Make it Happen 2012 by Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business

MIH Make It Happen

7th Edition Fall 2012

Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business

spotlight

THE FULL“VERITAS”

MollyYang:The idea behind IdeaMash Exclusive: HUWIB Internship Interviews Gordon Jones: Unveiling the new Harvard I-lab

DEFINING SOCIAL BUSINESS BY GOING BACK TO THE BASICS

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

ON HER INSPIRATIONS AND ACHIEVING SUCCESS FROM FAILURES

SHATTERTHE GLASS CEILING

(relearning Image Development 101 from Lauren Berger, Intern Queen, and Margaret Batting, Eleve‘ Image Consulting)

fashion in the workplace

OUR TOP WOMEN LEADERS WOMEN IN ACADEMIA < WOMEN IN ENTERTAINMENT < WOMEN IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP < WOMEN IN THE WORLD <

In The News: Can Women Really Have It All?

WIB opens up about what it means to be a “business woman” with the changing 21st century C-suite culture

MIH Make It Happen

7th Edition Fall 2012

Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business

Co-Editors-In-Chief

Emily Chen & Claire McLaughlin Staff Writers So-Hyun Baik, Harvard University Elizabeth Double, Harvard University Nancy Flewelling, Harvard University Raina Gandhi, Harvard University Kerry Hammond, Harvard University Ronald Hedges, Ann Taylor Stores Elissa Lin, Harvard University Namrata Narain, Harvard University Cameron Niven, Harvard University Ara Parikh, Harvard University Jazmyne Reid, Harvard University Kelly Ren, Harvard University Kavya Shankar, Harvard University Rena Wang, Harvard University Amy Yin, Harvard University

2012 HUWIB Executive Board Co-Presidents Nancy Flewelling & Kelly Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Grady Treasurer/Secretary Briana Jackucewicz Alumni & Advisory Board Chair Lauren Dai Career Development Chair Nicole Iacopetti Communications Chair Kerry Hammond External Initiatives Chair Kavya Shankar Fundraising Chair Linxi Wu Intercollegiate Business Convention Chair Rena Wang

Email: info@huwib.org Visit HUWIB at www.huwib.org Published by: Copy Craft Printers

Membership Development Chair Chenglin Yuan Outreach Chair Winshen Liu Head of Technology Jeanine Sinanan-Singh

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Letter from the Presidents Dear Readers, We are Kelly O’Grady and Nancy Flewelling, the 2012 Co-Presidents of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business (HUWIB). HUWIB is Harvard’s largest undergraduate business organization on campus, reaching over 400 members. We seek to empower a dynamic group of enterprising young women through panels, conferences, outreach initiatives, skill-building workshops, leadership projects, and mentorship programs. Founded in 2000 by a group of only ten women, HUWIB began with the goal of motivating and inspiring young leaders. Starting with a conference of 250 participants, twelve years later that same convention now draws over 1,000 attendees from the top universities both domestically and internationally. Always following our mission, we have grown to over 30 times our original membership and now have an Advisory Board comprised of top female business leaders with the purpose of aiding HUWIB in developing its strategic plan. Our network of undergraduates, alumni, and speakers, continues to strengthen with every passing year and allow students the chance to develop and explore innovative paths in business. This year we possess the goal of increasing the opportunities we offer our members and subsequent network. Our themes focus on innovation and expansion, capitalizing on the ingenuity and enthusiasm that surround our work and mission. Having personally experienced the power and reward of building your network, we seek to infuse the importance of the personal network – and the network of dynamic women within HUWIB – in every initiative we tackle this year. Thus, we are proud to present one of the latest additions to our illustrious offerings – the annual issue of Make It Happen. We hope you find within it some inspirational words and the passion for business that has brought us to where we are in our careers. Happy Reading! Sincerely, Kelly O’Grady and Nancy Flewelling 2012 Co-Presidents Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

MIH Make It Happen

7th Edition Fall 2012

Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business

Lauren Berger, Advice from the Intern Queen

Margaret Batting, Developing a Professional Image

Sex in the C-Suite

Back to Basics

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Fashion in the Workplace

HUWIB Intern Spotlights

Image Development 101

10 11 12

14 15 16 17

Gender Disparity in the Numbers Dating in the Workplace Amy Yin: “Playing With the Boys”

The Summer Diaries Regina Escamilla Gina Seguiti Danielle Kolin

20 22 24

27 28 29 30

Monday through Friday Style Looks “Day by Day” Ronald Hedges: “Fashion + Work = Ann Taylor”

An Interview with Lauren Berger “How to Walk in High Heels” Top 10 Internship Tips An Interview with Margaret Batting

Redefining Social Business

Back to the Future

Our Cover: Arianna Huffington

The journalist and entrepreneur shares with MIH her advice on having good role models, balancing work and family, and achieving success after failures

Women in Entrepreneurship

Women in Academia

An Interview with Professor Beth Altringer

42 44 45 46 48 50 51 52

The Importance of Failures An Interview with Ellen Carberry An Interview with Magatte Wade Gordon Jones Unveils the New Harvard I-Lab Raising a Glass to Innovation in Winery Entrepreneurship in the Restaurant Business 2011 Business for Good Winner: Molly and Ideamash Student Start-up Spotlights

Women in Entertainment

Women in the World

58 60 64

66 68

Women to Watch An Interview with Eve Ensler HUWIB Top 5: Favorite Actresses, Writers, and Fictional Heroes

Three Women Leaders Make an Impact Abroad MIH Top Eight Women Role Models

HUWIB Reflections

Arianna Huffington, Inspiring 21st Century Business

Lauren Dai, HUWIB Alumni and Advisory Board Chair; Kavya Shankar, HUWIB External Initiatives Chair

Dr. Beth Altringer, Connecting the Dots

Eve Ensler, Empowering Women Through Theater

l a i c so ^

Back to Basics

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business—Back to Basics Dear Readers,

What does it mean to be a woman in business? That’s the question we explore in our 7th annual issue of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business’ Make It Happen magazine. Too often, “business” is characterized by images of suits, conference rooms, and spreadsheets. In reality, “business” offers countless paths and opportunities for proactive women working in a myriad of different fields. In this issue of Make It Happen, we take a look at all the possibilities and interesting contours a career in business can encompass. This year, we have had the honor to talk to women from a variety of different fields, including Professor Beth Altringer, entrepreneur Lauren Berger, playwright and activist Eve Ensler, and Arianna Huffington, our cover story and a woman whose career has spanned across four decades and several different industries. In the following pages, we also take a look at challenges specific to women in business, including how to dress fashionably while remaining professional, salary disparity based on gender, and how we still have work to do to finally shatter the glass ceiling. It truly has been an incredible journey creating this year’s Make It Happen magazine. As artists, designers, and writers, we have embarked on a journey to re-discover what Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business is all about—what we stand for, what our goals are, and why it is important for organizations like ours to continue to exist. We truly go back to basics. As a result, we think it is now more important than ever to return to our roots and remember the goals that HUWIB was founded on and that we continue to strive for as future leaders in the business world and beyond. Fitting in perfectly with our magazine focus on 21st century social business and an expansion into alternative careers, HUWIB, in addition to preparing young women for the business world, exists to cultivate leaders, creative visionaries, investigative journalists, entrepreneurs, engineers, filmmakers, doctors, financiers, authors, lawyers, public servants, fashion designers, restaurateurs, and innovators of all kinds. Whatever your dream career is, we want to help you get there and fulfill your passion. Our journey isn’t just about finding a job—it’s about finding a way to achieve your dreams. Sincerely, Emily Chen and Claire McLaughlin (and the entire Communications Committee) 2012 Make It Happen Co-editors Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business

Enjoy!

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

SEX

ANDTHE C-SUITE

Have We Broken the Glass?

The term “glass ceiling” originated in a 1986 article in the Wall Street Journal, and while some of its connotations are hotly contested, one message is universally clear: we have a problem. Though many readily accept the metaphor for its general message, others like Alice Eagly and Linda Carli insist upon a new term to suit today’s world. Their Harvard Business Review article, “Women and the Labyrinth of Leadership,” brings to the table the idea that the comparison, for instance by implying an absolute barrier and “equal access to entry- and midlevel positions,” does not fully encompass the breadth of complex obstacles that stand in a woman’s way. They claim, “Women are not turned away only as they reach the penultimate stage of a distinguished career. They disappear…at many points leading up to that stage.” This concept of a labyrinth, then, points to numerous impediments for women that Eagly and Carli are quick to introduce: prejudice, resistance to female leadership, issues of leadership style, underinvestment in social capital, and the demands of career and its oftentimes ill alignment with the demands of family life. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade sexual discrimination in employment on legal grounds, but there is no dearth of evidence to show that gender inequality remains a real problem today. A University of Utah study conducted by Bigelow et al. suggests female CEOs are disadvantaged in attracting growth capital, are

viewed as less capable, and even that female founder/CEO led IPOs may be considered as less attractive investments. Women, too, play a significantly smaller role than men do in entrepreneurship, and cold numbers and figures confirm that the gender pay gap is not just a myth. These issues women face stem from the conscious and unconscious including social structure, prejudice, placement in positions that don’t provide paths for upward mobility, lack of mentorship, and a well-endorsed mindset that women should “play like the boys” in order to rise to the top. So when women are forced to battle on all these fronts, how can they possibly begin to win? Awareness, for one. Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article in The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All,” sparked an enormous debate this past summer and brought the issue of career vs. family life to the public eye. Companies—and society—must accept that many women have priorities extending beyond the office so that they can enact policy changes and accommodate employees’ needs. The opportunity to complete work from home, for example, allows moms to better balance work obligations with family responsibilities.

There is plenty of room for other changes, too. Companies should evaluate workers objectively, society must dispel prejudices and stereotypes that preclude the idea of women as leaders, and women must continue to fight to occupy the positions that they are qualified for. The problems are far from solved; the obstacles are trying, the biases are strong, and though the number of women reaching the C-suite is slowly increasing, we can still be sure that there is a long way to go. Still, each and every time a woman rises to the top, we have reason to celebrate. We are proud of her talent, her leadership, and of her part in showing the world who’s boss.

In The Numbers:

187

million

women in the world are starting or running a business.

$ Revenues from womenoperated, VC -backed companies are

12%

higher

68%

women are earning bachelor’s degress, compared to men.

American Fortune 500 companies are led by women CEOs, a record.

HUWIB girls and alumni shine light on their previous, glass-shattering internships

Kelly Ren Sophomore HUWIB Communications Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Breaking the Glass: Sex in the C-Suite

Numbers D#n’t Lie

While many believe that we have made huge strides towards equality in the workplace, women still earn less per month at every degree level when compared men. Based on a recent report that was released by the U.S. Census Bureau, men’s overall median monthly earnings are at $3,750, while women’s stand at $2,917. Even when women have an advanced degree, they still earn $1,667 less than men do each month. This earnings gap in the workplace is particularly prevalent in the field of business, with a $1,000 monthly difference at the Bachelor’s degree level and a $1,417 monthly difference with advanced degrees.

After all of this perceived progress towards gender equality, why do women still earn less than men in the workplace?

> According to the U.S. Government Account-

ability Office, women are more likely than men to work part-time, particularly women with children. Thus, companies view women as being more easily replaced since they aren’t investing as much time in their jobs, thus causing their salaries to be lower. It appears that working women are being penalized for their dual roles as wage earners and homemakers.

> There

might also be discrimination because of the way in which men and women are perceived in the workplace. Research suggests that men are seen as possessing certain qualities that are particularly valued in the workplace, such as the ability to take charge, delegate, and command authority. These qualities might be viewed as worth more money and thus result in men receiving higher salaries.

> Psychology tells us that we tend to like those created by Raina Gandhi

2012 Gender Pay Gap in EU Nations, unadjusted. Source: Eurostat 2010 and European Commision on Justice and Gender Equality

who are most similar to us. Because men make up 97% of the Fortune 500 CEOs as well as a majority of upper level management at companies, men are more likely to promote other men and provide them with salary increases. By becoming educated about the earnings gap, we can be aware of how the decisions we make might affect our wages. While women are now more educated than men and are entering the labor force at increasing rates, the pay gap between men and women is something that still persists today.

Kavya Shankar Junior HUWIB External Initiatives Chair

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Weighing The Options “Dating in the Workplace

Dating in the workplace has always been a sticky subject, whether you plan on becoming the next Jim and Pam from The Office or are looking for something more casual. With internships and new jobs in our futures, here’s a breakdown of what dating in the workplace may entail. The Stats According to the 2011 Office Romance Survey Results from Vault.com, 59% of people reported having an office romance, with men being more likely than women to have a romantic encounter. Of those surveyed, 30% people who participated in an office romance reported that it affected both their personal and professional relationships with other coworkers. Several commented on how once the relationship was publicly known, gossip reduced their ability to work well in the office. Furthermore, 38% stated that they believed that a coworker gained a professional advantage due to their romantic attachment, 31% reported that they felt uncomfortable with coworkers’ relationships in the workplace.

While these reports may cast a negative light on office relationships, 63% of respondents reported that, based on previous experiences, they would participate in another workplace romance. Work Policy There are several dating policies that a company can enact. The first is a no-dating policy, which generally bans dating between a supervisor and a subordinate. This policy is quite uncommon these days. Another policy is a notification policy, which makes it mandatory for employees to notify the company when they begin a consensual relationship. Finally, a company can require employees to sign a love contract, a written statement to the corporation stating that any romance between its employees is consensual.

Elizabeth Double Junior HUWIB Communications

PROS • Potential to spend more time with your significant other • More likely for you to see your partner and to make time for each other • Understanding • Talk about both your work issues and your work successes • Help you connect more and better empathize with what they are experiencing

CONS • Leads to discomfort and distraction • Can affect work performance • A source of competition between you and your partner • Successes and failures can cause tension in the relationship

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Playing with the Boys

Breaking the Glass: Sex in the C-Suite

Amy Yin

HUWIB member and President of Operations of the Harvard Financial Analysts Club

s one of only two female leaders on the Harvard Financial Analysts Club’s 18-member executive board, I understand why women struggle in the workplace. While we can certainly vote and have enormous power compared to women who came before us, men still have different expectations of the opposite gender. Assertive women are often seen as pushy, aggressive, overly confident, and unpleasant to work for, which causes many women to retreat instead. My advice? Dare to be different. I spend most of my time with guys—I study Computer Science, weightlift, and associate with finance and tech groups. That said, I strongly feel that no matter how much time I spend in stereotypically male environments, my sex consistently sets me apart. It’s not that my peers do not respect me; I’m talking about the way they subconsciously (or perhaps purposefully) adjust their attitude when approaching me. I get it—I’m not “one of the guys.” They don’t invite me to their impromptu poker parties, tell me about their Saturday night stories, or see if I want to grab a drink. When addressing me, some will try to be as direct and business-like as possible, some outright flirt playfully and poke fun, and others act deferentially, but never am I treated as great-guy Howard Roizen that everyone wants to go fishing with.* I get nervous about sending out too many emails because I don’t want to be seen as pushy, but if one of the male directors does the same, he is applauded for being a go-getter. And even with two women on our board, we have yet to have a meeting where one person does not argue that HFAC funds should be used toward strippers. The stripper jokes are nice, because it means that they feel comfortable “being guys” around me, but that’s not what helped me boost HFAC’s comp numbers from 40 to 90 this spring semester or grow our budget eightfold. I did these things by being assertive, pushy, and confident, and by

* A professor at Columbia University, Frank Flynn, gave a case out to two groups of students, except that one version changed Heidi’s name to Howard and switched the gender of the pronouns. While both Howard and Heidi were seen as competent, Heidi was seen as selfish, but everyone wanted to work for Howard, and would love to go fishing with him.

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

remembering that I became President of Operations not because I could blend in or do things the way they have always been done, but because I possessed a unique perspective that others believed would drive the organization to success. My message to women at Harvard and in the greater business world is this: use your personality and unique perspective to your advantage. Don’t change the way you do things because you want to remain on the other side of the gender divide. Among America’s C-level positions, fewer than 15 percent are women, so if you want to succeed in the professional world as a woman, you’ll have to learn how to play with the boys. But do take care to notice the differences between how men and women work. At HUWIB’s annual Intercollegiate Business Convention, the planning committee had written out a schedule for all 100 of the volunteers, and everyone had a very specific role to perform. There was an extra level of micromanagement that I rarely see in co-ed or male-heavy groups, and the conference went forward without a glitch. When planning Evening of Ventures with HFAC, things were much less imprecise. I told seven volunteers to show up at a certain time, and as they came I assigned each of them a task. I delegated tasks to others and let them take charge, and this event was an enormous success. Both events were managed under different styles that both proved very effective. As future female managers, it is simply important to be aware of differences in working style and delegation and to adapt accordingly. Ultimately, it is most important to seek out groups and jobs that interest you and to be empowered to overcome preconceptions of gender—you will never do wrong by pursuing success.

Breaking the Glass: Intern Spotlights HUWIB Tumblr presents excerpts from

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Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Regina Escamilla: ‘13

GOOGLE Internship Spotlight

uring out how I wanted to attack my project. I knew what result I wanted, but I needed to figure out the most efficient way of getting the end result. I really enjoyed the creative aspects of my project. My manager allowed me a great deal of freedom to construct my project. WIB: Can you describe a particularly challenging/stressful day or project that you had to work on? How did you deal with that? RE: Going into the internship I wasn’t very skilled in Excel, and I was quite surprised by how much I utilized Excel in order to complete my project. Learning Excel, particularly Visual Basic, was thus a bit of a challenge. I was very grateful for my project supervisor, who sat down with me and taught me how to code in Visual Basic (which complemented the YouTube Excel tutorials and Excel Everest that I had been working on).

WIB: What was your role as an intern? What kind of tasks were you responsible for and what were some of the projects you worked on? RE: I was a Business Analyst Intern for the Google Offers team. Google’s business internships engage interns via a main project unique to each intern. I focused on optimizing daily deal scheduling and a few of the marketing aspects of Google Offers. WIB: Were you nervous about starting your internship? Google is a huge company. Was it intimidating to be working there? RE: I was a bit nervous given that I didn’t know exactly what my internship project would entail or what my team would be like. The size of the company, however, didn’t have an effect on this. Even though it is a huge company, Google does a great job of making it feel small through its interest groups, micro kitchens, exercise activities, company-wide “TGIF” happy hours, and through its emphasis on team camaraderie and culture. WIB: What was the work environment like? Were people generally friendly and encouraging or was it a competitive environment? RE: I honestly can’t imagine a better work environment. People were extremely friendly and “Googley.” I felt very welcomed on my team. So many people reached out to help ramp me up, and I was very motivated to contribute in the best way possible. WIB: What was the hardest part of your internship? What was the most fun? RE: The more challenging part of my internship was fig-

WIB: What was the most rewarding part of your internship? RE: Presenting my work in the final week was great, but seeing some of the things I had worked on during the summer happen this fall and this winter was definitely the most rewarding. WIB: What advice do you have for people looking for internships or about to start an internship? RE: Internships should be opportunities to explore an area that interests you in a challenging manner. Additionally, I think that working at a place where you can be creative makes an internship even more meaningful. In terms of advice, I think it is really important to have a very positive attitude, meet as many people as possible, and, most importantly, think about ways in which you can go above and beyond what is asked of you. Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Breaking the Glass: Intern Spotlights

Gina Seguiti:

‘12

FOOD NETWORK Internship Spotlight processes an all the different ways that the company runs. You need to figure out how it works, which is kind of tough because you’re only there for three months. To figure out what people have been doing for years is pretty challenging.

WIB: I heard you had a really neat project last summer at Food Network. Exactly what did you do in the internship program? GS: I was in the consumermarketing department. My main project for the summer was a new channel they were launching, The Cooking Channel. It was celebrating its one-year anniversary, so my project was creating a marketing campaign to just try and expand the viewer base of it and try to make it grow because it’s still pretty small. My main project was to try and get the word out and it was just a big marketing campaign. I was organizing an ice cream truck, so I planned this national tour for promotion for The Cooking Channel. We had to pick 20 cities for it to stop in based on where the biggest market was for the channel, where we could make the biggest impact, just kind of plan the route. I had to figure out where the biggest market was for The Cooking Channel and the demographics and who would be most interested in the channel in order to increase viewership as much as possible. WIB: How did you discover this internship opportunity? GS: I found it on my own. There’s not a lot of marketing internships offered through Crimson Careers and hardly anything media-related, which is something I was really interested in. So I actually just went on the Food Network’s website and applied, hoping that they would get back to me. I wasn’t expecting it, but they saw my résumé and my application and called me back! I guess part of it was luck but part of it was creating an opportunity for myself. WIB: Did you have any challenges there, and if so, how did you overcome them? GS: Kind of like coming to Harvard, there was a lot of terminology that they would use that you just don’t know if you haven’t worked in the industry. There are a lot of processes on how to go about to getting things done. So to create one of the flyers that we would hand out at the truck event, there is such a long process of submitting your request, waiting for them to come back to you for approval, etc. There are so many steps to go into it that you might not even think about. It’s kind of challenging to just learn all the different

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

WIB: What was it like working with other interns in the different departments? GS: There were a lot of other interns at the Food Network. I was in consumer marketing. Then there were some in design department, there were some in public relations. With the design intern, when I was putting together these flyers to hand out at each of our stops, I would put together a draft of our design that I wanted, then I’d go meet with the design intern. She’d come back to me with a proposal for a layout and a design with the pictures and words, and we would work together to edit it and take it to final project. WIB: Were you comfortable communicating with other executive leaders in the company, besides your team? GS: In meetings every Monday, I got to sit next to the president of Food Network. She would come and give her update on how the whole network was going. It was definitely intimidating to be sitting there and telling her about my project and listening to her talk about the national channel’s progress. So it was definitely exposure to senior executives, but my team, in general, was all fulltime employees. I felt very close with them and completely comfortable going to them with any questions I had. I think they all appreciated having a different perspective.

Danielle Kolin: ‘12

INVESTMENT BANKING Internship Spotlight

WIB: What was your role at the bank you interned for? DK: I was in a capital markets group. I sat on a floor that looked sort of like a trading floor and was in a group that was dedicated to a specific product. My group’s job was to help companies finance themselves and get money via that product. My specific tasks were fairly divided between Excel modeling, PowerPoint slides, and other analytical methods—I was actually also on the phone and in meetings a lot more than I expected. WIB: Was working for a large bank an intimidating process? DK: I would say it was fairly intimidating, especially because I hadn’t had a lot of finance experience before and didn’t really know what to expect. I also worked on a trading floor, so just the environment was pretty intimidating. I had a big headset and a phone that I didn’t really know how to operate—I didn’t know how to check my voicemail for the first week. What helped me was to find someone fairly young so I was comfortable asking my questions. There was a Harvard girl who had worked in my group for a year or two, so I felt comfortable asking her those stupid questions about how to check my voicemail and how to use my calendar. WIB: In general did you find yourself in a helpful environment, or was it more competitive? DK: I definitely thought it was very helpful. I didn’t really feel as though it was competitive. I believe my bank doesn’t overhire their interns for full-time positions, so you don’t feel like you’re competing with other interns for a specific full-time role. Especially because my group was so specific, they sort of knew that the other intern and I didn’t really know anything about it, and everyone made a really big effort the first week to encourage us to ask as many questions as possible. WIB: What was the most difficult part of your internship? DK: The most difficult thing to adjust to for me was the timing and the hour commitment. The hours are long and it’s hard and you’re tired. I drank more coffee this summer than I had in a really long time! But you learn how to deal with it. Sleep is really important to me, so sometimes on weekends instead of going out, I would know that I needed another 13 hours of sleep instead. So you come up with your own coping methods. WIB: What there a strong social community at your company? DK: It was actually really social. The firm makes a lot of effort to make sure you meet other interns. A few times over the summer we had group dinners, a summer outing with our entire group, happy hours for people’s birthdays. I’m definitely someone who works best with other people.

Even on my floor, when it was late at night, knowing that there were people nearby who would get a coffee break with me at midnight -- that was pretty important to me. WIB: What were some of the most rewarding things you took out of your internship? DK: Just the work approach and the lifestyle helped me learn a lot about what I’m looking for, both in a job and in terms of how I work most efficiently. I learned that I really do work best when I work in teams, when I work alongside a lot of people, and when there’s a busy and hectic environment. I really like deadlines—I’m by far my most efficient with deadlines—and this summer sort of hammered that in for me. WIB: What should people look for in an internship? DK: One of the things for me was looking at the people I’d be working with. Are they really smart? Are they people you respect? Are they people you’re comfortable working next to for 12 hours a day? Are they people you’re going to have fun with at happy hour? After you look for people who are smart and social, you should look at skills, both that you want to learn and that you enjoy doing. If you do know what you want to do in the long term, you should be thinking about what skills you need and where you should go to get those skills. Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

FASHION

t s r i F f o y a D l! o o Sch

Note: turn in study card

< ------ SHOPPING WEEK ----

& 12

IMAGE DEVELOPMENT 19

101 26

M IH 2012

Dress to Impress

I firmly believe that when you look good, you feel good, and those feelings translate into the ways you interact with those around you. Oftentimes, young women don’t find excitement in choosing work attire, but in this issue we want to show you that pairing a gorgeous pencil skirt and blouse with a hot pump can make you feel just as good as slipping into your favorite party dress and stilettos. Not only do we have complete visual inspirations for the five- day work week, we also have tips on the basic pieces that every professional woman should have in her wardrobe. So push all images of stuffy suits, boring button-ups, and lousy loafers to the side, because this fall, we want to show you how to bring a fun and feminine flair to your workday wardrobe!

photo credit: Ann Taylor Stores

Although women are climbing to the top in the professional realm, they are still struggling to make stellar decisions when it comes to their wardrobe selection. It has been said that many working women tend to dress in clothing that is ill-fitting, dull, or masculine. While it is important for us to focus on the tasks at hand, it is also imperative that we present ourselves in the best way possible in the work environment.

It’s all about finding the right balance between the “prim and pop” when it comes to your workday wardrobe choices. When you want to create a look that incorporates more feminine touches, think lace detailing, pleats, floral, fun prints, punches of color, and beautiful beading. *Remember, putting on the pumps, blazer, and blouse is only a piece of the puzzle—make sure you walk out the door feeling like the boss!

Jazmyne Reid Sophomore HUWIB Contributor

The Essentials.

onday

The Suit.

uesday

The Shoes.

ednesday

The Makeup.

hursday

The Accessories.

riday

The Bag.

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Back to Basics: Fashion in the Workplace

Balancing Prim and Pop Fashion from Monday to Friday, 9 to 5

Jazmyne Reid

Back to Basics: We all know it’s important to have the basics, but don’t forget that work attire can be exciting. Keep your look appropriate but add items that spice up your wardrobe. Don’t be afraid of color and statement pieces!

MONDAY

Form-fitting Blazer

Subtle Glitz: Start the work week off with a chic yet comfortable look.

Pencil or A-line Skirt

TUESDAY Ballet Flats

Layering Tanks Lady in Lace: Add pieces with lace for a look that is soft, sweet, and sophisticated.

Monday: top (Forever 21), trousers (H&M), bag (Urban Outfitters), lipstick (Chanel), earrings (Forever 21). Tuesday: skirt (H&M), blouse (Zara), heels (Aldo), earrings (Forever 21), bag (Urban Outfitters). Wednesday: dress (TopShop), eye shadow (Urban Decay), lipstick (NARS). Thursday: blouse (Forever 21), eye shadow (Urban Decay), ring (Forever 21), purse (Forever 21), lip gloss (Urban Decay), blazer (H&M). Friday: blazer (Zara), lip gloss (Sephora), tank (H&M), necklace (Urban Outfitters), jeans (Nordstrom), boots (Tory Burch).

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

WEDNESDAY

Mid-week Stride: Put your best foot forward in a fabulous dress, fly pumps, and a fierce red lip.

Back to Basics: Black Heels

THURSDAY Tailored Trousers

Show-em-who’s-boss Dress

Flower Power: Pair with floral pieces

that have a vintage feel for a look that exudes elegance.

Classy Blouse

FRIDAY

Friday Funday: Grab a great pair of jeans and play up your shape with a fitted blazer. Add cool statement accessories and you’re ready to end the week with a bang!

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Back to Basics: Fashion in the Workplace

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Back to Basics: Fashion in the Workplace

Four Elements of Style Fashion + Work = Ann Taylor

First impressions are important! It isn’t just something your mom would say to get you to wash behind your ears when you were five—it’s a fact. It doesn’t matter whether you’re going for an internship, entering the work force, or making that move to your dream job, you want to absolutely seal the deal in every way possible. Ann Taylor has made it their goal to make sure you have that perfect look by bringing fashion to the workplace. The days of the dreaded uniform are over, and you no longer have to look like your male counterparts in a skirt.

Today’s woman should definitely feel like a woman when she goes to work. I mean, many women are now becoming the major bread winners in the family, so why not throw on that perfect dress and some killer pumps before entering the office? Now, I am not saying you want to go overthe-top reality-TV star and totally disregard your field or the culture of the company. What I am saying is that Ann Taylor offers you many different looks that let you feel powerful and beautiful. If you are already an Ann-Fann, you know the great benefits of shopping at Ann Taylor. However, if you are just entering the work force and are less sure about where to get some great work clothes, remember that knowledge is power. You want to do your research before you go shopping for that interview outfit. Know your future employer and the culture of the workplace you’d like to find yourself in. A great interview outfit for someone in finance is not necessarily the best outfit for someone who is going for a public relations position. Company websites will most likely show you the image they are trying to portray to the public, so take a look. You might even want to print up a picture of that image to take with you while shopping.

Completely looking the part will always be a feather in your cap. The most complete looks are the ones that incorporate the “Four Elements of Style”: color, pattern, texture, and shine (all things we were attracted to as babies). As adults, we subconsciously find these four elements just as appealing. Here is a break-down:

COLOR

PATTERN

TEXTURE

SHINE

All outfits and accessories can be found exclusively at Ann Taylor stores.

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

KNOW YOUR COLORS.

This is topic I like to break down into something that we can all relate to: food! I break down the colors that look best by your face into either fruit salad or garden salad. If you have a darker complexion, you want to think fruit salad; reds, oranges, yellows, bold pinks are all complimentary. If you are paler complexion, you want to think garden salad. Greens, blues, purples are all colors that make your complexion pop. The base of your outfit should be something that is classic and shows your reliability. These colors are navy, black, brown, and gray. When you add the colors that complement your complexion, the whole picture will create a great look.

ACCESSORIES ADD TEXTURE AND SHINE.

PATTERN IS EASY TO BRING INTO YOUR OUTFIT.

A pinstripe suit, printed blouse, or patterned dress, when coordinated with a solid, gives you that second element. The whole picture will create a great look.

You can add texture with a belt and shoes. The shine comes in the form of some jewelry; remember that for an interview, simple jewelry goes a long way. Accessories are not only pretty, but I like to call them my smoke and mirrors: the right placement of the belt, for example, can make you look longer and slimmer. Adding a necklace or scarf to your neck can draw attention away from those trouble areas. The whole picture will create a great look. Now that you have the basic knowledge needed, you are set up for success! Of course I do recommend that you let one of the many Ann Taylor stylists work with you to make sure you are looking your best. We know from experience that you are nervous enough, so let us help you out. Feel free to stop in, call to book an appointment, or get a group of friends together for a shopping party. Of course, if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still in school, always bring that Student ID to Ann Taylor. I mean, who doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to save 20% off your full price purchase? Always remember to be Ann-tastic!

Ron Hedges Store Manager, Ann Taylor Harvard-Square HUWIB Contributing Writer Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Back to Basics: Image Development

As you sit outside the door to the interview in New York, there are probably ten other students from top tier schools with high GPAs like you and similar resumes to your very own.

IMAGE DEVELOPMENT 101

So, what makes you stand out from the rest of the crowd?

Be the Expert on the Company and the Industry

Soh-yun Latst name The common question in an interview is “Why (insert company name)?” When Grade faced with that particular question, most students will recite the answer formed by WIB postiion reading the employer’s website and maybe the Wikipedia page. You want to brand yourself as an expert who reads up on the industry daily. Talk about the company’s presence in the media by researching past articles in papers, such as the Wall Street Journal. Research the leaders of the company and even the past CEOs. Prepare a specific example that would set the particular company from all other competitors.

Past the Resume

Have an Interest

Sometimes, it is hard to describe who you are in a single piece of paper. The Internet can serve as a way to express your interest in business industry. For example, you could publish a daily blog post about the key events in the finance industry and even post your personal opinions.

Everyone interviewing for an investment banking position probably has some, if not a strong, interest in finance or the like. But in order for the interviewer to remember you even after you step out of the interview, you need an interest unique to you. It may be playing football or performing in orchestras or even making apps on the iPad. No matter what it is, you want to show your passion for the interest and be able to demonstrate accomplishment in your specific field.

So-Hyun Baik Sophomore WIB Associate

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Lauren Berger ] An Interview with:

aka

The Intern Queen

]

I was looking for that person who could hold my hand and take me through the internship journey. And I really felt that the resources both online and at the library fell short. I completed 15 internships in college, and in my spare time I had started doing some freelance writing. So as a senior I thought, maybe I should start writing content on internships. From this content came the idea of, “Hey, what if I created this website that would help people find internships and make the most of them?” I had a gut feeling about it, so I went out on my own, and three years after college I was able to save up $5,000 and create InternQueen.com. WIB: What steps did you take to make your InternQueen idea a reality? LB: Step one was that I told people what I wanted to do. Once you have an idea that you’re passionate about and believe in, you have to tell people about it and get the word out. I asked a friend to help me design a website. Then I had to learn to incorporate a business, so I would go to the bookstore and sit in the café and try to absorb as much information as I could about starting a business and running a business. I still do that today. I moved out to California and got a job at a talent agency. So I was working all hours of the day around the clock, but I still had the InternQueen idea at the back of my head. So finally I just took a deep breath and started telling people about it. I knew that if I didn’t give InternQueen a shot and give it my whole heart, I would always regret it. So I took my $5,000 that I had saved up, and I hired a web team and started pitching myself as the InternQueen.

WIB: What is your advice for landing the perfect internship? LB: There is power in organization. There’s a document I created when I was in college called the Internship Dream List. In one category you have the company name, the next category is the company website, the next category is the contact for that company, then the next category is the materials required for application. It’s important to notice what each company requires. You also want one piece of paper that keeps track of all the deadlines. Then I always encourage students to track the date they send their application; that way, they can follow up exactly two weeks later and reference the date they sent in their materials. I think that makes them appear more professional and more organized. WIB: How did InternQueen come about? LB: Like many other entrepreneurs, I noticed a gap in the market, and that was in the internship world. When I was looking for internships,

WIB: What advice do you have to college-age women looking to pursue a professional career? That is, if you could say one thing to your collegeage self, what would it be? LB: It’s two-fold. First, don’t be scared of rejection. Guess what? You are going to get rejected for the rest of your life. Rejection is something that everyone deals with. But it’s not about rejection—it’s about what comes after. And there’s always something great on the other side of that rejection. There’s always going to be someone that doesn’t like what you’re doing, but right next to that person is going to be someone that does like and respect what you’re doing and your ideas. Secondly, it is possible. You can do whatever you want to do. I was telling people I was the InternQueen five years ago, and my friends and family were telling me I was crazy. So if I can be successful and make a career and a living out of being the InternQueen, anything is possible.

]

HUWIB: Do you have any recommendations for balancing academics and professional experiences? LB: Look at the semesters that are in front of you and try to do your internships during the semesters when you have the least amount of really difficult classes; and don’t forget that you can do internships over the summer. I always talk about trying to craft your academic schedule so that it makes sense with your internship schedule. Think about your priorities and write them down. When you’re thinking about how you’re going to spend your time every day, you can reference that priority list. When I was in college I didn’t realize how valuable my time was. Someone told me a few years ago that time was the most valuable thing I had. And when I say that to students now, I can see that it really makes them think about how they are spending their time. One of the toughest things as a college student is to say no, especially in regards to social activities. There is power in saying no.

WIB: Can you tell us a little about the online aspect of InternQueen? LB: The three words that come to mind are accessibility, branding, and voice. I have made myself extremely accessible to students, parents—whoever is interested in careers or internships. My email is pretty public, I am very active on Twitter; I respond to Facebook messages; I’m constantly Instagramming photos. There’s something very powerful in that, and I think our users know that and feel that I am their personal cheerleader, which I am. In terms of branding, it is so important to continue to design and refine your brand. My brand is expanding into the career space, so we’re constantly having to think, “What are we doing, and why are we doing it?” It’s always a matter of saying, “What content are we distributing, where is it going, and why is it going there?” and trying to be very strategic in how we are expanding our brand. And when I say voice, we have a voice of accessibility and a casual tone, and it’s very important to our brand to maintain that so that we’re not only a career site but we’re also your best friend.

Check out Lauren’s new book! “All Work, No Pay”

]

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

How to Walk in

Back to Basics: Image Development

High Heels

and other secrets for the aspiring business woman from the Sunday Times Bestseller by Camilla Morton

One should be set at least 7-21 minutes fast.

Fact: super-

market aisles are the perfect place to practice walking in high heels

How To

To avoid initial confrontation always have at least two clocks.

Emily Chen

impress the in-laws boss:

• Turn on the charm • Be prepared/ Do your homework • Keep your mobile OFF • Positivity.

Appreciate Modern Art and a Good Soundtrack

How to get dressed in 5* minutes 10. Hair. 11. Shoes. 12. Perfume. Phase Two. 13. Hair. Toss. 14. Makeup. One last check. 15. Smile. 16. Handbag. 17. Outer layers. 18. Lip-gloss.

Fold shirts inwards; roll cardigans and tops to fill in gaps Ensure all explodable items (shampoo, perfume) are wrapped in bags. Shoes should be separate -- to avoid getting mud on your best stuff. Pack things on hangers, with tissue in between. Above all, never let your case embarrass you -- when checked at customs. Finally, adorn the outside of your case with a unique marking.

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

spaghetti slurpy soup BBQ ribs corn on the cob snails (other potential flying objects) bloody meat

When you are asked to do something, always ask when the dealine is.

Forward Planning.

* the heading is slightly misleading

Packing 101 1. Jeans and wools, heavy bulk items 2. Any dresses or coats 3. Work your way lighter layer by layer

(and remember emails are monitored)

Dishes to avoid on a first date business trip:

How To

1. Know your venue. 2. Lay out clothes beforehand. 3. Choose a Point of Focus. 4. Teeth. 5. Make-up. 6. Underwear. 7. Perfume. Phase One. 8. Dress. 9. Make-up. Check.

Tip : Always Use Netiquette

get a pay rise:

1. Consider your boss. 2. Prepare your argument. Assess your position and contributions. 3. Be assertive. Know your worth. 4. Speak to them, alone, when you are not frantically busy. 5. Present your case in a way that they cannot say no.

10 Tips for a Successful Internship:

Rock Your Internship and Get That Offer

1 2 3 4

Attitude is everything. Smile and hold your head high, even on days when you feel like you can’t do anything right or you get assigned a project you’d really rather not do. Your positive attitude not only will make you seem poised and professional but will also make you someone people genuinely want to be around and will help make you a top candidate for a return offer.

Be proactive. Take initiative on projects, introduce yourself to people in the office, and set up meetings with members of your team. You have a lot of resources at hand while you’re in the office to gain the most of your summer - they await all who are willing to take advantage of the opportunities!

Be professional. It’s a given, but I had to say it! Even when you become good friends with your colleagues, never forget that you’re working in an office environment, and that certain behaviors are expected of you and certain others won’t do anything to highlight what a poised and professional young career woman you are.

Dress for the part. As the professional college women you are, you all know the corporate dress code by now. Now, that doesn’t mean that in order to dress for the part that you have to have an investment banker’s salary to fund your wardrobe. Dressing for the part is about more about finding a few key wardrobe staples - dark suit separates, low heels, a dressy statement necklace and always making sure you look clean-cut and pulled together than it is about buying expensive heels or flashy watches.

Ask questions. Asking questions is key to learning as much as you can on the job and showing your team that you have a genuine curiosity and passion about the field. Ask questions when you hear something in a meeting you don’t understand, when you read a relevant news piece and want to learn more, or when you want to get a better understanding about a co-worker’s responsibilities or projects. Also, make sure to ask questions when you need clarification on a project right as the project is being assigned - don’t wait until the project is almost due to let your boss know you weren’t sure how to tackle it.

6 7

Bring a notebook everywhere. This is so important. If people in your office are not currently swamped with work, they will be more than willing to take extra time to answer a question that you have or outline the steps for a project you’re working on. That being said, when someone helps you out, he or she will expect that you make the most of that time. Write everything down so that you only have to ask once.

Learn Excel. The more Excel you know, the more efficient on tasks you will be and the more quantitative projects you will be able to master. And if you’re comfortable with Excel tricks like macros, you can really add value to your team by creating add-ins in Excel that will save your co-workers major time. If you don’t have a class that teaches Excel at your college, there are some great online tutorials and courses that you can take advantage of in order to prepare for your summer and a full-time position.

If you want an offer, say it. Don’t be afraid to brag a little to your hiring manager when you’ve done a stellar job: keep him or her up to date with your progress on projects and share accomplishments you have made so far during the summer. Go for what you want: if you want to get a return offer from your team, let it be known. As the summer draws to a close, make sure to tell your co-workers and hiring manager how much you have grown from and genuinely have enjoyed the experience and that you would be honored to come back and join the team full-time.

Add value to your team. Any time you can make your team more efficient, productive, or knowledgeable, you’re adding value. Share important news articles that relate to the business or ideas you have on a project to make it even better. Trust me, adding value to your team goes a long way: they’ll appreciate both the extra thought you put into your work and recognize that you have a lot more going for you than the ability to complete your tasks on time.

Share your accomplishments. Women often get a bad rap for not boasting their accomplishments like the boys do. Don’t be afraid to brag a little to your hiring manager when you’ve done a stellar job: keep him or her up to date with your progress on projects and share accomplishments you have made so far during the summer. We girls like to think that our boss knows how hard we’re working and how far we’ve come, but the truth is your boss is really busy and may need a friendly reminder to keep you accomplishments at the top of mind.

Nancy Flewelling Senior HUWIB Co-President Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Back to Basics: Image Development

Margaret Batting An Interview with:

Margaret Batting is the founder of Eleve‘ Image Communication and the only Image Consultant and Reach Personal Brand Strategist in Rhode Island. She works with entrepreneurs and companies on professional image development.

]

HUWIB: How has the idea of Image been shifting as our 21st century business landscape has expanded to adapt to the social/web phenomenon? As a result, how important now is a social media image (LinkedIn Profile, email etiquette, Facebook Page)? MB: I think what has changed most with regard to Image is that now even the everyday professional who wants to move ahead really has to create and manage her image. Creating an image is not just for celebrities anymore. It is important for all business professionals. You have a reputation online, whether you have created it or not. Information is available about you, and you need to manage how that information is perceived. Creating a LinkedIn profile is essential to anyone looking to build a business network. Mastering email and technology etiquette is necessary for professional success. Image has always mattered to those looking to move ahead; the difference now is they have to spend more time creating and managing their story. WIB: Do you think there are any image gender gaps? What does a woman’s image say about her? Are there specific areas that women in particular need to address or keep in mind that men just simply don’t have to worry about? MB: Quite often, a woman will be critiqued on her appearance where a man will not. If a women wants to be taken seriously, she needs to be careful about her appearance and make sure it does not become a distraction where people are focused more on what she is wearing than what she is saying or doing. Men don’t seem to get that level of scrutiny. Think of Sarah Palin and how much talk there was about her hairstyle and clothing. WIB: We all have those days where an awkward moment or troubling situation arises, and we’re completely caught off guard. As college women (most likely in intern positions), how should we most professionally conduct ourselves to: disagree with an idea or bring up a complaint, ask for more projects, ask for a promotion, recover from a mistake? MB: There is no short answer to these questions. The key is to act in a manner that reflects poise and professionalism and keeps emotions intact. Be prepared for any discussion, whether it is to share a new idea, voice a complaint, or ask for a promotion. Collect the information and data you need to communicate your message clearly, and then lay out your story in a way that demonstrates thoughtfulness and shows value to your organization.

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

WIB: As the gender gap is narrowing and more women are rising to fill executive positions or starting their own companies, how is the Image of a “business woman” changing? MB: I think the biggest shift is that women no longer need to operate like men in the workplace to be taken seriously or achieve results. They are able to manage business in a way that maximizes the qualities that make them different than men, like communication styles, collaboration, and multitasking, just to name a few. WIB: What are your key points to mastering the first impression? How important is a good first impression? How do you keep a good first impression, a lasting impression? MB: Understanding that our image tells a story and being very clear on what that story com-

municates is the first step to mastering a positive impression. A favorable first impression is critical. People form opinions of us in the first few seconds of meeting us based on our appearance and non-verbal cues. Maintaining a positive and lasting impression requires consistency. WIB: What are the basic wardrobe essentials that every businesswoman needs to have in her closet? What about a few classic hairstyles and makeup essentials that every woman should be familiar with? MB: To create a professional wardrobe, you want to start with the basics. Once you have a foundation, you can add color and more interesting pieces. Every professional wardrobe should include at least one dark suit, a white blouse, a few cardigans in neutral colors, like black and

cream, a black cocktail dress, a classic wool coat if you live in a cold climate, a classic trench coat, a few classic trousers in charcoal, navy and light grey and classic pumps. Hair should always look polished and be easy to maintain. Hairstyles depend on the shape of your face and should reflect your personal style while remaining professional.

WIB: Previously, you worked in large corporate companies and been an advertising executive. Now, how is it different starting and running your own business and being a leading Image Consultant and Personal Branding Strategist? Are there any similarities that carried over? MB: Running your own business is different than working for a large organization in that you are now the one responsible for everything, and you don’t get paid when you take a vacation. However, there are many similarities to my roles in corporate companies; training, presenting, problem solving, networking, negotiating, and budgeting are all skills I learned while working in corporate companies and use in my own business.

WIB: Image is all about conveying the best, true you. How do you recommend mixing professionalism and a distinctive, personal flair? For those of us on a college-friendly budget, how do you suggest we be smart about shopping? MB: Style on a budget requires time and effort. Keep in mind the business environment your are working in before you decide how to express your fashion flair. You want to be remembered for your work, not your outfit (unless of course you are working in the fashion industry!). A few ways to incorporate your fashion flair is through your accessories: scarves, jewelry, shoes, and bags are a good way to incorporate style and is a tool that flair without breaking the bank. Stores like can be used to tell the world your H&M, Forever 21, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx professional story: what makes you are good for those on a budget. Outlet stores are also an option. Look for sales and get unique and how you add value to your coupons online. Stores like Ann Taylor are alorganization or community. ways running promotions. Shopping on eBay for those designer pieces is also an option.

Personal branding

]

WIB: In college, a significant amount of time is spent during the recruiting phases, attending career fairs, networking receptions, and making connections. Can you briefly walk us through the standard etiquette behind the networking process, from handing out business cards to the follow-up emails? MB: Networking is about gather contacts and building long term relationships, and it is a two way street. Your goal should be to identify and meet people who you can help first. Most people think networking is about meeting as many people as possible and asking them to help you. Networking is about cultivating long-term relationships that are mutually beneficial. Before attending an event, identify who you want to meet. Figure out how you can meet them. Present them with your card (face up using two hands), and figure out how you can help them. Get their card and read it when they hand it to you. Don’t put it in your pocket while you are still talking to them. Wait until you have left the conversation to put it away. Before putting it away, write the event name and date on the back. After the event, follow up with an email, LinkedIn request, or a call. Make sure you are always dressed professionally when attending any networking event, and brush up on business and dining etiquette. WIB: Whether helping improve an individual’s image or an entire company’s image during a consultation, what are all the factors you take into account (all the components of an Image), and what are your first plans of action? MB: There are many factors to take into account when working with an individual or company and it depends on their goals. I take my private clients through a three-step process that starts with homework and an in depth interview and ends with shopping. When working with a company, we determine what are the goals are for the employees and then create a program to meet those goals.

]

WIB: How and why did you initially decide on branching out to entrepreneurship? What inspired you to take on this endeavor (entrepreneurship, and image consulting specifically), and since then have you run into any challenges? If so, how did you overcome them? MB: After 16 years working for Staples, Inc., I decided it was time to do something new. I started developing my business while I was still at Staples. I decided on Image Consulting as I felt my professional skills suited this industry well, and I had a passion for inspiring others to be their best selves. Running your own business is not easy, as there are many challenges such as cash flow, limited resources, and time management. I am always working on new ways to improve my business model. Working with other accomplished entrepreneurs has helped, as well as working with a business coach. You need a support team to be successful. ‘ you are also very involved in AICI, Dress for SucWIB: Besides Eleve, cess, and GoLocalProv.com. How do you see personal branding becoming a larger part of society? How do you think the public will respond to it? MB: As I mentioned earlier, we have a reputation whether we have created it or not. Personal branding is our opportunity to manage that reputation. It is a way to set ourselves apart from our peers and competition. Personal branding is a tool that can be used to tell the world your professional story: what makes you unique and how you add value to you organization or community. If you want to be successful in corporate America, you need to establish your brand. WIB: How has your image developed since you were in college? MB: In college my style was very conservative and preppy. My style evolved as my life evolved and career evolved. I made conscious choices to create a look and image that were consistent with my career goals. I would describe my style now as sophisticated, elegant, and chic. WIB: You were able to combine your interests of fashion, education, and giving back to create Eleve. ‘ What is the most exciting part of your job? MB: The most exciting part of my job is seeing my clients making the changes they need to be successful and hearing about their successes!

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Redefining

Social

Business 32

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

21st Century Business I remember sitting in an entrepreneurship panel that Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business held last fall, absolutely in awe of Joanne Chang, a Harvard College alumnus who is now the proud owner of three thriving Flour bakeries. A self-proclaimed foodie, I had eagerly been awaiting my chance to hear her speak upon receiving that week’s e-mail. Having seen her guest star on Throw Down with Bobby Flay Chef (an episode in which she did manage to defeat Flay with her famous sticky buns), I knew before setting foot in the room that Joanne and her pastries were nothing short of a big deal. (Plus, I had tried one of her sticky buns myself; when visiting Harvard last April, I thought it a wise decision to skip some early morning weekend activities in favor of securing a spot in the long line at one of Flour’s nearby locations.) I was so thoroughly impressed by her success that I was caught completely off-guard when she went on to tell us about how Flour had attained such a large following. “I don’t pay for advertising,” she told us. How, then, had Joanne distinguished herself from the hundreds of other cafés and bakeries dotting the streets of Boston? “Twitter,” she said. Joanne tweets at other famous chefs, she tweets to let her fans know what the Flour staff is baking each day—she posted a variety of short messages that kept Flour Bakery on the Internet’s mind. Her rise to fame was not solely a product of her constant Twittering, however. She told us of how she had cleverly provided free baked goods at marathons and charity events, which not only served to give back to the community but also landed Flour’s name in newspapers, helping Joanne’s

bakery reach an even larger audience.

At the time, I simply thought Joanne must have been impossibly lucky, but after spending some time watching the world around me, I came to realize the success of Flour Bakery is not some sort of anomaly; rather, what I had witnessed was social business in action. Social business is using a 140-character tweet to reach hundreds of millions of people across the globe. It is letting the power of “shares,” “likes,” and “reblogs” do the work for you. It is using your space on the Internet to the best of your ability and doing what you can to ensure that your voice goes viral. Social business is business for good. It is entrepreneurship that makes the world a better place. With the rise in popularity of products like TOMS shoes and FEED bags, the surge of microfinance companies setting up shop across the globe, and a revived interest in doing good, it’s undeniable that social entrepreneurship is prospering and here to stay. Social business is the inevitability of the ever-growing tangle of connections in our world today. It is building networks. It is the recognition that we are in contact with hundreds of people each and every day, and it is using these interactions to communicate our motives, interests, and desires. Social business is evolution and adaptation to the times. Social business is clever, it is convenient, and most importantly, it is necessary. Social business is business in the 21st century.

The Impact. Women in...

Entrepreneurship

Elle Carberry, Co-Founder of The China Greentech Initiative Magatte Wade, Founder of Tiossan

Academia Dr. Beth Altringer, Harvard Engineering Sciences Lecturer

Entertainment Eve Ensler, Writer of The Vagina Monologues

the World Our role models and their inspiring stories.

Kelly Ren Sophomore HUWIB Communications

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Back to the Future

Back to the Future In 2010, Sharon Jayson published an article in USA Today which made the claim that 2010 was the “Year We Stopped Talking to One Another.” She asserted that, ironically, despite the drastic increase in the number of tools and mediums we have to connect with one another, we have lost touch with our loved ones and community. Scott Campbell, a new media expert from the University of Michigan, provided one of the most poignant summaries of the issue: “[Our new technological tools] can be a good thing. But I also see new ways the traditional social fabric is getting somewhat torn apart.” For decades, people have argued that the advent of advanced technology and communication devices have drastically reduced the level of personal interaction between family members, friends, communities, consumers, and companies, essentially destroying Campbell’s “traditional social fabric.” This concern is exactly why going back to the future should be a fundamental tenet of social businesses in the years to come.

The two key components of going back to the future for social businesses are: re-connecting the brand to the consumer with personal interactions and relationships and utilizing social tools and technology as the platform through which to do so. Interactive corporate websites and social media platforms are leading the charge in transforming the definition of social business in this way, allowing businesses to find creative ways to prioritize social and personal relationships as part of the success and longevity of the brand.

Mike Hoefflinger, Director of Global Business Marketing at Facebook, described what it meant to go back to the future at the 2012 Facebook Marketing Conference in New York City. Hoefflinger used the evolution of Gillette as an example of a company that has been wildly successful with reconnecting and re-establishing the interaction between the brand and the consumer: “This is my shopkeeper, about 120 years ago. I have a relationship with

him—he has a relationship with me. I know his story and he’s had to suffer through a few of mine… Fast forward to today: Gillette is operating at a gigantic scale—600 million people using their products every day—but relationships are back. Here’s their 100 million fans on Facebook and their 150 million friends… Gillette is building relationships at the kind of scale that modern business requires, one little story at a time… We are, in a way, going back to the future. We are going back to stories. We are evolving from ads to stories.” Narratives, one-on-one interaction, news bytes, and a number of other types of communication are only a few examples of how businesses have begun transitioning to shopkeeper-client interaction once more. Ultimately, prioritizing and integrating “going back to the future” will be crucial to the progression of consumer-brand relations—regardless of size and industry. Perhaps, then, 2013 will be known as the “Year We Started Talking—Again.”

Rena Wang Junior HUWIB IBC Chair

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

ARIANNA

Huffington 36

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Originally hailing from Greece, Arianna Huffington studied economics at Cambridge University before embarking on what has turned into a varied and colorful career that has spanned four decades. In addition to working as an author and journalist, she has worked in politics both behind the scenes and as a candidate for the Governor of California in 2003. In 2005, she launched The Huffington Post, an online news website that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012. Ms. Huffington was named one of Forbes’ “Most Influential Women in Media” in 2009 and made TIME’s 100 list of most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2011. HUWIB: Having worked in both the political and entertainment “business,” two very competitive, and currently, very male-dominated industries, how have you approached challenges, and do you have any suggestions for younger women as on breaking into these fields? AH: Younger women -- and older women too -- have a great opportunity to redefine success. I’ve tried always to keep in mind that for women to rise in the workplace doesn’t necessarily mean we have to become carbon copies of men -- briefcase-carrying, pinstripe-wearing career machines who just happen to have vaginas. I love the way Anna Quindlen put it: “Was the point of this great social revolution to have corner offices, fat retainers and retirement accounts? Did we want the right to lead imitation men’s lives? Or did we really want something that we haven’t quite gotten yet, the ability to put our grand stamp on the ethos of the entire world?” At The Economist “World in 2012” Panel photo credit: World Economic Forum

[Failure is]

almost always a necessary part of being on the right path.

]

Too often, and not likely by coincidence, the traits used as the measure for advance in the workplace happen to be male traits. As more and more women assume positions of leadership, one challenge is to change this narrow definition of leadership and success that compare our careers to ladders. As Sheryl Sandberg said at the Harvard Business School commencement, quoting Lori Goler, careers are “not a ladder, they’re a jungle gym.”

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

]

WIB: As an organization for aspiring pre-professionals , we look up to you as a successful business leader. Have you had any role models in your life that have influenced you, given you any helpful advice along the way, or led you in the direction to where you currently are? How important do you think having a role model is? AH: My most important role model has always been my mother, though this would have baffled her because she did not think of herself as a business leader! But she did give me the whole idea of HuffPost, which was to take the sort of conversations found at water coolers and around dinner tables -about politics and art and books and food and sex -- and open them up and bring them online. And my mother understood the power of conversation and connection and bringing people together -- especially in the kitchen. Also, she taught me early on not to take myself too seriously, which is a really important lesson as we face daily challenges. One of my mother’s favorite quotes was, “Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.” So, yes, role models are very important, but we don’t have to find them just among business leaders.

WIB: How do you balance life, work, and family? AH: As women, we still feel we don’t “belong” in the male clubs that dominate many workplaces. So what’s left to us is our own hard work -- the one thing we have complete control over. But workaholism, which is too often the effect of this realization, robs us of many things, including time with our families, our friends, and ourselves -- the very things that give us perspective in our lives. So for me, balancing life, work and family means always keeping in mind that family is actually a great thing for our careers, and that the people we love -- in addition to our passions -- need to be more a part of our working lives, not less. This is another way we can redefine success -- by bringing more of the qualities that we associate with family into the workplace, and chipping away at the prevailing macho culture. WIB: Being at that age where we’re pondering where we see ourselves 20, 30 years down the road, a lot of feelings, doubts, questions are running through our minds. What was going through your mind when you were in college, and how and when did you finally know that you had chosen the right path? AH: In college, I joined the Cambridge Union debate society, which helped me overcome a lifelong fear of public speaking -- not to mention my crushing insecurity about my thick Greek accent. For me, what was important was not choosing a specific path with the intent of charting out a decades-long career, but doing my best to plow through my fears and being open to what came next. In my case, my passion for debate led to my becoming president of the Cambridge Union, which brought me to the attention of Reg Davis-Poynter, the British publisher who offered me a book contract. That meant changing my career path, deciding not to go to the [Harvard] Kennedy School -- which had been my plan -- and locking myself in a

2011 World Economic Forum photo credit: World Economic Forum

Celebrating Huffington Post’s 7th Birthday at the AOL offices photo credit: Damon Dahlen

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

]

[A]nother way we can

redefine success

-- by bringing more of the qualities that we associate with family into the workplace, and chipping away at the prevailing macho culture.

] photo credit: Damon Dahlen

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

At the new office in Madrid, Spain

little apartment (or flat) in London, writing my first book. There were plenty of voices of doubt about whether I could finish a book, but what I’ve learned is the importance of not letting that voice of doubt, which I call the obnoxious roommate living in my head, have the last word. There are enough obstacles to success without creating them yourself. And as far as when you know you’ve chosen the right path -- it’s only in retrospect that you realize it. Almost all of my biggest successes came about as the result of my biggest failures -- so it’s important to keep in mind that failing definitely doesn’t mean you’re not on the right path. It’s almost always a necessary part of being on the right path. HUWIB: Being a successful business leader requires taking risks. What is one of the biggest risks you have taken in your career and what has given you the courage to take risks and pursue new endeavors throughout your career? AH: I was in my mid-50s when I co-founded The Huffington Post, which was definitely a risk! I watched HuffPost come alive to mixed reviews, including some very negative ones, like the reviewer who called the site “the movie equivalent of Gigli, Ishtar and Heaven’s Gate rolled into one.” She described it as a “failure that is simply unsurvivable.” A year later, she emailed me and asked if she could blog for the site, and of course I said yes. The worst thing we can do in our lives is hold grudges!

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

HUWIB: Who are the women who inspire you and why? AH: I’m inspired by women who use their gifts to create new and better opportunities for others. Like Jennifer Pahlka, founder of Code For America, which follows the Teach for America model and embeds young tech professionals within city governments that have plenty of data but not enough resources and technical skills to organize them in a way that’s useful to citizens. And Jacqueline Novogratz, who heads the Acumen Fund. She has combined her financial expertise with her gift for empathy, investing in startups around the world that help improve the lives of people unable to do so on their own. These are women who looked around and decided to make the world around them a little better. I find that incredibly inspiring. HUWIB: In our career development, many of us face failure or are let down. How have you dealt “failure” on the way to success, and what would you recommend to other young women who may face failure in their future careers? AH: When I was 25 I wrote a book that was rejected by 37 publishers. By about rejection 25, you would have thought I might have said, “Hey, you know, there’s something wrong here. Maybe I should be looking at a different career.” Instead, I remember running out of money and walking, depressed, down St. James Street in London and seeing a Barclays Bank. I walked in armed with no collateral but a lot of Greek chutzpah, and I asked to speak to the manager

other women leaders and asked him for a loan. Even though I didn’t have any assets, the banker -- Ian Bell -- gave me a loan. It changed my life, because it meant I could keep things together for another 13 rejections.

not an end in and of themselves. HUWIB: If you can tell us, what’s the next big thing for the Huffington Post, and how are you planning to continue to transform the way we report and share news? AH: We’re tremendously excited about HuffPost Live, our new live-streaming network that uses the HuffPost universe -- the stories, editors, reporters, bloggers, and community -- as its real-time script. HuffPost Live live-streams 12 hours of original programming, 5 days a week -- with highlights showing overnight and on weekends. The days of media gods sitting up on Mt. Olympus telling us how things are have been over for a while. But now we have reached a critical mass where millions of people have a seat at the table and can join what has become a global conversation. People are tired of being talked at; they want to be talked with. At HuffPost Live, one of our goals is to tap into that shift from presentation to participation and create the most social video experience possible.

And then, finally, I got an acceptance. In fairy tales there are helpful animals that come out of nowhere to help the hero or heroine through a dark and difficult time, often helping them find a way out of the forest. Well, in life too, there are helpful animals disguised as human beings -- like Ian Bell, to whom I still send a holiday card every year. So, very often, the difference between success and failure is perseverance and just sticking it out until you get lucky. And then, later on, you can try to be that lucky break for others. HUWIB: How has “social” revolutionized business? AH: Social media has been the catalyst for one of the biggest and most encouraging trends in business: the democratization of information and the recognition by businesses that they can improve their bottom line by appealing to customers’ better instincts. At the same time, there’s a snake in the garden: we are beginning to fetishize social and viral. On a daily basis, I’m invited to media conferences with panels devoted to social media and how to use social tools to amplify a message, but very few of these panels are asking what the hell is the message? As Thoreau said in 1854, “We are in great haste, to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.” So it’s important to remember that these tools are means to an end,

photo credit (middle): World Economic Forum

HUWIB: What are the tenets of your approach to business and your career in general? Do you have any general beliefs of business philosophies when it comes to pursuing different endeavors? AH: I’m a congenital optimist, and one of the characteristics I quickly came to love about my adopted country was its optimism. It melded perfectly with my own temperament: Zorba the Greek meets the American spirit. And since we live in a world facing multiple crises, I often find myself drawing on John Gardner’s belief that “what we have before us are some breathtaking opportunities disguised as insoluble problems.” Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

A B ump in the Road

Social Business: Entrepreneurship

The Old, “Wright” Way of Thinking? “You’re not allowed to stumble. You’re not allowed to fall. Your success defines you, your failure undoes you.”

first held hands with a boy, and in tenth when you first got kissed. After that, however, everything started to fall apart. You wanted a better grade, a better boyfriend, the best college—the demands were endless. As you grew older, your definitions of success grew broader, and the chances of failure did, too. When you were young and fell while trying to hit the soccer ball, you just dusted yourself off and started playing again. Can you dust failure away just as easily now? It’s unfortunate how narrow our definition of success has become. We make lists and plans and dream of grand schemes, and it seems that any deviation from them is unacceptable. You have a to-do list, a what-I-will-be-doing-in-five-years list, and more. Now let’s make another one. The following is a compilation of some of the best pieces of advice on failure from one the greatest teacher of them all: Google.

he walls of the Harvard Innovation Lab tell a story. White and covered with words written with colorful markers, the walls encourage people to write on them. Surprisingly, most of the quotations written on them are about failure. There are stories of how computers were written off as inconsequential, how Edison could light his bulb only after hundreds of failed attempts, and about various other things that were thought of as failures before they changed the world. The people who chose to write these things are unanimous in their opinion—failure is a form of encouragement, not a step back. For a world obsessed with success, such thinking can be hazardous. With students trying to perfect their transcripts and professionals driving themselves ever harder to get better jobs, there is a certain frenzy in the air. You’re not allowed to stumble. You’re not allowed to fall. Your success defines you, your failure undoes you. Amidst this insanity, let’s take a pause. Let’s go back to childhood, when you first drew an apple and your teacher showed it to the entire class. It was a proud moment. You were successful for the first time. In third grade, you were successful when you aced your times tables, in the fifth when you first used a pen, in the seventh when you

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

1. Don’t regret. Anything. 2. Don’t give up. Ever. 3. Keep dreaming. 4. Don’t be afraid of failure. 5. Remember that every famous person has his or her own story of failure. As the wall in the Innovation Lab proclaimed in the words of Winston Churchill, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Be happy—even though it may seem like the worst thing in the world, your failure might just be teaching you a life lesson. Namrata Narain Sophomore HUWIB Communications

“

I have not failed. I’ve just found 100,000 ways that won’t work. Thomas Edison

In order to succeed,, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.. Bill Cosby

Go out into the world, fail, and, most importantly, talk about it.

Think like a queen.. A Tara Suri, TEDxTeen talk, “Learning to Fail” queen is not afraid to fail.. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness. ”~ Oprah Winfrey It is our failure to become our perceived ideal that ultimately defines us and makes us unique. It’s not easy, but if you accept your misfortune and handle it right your perceived failure can become a catalyst for profound re-invention.

”

- Conan O’Brien

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Entrepreneurship

Ellen Carberry An Interview with:

Ellen Carberry is the co-founder and managing director of The China Greentech Initiative in Beijing, China. She has had years of experience in entrepreneurship, and now works to provide greentech strategies to major companies on a global scale.

]

The Beginnings of an Entrepreneurial Lifestyle

Elle Carberry was not always into start-ups. However, she was never one to do the norm either. “We’re born with certain degrees of interest of risk. As a person, I’m just more comfortable with risk. I’ve always been a pioneer.” After graduating from Georgetown University with a B.A. in economics and literature, Elle began her long, untraditional career path working in a refuge camp in Southeast Asia for a year. Directly after, she went straight to work for IBM, which in her mind, was “the bluest of the blue-chip companies.” Even so, her nine years of experience gained at IBM prepared her greatly for a future in entrepreneurship. “Being an extremely entrepreneurial company, they’re going to teach you. IBM is unbelievably, constantly changing, so for that, my nine years there served as a fantastic baseline.” After IBM, for the next ten years, Elle transitioned over to start-ups. She led business development for the Ziff-Davis Online Network, and founded and led sales at Mainspring, an IBM-acquired, venture-backed e-commerce professional services firm. At first, entering into entrepreneurship was quite a shock for Elle. “What sounds like fun is real,” as Elle recalls the early days of her start-up rollercoaster ride. “Before I joined Ziff-Davis Online, the first two entrepreneurial companies for whom I worked for went bankrupt. There are just higher stakes up, and after that, I was sobered about what it means to work at a start-up.” However bumpy the ride was, Elle enjoyed every minute of it. “At a smaller company, you live in the market. You live, and you do so by knowing the market.” It takes a certain type of person to really excel in such a fast-paced, market-driven field. By the time Elle moved to a third start-up company which also ultimately failed, she had picked up on the many basic do’s and don’ts of entrepreneurship. For one, senior managers must be very innovative. “Big corporate people didn’t necessarily know how to become good start-up managers. They were once successful managers, but they were never entrepreneurs.” Her number one piece of advice is to work for a CEO who has been a successful entrepreneur, and fortunately for Elle, the fourth time was the charm. For the next seven years, Elle led sales at a very successful start-up, working closely with the experienced CEO, and growing the company. She warned that, as the sales manager, her position comes with a certain level of management risk. She and the CEO both had to pay close attention to the market, be flexible and honest with whatever comes their way, and learn to initiate efficient, decisive actions. These skills were es-

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

pecially important in her experiences at this particular start-up. Time is money, and timing was everything. “It’s important at a start-up to make decisions early on, when you still have money or loans. Furthermore, you just don’t have length of time.” Early on, her company underwent two very dramatic changes in business models, and looking back, Elle credited those important changes to her CEO’s fast, smart instincts and superb knowledge of “timing and being economical.” By the third business model, the company was able to grow successfully, and eventually went public. For the start-up to go public, this meant elevating the risk to an even higher level – which in turn led to one of the most dramatic changes for their company. “We had to deal with venture capitalism and the market more than ever. We needed to have a strong commercial stomach, and to listen to our stomach, which was both instinctual as well as analytical.” Within a month of the company going public, the market had deteriorated. Only days after realizing this, they decided they needed to take the company off the public market and sell it, which they successfully did six months later to IBM. “So after all that,” Elle recalls, “I was going right back to IBM. However, after that experience, I knew that I could handle any risk.” And Elle was certainly right about that, for after her fourth start-up, her heart was set on making one of the most lifechanging decisions of her life – moving to China. The Risk of a Lifetime “I wanted to not only continually expand my experiences, but expand my international experiences as well,” Elle told me. “China was the place to go to make a huge impact on the world.” So after selling the start-up to IBM, and making a three year commitment to IBM, Elle seized the opportunity to raise her hand to go to China. “Start-ups can’t send families to China, but big corporate companies like IBM can. The day we signed the term sheet to sell the company to IBM, we were having a toast, and I told my boss that I hoped to move my family to China. He thought I was kidding.” Moving to China was a big risk, but it was one that Elle knew was worth taking to give herself new skills and gain more experience. Only ten years later to 2012, Elle has established quite a successful life in Beijing, China, directing IBM China’s outsourced services for China’s Financial Services Sector, serving as the Vice President of Business Development, Asia Pacific for Red Hat, a leading open source software start-up, and co-founding her newest and current company, The China Greentech Initiative. However, in the beginning, the transition was anything

]

Emily Chen

but ordinary. “Everything was different,” Elle recalls. “My life began another whole chapter. Even at IBM, where it looks the same, there was a new business culture, thus a new company. I had no idea how different it would be behind the walls. I had taken a high dive off the deep end of the pool, and it took a while to get back to the surface.” Having been through a cultural immersion shock, Elle now advises anyone who wants to work internationally with three simple things: 1. Always be nice to people and at all levels. 2. “Submerge yourself in the change, and be openminded.” 3. Constantly check your assumptions. “You arrive in a place where people are challenging all of your assumptions. It takes a huge amount of patience and changing your views.” And Elle certainly stuck it out for the better. After her foreign expatriate assignments at IBM and Red Hat, Elle decided to continue living in China, and then faced the challenge of having to return to the very, very beginning – start-ups. Elle was passionate about finding solutions to China’s environment problems and found it especially relevant to the times, so her ideas for CGTI started flowing. “It was an urgent problem plus a great business opportunity. China developed industrially in thirty years, to the level it took other countries to achieve in one hundred years. But at the same time, that brought along one hundred years of problems. It was just like a polluted London in the late 1880’s or Chicago in the 1940’s. By the 1970’s, the US promulgated the clean air, clean water act, and the EPA. China is at the beginning of creating similar laws and enforcement agencies and mechanisms” So once again, it was great timing. Elle grabbed onto the opportunity to face a real, global issue, and in 2008, she launched CGTI in Beijing with her partner Randy Hancock. To seize the market opportunity and address the unique situation in China, they created a unique business model that is a commercial collaboration platform of 100+ organizations and 500+ experts united to accelerate China’s green growth – “doing good for the world, doing well for the participating companies.” Four and a half years later, Elle and her partner have grown CGTI to over twenty-five employees, is currently partnering with major Chinese companies, has signed on to participate in the Harvard China Fund Summer Internship program, and is being featured in an Harvard Business School case study taught by Professor Chris Marquis. The 21st century is revolutionizing what it means to be a woman in business. As Elle’s career continually expands, it’s quite evident that alternative focuses and entrepreneurship are playing larger roles on a global scale.

Magatte Wade An Interview with:

Magatte Wade is the founder of Tiossan beauty and body products. Through the Bottle of Ambition Project, Tiossan donates 50% of profits toward providing jobs and revolutionizing education through innovative schools in Senegal.

capital of Africa, with diverse genres of music constantly developing through the mixtures of other genres both African and non-African. In addition, if you talk to a black street seller in New York, Paris, or Milan, odds are he will be Senegalese. But unfortunately, our creativity and our entrepreneurial abilities are not developed by means of education at this point. The existing education system is a flawed version of the French colonial system that was in place 50 years ago. It is designed to develop French bureaucrats, not creators and entrepreneurs. In the meantime, the U.S. is a hotbed of educational innovation at small private schools based on Montessori principles, design thinking, intellectual dialogue that promotes independent thinking, and entrepreneurship. As it turns out, my husband has created some of the best schools in the U.S. based on these principles. The purpose of Tiossan profits is to finance great new schools in Senegal so that we can develop the next generation of Senegalese geniuses. We are committing 50% of our profits to financing these schools. Realistically, it will be almost everything that we don’t reinvest in the company. I can’t wait to see the first cohort of graduates.

]

HUWIB: You’ve had an incredibly varied career in transitioning from beverages to beauty products. Can you describe your journey to becoming a serial entrepreneur? MW: I was first inspired to become an entrepreneur by living and working in Silicon Valley. My first job was as a recruiter for finance and accounting professionals for start-ups in the valley, and as a consequence I saw Google, WebEx, and other companies in their first stages in the late 1990s and loved the excitement. I also helped my husband with his stationary products start-up. When I finally took him home to Senegal, I was outraged to discover that Bissap, the hospitality beverage of my childhood, had been replaced by Coke and Fanta. I realized then that because of a deep sense of cultural inferiority, the Senegalese people would only respect their own cultural heritage after it had made it in the West. My first company, Adina, focused initially on producing and marketing beverages based on indigenous Senegalese recipes. After receiving tens of millions of venture capital, the VCs began taking the brand in a different direction. I left to found Tiossan, which is focused on producing and marketing skin care products based on indigenous Senegalese recipes. This time I will not be taking venture capital.

WIB: What advice can you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs? How do we transform ideas into reality? How do we learn from failure and learn as much as we can from our entrepreneurial journey? MW: You must learn to combine a commitment to excellence with ruthless pragmatism. If your products or services are not really excellent, they won’t be competitive in the marketplace. On the other hand, if you don’t create an effective organization to produce, market, and manage, your company won’t succeed regardless of the quality of the products. Often people believe that a company is just about having an idea. Having an idea is the easy part. After you have an idea comes the endless process of refining your idea into a distinctive product or service and then creating an effective organization that can create revenues and profits. WIB: In the past, you have referenced “criticize by creating” as a motivating principle behind your entrepreneurial endeavors. Can you explain the motivation behind this mantra and how it has influenced your goals and achievements? MW: As an African, I am constantly bombarded by negative stereotypes of Africa: war, poverty,

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disease, etc. If I allowed it to get to me, I would be either depressed or angry all of the time. Instead I have committed myself to creating an alternative vision of Africa based on high-quality, cool brands that change people’s perceptions. When we began developing Tiossan, we found that all African products were either based on safari stereotypes, tribal stereotypes, or pity-branding— ”Buy this so that a poor child can eat.” None were based on communicating a compelling, innovative, contemporary vision of Africa. If you Google “contemporary Asian,” you will find a diverse range of art, architecture, cuisine, fashion, design, etc. If you Google “contemporary African,” you will find some art, but nothing like the interesting diversity of products and designs that are associated with “contemporary Asian.” Rather than spend my time criticizing the pervasive use of African stereotypes, I’m working to change them by creating new products that people love. WIB: What inspired the mission behind Tiossan, and what are your long term goals for bringing innovative schools to Senegal? MW: The Senegalese people are incredibly creative and entrepreneurial. Dakar is the music

WIB: Could you describe your personal brand, what you stand for, and provide some words of wisdom for readers who may still be searching for their brand? MW: I am an unusual combination of sassy and provocative on the one hand, with a deep commitment to honor and integrity on the other. My husband and I have spent thousands of hours talking through both my personal brand as well as the Tiossan brand and how to integrate the two. There are some issues, such as my views on Jeff Sachs’ Millennium Villages, which are very much a manifestation of my personal brand but which are not appropriate for Tiossan. On the other hand, in developing a fashion brand, one of my struggles is how to integrate my commitment to honor and integrity given the extent to which the fashion world tends to be shallow. I’m hoping that there is a new generation of young women out there who love beauty and fashion but who are also committed to meaning and purpose. I think the world is ripe for a fashion and beauty brand based on honor and integrity. That will allow me to be fully myself while also being an authentic brand ambassador for my company.

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Entrepreneurship

A Start-up. For Start-ups. by: Kerry Hammond

Gordon Jones, Director of the Harvard I-Lab, sat down with Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business to tell us more about the lab and innovation at Harvard, including how far weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve come as a university and where we are headed. 46

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

The I-Lab is a place for doing.

“We want to be self-selecting,” Jones says. “We want people searching for us.” The motto of the I-Lab, after all, is to help students take their ideas as far as they can go; proactivity is not only encouraged, it’s required.

How did the I-Lab begin?

President Faust has long advocated for collaboration across schools and disciplines, a “oneHarvard” model. The I-Lab has been a long time in the making and is the result of extensive research, dialogue, and debate. After being endorsed by five Harvard University School deans, the Lab’s implementation was accelerated. Jones joined the I-Lab in April 2011.

What the Harvard Innovation Lab stands for:

Breadth: A belief in accessing resources at Harvard beyond what one would have access to within his or her school alone (e.g. the College). Depth: Collaboration around disciplines, resulting in a “cross-pollination of ideas.”

What is the future of entrepreneurship at Harvard?

As the I-Lab matures and continues to grow and adapt to fit the dynamic needs of the Harvard community, the I-Lab will still continue to lower the barriers to entry in entrepreneurship, including risk, resources for implementation, and expertise for mentorship and advice. Today, there is a greater demonstrated interest in making a social impact through enterprise. It’s not just about us anymore— the I-Lab will continue to provide us with the tools to pursue these socially conscious goals into the future.

The Four Pillars

Classroom. Students can take courses taught by world-class faculty members in innovation and entrepreneuship. Five courses are offered each fall and spring term.

Field Based Experiences. The I-Lab hosted its first ever Startup Weekend this past fall, hosted its first Silicon Valley Immersion Trip over winter break, and is currently sponsoring the President’s Challenge, a call to action for students interested in entrepreneurship with a social impact.

Expertise Resources. Intended to be a “farmers’ market” for the tools necessary to be a successful entrepreneur, the expertise component of the I-Lab is a “trade school” supplement for skill-based learning. The I-Lab is home to over 22 experts-in-residence in fields ranging from venture capital to social enterprise. Legal support and other speaker events are also available.

Incubation and Mentorship. Workspace and mentorship are offered to teams in 90-day rotations. Current residents include ventures in social enterprise, education, technology, consumer internet, health care, and physical goods and services spaces.

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Entrepreneurship

G ass Raise A to the wine industry by: Cameron Niven

For those of you 21 and older, of course, jumping into the artisanal wine scene may seem intimidatingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;so many types and brands of wine, price levels, accessories, and serving methods! Women In Business recently spoke with EleanorLeger,theco-ownerofEdenIceCider,andMaureen Rubino, the co-owner of Central Bottle Wine and Provisions, to give you a feel for what it is like to work in the wine industry, how to break into the industry, and to offer suggestions for how to start a life-long relationship with artisanal wine.

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Eden Ice Cider Eleanor Leger started her career after graduating from Harvard at Bain & Company, working as a management consultant. She later worked in the financial services industry and then at an internet start-up that was ultimately sold to Intuit. Her husband, Albert, is co-owner of Eden Ice Cider. After enjoying wine and travel for years, Eleanor and Albert decided to pursue their long-time goal of buying a farm in Vermont, and began growing apples for ice cider, which they had first tasted in Canada. They discovered that no one in America was producing ice cider and entered the market a few years ago. Eleanor and Albert grow the apples and have a winery on property. They control all aspects of the production process of their ice cider. Eleanor says that her past experience in business helped her launch and maintain her ice cider business. Today, Eden Ice Cider is the largest ice cider producer in America. Eleanor says that, while “you won’t get rich doing what I do, this industry is about quality of life. We eat well, we drink well.” She goes on to say that she has developed her business and appreciates having control over every aspect of production, from growing the apples to pressing to packaging and brand management. She laughs, saying, “No venture capitalist is going to touch this. Our exit strategy is death.” Central Bottle Wine and Provisions Maureen Rubino began her career after graduating from Boston University as a professional fundraiser. After a few years, she decided she would like to try something new, so she quit her job and began working at a restaurant. Her parents thought she was crazy, leaving a salaried job to work in a restaurant for eight dollars an hour, but she enjoyed it and worked her way up to being the general manager of the restaurant. After a few years, she decided to take some time off to reassess. She helped some friends open a wine shop outside of Boston and began working in the shop every day. She took that time to learn everything she could about wine, tasting different wines each day and meeting with producers. The owners ultimately sold the shop, and Maureen opened

Central Bottle with the owners of the first shop she had worked at, along with the owner of the restaurant she managed. Central Bottle provides artisanal wines and cheeses, as well as freshly made sandwiches daily. They hold wine tastings on Fridays and promote local as well as international wines. Maureen says that they take great care to select great wines. Sometimes this means that Central Bottle does not have everything someone could be looking for, but she prides herself on being able to provide highly satisfying alternatives. The Importance of Relationships Both Eleanor and Maureen stress the importance of building and maintaining relationships in the wine industry. Eleanor says that this is one of the things that sets the wine industry apart from others. While building and maintaining professional relationships is important in other industries, it is crucial for success in the wine industry. The producer does not often work directly with the consumer, so they must rely on others to get customers’ attention and build brand loyalty. With so many different wine options, it is crucial to set your own brand apart, and having a good relationship with those who bring the wine to the consumer increases a producer’s chances of getting his or her wine into the hands of consumers. Breaking Into the Industry Eleanor suggests that you follow your passions. If you love wine, have realistic expectations about what it is like to work in the industry. Eden Ice Cider offers a summer internship for those interested in getting to know the wine industry. Eleanor also says that it is fine to start in other industries and take a winding path to get into the industry. Maureen says that knowing what you like is critical. There are many roles to play in the wine industry, from producer to distributor to salesperson to shop owner, so find your passion and know your skills and strengths. Maureen also recommends working in a restaurant or wine shop, as well as reading about the industry and gathering some background information through journals and tastings. As Maureen says, “Be open. Explore. Find out what you want to do and do it, because it’s your life.”

Did You Know?

Wine grapes are not like table grapes—it turns out that wine grapes are much

sweeter.

It takes eight pounds of apples to make one bottle of ice cider.

Foot treading of

grapes is still used in producing a small quantity of the best port wines.

Chilling tones down

the sweetness of wines, but if red wines become to warm, they may lose some of their fruitiness.

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Ingenuity and Fo d

Social Business: Entrepreneurship

Food for Thought: “Seaver’s vision is to emphasize fish more as an opportunity to restore our ecosystem rather than as a commodity.”

and a Top 50 Restaurant by the Washington Post. Though Seaver has now left Hook, he is still pursuing his passion for food as an author and speaker. Today, he strives to increase awareness of ocean issues and spread ideas that will help restaurants bring more sustainable food to the table. Seaver’s vision is to emphasize fish more as an opportunity to restore our ecosystem rather than as a commodity.

Back in January, a sustainability workshop caught my attention. The focus of the workshop was to inform both consumers and restaurateurs that given the state of our oceans, we must consider the toxicity, availability of species, and impact of fish on the health of the ecosystem. While I was initially more interested in the free tastings the workshop was offering, I ultimately gained some amazing new perspectives about sustainable seafood in the restaurant business thanks to Chef Barton Seaver.

n 2004 Barton Seaver began his career as a sous-chef at Washington D.C.’s popular Spanish tapas restaurant, Jaleo. He then moved on to Café Saint-Ex, where he transformed the bar into a restaurant centered on farm-to-fork dining, an indication of how important community and sustainability are to Seaver for his business. By 2007 Seaver had become owner-chef of Hook, a seafood restaurant in Georgetown that was named one of the Top 10 Eco-Friendly restaurants in America by Bon Appétit

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

From the standpoint of a restaurant owner, Seaver has said that smaller portion sizes are not only healthier for the consumer but are also more profitable for the business. When Seaver made this change at Hook, he realized that people started to order more vegetables in the form of appetizers and to engage more with the company they bring to the table. Thus, human interest and environmental consideration can both be taken into account when designing a menu for a restaurant. Another aspect of a sustainable restaurant that Seaver mentioned during the workshop was the diversification of species that is served in a menu. In a single year, Hook served 78 species, including mackerel, char, and sardines—with the goal of directing taste to more restorative options instead of toward species with dwindling populations. Seaver’s accomplishments demonstrate how a restaurant business can be very successful while actively benefitting the health of our environment.

Elissa Lin Sophomore HUWIB Associate

2011 Business for Good Competition Why we hate email spam and love Facebook: “[Ideamash is] solving [a] problem. We’re not just a frivolous start-up.”

interests, skills, and member-generated content that includes postings for positions to form seed ideas or startups. Logging into the site through Facebook, one can scroll through what seems like a public forum—startup descriptions, a collection of member-created music and artwork, and notes in the form of status updates are all presented in an aesthetic, cool aqua and gray theme. Yang says that Ideamash is the answer to a previously missing mechanism for students to find collaborators. Email spam isn’t effective, Yang insists. With structure and central space—two things Ideamash aims to provide for college users—collaboration can come more easily.

Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business’s Business For Good Competition facilitates the intersection between social causes and business, rewarding student entrepreneurs with free press and $1,000 in seed money to translate their winning idea into reality.

ntrepreneurship with a social conscious has become increasingly popular in the past few years. Many college students have observed first-hand the rise of start-ups. With little capital (a common feature of a typical student’s wallet) big ideas have nevertheless come to life, be it out of dorm rooms, dining halls, or 5:00 am hallway conversations. Just think: Tom’s Shoes, Kiva, Hydros, Sockket, Givoogle, and so many other start-ups have proven that good can bleed green. Add to that list Ideamash.com, last year’s Business For Good winner. We recently caught up with Ideamash creator Molly Yang, Harvard College ‘13, to discuss her startup, an online social tool that matches members based on

Upon taking a course in social entrepreneurship and hearing Cheryl Dorsey, President of social venture fund Echoing Green, Yang saw a foundation for her idea. Enlisting the help of her friends and classmates Robert Bowden, Arjun Mody, and Jason Black (the first two program while Black serves as graphic designer for the site), Yang pushed on. After applying for and winning the Business for Good Competition, along Harvard’s i3 innovation competition, the team now has enough capital for this semester and the next. To introduce her site to the public, Yang utilized the method originated by Facebook and started at Harvard before expanding to other elite colleges. She hopes to start a campus ambassador program next fall. In the future, Yang also plans to add metrics to her site to gauge member use, create an ad monetization plan to move from competition winnings to sustainable cash flow, and to refine the current features on her site. Yang and her team are on a roll. “We’re solving [a] problem. We’re not just a frivolous start-up.” While many start-ups have to do with “social media this, cute video that,” Ideamash is a breath of fresh air, providing a space for ideas to blossom as a virtual online mirror of a college campus’s purpose.

Ara Parikh Sophomore HUWIB Communications

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Entrepreneurs:

Social Business: Entrepreneurship

Right on Campus

Meet Heidi Lim:

Heidi Lim is co -founder of LitPick and a junior at Harvard College..

HUWIB: Could you give us a brief overview of your start-up? HL: LitPick’s mission is to help preteens and teens develop a lifelong love of reading by empowering young readers to share their opinions in a social community. We hope to change the way students interact with literature and become a leader in the growing intersection of education and technology. LitPick will be a sustainable social enterprise that brings together the major stakeholders in the young adult market— publishers, authors, educators, parents, and young readers—in a way that no organization has before. WIB: How has being Harvard students benefited you in running this start-up? HL: Being able to draw upon talent at the Harvard Business School, the Harvard School of Education, and the Innovation Lab has been incredibly valuable to us. Also, Harvard College’s i3 Startup Competition has made us think deeply about how we plan to transform LitPick from an idea to an executive summary to a fully functioning company.

WIB: What have you been doing for the last six months? HL: Our prelaunch page has been live since the middle of February. We started conversations with publishers to acquire new and backlist titles for review. We have been talking with educators about how we can best design the site for their use. We have partnered with edUpgrade and Zappos’s education initiative to enroll several hundred students in our beta. Our beta is reaching completion and will be launched in the next few weeks. WIB: What are your plans for the next six months? HL: [We want] to grow our reviewer base by working with schools, libraries, and individual students; increase the number of books available to review by forming partnerships with publishers; and iterate the site based on feedback from the beta.

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Meet Annemarie Ryu: Annie Ryu is founder of Global Village Fruits and a senior at Harvard College. HUWIB: Could you give us a brief overview of your start-up? AR: Global Village Fruits is bringing the world’s best fruits to the palm of your hand ethically and sustainably, starting with India’s jackfruit. Our products are dried jackfruit, a delicious snack with over four times the potassium per ounce of coconut water, and jackfruit seed flour, a super-nutritious, gluten-free wheat flour alternative with a wheat-like taste. Global Village Fruits uses profits to fund additional farmers groups for improved processing infrastructure.

WIB: How have you leveraged being in college and any campus resources to help you out? AR: I enjoyed participating in Harvard’s Elevator Pitch Competition and i3 Competition for the second year in a row. I’ve really appreciated the support from friends and faculty and especially from the Harvard Innovation Lab. I’m part of a Women’s Entrepreneurship Forum that meets every two weeks at the Innovation Lab—it’s really great to work with women who are similarly pursuing the things they’re passionate about in business. WIB: What have you been doing for the last six months? AR: I established strong relationships with farmers groups in India, conducted market research, incorporated Global Village Fruits with a lawyer, set up a bank account, met with an accountant, brought a designer on the team, worked with my designer, Devon Ray Williams, to create packaging and a website, met with over a dozen business advisers, established a supply chain from India to Boston, did cost calculations (multiple times for shipments of different sizes, components, and frequencies), launched and publicized a now successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, and met with store owners interested in stocking dried jackfruit. WIB: What are your plans for the next six months? AR: My main goal is to get dried jackfruit into several retail stores and selling fast in the Cambridge/Boston area. I want people to love this product as much as I do, and sales will enable me to support the farmers in India.

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Academia

Dr. Altringer Connecting the Dots

Taking idea to product, finding a passion, and looking ahead to 21st century innovation

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Dr. Beth Altringer lectures in Innovation and Behavior at Harvard University, and in this current school year, she is teaching courses in the Engineering Sciences department. She is also a research fellow at MIT’s International Design Center. Before academia, Dr. Altringer has been able to weave her same passions of culture, creativity, and social behavior through her diverse range of careers from wedding planning to urban development. HUWIB: You lecture in the Engineering Sciences, an area that is generally more male-dominated. Do you worry that not enough young women are pursuing areas like math, science, and engineering? Do you think that the perception that math and science are “guy” subjects is going to change any time soon? BA: I really hope that people pursue what is important to them. I don’t know that we should genderize this issue—I don’t think about it like that. Interestingly the ratio of people going into math and science are not so different, so I’m not worried about that. However, more women are leaving engineering. That’s a difference, and I am pretty familiar with why women leave engineering. There’s a relevant by Professor Susan Silby, published in the American Sociological Review. Silby and her colleagues looked at common reasons why people think women don’t go into these fields and why they leave these fields and found that it does not come down to a difference in intellectual curiosity or ability to persist, nor somehow to reconciling family aspirations. What they found is that a lot of women are interested and similarly confident going in, and something happens midway through, when it gets to be project-oriented. Susan and her colleagues analyzed professional role confidence, behavioral and intentional, asking questions over several years like: “Do you feel like you’re advancing to the next level of engineering, and do you feel successful in your career?” “Does this career fit you? Do you feel like you have a satisfying career as an engineer?” “How likely will it be that you’re engineering in five years?” Professional role confidence and persistence are some of the reasons we see women leaving engineering, and these are tied to the social psychology of group work. In groups, women often feel like their opinions are not as valued. Other recent research has found that groups with high social sensitivity performed better. As a society, we are interested in performance

—how it relates to economic development, entrepreneurship, growth. So for the conversation about women in engineering to enter meaningfully into debate, it also needs to talk about performance. It’s very intriguing; it’s not about making a gendered argument, but about making an argument about performance instead, and how to leverage unique skills toward improved individual and group performance. Gender is an important factor that feeds into that. WIB: Do you think that women who go into engineering or more science-heavy, male-dominated areas have to work harder to earn the respect of their male peers? BA: You have to be more resilient. But I don’t think it’s about disadvantages at all. We don’t understand as well what the advantage for a woman to enter a male-dominated area is. I like to think about it quite optimistically. For women to earn respect and be listened to, it is important to always be informed and to understand your own arguments and ideas. People — men and women — tend to think of idea development as a very fluffy thing (brainstorming as if any idea is a good idea), but it’s also very much about negotiation, and, to some degree, conflict, something we don’t prepare for enough. In terms of how that relates to gender, women need to think about it more than men, to go in and know your ideas well and be open and listen to other ideas, prepared to negotiate ideas, and to have confidence in your own ideas. That’s a piece that I think is most important, and which for many women often comes less naturally. WIB: Did you always know you wanted to go into academia? When and how did you make that decision? BA: No, I didn’t know that. I always wanted to be an architect. I ended up studying architecture in undergrad, but it was a very rigid major. I didn’t have electives, and soon I felt that if I were going to be able to add to the field of architec-

ture, I needed to learn other subjects —bring something novel to architecture. So I double majored in psychology and economics, and became very interested in sustainable development In the process, that took me all the way to South Africa for the World Cup. I researched the history of the World Cup, the history of the Olympic Games, and the intended versus actual benefits realized by local hosts. Another project [in South Africa] focused on urban design related to transitioning entire communities from shack housing to structural housing. I found those projects very important. They deeply affect people’s lives, and the design solutions have to be holistic. We were building dignity, and to see this community that is struggling on so many dimensions and working in that environment can leave you feeling frustrated. What you see is that it is not that the good ideas aren’t there—they are — but you start to see that the good ideas are often not the ones that happen, and this occurs for a lot of complicated reasons that have little to do with talent, passion, or good ideas. I began to combine social psychology, architecture, and sustainable design. And through this, I began to see similar patterns. You have a lot of talented people in South Africa and throughout the world, but many of their great ideas aren’t the ones that are rising to the top. And a lot of the reasons why that’s happening is related to social psychology, and, to some degree, a lack of a realistic view of how complex these particular problems are. That led to questions like, “Do I want to be a practicing architect, or do I want to pursue what makes groups innovate better together where I think I can develop expertise?” And how do the best teams and organizations in the world do this? And I thought I’d be much more helpful in this way than in just designing buildings. So for me, that was the moment where academia was the clear path.

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Academia WIB: What would you say are the best things about working in academia? What would you say are some of the challenges or drawbacks of working in academia? BA: You really get to pursue what interests you and what your ideas can offer, and you get to do so in a way that is very flexible compared to a lot of other professions. If you think a project is going to take longer to get the best possible result, you’re trusted to make that call, which gives you more autonomy than a lot of other fields. You are actually quite entrepreneurial as an academic. It is about building ideas that are novel and engaging, and to me that’s really fulfilling. That’s the kind of thing that I enjoy doing. It’s also very stimulating because of the other people you work with. Everyone is working on something interesting, and everyone you’re working with is very smart.

the perfect thing right now; you learn a lot by finding several imperfect things. You definitely have to have a plan, and you will feel that pressure, but it is important to understand that you’re very young, and it is a long road, and you have some time to explore. And that exploration, if you haven’t found your passion already, is probably how you’re going to find it. In the pursuit of exploration, err on the side of taking opportunities that you’ll learn something from and that will stretch you in some way.

WIB: A lot of your research has to do with how creativity differs between countries? How exactly does creativity differ among countries, and how does it differ among genders? BA: An interesting thing I found was that within the same company, across offices, and even across city offices within the same countries, Some of the challenges [of academia] include various tensions, because there are often performance differences along the dimensions of creativyou are in some ways relatively autonomous, but you’re also part of an ity or innovative-ness in what is being produced. What I think it means institution that requires a commitment to what you’re both trying to creis not about differential ability to be creative; it’s more about differential ate. So when you’re looking for an organization social expectations and preferences. Whether the or institution, it’s important that those match creative process occurs in a way that fits expectaup. The structure through which someone adtions or violates expectations—that better explains , err on the side of taking vances in academia is also quite stringent. You those differences, and I think we still have a ways have a lot of freedom, and yet also have a tradito go in understanding that in further depth. As opportunities that you’ll learn tional way of advancement. There are also nonfar as gender goes, I don’t think there’s a differsomething from and that will traditional ways of advancement, but they’re ence in ability level. The important thing is figless common. Just navigating all of that — that uring out how to empower people to develop stretch you in some way. is as much of a challenge as it is an opportunity. ideas and be able to develop ideas with others when that’s appropriate. It’s a question of “what WIB: You have studied and worked in a number of different fields, from are the barriers,” and I do believe that people in general are inhereconomics to architecture to engineering to entrepreneurship. How have ently more creative than they’re often given the opportunity to be. you been able to pursue so many different interests throughout your career? WIB: How do we turn that first original idea into a reality? BA: There was a point at which I sat down and thought about the common BA: It’s about really deeply understanding your idea and fleshing it out. threads across my diverse interests. I’ve always been very committed to Often what we think of as an idea is not developed enough. Take advantage finding something I’m passionate about. And I tried a lot of things in the of the many opportunities that now exist to get feedback about your idea process of trying to figure this out. I had an approach of “Well, if I don’t and develop. Idea development is super exciting, but it’s a long road. I like this, at least I’ll learn something about what I don’t want to do, and I think it’s important for people to understand that they need to leverage might learn what I do want to do. And then several years into that, at that other resources and get a lot of feedback and do a lot of homework to unexact point when I was thinking about whether I should move forward as derstand what their idea really is, who’s going to use it, and its market a practicing architect, I spent some time looking back at all those decisions, potential. If your aspiration is to make money with it, really understandwhich didn’t always seem to fit together, and thought a lot about, “Why ing how that business model is going to work, and if your aspiration is did I really decide to do this?” and began searching for patterns. And what doing something socially entrepreneurial, really understanding how it’s I found across all my projects was a pattern of being inherently observant going to be sustainable. This world of entrepreneurship often functions and curious about creativity and social behavior. for so long on the “pitch,” and trying to get people I’ve lived in many countries, and I think I chose involved through your “pitch.” It’s so short, and [Your passions] may initially to because I really enjoy looking at things from it’s easy to think that you don’t have to put a lot seem very different, but I think multiple perspectives and diving deep enough to of work into that, but I think the opposite is true. even begin to understand the complexity of a difIt’s like that saying, “If I had more time, I’d had the challenge is to find what’s ferent perspective. And so for me the dominant written a shorter letter.” And I think that’s relsimilar about your interests. themes of my interests are exploring cultural perevant for the pitch. A lot of thought can go into spectives, working with creativity and innovative something very successful, and if your pitch is sucproblem solving, and understanding the role of cessful, people will want to know more about it. social behavior in creative problem solving. Those themes capture most of the decisions I’ve made and are useful in that they WIB: What makes an idea successful? What differentiates a good pitch help me create a strategy for what I want to do. These are areas I’ve found and a bad pitch when presenting your idea or project to someone? intrinsically interesting over time, and as long as I’m building something BA: I think that you need to make it very clear that there is a need within those themes, I’m going to be curious, engaged, and likely successfor your idea and that you have done some homework to underful. So in my PhD and beyond, all of my work explored and connected stand what that need is, and demonstrate that your solution addressthose themes. They may initially seem very different, but I think the chales that need. You need to illustrate that it is a big enough need —one lenge is to find what’s similar about your interests. That’s what’s powerful. that matters to many people — and to convincingly show potential funders and hires that you are capable of delivering a real solution. WIB: What advice would you give college students who are trying to discover and decide what they are truly passionate about? WIB: What do you think will be the next big thing of the 21st century? BA: You have to take that pressure seriously, but you also have to go easy on BA: I’m not sure what the next big thing is, but I do think that a huge yourself. I’ve kept a journal for over ten years of trying to figure that out, area for innovation is in the area of aging populations. In many countries and it has been really striking when I’ve had to go back and look something worldwide, we are facing massive changes because more people are livup. I can see how at every point I felt like I had to have everything figured ing longer, and the proportion of old people to young people is shifting. out by that weekend. It felt that way in high school and again when decidExpectations for a much higher quality of life in those later years is someing what college to go to, then throughout college in choosing a major, and thing that we have never seen before. How we are going to be able to dethen later on when feeling insecure about deciding on the right major, what liver that and adapt as a society to that is really interesting to me. When we summer internship to take, then what job to take. You sort of feel like the think about innovation, most of the examples are of young people creatweight of your entire career is on every decision you make. My first piece ing things for young people. I think there are going to be massive changes of advice would be to allow yourself to explore. Don’t expect to be finding in terms of older demographics and how we’re addressing that change.

]

In the pursuit of exploration

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That’s

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

what’s

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powerful.

Social Business: Entertainment

Women to Watch

photo credit: Universal Studios, AllMoviePhoto.com

our favorite leading ladies

Damsels in distress, love interests, sex symbols—the roles available for women in Hollywood are often far too limited and tend to fall into the category of a supporting part opposite a male lead. In the age of action heroes and comic book movies— when films like The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises reign supreme and continue to break box office records—complex and interesting female leads seem to be having trouble finding an audience. Meryl Streep’s The Iron Lady, for example, painted a portrait for British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, won the celebrated actress her third Oscar, but made just over $30 million at the domestic box office.

The male-centric nature of films and television, however, is nothing new. Nine of the last twelve films to win an Academy Award for Best Picture featured either a predominantly male cast or a male lead accompanied by a supporting actress. Similarly, the top ten highest grossing films of all-time feature a mostly male cast or a male in the central, lead role. Numbers and awards shows aren’t the only place where we see a disparity between the success rate of male-driven and female-driven movies. The cultural reality is that male roles in Hollywood are more varied and more abundant than the roles available for women. On the superhero front, while there have been multiple iterations of characters like Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman, among dozens of other male characters, there has never been a single big-screen adaptation of Wonder Woman. And even when women do find success in Hollywood, they are all too often admired more for their beauty than for their work. Certainly Marilyn Monroe has become a cultural icon whose

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

photographs and sultry smile are known to people across the world, yet her movie roles and the acting career that launched her into the spotlight remain far less fascinating than her beauty. But while middle-aged Hollywood women struggle to find good roles after they have outgrown playing the supporting love interest, it is important to remember that Hollywood simply would not be the same without its female stars and some of the iconic films and characters they have brought to light. After all, Breakfast at Timothy’s and Freddie’s Choice just don’t quite have the same ring to them, do they? And although the number of great female roles and female-centric movies may not be as high as common as those currently available to men, recent years have seen great strides and successes for women both on the small and the silver screen. In 2011, the film Bridesmaids became a surprise hit that earned over $150 million at the box office and earned Oscar nominations for both writing and acting. Dubbed the female-version of The Hangover, many critics and viewers argued that Bridesmaids reclaimed comedy for women and proved the female characters

can be just as funny as male characters. That same year, The Help, another female-driven film, earned big at both the box office and awards shows. This year, although The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises featured predominantly male casts, each film was also supported by a strong female character (Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman, respectively) who held her own against her male counterparts. President Barack Obama even stated his opinion that Hathaway’s character was “spectacular” and “the best thing in” The Dark Knight Rises. In the world of animated films, 2012 marked the year that Brave became the first Pixar film to feature a female lead. And on the small screen, the past year has seen the premier and rising popularity of television shows like New Girl (featuring Zooey Deschanel as the lead character) and HBO’s Girls (a show whose cast is predominantly female), both of which have earned Emmy nominations for their first seasons. So although we still have a long way to go and although we’re still waiting on that Wonder Woman movie, things for women in entertainment certainly seem to be looking up.

photo credit: Walt Disney Pictures, AllMoviePhoto.com

Claire McLaughlin Sophomore HUWIB Communications Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Entertainment

photo credit: Brigitte Lacombe

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

A playwright, author, performer, and activist, Eve Ensler is perhaps best known for her celebrated play, The Vagina Monologues. In 1998, Ms. Ensler founded V-Day, a non-profit movement that aims to end violence against women; since its founding, V-Day has raised more than $80 million. Today, Ms. Ensler, who won a Tony Award in 2011, continues to write and work toward a less violent world for women and girls around the world. HUWIB: You have been spreading the message of women violence and a need for global women empowerment through the art of theater, documentaries, and other forms of media. Why did you first turn to media as a channel to express these ideas? What makes it unique or more effective over traditional methods of campaigning, or supporting a movement and charity? EE: I think theater has an immense and particular kind of power. It can provoke discomfort and challenge our thinking and inspire us to act. It can bust taboos and speak the unspoken and reach us on levels below and beyond ideology and positions. It can shake us out of our denial and slumber and make an experience, a collaboration and dialogue between audience and actors. It can create community. And it can be disruptive. I am big on disruption. Interrupting business as usual, pushing people up to that edge where they are uncomfortable enough to ask questions. I don’t mean hurting people or violating people, I mean disrupting people, engaging people, inviting change. WIB: Before The Vagina Monologues, were you initially passionate about theater, or first felt strongly about women violence? In other words, which came first, and how did you finally make that connection? EE: I have been a playwright for almost 35 years. And I have been a survivor of sexual and physical violence even longer. For many years I was conflicted as to how to live as an activist and an artist, both equally strong in my being and body. The Vagina Monologues bridged these worlds. I found a way to tell stories dramatically that were addressing political and personal issues in women’s lives. It was only after I started performing the show all over the world that I came to see how violence against women was a global epidemic. Everywhere I went, women lined up after the show to tell me their stories about rape and

battery and incest. Over time it became clear to me that the play could serve to create dialogue around these issues and it is from this that V-Day movement (to end violence against women) was born. The desire to help create a world where women could thrive and not only survive began to consume me. I believe ending violence against women is the central issue of our time. WIB: The issues you write about and support are controversial and powerful. Were there any initial setbacks or worries you had when introducing your works to the public? If so, how did you overcome them? EE: When I was first work-shopping The Vagina Monologues early in the process, people told me that I should change the title, that I couldn’t release a play with the word “vagina” in the title and expect anyone to see it. But the play was about women’s experiences and their vaginas. It wasn’t about tricking people into the theater and then shocking them with the material. Coming to see a show called The Vagina Monologues was an artistic and political choice. It was part of the process. I think there was something about not hiding what I was doing, not being afraid or ashamed that was part of the plays success. Because I wasn’t hiding what I was doing, it encouraged other women to come out, to break the silence, to laugh, to cry, to moan, to tell their own stories. WIB: The V-Day movement has been very successful for 14 years, and relies on the concept of encouraging local communities and especially college campuses to take part. It has since been named a top charity by several sources. How did you come up with this concept, and why do you see the college community, in particular, as a good avenue to spread your ideas? EE: I wouldn’t say that V-Day is an “avenue to spread [my] ideas,” rather V-Day gives women and men tools to create change within their com-

munities. When I decided to give the play away free each year for V-Season (Feb – April), it was a desire to support the work of activists on the ground who had been working tirelessly for years to end violence against women and girls, to build shelters and hotlines and create legislation. The idea was that local activists would use the play to serve their own efforts, be it creating dialogue, or raising money or even having a bonding community experience of putting on the play. I so trust that women on the ground know exactly what they need to do to change reality and they have been doing it forever. They do not need instructions. What they need is resources and energy. I think the play has given them both. Those productions have raised over 90 millions dollars for local groups around the world. And I know thousands have had the experience of performing, producing, and directing the play. When I started, I used to run into women in airports who would stop me to say they had seen the play. Now women stop me to tell me they have been in the play. I have been so moved and impressed by the college students who do V-Day year after year, passing the productions on to the next generation, raising consciousness on their campuses and money for local groups. Many of these V-Day activists have gone on to become political leaders, women’s studies professors, social workers. Others cite their V-Day experience in college as the moment they became activists and realized they could determine their own destinies. Someone recently did a tour of college campuses and they told me that every college had a Starbucks and a V-Day. College students are often willing to take risks and break rules and stir-up trouble. They are natural disruptors. I love their energy and determination. WIB: You have focused on women from the Congo. Do you have personal experiences tied to this locations, or why do you choose these

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Entertainment

photo credit: Paula Allen for V-Day particular women? EE: We cannot look at ending violence against women without looking at what is being done to women in Congo. For me, going to Congo in 2007 was the turning point of my life. I have seen enormous violence in the last 14 years; I’ve traveled to the rape mines of the world during that time, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Haiti. One cannot compare violence, but what I heard and saw in the DRC shattered and further radicalized me. In the DRC today exists some of the most ghastly, terrifying sexual torture being committed against women and girls on this planet. It is essentially femicide, the systematic attempt at the complete destruction of the female species in eastern Congo. Rape of infants, rape of grandmothers. Sexual torture and forced cannibalism. For too long, the DRC has been pillaged. Eight million have died in the last 13 years. Over half a million women have been raped and tortured. The bodies of women and girls have become the battleground on which an economic war is being fought. Militias rape villages to level them and gain access to mines. The coltan and other conflict minerals are illegally mined out of the Congo and fuel our laptops, cell phones and playstations. We all have blood on our hands. I have traveled to Congo extensively since my first trip 2007 and in that time V-Day has worked with and supported an unbelievable group of women and men on the ground that have created real change through local campaigns. Two years ago we opened City of Joy in Bukavu, a revolutionary center to heal, educate and train women survivors so they can become the next leaders of the DRC. Our motto is Turning Pain to Power. I actually speak to you from there now. This current class will graduate in a few weeks and I am utterly blown away to see the transformation over six months. Girls who arrived depressed, mute, angry, full of nightmares, illiterate, poor, and skinny are now full bodied, healthy literate, energized, hopeful beings transformed by months of trauma therapy, trained in literacy, English, computer skills, soap making, cooking courses, self defense, rights and communication courses, and sexual education. They are feisty and no longer victims, but ready to return to their communities as leaders who will teach and help the others rise up. The war however continues and the atrocities and rapes continue. Until the United States is ready to stop supporting Rwanda and put pressure on them to end this war they are fighting in Congo, the atrocities will continue. WIB: At the same time, these issues are happening right on campus too. College is often an overlooked place for women violence (especially in the form of sexual abuse and rape). What would you advise young undergraduate women who are dealing with these situations on campus? Furthermore, as we enter the corporate world, how do we deal with this in our work environment? EE: The terrible reality is that violence against women is everywhere, including college campuses and the workplace. One in four female

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

students will be raped during her academic experience. It’s no coincidence that college students were the first to respond to The Vagina Monologues and stage V-Day benefits on campus, galvanizing other students. Over 900 colleges a year around the world do performances. We see the same in the corporate and work world. Women bring the play and V-Day to where they are and invite their coworkers to participate, to create dialogue, shatter taboos and change their daily experience. Violence against women is the mechanism that sustains patriarchy. Until we have ended it women will always be vulnerable and unable to realize their full potential and lives. What I would say to undergraduate women is exactly what I would say to any woman, that the most important thing you can do is break the silence. Tell your story. Know that rape is never your fault. Do not carry the shame but give it back to your perpetrator by holding them accountable. WIB: Your project through V-Men is very interesting, and it’s something that our organization is struggling to address: the guy’s perspective. What do you think has been the most surprising discovery from this opposite-sided dialogue? EE: V-Men started in 2010 and male activists lead, contribute, and inspire the campaign. If we are going to end violence against women and girls, men MUST be involved. It turns out we are not raping ourselves. We’ve seen an increase of men involved with V-Day in general over the years, from staff members at City of Joy in Congo, to V-Men column contributors, V-Men workshop leaders and V-Day event teams – men can produce, direct, and work with the production in a myriad of ways. And yet, it has still not become a central passion or concern for the majority of men. I always joke that when we see men as interested in ending violence against women as they are in sports, the world will surely change. The whole world essentially has been brought up not to be a girl. To be a boy really means not to be a girl. To be a man means not to be a girl. To be a woman means not to be a girl. To be strong means not to be a girl, to be leader means not to be a girl. I think being a girl is so powerful that we’ve had to train everyone not to be that and as a result we have been extremely harsh on men in the destruction of their “girl cell.“ I see how boys across the planet have been brought up to be tough, to be hardened, to distance themselves from their tenderness, to not cry. I realized a while ago that when we don’t allow men to have their compassion and their hearts that they become hardened and hurtful and violent. I think we’ve taught men to act secure when they feel insecure, to pretend that they know things when they don’t know things. This has robbed men of their authenticity and their hearts. Bullets I think are hardened tears. WIB: You have traveled all over the world. How does women violence differ between countries, and consequently, how do the different locations respond to your movement?

ONE BILLION RISING

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on and break through, and then there is incredible change and success. I have seen the same reactions in Indiana as I have in Islamabad. WIB: You have a few new projects coming up this year, the 1 billion rise movement and new book. Could you briefly introduce us to these new endeavors? EE: I have a new play about to open in New York off-Broadway called Emotional Creature, based on the book that came out in 2009. We have work shopped it in South Africa, Paris and Berkeley and I am thrilled it will now come to New York in November. I have a new book, In The Body of the World, which will be released by Holt Publishing in April 2013. The book is a memoir about my cancer and Congo, about separation and reconnection –to the body, the self, the world. EE: Local women and men invite V-Day, and bring V-Day into their own communities to try and change their particular culture of violence be it rape in the military or honor killings, or acid burnings, or sex trafficking, or female genital mutilation. Unfortunately violence against women knows no borders. It’s not confined to certain cultures and it doesn’t adhere to social norms or regulations. Violence against women is an epidemic and has found a way to control and destroy women and girls everywhere in the world. Our work is to create a worldwide movement so that each country and culture stops living behind a wall of shame, believing it is endemic to them. It is patriarchy, world system of domination that uses violence as its tool. Rape, cutting, stoning, beating, burning, enforced covering, trafficking and murder these all have the same outcomes. They keep women terrorized, in line, obedient. They destroy women’s bodies and sexuality. They make it impossible for women to thrive and achieve and become whole beings. The Vagina Monologues and V-Day are now in over 140 countries. In some ways the response has been very similar everywhere the play has gone. At first there is a huge reaction, outcry, resistance (and this has been equally true in the U.S. and Paris and China), then women activists and actors carry

Then of course there is V-Day’s most ambitious and exciting action yet, ONE BILLION RISING. As we enter our 15th year, our dream was to be long gone. We wanted to end violence against women and go out of business years ago. So we are escalating our efforts, calling the one billion women on the planet who have been raped and beaten (the current UN statistic is that one out of 3 women is raped or beaten in her lifetime, that’s equal to one billion women) and suffered every form of violence, to walk out of their jobs and homes and schools and find their place and their group and dance. The action is called for February 14, 2013 and the response has been phenomenal. Already 151 countries have signed up - trade unions, international groups, national groups, local activists, members of parliament, world thinkers, artists, world leaders from Robert Redford to Fatou Bensouda, women dancing in groups in South African villages and the streets of Manila, hula dancers in Hawaii, stilt dancers in Santa Fe, Indian women in the Himalayas, Native Women dancing footloose in Oklahoma, town halls, stadiums, beaches, neighborhood block parties. This action will shake the world and we hope every person who reads this will spread the message and join us. ONE BILLION RISING.

photo credit: Paula Allen for V-Day

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Entertainment

Top 5

Favorite Women in the Spotlight Favorite Literary Ladies Favorite Fictional Heroes

women in the spotlight 1

Meryl Streep: We love her because she’s fabulous and because she’s a supporter of the movement to build a National Women’s History Museum.

Beyoncé: She sings, she dances, and she’s a powerful woman. “I’m not a sex symbol,” she said in an interview with La Boîte à Questions. “I never want to be a sex symbol. I want to be a legend.”

3 4

Kristen Wiig: Co-writer and star of the hit movie Bridesmaids, Wiig is helping prove that women can be just as funny as men on the big screen.

Meryl Streep

Tyra Banks: Model, television host, author, and businesswoman, Tyra Banks is a multi-hyphenate who isn’t done adding to her resume yet: she completed Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Owner/President Management Program in 2012. Mindy Kaling: Since graduating from Dartmouth in 2001, Mindy has worked as a television writer, actress, producer, and author. Her new show, The Mindy Project, airs this fall.

Tyra Banks

Mindy Kaling

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

literary ladies 1 2 Alice Walker

3 4

George Eliot

Jane Eyre

Jane Austen: While society expected her to get married, Jane Austen wrote books instead and became one of the most beloved authors of all time. JK Rowling: After living as a single mother on welfare, JK Rowling penned the Harry Potter series and became the first writer to earn $1 billion. Alice Walker: Author of The Color Purple, Alice Walker became the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1983. George Eliot: Mary Anne Evans didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let the social constructs of the 19th century hinder her literary aspirations. She adopted the pen name George Eliot in order to be taken more seriously as an author and was able to write classics like Middlemarch that are still popular today. Dorothy Parker: A prominent female voice of the Jazz Age, Dorothy Parker was never afraid to speak her mind. Decades later, her poems and social commentary continue to make people laugh.

Katniss Everdeen

1 Jane Eyre: A celebrated literary figure, Jane Eyre defied societal expectations and denied marriage proposals in order to assert her independence.

2 Katniss Everdeen: A heroine for the 21st century, Katniss can shoot an arrow, survive the Hunger Games, and spark a revolution, all without having to be rescued by a man.

Hit-Girl

Hermione Granger

Bridget Jones: Even if Bridgetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s triumphs are relatively small, she provides a witty and honest voice for the everyday woman in all of us.

Hit-Girl: In KickAss, 11-year-old HitGirl outsmarts all the bad guys (and most of the other superheroes) in order to save the day and steal the show.

Hermione Granger: Although Harry Potter may be the chosen one, Hermione reminds us that even the bravest wizards need a book smart friend to defeat Lord Voldemort.

fictional heroes Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Women in the World

International Influence

There are several million women in the world today who are deprived of basic nutrition and equality. In India, the daily news is filled with stories of women beaten and killed for dowry, for marrying outside their castes, for giving birth to more women, and for generally being women themselves. In such a world, discussion about how women are “breaking the glass barriers” in high-profile jobs seems inappropriate, even hypocritical. With every woman breaking the proverbial barrier, there are thousands who don’t see the light of the day. Yet, we keep talking about successful women, women who have reached heights and gained reputations that are unimaginable, some might even say blasphemous, in the slums of the developing world. So, why do we do it? Why do we talk about a handful of successful woman, just like I am about to do now, and claim that their success means more than just individual honor? Short answer? We talk about them because they give us hope. If one woman can reach the top, there is hope that at least somewhere in the world, at least something is going right. It is these women who the girls in the slums read about and remark, oh, what a life they lead. We talk of them in the hope that one day, a woman in the crawls of Mumbai will look at these beacons and say, I will not kill my daughter. She too will be great. Like hundreds of women in history who have inspired and led the world, these women too will go down in the records as women who could and as we women who did break down all barriers that stood in their way. Namrata Narain Sophomore HUWIB Communications

Dilma Rousseff The first woman on our list of political female heavyweights is the 36th and current president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff. She too has many firsts to her credit, being the first woman and the first economist to hold such an important office. When her predecessor, Lula, appointed her as the Chief of Staff, she became the first woman to hold that office too. Her presidential campaign was, of course, successful, despite

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

being her first run to hold any elected office. Being a direct successor of the Lula government, she has continued to sustain her predecessor’s market friendly policies and social welfare program. As she runs one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Rousseff is expected to fulfill major expectations. Labeled as the Joan of Arc of the Anti-Government movement, the world is waiting to see how she matches up.

Ngozi Okonjo -Iweala Next on this list is the Minister of Finance for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and also a Harvard alumnus. She was 15 when she strapped her sick three-year-old sister to her back and walked 10 kilometers barefoot to the nearest clinic. Both the sisters survived. Now, Ngozi is shaping one of the most powerful economies of Africa. This “woman of steel” went on to become the first woman to hold the position of Finance Minister and Foreign Minister of Nigeria for the years 2003-2006. Ngozi is famous for her crusade against corruption, steadily improving her country which only a few years ago was rated as the most corrupt country in the world. To correct this, she introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation from the federal government in the newspapers. She

didn’t gain a lot of local popularity for her stellar actions, though. In 2005, in an interview, she said, “When I became finance minister, they called me Okonjo-wahala, or the trouble woman. But I don’t care what names they call me, I am a fighter; I am very focused on what I’m doing, and relentless in what I want to achieve, almost to a fault. If you get in my way, you get kicked.”

Angela Merkel

Her supporters, though, appreciate the revolution she has been bringing in Nigeria, a country whose economy is slowly taking over that of South Africa. The Director of the Royal African Society, Richard Dowden, acknowledges her strength, commends her “no bullshit approach”.

The third woman on our list is also on the list many others. As Chancellor of Germany, she is charged by British, American, and G-20 demands to rescue the whole of Europe from the Eurozone debt crisis. Angela Merkel is a central figure in the drama that was started by Greece’s debt, and her longterm aims include reinstating confidence in the Euro and reshaping the European financial structure. She wants the European Central Bank to function like a national central bank, like a lender of the last resort.

Now, she is poised to become the first woman president of the World Bank who also comes from a developing country.

Needless to say, this “Iron Lady,” who has been likened to the legendary Margaret Thatcher on more than one

occasion, has done much to prove true to her namesake. Like Ngozi, she too has a lot of firsts to her name. She is the first woman to become Chancellor of Germany, while also being the first Eastern European to hold that post. During the days of the Berlin Wall, she was a part of the Free German Youth, and was called on to become the minister of Women and Youth when the two German halves came together. Now, as the leader of EU’s largest and most successful economy, more than two-thirds of Germans approve of Merkel’s role in the debt crisis, up from a fantastic 45% in October 2011.

Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

Social Business: Women in the World

HUWIBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GREAT

EIGHT

Make It Happen | Fall 2012

Condoleezza Rice

Ursula Burns

Sheryl Sandberg

Shobhaa De

Vera Wang

Lani Hay

Condoleezza Rice gained great prominence serving as National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State under President George W. Bush’s administration. But the accomplished harpist was creating waves long before she reached the White House, having served as the first female and first African-American Stanford provost for six years in the 1990s.

Sheryl Sandberg’s C.V. is something any aspiring businesswoman would envy. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, Sandberg has served as Vice President of Global Online Sales Operations at Google and was Chief of Staff to Larry Summers during his time at the United States Secretary of Treasury under President Clinton. Today Sandberg is the Chief Operation Officer of Facebook. She also has a position on the board of the Walt Disney Company and is a member of the Board of Director of Starbucks.

Vera Wang is a fashion designer whose pieces can be found on Hollywood red carpets, figure skaters like Nancy Kerrigan and Evan Lysacek, and blushing brides around the world. Prior to becoming the famed designer she is today, Wang was a competitive figure skater and appeared in the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She also spent 17 years as a senior fashion editor at Vogue before leaving the magazine in 1987.

Meg Crofton

Meg Crofton is the current President of Walt Disney Parks and Resort Operations, U.S. and France, and President of the Walt Disney World Resort. Having worked for Disney since 1977, she was a leading force in the opening of six Disneyland resort hotels in France and has led more than 148,000 cast members at the six Disney vacations locations she has overseen.

After studying science and engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Columbia University, Ursula Burns now serves as CEO of Xerox. She is the first African-American female CEO to helm a Fortune 500 company and is also on the boards of companies like American and the MIT corporation.

A prolific author and journalist, Shobhaa De is famous for her sharp opinions on Indian culture. She has a fearless personality, and doesn’t hesitate to put forward her views that are often radical for the Indian society. A proponent of female rights, she has written extensively on discouraging the dowry practice, empowering rural women, and encouraging young women to make a mark for themselves. Her articles are published in popular Indian dailies like The Times Of India and others.

Lani Hay is only 35 years old, but she is already CEO of Landmark Technology, a company that she also founded and that provides technological and administration services for the federal government. When she is not managing the company, which brings in $15 million in annual revenues, Hay mingles with movie stars and government officials at dinner parties.

Meg Whitman

A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School, Meg Whitman spent the first part of her career working for companies like the Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks, and Hasbro. From 1998 to 2008, she served as President and CEO of eBay during a period that saw the company grow from a petite company of 30 employees to an operation with more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in revenue each year.

our favorite women role models Fall 2012 | Make It Happen

HUWIB Reflections

Reflections Reflections What It Means To Be A “Woman in Business” By Lauren Dai It was prefrosh weekend when I first decided I wanted to join Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business. I remember attending the reception for interested prefrosh, and how it was a very intimate chat between the current HUWIB board and the 5-6 prefrosh in the room that night. We were a small group with a big plate of sushi to share, and I thought then that any club that gives me this much sushi must be freaking awesome. I don’t mention this sushi incident to trivialize my choice in joining HUWIB as a freshman, but rather to highlight the fact that I really had little if any concept about why being a “woman in business” could be any different than being a man in business. Yes, I was very aware that there are fewer women in business and yes, obviously women bear children, and that tends to be a little obstacle, but I assumed that issues of workplace discrimination against women were largely a relic of the 1800s (I’m exaggerating of course). Women like me would certainly have no problem blowing past every possible career challenge. I wanted to join HUWIB mostly for the sushi and the cool speakers the club brought in. Reflecting on my thoughts as a freshman now, I realize that I actually have matured and changed a lot since then. For one thing, I realized that finally, after 20 years of life, I’ll have to start creating a path for myself and not just walk on a path that’s already been paved. School is a relatively predefined path, where you go from freshman, to sophomore, to junior, to senior. But after graduation, you have to figure out for yourself what your first job will be, what industry you want to be in, what kind of role you want to take on, or even if you want to work at all (provided you have the luxury to consider that option). The second point I realized

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was that the main challenge women face in the workplace is not discrimination, but “work-life balance” challenges. Until recently, I could barely understand why any woman, especially a Harvard graduate, would choose to be a stay-athome mom. Mainly through HUWIB though, I have had the privilege of meeting many women who are in the midst of their careers or who are looking back on already fantastic careers, and I have seen in every woman I have met, tradeoffs and challenges between career and family. For example, and I won’t mention names, but two prominent executives who I have had the privilege of meeting both mentioned the role that their husbands had played in raising their kids. Two other women in very senior positions who I have met are either single, or married with no kids. Another woman who I admire greatly is currently working a much more generic job than in her past careers in order to spend more time with her family. Seeing all of these diverse experiences made me realize far before I have ever had to think about these issues for myself, the real challenges that women (and men, though typically to a lesser extent) face in their careers. I also realized that my mom too, made decisions at times during her career—turning down promotions, etc. that would have required her to be farther away from home—in order to put her energies into raising me and my brother. Sometimes, mentioning stories about these kinds of tradeoffs and difficult decisions can seem disheartening and counterproductive. But after getting a taste of real work experience during my summers, and understanding how demanding and how different work can be from school, I realize how valuable hearing the stories and challenges of other women can be. To simplify, the main difference between school and work is that while you work hard in both arenas, at school you control your own time (when you go to class, if at all, when you do your homework, when you go out with friends), but at work, your time and schedule is at the mercy

nities with the wider community. Every woman (and man) should be able to find her dream job, because finding your dream job is often inextricable from finding the life you want to live. So next time you attend a HUWIB event, remember that the sushi is delicious and can be #2 on your list of why you join a club or attend an event, but that your #1 goal should be to figure out what kind of career will make you happy every day.

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of your job. Maybe like me, you prefer to work a bit, then hit the gym and take a nap, and do more work later, but in the business world, you don’t always have the flexibility to create your own schedule, and that’s where the challenge comes in. Considering these two points though—1) figuring out your own path and 2) dealing with career and life tradeoffs--when you boil it down, it reduces to figuring out what makes you happy. The real goal is figuring out what job will make us happy every day. You have to 1) be excited about the job, and 2) have the kind of work-life balance you need to be happy. The goal of HUWIB is to expose our associates to as many varieties of jobs, people, and paths as possible, in order to help each other figure out what will make us happiest. At the same time, we try to create a network of women who can rely on each other to give each other advice, friendship, and a shoulder to lean on now, and in the future. These are the things I have gained from HUWIB, and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to be on the board of HUWIB and take a part in sharing these opportu-

That is what it means to be a woman in business.

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What I’ve Gained From HUWIB By Kavya Shankar Every university has its pre-professional clubs. Although people may have different motives for wanting to get involved, most people join for two reasons: a) they think that being involved will allow them to make a more informed decision for what they want to do after college, or b) they think that it will help them get a better job when they are ultimately searching for their post-graduation profession. While I believe being involved with Harvard University Women in Business will definitely allow someone achieve both of those objectives, what people often overlook is that HUWIB provides so much value beyond a resume line or something to talk about in interviews; the knowledge, network, and skills obtained through HUWIB are invaluable in the workplace and beyond. With my first “real” job this summer in the financial services industry, I realized how important basic skills I had picked up from WIB were: the ability to send a professional email quickly, to listen closely to instruction and execute effectively, and to share my thoughts in a mature manner. Beyond these basic skills, I had a sophisticated understanding of the industry, which came from the panels and workshops I attended as well as all of the upperclassmen and alumni I was exposed to who were involved in the same industry. Coming to a big company as a sophomore, I felt comfortable instantly because of the large network of HUWIB alumni and upperclassmen I had to draw on for advice and mentorship; the size of our alumni network is unparalleled. When I look back at my college experience thus far, HUWIB is most definitely one of the most defining parts of it. I know that from this experience, I’ve not only developed close friendships that will last a lifetime, but that HUWIB has helped me pushed myself personally, professionally, and intellectually to develop into a Harvard University Women in Business that I’m proud of.

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Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business Presents: 8th Annual Intercollegiate Business Convention Saturday, September 29, 2012 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EDT) Hynes Convention Center Boston, MA

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