Women Who Lead Conference 2019 focuses on career development

Maria Lago/Staff Writer

The 2019 Women Who Lead Conference, hosted by the FIU Women’s Center, was held from Tuesday, March 26 to Wednesday, March 27. The conference discussed leadership skills, exposed participants to gender equality issues and supported the future career of female college students.

The 13th edition of the event invited Zerlina Maxwell, senior director of progressive programming for SiriusXM and political analyst, as its keynote speaker. She presented both at Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay Campus.

Sendi Brewster, assistant director of the Women’s Center, hoped that with this conference, students could understand that they already had leadership skills that can be put to use.

“Who they are right now is a leader and there is so much more that they can become through resources at FIU, women at their community, and their own peers in the institution,” she said.

The Women Who Lead conference was first started by Suzanne Onorato, former director of the Women’s Center, in 2006.

“She saw a need for a place where female students on campus could identify aspects and grasp their own concepts of leadership and then manifest that into campuses or local community opportunities,” said Brewster.

One of the events covered on the conference was Career & Financial Literacy Roundtables, where students sat down in tables that covered a specific topic. Some of the topics included were “Credit 101” by Wells Fargo, “How To Make Your Resume Stand Out” and “Job Strategies,” among many others. Students sat with members from the FIU Women’s Center committee, representatives of Wells Fargo or from other career development companies to share experiences and explore these topics.

Brewster also believes that women can become more aware of their potential with events like the Women Who Lead conference and movements such as “Me Too” and “Time’s Up.”

“…[women] were not given more permission, but they are more aware of the permission they already had; it just maybe felt like nobody had ever given that to them, but it’s been there all along,” said Brewster.

For more information about the FIU Women’s Center, visit @womenscenterfiu on Instagram.