how to be successful. The most important thing Ann spoke about was that at some point in every woman’s career we must (1) work at a well-established company to understand its successes and (2) work at a start-up to understand the fast-paced, the identity formation, and the constantly changing environment of a newer company. Ann even allowed a fellow Wolverine to record a note to her parents, reiterating that journalism is NOT a dying field and to pursue our career dreams. Her advice is something that I will carry with me for the rest of my professional career.
The day was wrapped up with a raffle – Her Campus style. Prizes ranged from upwards of $200 worth of jewelry, books, gift cards, and even a brand new Intel Ultrabook! I left, sadly, without any prizes from the raffle, but with a lot more comfort and insight in my career pursuits and professional journey. As all of the panelists reiterated, a huge takeaway is to be 100% okay with asking for help and networking – collegiettes love to help in any way they can. Her Campus is an organization that is here to help provide opportunities to do that.
To answer the aforementioned question, then, of why I am writing this now, it is because even now, the Her Campus Intercollegiette Conference still resonates with me. The conference shows Her Campus isn’t just a great lifestyle read during class or as a distraction from exams – Her Campus really does empower women to develop professionally while still being women and having fun! I highly recommend (if available in a city near you) to attend all Her Campus events throughout the year. It makes a large national community of writers and Campus Correspondents feel a lot smaller. The events also provide opportunities to network with women, just like us, ready to take the world by storm.