The Women’s Network (TWN), a national networking organization with nearly 150 chapters, has recently had a chapter constituted at the College. Cristiana DeAgazio ’24 acts as founding president for the chapter, which is open to Wellesley and Olin students. She hopes to further TWN’s goals of teaching students how to network, achieve their career goals and celebrate student success in a non-competitive environment.
“I think that this org will hopefully be a great place where there’s no competitiveness and everyone wants each other to succeed,” she said. “That means helping someone out with their resume and not being afraid that if their resume’s better than yours then maybe they’ll get the job you want … the main goal is just to create a space where people feel okay and feel empowered to speak about their successes, talk about their failures [and] learn amongst their peers.”
In addition to these overarching goals, the organization hopes to offer a variety of events for their members. Their goal is to have at least one event every other week, such as lectures, panels, workshops and socials focused on a range of industries and topics. Outside of the Wellesley-chapter- specific events, one of the benefits The Women’s Network offers is the opportunity to attend events from other chapters.
“[The Women’s Network] really just exposes you to such a large variety of events because you have all of our events … [and] you have national events which are hosted by the CEO once or twice a month, and then you have dozens of events from the 100 plus chapters around the country, which you’re always welcome to join,” DeAgazio said.
The chapter also clearly states that it is not for specific majors or fields major types. They anticipate having events for all academic interests, from biochemistry to English. Additionally, they hope to branch out of academics entirely and into other potential passions.
“Nothing is mandatory, because we understand you want to go to things that interest you. It doesn’t even have to be an academic event, if we have a thing about sewing or something, we just want to have interest,” Bijon Anderson ’25, co-vice president of DEI for the chapter, said.
Both Anderson and DeAgazio stressed that it was important that all non-man identifying students feel welcome and accepted in the organization. DeAgazio specifically notes the importance of the organization providing an experience and community.
“We want it to be a fulfilling experience and an experience that’s worth your time,” she said. “We just hope to make sure that we are a place where you can learn and have fun, grow as a professional and always feel welcome.”
As a newly constituted chapter, the organization has a plethora of potential to grow and expand into whatever the members want.
“[The Women’s Network] is for everyone and I would love for them to join,” Anderson said. “If you have suggestions [or] ideas, we want them. Since this is a new thing on campus, we definitely want to hear everyone’s input because that’s very important to us.”
