Written by: Brianna Milano
Staff Reporter
On November 19, Sacred Heart University’s Jack Welch College of Business presented a “Women in Business” panel and networking event.
Gianna Deangelis, a junior business management major here at Sacred Heart created and executed this event.
“This event meant a great deal of importance to me, and those who helped me organize it for a variety of reasons,” said Gianna Deangelis.
The event hosted guest speakers Cindi Bigelow, President and CEO of Bigelow Tea, Suzanne Greco, Former CEO of Subway Restaurants, Elizabeth Hiza Chief of Staff, Barnum Financial Group, and Jennifer Tombaugh, President of Tauck.
John Goodnough, a senior finance and marketing major, said, “I thought it was interesting being a male myself, seeing the women’s perspectives on being a women in business.”
Gianna Deangelis felt strongly and very impacted by the event that she put together and how students perceived the panel.
“I feel strongly that the students in attendance were inspired by the panel, and impacted in an amazingly positive way by the networking session,” said Gianna Deangelis.
“This event was so eye opening for me, Elizabeth Hiza impacted me incredibly because she explained that you can’t label yourself, you just have to work to make yourself better,” said Sophomore Makenzie McCormick.
Deangelis felt the importance of having women come speak about their stories for many different reasons.
She spoke about how she can relate to how overseen women in the business world can be and thought that it would be interesting for influential speakers like the ones who came to explain their journey.
“A woman in business has different and unique qualities to bring to the table, and unfortunately often is overshadowed and undermined,” said Gianna Deangelis.
Throughout the event, the message that kept recurring to students was to not let your struggles and doubts get in the way of what you want to accomplish.
“It is crucial to have men and women alike who believe in the strength of business women and encourage their passage to the top,” said Deangelis.
The panel helped expose the fact that women are worthy to be in higher corporate positions, not just men.
There were many steps in making sure that this panel and networking event ran smoothly.
Deangelis explained that her and her team wanted to ensure that the women coming were treated with the most utmost comfort and respect.
“We really tried to make it fun for our women. On the day of the event, we stood in the parking lot to usher them inside and held up signs with their names on it,” said Deangelis.
Gianna, alongside her team, made for a successful event and the women explained that they event felt like celebrities.
“I feel that one of the best things that was done to ensure the success of this event was personalization,” said Deangelis.
The turnout for the event was between 40 and 50 people.
“The turnout was better than I hoped in the sense that I saw an equal distribution of both males and females in attendance,” said Gianna Deangelis.
She explained that it was not the turnout that the team and herself had hoped for, but left off with an inspiring quote about moving forward and changing things in the future.
“However, in business, despite setbacks it is crucial to move forward, and stay committed,” said Deangelis.