The Women’s Leadership Summit is an annual leadership conference that is designed by women for women at Christopher Newport University. It was held this past Sunday, October 15, from 9am to 2pm and is hosted by the Panhellenic Council every year along with support from CNU staff.
According to the Women’s Leadership Summit Instagram, “WLS is an all-day seminar event that invites all collegiate women on Christopher Newport University’s campus to listen to faculty, staff, and a keynote speaker to share their experiences.” This year’s theme was Personal Development and Empowering Wellbeing and the WLS certainly delivered on that theme with the female professors that spoke in addition to members of the community.
Some highlights included First Lady Angie Kelly giving the introductory remarks which were inspiring and gave hope to many women that everything works out in the end. She spoke about her journey through college and how it was not what she expected it to be yet it led her to her husband, President Kelly, and she got to live a life of service as a result of that. The journey may be difficult but that’s what always makes it worth it.
The keynote speaker this year was Amy P. Kelly, Vice President of Consulting for the Jon Gordon Companies as well as a human resources and talent development executive known for building high-performing talent and leadership development programs. She is an author, a motivational speaker, and also the mother of one of the students that volunteered as a coordinator for the Women’s Leadership Summit. Amy Kelly’s speech was highly motivational but also included interaction between all the students that attended. This helped to create connections between girls who didn’t even know each other beforehand. She did not sugarcoat all the challenges she had faced over the years, but rather noted how failure should leave room for growth instead of fully giving up.
The breakout speakers included CNU faculty and members of the community, including Dr. Francesca Parente, a professor of the political science department and also the director of the Reiff Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution. She spoke about how to deal with imposter syndrome, especially when surrounded by men who think they are more knowledgeable on a topic compared to a woman who is just as informed. In this session, female students shared experiences of imposter syndrome and discussed how to overcome them in the future while also supporting other women.
During lunch, which was catered by CNU, the all women acapella group The Newport Pearls performed. The conference also included a gift bag with motivational journals and other goodies.
Overall, it was an incredibly lovely and inspiring experience. Though it is usually sorority women that attend, every woman at CNU is welcome because the event truly brings women together and reminds us of the community we have within each other.
