Tepper Women in Business Leadership Conference Spotlights Pandemic Hotspot
Mastering Resilience in Midst of Career Chaos and Workplace Disruption
According to a new report by the National Women’s Law Center, the United States lost a net 140,000 jobs in December 2020. Within that statistic, men gained 16,000 jobs, while women lost 156,000*. This means that all job losses were women — with Black mothers, Hispanic mothers, and single mothers among the hardest hit.
As a club rooting for women in business for more than 10 years, what can Tepper Women in Business (TWIB) do to transform this trend?
TWIB will host a virtual leadership conference, themed Mastering Resilience, which is focused on the capacity to recover quickly from these difficulties. Future women leaders and allies are invited to participate in leadership workshops, learn from accomplished Carnegie Mellon alumni, network with Pittsburgh entrepreneurs and executives, and build a community with peers.
The conference will be held on Sunday, Feb. 28. Attendees will participate in presentations by:
- Entrepreneurs Pamela Barnhill (MBA 2001) and Bhakti Vithalani.
- Senior executives Christine DeFilippo (MBA 1994) and Sruta Vootukuru (MBA 2001).
- Growing leaders Katherine Kohatsu (MBA 2005) and Shweta Khandelwal (MBA 2016).
Speakers will share about their career journey, how they navigated difficult decisions, and their moments of resilience in the face of challenging and often relatable situations, such as pandemic burnout, saying no, partners as allies, pressures to perform, and feeling stuck in perpetual limbo. These women leaders will share how they broke the glass ceiling to chart their own career.
“Despite all of the data signaling an economic and emotional crisis disproportionately shouldered by women, we are not seeing effective cultural or policy responses,” said Khushboo Bhanushali, Vice President of Early Engagement in TWIB and Tepper School MBA student. “TWIB aims to bring people together to address these inequalities and find solutions as a community.”
The conference is open to current Carnegie Mellon students and prospective Tepper School candidates. Registration closes on Sunday, Feb. 21.