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We had the opportunity to network with an impressive group of women last Thursday, March 1^st at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House. Our Women in Business club partnered with the Leeds Women’s Council to host an event bringing C-suite level women together with students for an afternoon of networking and learning. The CU Women’s Council was a network of successful business leaders who share their expertise and encouragement with CU Leeds students in order to positively impact the trajectory of tomorrow’s leaders. 

Our Sponsor, Sarah Schneider representing , generously hosted the event. It was a lovely venue that allowed for intimate "tea table" conversations. Each table had 5-6 students and one tea table host who was a distinguished business executive. While each table was peppered with conversation starters, the women jumped right into a lively and meaningful discussion. We had two hours, which allowed for more in-depth conversations albeit with fewer women.

Women Executives in attendance:

- Wendi Burkhardt, CEO, Silvernest -

- Julie Berliner, CEO, Sweet Grass Kitchen -

- Danielle Wikie, SVP Marketing, Craftsy -

- Judy Cousin, CSO, Circle Graphics -

- Rachael Williams, CFO, AVL Growth Partners -

- Kim Coupounas, Director, B Lab -

- Susie Tomenchok, CRO, Pagedip -

- Kamie Kennedy, SRO, PACT Organic -

I asked several MBA attendees about their key takeaways from the networking event:

What was the best career advice you got from the networking session?

Shivani Bhatt: “It was incredible to have the women reaffirm that planning your career - including when to have kids, etc. is a good idea. Specifically, the best advice in this arena that I got was to always negotiate up of the salary offered, and to write assistants, or offices, or whatever component you deem essential to your job performance, into an executive contract.” 

Kendall Carroll: “Danielle Wilkie () told us to always be looking forward to what we want to do next in our careers. If the job that you are at doesn’t provide the right opportunity, move on.”

Susanna Wright: “As a career switcher, it is more valuable to spend time networking and making in-person connections than applying for jobs online.”

What was the best life advice you got from the women who participated in the event?

Shivani: “It was very helpful to hear that different approaches to motherhood and work were welcome - whether one approach espoused spending more time with children, or another went for a nanny.” 

Kendall: “As a young professional strive to maintain professionalism in your dress and by maintaining your privacy. Go for what you want! 

Other takeaways you’d like to share? 

Kendall: “These women were bold and not afraid of taking risks. They were direct, but gracious. This was a really great event!”

Danielle Dannenberg: “My only wish was that every student would have been able to talk to every executive in attendance, because they were all so amazing. It was also neat to bring together both MBA students and students from across campus participating in the Women's Entrepreneurship Prize as part of the CU New Venture Challenge. Overall, it was a wonderful afternoon!”

We really appreciated these amazing women taking time out of their busy schedules to offer their advice. It was a fantastic event!