KO’s Power of Women is continuing its essential journey of educating and inspiring our community’s female-identifying individuals through sending out newsletters and holding a recent forum on Sunday, Nov. 8 to spark conversations with four incredibly successful guest speakers.
“We work to connect women in the KO community with students to develop an authentic and engaging dialogue around the issues of women’s leadership and empowerment,” senior Co-chair Sloan Duvall wrote in the KO Newsletter.
This year’s first Power of Women forum, hosted on Zoom for KO students and alumni, showcased four guest speakers: UConn Assistant Vice President for Global Affairs Ngozi Taffe P ’20 ’22, Foreign Service Officer Erica Marrero ’01, NYC realtor Julia Boland ’82, and science journalist Nicole Wetsman ’12. While each of these speakers had a different story to tell, they all shared a common goal of educating and empowering the forum’s attendees.
“One of the things that stood out to me the most was when Nicole Wetsman expressed the importance of trusting your gut,” senior Co-chair Risha Ranjan said. “A lot of people tell women that if you stick it out in a tough situation, it’ll inevitably get better. She explained that if you know in your gut something is not right, you should listen to yourself and get out of that situation. I think that this is helpful advice and could’ve been especially helpful to me a few years ago.”
Advice like this can be extremely influential to young women who are constantly being told what or what not to do. These speakers inspire female students to be confident in their own judgement, a necessary skill in their respective workplaces.
In addition to the November forum, another Power of Women event will be held in the spring. This event will continue to promote thoughtful dialogue and the empowerment of women in our community. By introducing a new group of guest speakers for the future event, the group is allowing for a variety of professions to be represented.
Since all the adults involved in the group have a KO connection, it’s easy for female students to connect with these inspiring women. “If you see someone who went to your high school go on to do something you dream of, hopefully it lets you visualize yourself in their position one day,” Risha said. “It introduces the women on this campus to people who can inspire them to work hard and be successful in their own way.”
The leaders of Power of Women agree that supporting other women and promoting their accomplishments is essential. One way they are ensuring the appreciation of female leadership is with the new Power of Women monthly newsletter. The newsletter includes pieces written by students about female role models in their lives or on campus.
“It’s so exciting to get freshmen and sophomore girls involved and interested through the newsletter where they can write about women that they know in the local community that are inspirational to them and others,” Risha said. “It’s a way to keep this conversation fresh in people’s minds, and not something that’s just once or twice a year.”
