Last week, HCUPRM attended the Forbes Under 30 Summit as part of the press and media team where we had the opportunity to network and learn from some of the world’s most prominent young leaders (including the founding mothers of our own organization, Her Campus!). Forbes is a global media company that focuses on business, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle. The Forbes brand reaches nearly 120 million people worldwide every month through several platforms. Every year, this brand recognizes 30 individuals under the age of 30 that are changing the game in twenty different industries by creating the Under 30 list. And then holds the Under 30 Summit as an open forum where the list makers take the stage to share their stories with more than 7,000 of the world’s top game changers, introducing unique experiences for various interest such as art, entertainment, science, economy, and many others. This summit is made available to college students through the Forbes Under 30 Scholars, a program focused on diversity and inclusion that offers college students a full scholarship to the event.
This year, for the first time ever, three students of our own campus received this scholarship and attended the event. Once there, the students have the ability to participate across four different content stages and have access to investors, entrepreneurs, celebrities, musicians, fashion designers, sport stars, cultural icons, world-renowned chefs, educators, political leaders, and business icons. Our 2018 delegation was composed by Franceliz Reyes from the accounting department, Sarah Acosta from the industrial management department, and your very own HCUPRM writer, Nicole Pagan, from the chemical engineering department.
In the event, Forbes became a platform for young women leaders featuring speakers such as:
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Sara Blakely (Founder of Spanx)
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Jennifer Hyman (CEO and cofounder of Rent the Runway)
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Jenny Han (Author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before)
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Esther Povitsky (Comedian, Co-creator of Alone Together)
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Windsor Hanger Western (President & Publisher, Her Campus)
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Stephanie Kaplan Lewis (CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Her Campus)
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Annie Wang (CPO & Creative Director, Her Campus)
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And many more!
They also covered topics that revolved around our current struggles as women in the different types of industries and how to overcome them. Between them were:
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Minding the Gap: (a thorough analysis of where we are in terms of the gender gap progress, setbacks, and the road ahead)
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Scaling Young: Rewriting the Rules (young women who have decided to take the risk and create their own companies and succeeded! What can we learn about their breakthroughs?)
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Owning Your Seat at the Table: (achieving success in tough environments.)
College is not only the best place to learn academically, but also to build good habits for your future career. – Stephanie Kaplan Lewis
Here we bring you some of the key takeaways for 2018:
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Importance of Mentorship
Network! Be part of the world you want to belong to! – Esther Povitsky
As we rise up as college students, we have important decisions to make such as:
What are my next steps (career wise)?
What opportunities are there out there for people with my passion?
A good way to answer these and any other career related questions would be clicking with people from your field, a.k.a. mentors. Finding an experienced mentor who is willing to invest the time and effort to develop you as a person and a professional is far more important than making career decisions based purely on salary… attach yourself to great people!
Now, how do you find mentors? You can do this by creating and fostering relationships with people that you find inspiring. If they are hard to reach on a normal basis, such as speakers at an event, you could approach them as temporary mentors. For them, you should have predetermined and specific questions. Here are some great examples for the next networking event:
I’m thinking of transitioning into your industry at some point. Could you lend me some helpful advice that you wish you would have received prior to starting?
Are there specific actions I should take to follow in your footsteps?
If you are in creative fields, try to share your work with them to get feedback and eventually recognition. Now, keep in mind that there can and will be different type of mentors and this includes fellow students. Create a strong network that helps you grow professionally and personally.
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Find Your Calling
I realized my calling was empowering women. – Sara Blakely
If you aren’t passionate, opportunities will pass you by. Passion is the driving force that separates dreamers and achievers. It also makes you keep challenging yourself instead of settling. Finding your calling will make it easier to learn how to become indispensable and this is a crucial quality anywhere you decide to go. Being indispensable means learning what can you bring to the table that is different? What does your presence do to a room? Especially in creative roles where passion is a vital quality that you must possess, just like Esther Povitsky said, you have to really want what you want. In these fields, you’ll have to not only seek out opportunities, but also to create them for yourself. Don’t settle, don’t be lazy, grow, and gain experience. In summary, find what makes you tick and go to every opportunity with everything you have.
3. Be Proactive
If you want things to change, be the change – William Gross (Boston Police commissioner)
Being proactive can quickly separate you from other people in your field. When someone mentions a problem, try to think of solutions. Don’t wait to be asked; just do it. Having this type of mindset will help you be on your feet all the time. Thinking about seeking entrepreneurship? Sometimes people believe it is about ground-breaking ideas that completely shatter the status quo. But sometimes, the strongest ideas are those that we get from real day-to-day experiences such as common problems we face that we disregard as unimportant. Take Spanx for example: this billion dollar company started because a woman didn’t like how her panties looked with her white pants (real story!). So, she decided to cut the feet from a pair of pantyhose. Don’t limit yourself, not for your background, gender, or age. Just go through life with a mindset of “how can we make things better?”
4. It’s Okay to Fail
“Is when I started owning up to them (his failures) that I began to improve.” – Adam Rippon (Olympic Medalist)
Something to keep in mind is that we will never be prepared for all the little things that happen. No matter how we prepare, there are simply things out of our control. If you fail, you just keep going, but do this the right way. Don’t hide your failures, own them. Take pride in the fact you tried and learned the lessons that came from them. In Adam’s own words: have a f*ck yeah I messed up attitude.
5. Goal Setting and Working towards Them With Courage
To break barriers you can’t go out there with the only goal being to break barriers. When you have clear goals that just happens. – Adam Rippon (Olympic Medalist)
Setting a clear vision of your goals is crucial when you are trying to grow as a person and a professional. It gives you drive and strength when things get rough. Once you have this, you need to develop the ability to handle the no’s. You will face several individuals who don’t share your vision, but never let this stop you. Having a clear mindset will give you the gasoline to keep going.
6. Branding: Stay True to Yourself
“The most powerful tool we all have is our voice; that’s why I use mine to fight for these rights.” – Amanda Nguyen (Founder of RISE)
“I’m still white trash I just wear nicer clothes” – Adam Rippon (Olympic Medalist)
Sometimes we think that going professional means losing what makes us different. Nevertheless, the most successful individuals in life are true to their voice and to who they are. So spend some time trying to see what moves you, what you stand for, who you support; understand your voice and honor it.
Besides these personal development topics, more specific seminars were offered discussing the new and future trends in every industry, including hot topics such as cryptocurrency, AI manufacturing, gene modification, and many others. The event was also complemented with several social activities including a music festival featuring Marshmello, a bar crawl through Boston, and a food truck competition. Finally, it closed with a shark-tank-like event where entrepreneurs were able to pitch their ideas to young investors looking for the next big thing. It was an amazing experience that brought us closer to stunning individuals. We encourage every student to apply for next year’s summit. These are the type of events that show you that you are capable of achieving anything you set yourself out to do in life.
Exclusive Bonus Scope: Internship opportunity!
Just so you get a sense of how amazing the networking opportunities at an event like this can be. We want you to meet Alexa Little, she is the executive director of 7000 Languages, a nonprofit organization that creates free language-learning softwares for indigenous communities around the world. They believe that “for many groups, language is a way to connect their culture and identity. Speaking a heritage language can mean better health and better performance in school.” They are helping communities look for “modern ways to keep their languages alive”. They have volunteer opportunities already showcased in their website BUT our scope for you is THEY ARE LOOKING FOR INTERNS. So, if you are a linguistic (or related field) major and feel passionate about keeping languages alive shot Alexa an email at alittle@7000.org