A WISE Year in Review
It was a monumental year for WISE, the Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship! What was initially an idea 7 months ago, is now an official student organization at Northeastern University that has a community of over 300 women. Reflecting upon the last semester, there is much that we are proud of and also many lessons that were learned.
Programs
WISE has three programs: WeLearn, WeBuild, and WeSupport. “We” stands for Women’s Entrepreneurship, but also reflects “we” as a collective unit that is our community.
WeLearn is a series of bi-weekly interactive workshops that aims to teach new skills to an interdisciplinary audience of both women and men, and showcase how an entrepreneurial mindset can be applied in every profession and field of study. This past semester we hosted workshops on UI/UX Design, Negotiation, Venture Capital, Product Management, Intro to Programming, and Communicating with Confidence. Thank you to all of our wonderful speakers- Kira Prentice, Kristyn Danieli, Eveline Buchatskiy, Bhavika Shah, Christina Aiello, and Dinneen Grably. It was astounding to feel the amount of energy in the room every other Wednesday as women and men of all backgrounds gathered together to learn with/from each other!
WeBuild is a set of weekly innovation classes for a cohort of 10–12 women that will launch this coming Fall semester. Jessica Sun, the VP of WeBuild, worked diligently on brainstorming topics, conducting user interviews, and consulting with professionals to finalize the course curriculum. Get excited for this coming fall, as WeBuild will be teaching young women the necessary hard and soft skills to become an entrepreneur, fostering a close-knit community for all participants, and connecting women with other resources on campus to continue developing their project or professional skills.
WeSupport is a pipeline of mentorship to sustain personal, professional, and academic growth for women during their time at Northeastern University and beyond. Mara Riley, VP of WeSupport, spearheaded the pilot of the program that comprised of pairing 40 underclassmen and upperclassmen based on common interests and mentorship goals. The semester culminated in a community visit to Google, where mentor and mentee pairs participated in a workshop on Imposter Syndrome & Attaining/Maintaining High Performance and a tour of the Cambridge office. Moving forward, WISE will expand the mentorship pipeline to Northeastern alumna and female Boston professionals to provide mentorship to upperclassmen women.
Community
There is something magical that happens when women who are passionate about developing themselves professionally gather in a room. Genuine relationships are formed, a sense of belonging is felt, confidence is increased, and we become comfortable owning our true identity. Here is what our members have to say:
- “I didn’t know where I fit into the equation (of business) and WISE is helping me figure that out.”
- “Here I feel comfortable to go up to anyone and start talking. I haven’t felt that anywhere else.”
- “I think WISE provides a holistic view of all opportunities that can come by being an entrepreneur.”
WISE also hosted various community events throughout the semester, including a talk with Angel Investor Shereen Shermack co hosted with TAMID, a speaker event with CEO & Founder of Polis Kendall Tucker co hosted with the Entrepreneurs Club, and an afternoon spent making care packages for children with cancer co hosted with Northeastern’s Love Your Melon Campus Crew.
Lessons Learned
- Learning how to manage is tough! There are many different working styles and it is the manager’s job to accommodate the individual- to a certain point. We learned that while there may be a certain way individuals work best, leaders need to prioritize what is best and most efficient for the entire team (i.e. not having a different task management platform for each person but rather one collective home base). This article, How to Hold Your Team Accountable, was one of many that helped us develop as leaders throughout the semester.
- Transparency is key. The WISE team conducts all internal communication through Slack. Initially, we had private channels for all programs and departments (i.e. WeLearn, Community, Design, Marketing, etc). However, we learned that the privacy unintentionally created a divide among executive and advisory board members as nobody knew what was going on besides what they were directly responsible. Therefore, we opened all Slack channels and invited everyone to join those that interested them- whether they wanted to actively participate in discussion or solely read through conversations. It began to save the two of us time because we did not have to update everyone, and it also welcomed more feedback and ideas!
- Board meetings aren’t for updates. Time is valuable- both yours and others. It is already difficult to find a time for all team members to congregate, and it should not be spent going over updates that can be shared via an email or Slack message. This was expressed by the WISE executive board early on in the semester, and ever since we have changed how we conduct our weekly hour long board meetings. We begin with 5 minutes of board members sharing their peaks & valleys from the week, follow with 10 minutes of key WISE updates (i.e. stating upcoming events for the week), then have approximately 40 minutes of brainstorming (i.e. developing our brand, WeBuild curriculum, etc.), and conclude with questions. As a result, the board meetings are much more valued by all as it is a discussion for everyone and input is continuously being shared.
- The power of saying no (or not yet). When starting anything new, there is a lot of room for others to give their input, make introductions, and share their vision. While we are very grateful for the continuous support, we also learned the value in reminding ourselves that we created WISE with the main purpose of increasing the amount of women represented in the entrepreneurial space at Northeastern. Anything that didn’t reflect this mission, we seperated from! It is important to be receptive of feedback, but it is also important to know you do not need to accommodate to every tasks or for everyone.
- Relationships are everything. The community WISE has created is our favorite result of this past semester. These women are becoming friends, and will continue to support and challenge each other as they embark on their own adventures. To do this, WISE ensures we stay true to our values of being inclusive and authentic. We found that personally texting/emailing individuals to market our events resulted in a larger turnout, and members always hung around 15–30 minutes after events to engage further with other attendees to discuss the lesson taught or getting to know each other. Additionally, all executive board members work hard to position themselves to be approachable to questions, feedback, or coffee date!
- Failure is inevitable and pivotal to success. There is a fear among women that everything needs to be done/presented perfectly prior to execution. WISE is here to teach the opposite! For every high felt this past year, we experienced at least twice as many lows. However, instead of being discouraged, we took each as a lesson and it fueled us even more. While it is difficult to put yourself out there, there is strength in vulnerability and there should be no shame in making mistakes.
- Build a trusted team. There is only so much one individual can do. We are grateful to have had such a strong executive board. Thank you to Aarti Amalean, Jessica Sun, Mara Riley, and Rosie Meyer for sharing the mission of WISE, contributing to the development, and embodying its values. WISE also had an incredible advisory board that served as mentors to the two of us and the rest of the executive board. Thank you Bailey Kane, Katie Mulligan, Katie Wilhoit, Mina Iskarous, Shivank Taksali, and Sreeya Sai for your constant support, insight, and guidance throughout this adventure.
WISE has changed our lives. We have had the opportunity to learn from others, develop ourselves professionally, understand the importance of prioritization and strengthen our time management skills, find our individual leadership styles, and make new friends! Thank you to everyone for a wonderful first semester- to many more!!
❤ Mia & Eliana (aka Mi & El)
