This Partners & Progress section of OMNIA is dedicated to highlighting Penn Arts & Sciences’ vibrant and generous community of alumni, parents, and friends. In this issue we spotlight: The Penn Arts & Sciences Ambassador Council; Penn Arts & Sciences Professional Women’s Alliance; and Penn Arts & Sciences at Work.
(L–R) Julia Ford-Carther; Fong Wa Chung, C’05; Alex Bellos, C’06; Amber Payne, C’11; Mariama Perry, C’11; and Fatu Siede Coleman, C’11, at the Ambassador Council Career Conversations event in Brooklyn.
Ben Asen
Ambassador Council
The Penn Arts & Sciences Ambassador Council was recently established to create value for students and alumni across the globe through volunteer involvement, intellectual engagement, and philanthropy. The Ambassador Council engages with Penn Arts & Sciences alumni through events and online content, career networking, and mentoring for current students and recent graduates of the College.
At an inaugural event, the Ambassador Council presented Career Conversations, hosted by Alex Bellos, C’06, a Council member and President of West Elm, at the company’s headquarters in Brooklyn. The evening featured Bellos and Laura Alber, C’90, PAR’20, PAR’23, CEO of Williams-Sonoma, who shared career insights and strategies for success and provided an opportunity for alumni and students to connect with mentors.
(L–R) Rebecca Scott, C’06; Jillian Karande, C’18; and Jamie Handwerker, C’83, PAR’19, and PWA President, at the Summer Networking Reception at BuzzFeed.
Ben Asen
Professional Women’s Alliance
The Professional Women’s Alliance (PWA) hosts an annual summer networking event for students and alumnae of Penn Arts & Sciences, to provide them with opportunity to network with PWA members and ask for career advice. Jillian Karande, C’18, attended last summer’s event at BuzzFeed’s headquarters, where she connected with the event’s hosts, Suzie Cohen, C’04, and Rebecca Scott, C’06, and learned more about BuzzFeed and career opportunities within the company. That contact and subsequent follow-up led to Karande receiving a full-time position with BuzzFeed. This connection is one of many made at PWA events and illustrates the power of Penn networking.
The PWA connects professionally accomplished alumnae with students and young alumnae of the College, through professional development and career networking opportunities.
For more information, visit the Professional Women's Alliance.
Penn Arts & Sciences at Work
Penn Arts & Sciences at Work is a photoblog which tells stories of the extended Penn Arts & Sciences community. The diverse paths of Penn Arts & Sciences alumni are captured through images and personal vignettes focusing on their daily work lives.
To see more, visit Penn Arts & Sciences at Work.
Rebecca Aaberg, C’10
Brooke Sietinsons
“The biggest challenge when you’re starting out in a career is learning to listen more effectively to other people and to be more responsive.”
-Rebecca Aaberg, C’10
Inclusion Specialist at The International Foundation for Electoral Systems | Washington, D.C. | International Relations Major
Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, C’01
Alex Schein
“I think hands down, the most meaningful experience for me so far was being able to unify children with their mothers after being separated at the border. That was profoundly emotional for me.”
-Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, C’01
Executive Director of the Lawyers for Civil Rights | Boston, Massachusetts | Political Science and Latin American and Latino Studies Majors
