{"id":14449,"date":"2023-12-01T01:30:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T09:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=14449"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:30:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:30:01","slug":"women-in-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2023\/12\/01\/women-in-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in Business Club Launches Inaugural Networking Event"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Participants
The Women in Business event brought together 80 participants to network and discuss educational and professional opportunities.
Photo by Bradley Leach.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Whether introverted or gregarious by nature, students felt empowered at the Women in Business inaugural networking luncheon this fall. The event brought together 60 students and 20 business professionals including Carson alums, faculty, and staff to discuss career preparation and goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event was the brainchild of the Women in Business Club executive board and Carson Center for Student Success advisors, who designed it to allow students to network in an environment where they felt comfortable but were also asked to step out of their comfort zone a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are not a lot of opportunities where students can practice networking over a meal, a common scenario in the business world,\u201d said McKinzie Turner<\/a>, club advisor and career consultant in the Carson Center. \u201cGaining networking experience during lunch is an essential skill for any businessperson.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WSU roommates, Alyson Weyer<\/a> and Nyssa Lee<\/a>, founded the Women in Business Club after switching their majors from engineering to business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs new business majors, we were looking for ways to get involved in a club or business fraternity. We looked for a business club for women, like the Society of Women Engineers,\u201d Weyer said. \u201cAfter we realized there was no WSU club for women in business, we decided to create our own.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weyer and Lee researched how to create a student club and sought out two of their friends who had also transferred to business to help them cofound the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating a community of business-driven women<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The goals for the Women in Business Club are to create a community of business-driven women at WSU and help other WSU students succeed in networking and their future careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo accomplish these goals, we hold events and meet every other Thursday. We do a range of things from get-to-know-you activities to hosting guest speakers from various business fields, to holding workshops,\u201d Lee said. \u201cWe want our club to be fun yet professional. We try to engage our members in many ways, so they feel comfortable reaching out to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs an alum, I feel it\u2019s my privilege and opportunity to encourage the next generation,\u201d said Kristi Gutierrez<\/a>, a human resource director at Boeing who attended the event. \u201cI believe strongly in the power of connections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the event, students were prompted to share details about their majors, professional goals, and what makes them unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI liked that there were outlined questions to go over,\u201d one student noted. \u201cI am not the best at selling myself, so having questions provided was amazing practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paige McKenzie<\/a>, a business and entrepreneurship major, plans to go to cosmetology school and eventually own a hair, skin, and nail salon. \u201cI offer organizational skills and leadership,\u201d she said. \u201cI just need experience on the business side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not a college graduate. My life has taken many turns in the last 40 years, but I was able to learn skills and self-educate along the way,\u201d said Marie Dymkoski<\/a>, executive director of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce. \u201cI appreciate that our university can help build those skills and get women on the fast track to become business owners, CEOs, and leaders in nonprofit organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connections may lead to future business career opportunities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Business professionals at the event shared insights and advice about their educational and professional backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen women in business gather, it\u2019s a great opportunity to share our stories, encourage one another, and receive support,\u201d said Nicole Weynands<\/a> (\u201901 English & Arch.) project manager and team lead for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured speaker Judy Kolde<\/a> spoke about her 20-plus year career in technology and consulting and her experiences as a business leader and owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can start building your network now through clubs and just getting to know people,\u201d she said. \u201cRemember, this works both ways. During the interview process, I often hired candidates someone on my team knew, even if it wasn’t in a professional capacity. Having someone who can vouch for you is very powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also advised students on how to deal with gender bias in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour career is what you make it,\u201d Kolde said. \u201cYou have to be better. Be more professional than your male counterparts and show confidence through your words and actions. Avoid phrases that may sound emotional like \u2018I\u2019m trying\u2026,\u2019 or \u2018I just need to\u2026\u2019. Practice good communication and eye contact. People respond to strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI enjoyed the opportunity to talk to other women in the hospitality industry and hearing about the disadvantages they face in the workplace due to just being a woman,\u201d student Emma Harms<\/a> said. \u201cI also loved hearing what inspired them and how they overcame these challenges. It was my favorite, because even though people argue that women have equality in the workplace, it has been proven they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Women in Business networking luncheon this fall brought together 60 students and 20 business professionals including Carson alumni, faculty, and staff to discuss career preparation and goals. The event was the brainchild of the Women in Business Club executive board and Carson Center for Student Success advisors, who designed it to allow students to network in an environment where they felt comfortable but were also asked to step out of their comfort zone a bit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[628],"featured_media":18215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":null},"categories":[617,425,428],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/628"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14449"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18829,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14449\/revisions\/18829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14449"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=14449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}