Virtuous Sisterhood hosted their annual Beautiful. Professional. You. event this past Saturday to promote women in the workforce.
Virtuous Sisterhood holds this event every year to allow young women to network and learn from other women in the ACU community.
“It is a way for women at ACU to hear speakers give advice on different professional topics,” said Stacy Campos, sophomore nursing major from Garland.
The event hosted several speakers covering topics such as professionalism, networking, confidence and spirituality.
“As officers, we saw how it was focused on one crowd or certain majors last year, so we thought it was important to show women how to network across all different professions,” said Priscilla Clayton, sophomore nutrition major from Arlington.
“They showed us LinkedIn and showed us how we could find alumni and jobs. Like, if you ask alumni for job hunting help in a professional way, most often they’d be happy to help,” said Campos.
A portion of the event was how to maintain spirituality in the workforce, led by Jeanene Reese, associate professor of Bible and director of the Center for Women in Christian Service.
“Jeanene Reese spoke about just spiritual life, and it was great because sometimes we forget about how important that is, even in the professional world,” said Campos.
There are several ways to network in today’s professional world, which speakers addressed during the event.
“There was a lady from the Career Center in the library that spoke on elevator speeches, which got me thinking on what I would say in a 30-second window,” said Campos.
“I’m really starting to get into LinkedIn and have realized how helpful its become for me,” said Clayton, “In two weeks I was able to get my desk shift position because we were connected on LinkedIn.”
The women were challenged to admit their weaknesses and addressed how they could turn those into strengths in an interview setting.
“One of my weaknesses is working in teams or groups, but now I know I can turn that around and say things like I work hard, I do my best and I’ll always step up if something goes wrong,” said Campos.
The event showcased many aspects of professionalism, but the subjects of confidence and how to hold your own as a woman in the workforce stuck out to the young women.
“There are times where I can be shy and she reminded us we have to be proud of ourselves and to walk into an interview with our head up and feel confident and know that you can handle things,” said Campos.
