By Margaret Barrionuevo Camacho
Hello everyone, this is my first time writing for the blog! My name is Margaret (Gigi) and I am currently on my final year of International Business Management at the University of Sheffield. In this, my first post, I would love tell you about one of my favourite societies at university; Women in Business (WIB). This is a brand NEW society, founded by Olivia Lynch, who was the 2016-2017 society President and one of the most driven and determined persons I have ever met. After months of planning and working along with the SU, Liv finally achieved her dream to create a society which not only aimed to empower women but also to provide them with support to enter a career in Finance, Business or Commercial Law.
I joined the Women in Business society in September 2016 when I attended their very first event which consisted on a skills workshop in collaboration with EY. During this session, I did not only get the chance to meet other society members but I also discovered more about my own strenghts and weaknesses and how to tackle the latter. Furthermore, I got to meet the committee members and see how passionate they were about helping us to develop professionally. This is the reason why, later on, I decided to run to be on the WIB committee. In October 2016, the society announced 2 available positions on the committee; activities officer and publicity officer. I ran for ‘activities officer’ and after writing and sharing my manifesto with other society members, I achieved to get into the committee.
My role as an ‘activities officer’ has consisted on building partnerships with recruiters from various companies such as PwC and Enterprise Rent a Car (ERAC) as well as planning and delivering events aimed at helping our society members to develop their professional skills and career aspirations. These events have included: LinkedIn master session (PWC), Commercial awareness session with DLA Piper, MOCK assessment centres and even a visit and networking event at Slaughter and May in London!
The society is fully committed to help every member to achieve its full potential, however, it also aims to promote integration and friendship between our society members. As a result, we have organized various socials which have included: pub quiz, Bollywood dancing class and an evening of free pizza at Bloo88 (yummy)!
During its first year, the Women in Business society has achieved to gather more than 120 members, organize a wide variety of events and also holding 3 nominations for the 2017 Activities Awards: (1) Academic society of the year, (2) New society of the year and (3) Most enterprising society.
What are you waiting for joining WIB NEXT year? I totally recommend it and I can’t stress enough how much I have learnt out of the different workshops, a society that definitely cares about you and your development!
This picture was taken after our first AGM, where the new committee members were elected! Old committee on the low row; Olivia Lynch (President) is the third from left to right, and I am next to her on the white blouse.