By Casey Lamkin STAFF WRITER
A panel of businesswomen discussed their experiences rising through the industry ranks at an event cosponsored by student clubs shEOs and HAMA.
The event embodied the importance of women inspiring other women, according to shEO founder and president and senior international business major Callie Cunningham.
The first speaker at the panel on Tuesday Feb. 23 was Jeannie Toscano, a regional college
recruiter for Geico. Toscano is familiar with Hofstra because she often visits to recruit students to work for the Human Resources department within her company.
When speaking on one characteristic that every leader should possess, Toscano explained that a leader must have “integrity in everything you do and to be completely true to yourself.”
Next on the panel was Mckenzie O’Brien, who graduated from Hofstra in 2014. O’Brien is currently working in freelance marketing and gave incite onhow it is OK to not know whatkind of work you want to do, even after you graduate. She advised students to “[t]ake the initiative, do things others aren’t willing to do. And that’s what’s going to get you ahead.”
Another speaker, Andrea Dresdale, commented on O’Brien’s thoughts, agreeing to on the importance of taking initiative in the business world, saying, “Talk to adjunct professors, they’re out there in the field doing a job that you might someday want to do. Find out who they know and don’t ever stop networking. I use Facebook as an advertisementfor myself.” Dresdale works for ABC Radio as a manager for entertainment programming.
Rebecca Vega, an account specialist for fashion footwear and accessories at The NPD Group, Inc., also graduated from Hofstra in 2014. Vega’s job pertains to marketing research and she spoke about how her dedication in college got her to a strong leadership position today. She said she asked herself, “‘Whatam I good at?’ Marketing metmy needs as someone who was creative. I was at every career fair, trying to get every internship.”
Beyond being a woman in business, the panel explained that generation gaps can bring about problems in the office too.
Toscano said that Geico is currently doing a study about retention for younger hires, in order to better understand the generations following the older employees.
Vega explained how The NPD Group, Inc. is allowing her to
do a project “to bring in certain programs for younger generations. It’s an older company and bringing in these new young people calls for some changes. Bring about that change. Be careful because the younger generations are judged, but quite honestly you can teach older people a thing or two.”
Alexa Strictland, a sophomore marketing major, said that the panel taught her “to be self- motivated. All these ladies are very driven in their field.”
When asked who inspires them as women Toscano said, “Powerful women who are supportive of each other.”
The women on the panel all agreed with this and O’Brien quoted Victoria Beckham saying, “‘I don’t like women who don’t like other women.’”
The panel pushed the importance of women supporting each other in the business world and encouraging each other to do better and take risks.
O’Brien also said that, “Not one person inspires me, but people who are the underdogs [inspire me] because I see myself in that.” Dresdale explained that “people in the music industry and women in the top of their fields” are the kinds of people who inspire her the most.
She went into detail about how seeing a woman at the top is inspirational on its own because she knows it wasn’t easy for that woman to get there.
Vega said, “I look to myself for inspiration and to the driven friends in my network.”
