A panel featuring women in leadership roles working for nonprofit organizations in the greater Philadelphia area was hosted by The Beautiful Social Research Collaborative (Beautiful Social) on March 21 in the Perch.
The panel was a group discussion where participants sat in two circles along with the panelists, who gave advice to students about entering the workforce.
Beautiful Social, directed by Aimee Knight Ph.D., associate professor of communication studies, is a collaborative class where students and fellows in the communication studies department work on semester-long multimedia projects with Philadelphia-based organizations.
Fellows Kelly O’Malley ’20, Abby Piro ’19, Emma Brenner ’20 and Madison Auer ’20 facilitated the groups with discussion questions that gave the audience a realistic depiction of what it is like to be a woman in the workforce.
“It’s going to be really enlightening for people to just listen to how these women found their way in their jobs and how they made their way to working in nonprofits,” O’Malley said.
Panelists included Melanie Hsu, community organizing director of Girls Rock Philly; Nicole Enderica, communications specialist for Vision for Equality; Marissa Marzano ’14 communications manager for New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault; and Tor Lydon, marketing and design director for CICADA Architecture/Planning Inc, who previously was employed by a nonprofit.
Hsu said that regardless of gender or identity, employees deserve to feel like they are not alone.
“The more experiences we bring to the table, the more probabilities increase in people seeing themselves in leadership in the community or elsewhere,” Hsu said. “I think the moment where we see ourselves in another person is when we start believing that we can take a path or we can take on a challenge.”
This was the second year Beautiful Social hosted this event, after it was started by a previous Beautiful Social fellow. The panelists discussed their experiences as women in the workplace and how to serve as allies to female professionals and gave advice to students.
Eliza Rocco ’20 said the conversation was helpful in thinking about her future.
“I learned a lot about confidence and how to carry yourself, not only just going into the ‘real world,’ but every day,” Rocco said.
Marzano who “gets to wake up and do the thing that sets her day on fire,” told students to be bold when applying for jobs.
“Don’t hold yourself back, don’t think you’re not good enough,” Marzano said. “Don’t be afraid to apply for a job you think you’re not qualified for.”
Julianna Abramson ’20 said that through the event she realized there is much more to learn about being a woman in the workforce.
“I should be coming to more of these things,” Abramson said. “It’s important to take advantage of places where you can talk with other women about being a woman.”
Knight said she hopes Beautiful Social hosts an event like this every year.
“Next year will be our 10th year, and our goal is to work with 100 community partners by then,” Knight said. “Things like this are what we should be doing because we have so many connections to the community. It’s kind of our duty to be making these connections.”
