International Women’s Day is about people who identify as women from all over the world coming together to celebrate womanhood and advocate for women’s rights. It’s a day where all women should stand with one another to make the future a better place for females. This year, four of Pace University’s organizations came together to create a panel of strong, courageous women. Her Campus, Women in Corporate America, The Pace University Poetry Society and Women in Economics each brought one guest to speak on the panel. Two of the guests were Pace Alumni, one currently works at Pace, and the other is a philanthropist dedicated to empowering women.
The first young woman on the panel is named Katie Craig. Katie went to Pace to study economics and now works at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Economics is a very male-dominated industry, so it was interesting to listen to how she deals with gender in her workplace. Katie began to talk about the times when her work has cocktail hour or an event, people in her office expect her to plan them because she is a woman. According to some of her co-workers, planning cocktail hour is a lady’s job, but luckily Katie is a badass woman and does not agree with the men in her office. She started telling her co-workers to plan events and gatherings themselves because that should be everyone’s job. Katie has only been in the economics field for a few years and has definitely put her foot down to the men of corporate America many times.
The second panelist I want to introduce is named Fatima Scipio. Fatima is the CEO of Young Enterprising Sisters, which is an entrepreneurial program for young girls. Fatima also has several books and has been featured in many magazines and publications. While listening to her speak on the panel, she said something that struck me. Fatima stated that although there are many older role models in her life, she mentioned that it’s just as important to look up to women that are younger than you. The younger women in our society are creating amazing inventions, and although they have been on the planet for a shorter amount of time, they still have a lot of wisdom. She mentioned one eight-year-old girl she works with who created a lip balm company because her dad would not buy her any. That girl now has her products in Target stores across America. I very much enjoyed listening to Fatima because she gave me insight on gender roles that I would never have thought about before.
The third guest on the panel, who is also a Pace Alumni, is named Deidre Koppelman. Deidre is the CEO and founder of PEAR core solutions, a very successful HR business. I loved hearing about all of Deidre’s struggles and accomplishments to get her to where she is today. I felt like she gave me a lot of courage and truly made me leave the panel thinking I could take over the world. One quote that Koppelman said that truly struck me was: “Don’t enable the people around you, empower them.” I love this because I feel like a lot of the time I enable myself or even the people around me, and in order to become a better person, I need to empower them instead.
The last guest on the panel, who happens to be a Pace employee and an incredible woman, is named Nasreen Hussain. Nasreen is the Student Success Coordinator and talks to students every day about life after college and how to go farther in the business world. She also mentioned that she comes from a television background and has produced many shows. Nasreen told a story about how one of her co-workers told her “every time you take five steps forward you should put one hand back.” If your life is improving career wise or just in general, you should always put one hand back and help out others around you. This touched me because I feel like as women, the more we look out for each other and befriend people, the happier the world will become. Overall, I believe the panel was a huge success and all four of the clubs did a splendid job in making this event happen. I am excited for more events in the future and will definitely be looking out for what these ladies accomplish down the line.