Learning and Growing with Empowered Young Women

I currently have the pleasure of living, studying and interning in Washington DC for the semester. Along with this comes many opportunities to learn and grow in my professional career. Shortly after my arrival in DC this January, a fellow student at Luther College reached out to me and told me about the wonderful opportunity that PLEN conferences can offer. She also informed me of a scholarship opportunity that could cover the cost of the conference. I applied for and received the Ellie Shaw Scholarship to attend the Women, Business, and Policy seminar in February.

As a Management major, I was more excited for the business sessions than I was the policy session . That being said, I learned an incredible amount about public policy and ended up enjoying those panels just as much as the business ones. The conference gave me a great opportunity to connect with some of the most successful business and policy women in the District. PLEN offers a chance for students to connect with these people who normally seem to be so busy and unreachable. I was able to connect with a few of them on LinkedIn, and I look forward to connecting with them further in the future.

My favorite part about PLEN was the time that they took to give us important information about how to “job search.” For example, one speaker talked about how to negotiate salary with a possible employer. Salary negotiation is something that I never really thought about having to do. Now I can confidently say that I know how to do this and several other important tasks in the future.

PLEN taught me so much about the DC working world and gave me a glimpse into many different career sectors. I am thankful to have had this wonderful opportunity to learn and grow with several other empowered young women. I am looking forward to learning even more from PLEN and utilizing the connections that I made there!

Kalie Kampa attended the PLEN Women, Business, and Policy 2017 seminar as a junior at Luther College.