Members of the 2010 and 2011 Classes of Women's Leadership Fellows are leveraging the skills and network they acquired through this program to do big things!
Kate Rothen, Vice President, Executive Director at SS+K in New York City worked with her mentor, an experienced PR professional, to understand how to leverage her staff more effectively and implement an internal mentoring program to increase the productivity and professional development of all junior staff. The change in Kate’s leadership approach did not go unnoticed by her employer. She recently secured a promotion and has gained the respect of her bosses as well as her peers as a key player in her firm.
“Having a mentor and access to a community of women undergoing the same process…provide a crucial support network that will help me to focus, persevere, learn from their expertise and experience, and perhaps most importantly, not be afraid to fail.”
Using the skills she gained from the program, Katariina Tuovinen, formerly the Chief Administrative Officer at Yosemite National Park, established a leadership training program for her managers to help them understand how they can be more effective in their roles.
“I have three Master’s degrees and am well trained in terms of skills, but, I’m dealing with challenges at work that no amount of studying could prepare me for.”
Working with her mentor and self-assessment tools provided to her by the Impact Center, Jeri Powell uncovered her passion for education reform. Thanks to peer relationships she developed, she was recently offered a position with StudentsFirst, a national organization dedicated to reforming public education.
"The Women's Leadership Program has given me the opportunity to reflect on how I can advance my career goals with an ethos of public service. Connecting with highly accomplished, like-minded women has been a wonderful experience."
Rachel Sterne was recently named the first ever Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York. Working with her mentor, she leveraged her entrepreneurial skills to create a long term plan for her business and later realized her true capacity for impact was in the public service sector.
“There is absolutely a very entrepreneurial spirit that is supporting innovation in city government...This is a response to the fact that jobs like this just didn’t exist five or six years ago. This is the kind of role I have always wanted to do.” - Interview with Patrick McGeehan, New York Times City Room Blog
Erica Borggren came to this program after leaving the US Army. She worked with a professional executive coach to understand her strengths and recognize what she wanted out of her career. As a result of this confidence in her abilities, Erica was ready to take advantage of the right opportunities. Today she is the Director for Veterans Affairs for the State of Illinois.
“[This program] helped me define the ways in which I will lead on issues in the years to come, by helping to identify passions, talents, and experiences and where they intersect.”
When JJ DiGeronimo entered this program she was an Enterprise Manager for VMware, a technology company. She enjoyed her job but felt that she wasn’t fully realizing her potential and wanted to understand how to make opportunities to grow and to realize her goal of writing a book. Over the course of her year as a fellow, JJ worked with her mentor to focus her energies and as a result, published her first book, The Working Women’s GPS, in 2011 and launched her website, www.purposefulwoman.com. She also built the confidence to make the case for promotion within her organization to the role of Strategic Virtualization Manager.