A G.O.L.D. Mine of Information

On Wednesday February 29^th, the G.O.L.D program held a series of workshops on campus entitled “Leadership with Purpose: 2012 Women’s Conference.” G.O.L.D. stands for Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development and has been a program here at Geneseo for over 10 years directed by Tom Matthews. The Geneseo Alumni Association sponsored this particular conference where the the workshops focused on the theme of Women in Leadership and featured Geneseo alumni as guest speakers. Rachel Bernstein, an Office of Alumni Relations Intern and current Geneseo Senior, attended one of these workshop and shared her experience.

Please read Rachel's experience below, and if you have any career advice that you would like to share with our graduating students share them in the comments section.

-The Alumni Relations Team

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I attended a workshop entitled “Navigating Challenges in the Quest for a Leadership Position,” which was hosted by two Geneseo alumae. The first presenter was Jennifer Walker, a graduate of the class of ꞌ94, who is currently President and CEO at Credit Union Auto Finance. The second was Twanda Christensen, a graduate of the class of ꞌ98, who is a marketing manager at Summit Federal Credit Union. Both women spoke about the challenges presented to women entering the workforce today. They advised, inspired and motivated the audience by emphasizing the skills that will help students successfully navigate a job after graduation.

They highlighted skills like getting along with people, setting a good reputation early and sticking to it, producing top quality work, volunteering to assist in tasks and keeping an open mind. Both women agreed that these are the most important qualities women in the workforce can have in order to be successful.

“As women in business we like to share what we learned so that students today don’t make the same mistakes,” Twanda commented on why returning to her alma mater and speaking to current students is so important to her. “Our ability to succeed related back to our education received at Geneseo,” she added. Jennifer agreed, saying, “The staff and professors really built my confidence when entering the workforce. As alumni, this is our opportunity to help students.”

The workshop brought a lot of helpful information and insights to students as they look towards the future. Being able to listen to these two women who graduated from Geneseo and found success is truly inspiring.

- Rachel Bernstein