WE Lead registration closing soon

Jailene Rivas

WE Lead: Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Conference is an event for students to improve their leadership and networking skills.

The conference will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, at the Iowa State University Alumni Center.

Free registration for the WE Lead: Women’s Leadership and Empowerment Conference is open and will close on Monday.

The conference is being held for the second year in a row to bring female students together to network between themselves, the central Iowa community and with past and present female leaders from Iowa State.

Conferences for women’s empowerment have been held throughout the years at Iowa State.

However, supported by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s — Inclusion and Initiatives Grant Program — this will be the first year the Student Activities Center, Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE), the Collegiate Panhellenic Council, Student Government and the Catt Center for Women & Politics will be joining to produce an experience for all.

Alexandra Parrot, assistant director of WiSE, is one of the many people behind the organization and planning of the event.

“We hope students will feel supported and empowered as they seek to lead and impact positive change within their communities,” Parrot said.

Som Mongtin, assistant director of the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center and an organizer of the event, said this is an experience for young women to add to their “toolbox” of skills they already possess.

“Don’t come and expect to become leaders, you already are one,” Mongtin said.

The conference will host five main topics: empowering yourself, mental health and body image, empowering others, imposter syndrome and accessible leadership.

Within focusing on the five topics, the event will have two breakout sessions. When completing their registration, participants choose what topics they would most want to hear about.

These sessions are meant to provide students with tools to navigate with in their future careers or their present setting at Iowa State.

The event will have WE Talks, fast-paced five-minute presentations given by Iowa State students, a Q&A interview with President Wintersteen, and Hillary Kletscher, Iowa State alumna, will be the keynote speaker.

Kletscher, a biological systems engineering graduate, now works in corporate strategy for Cargill Inc.. She will speak on how she dealt with the five topics while at Iowa State and how she deals with them now within her career.

Hannah Olson, senior in journalism and mass communication, is attending the event to “network with likeminded women” and to become a more confident leader with a stronger voice.