The Women’s Network at Seton Hall is the “new kid on the block” this year.
After launching last year at Seton Hall, this chapter of The Women’s Network was only a probationary club for its first year, meaning this is the chapter’s first year as a full-fledged organization.
The founding and current president of The Women’s Network chapter at Seton Hall, Alexandra Cherry, said that the organization’s “goal as a chapter is to provide a community for the women at Seton Hall to expand their networking skills, to get to meet other collegiate women that want to focus on their ambitions and their goals [and] be prepared for the workforce.”
The national organization of The Women’s Network was founded in 2017 by Jamie Vinick and works in collaboration with not only the chapter at Seton Hall, but every chapter existing on college campuses across the country.
The Women’s Network is a national organization with over 150 chapters at different colleges and universities throughout North America that presents career opportunities, connections and professional development resources to women.
The national organization values leadership development, collaboration, integrity, authenticity and a community focus according to the official Women’s Network website.
Many responsibilities fall on the entire board, especially the president of The Women’s Network at Seton Hall.
Cherry has tackled the expansion of the chapter over the past year and her goal is to achieve a recognizable reputation for the organization. She said she wants to “set the organization up for a point of success” after graduating in May.
As president, Cherry works with both the school and the national organization to make sure the chapter functions correctly. “My job is to work with my board and execute internal affairs,” she said. “But I also work with the national team to work on external affairs.”
Cherry must maintain the organization’s relationship with Seton Hall to handle anything with student government, budgeting, details being approved and more to ensure the chapter’s success.
Nationally speaking, she must make sure the chapter’s events are approved, attend meetings and stay up to date with new information about the organization.
The Women’s Network at Seton Hall provides a “unique opportunity” for women to gather and improve their futures, Cherry said.
The organization teaches women how to build their resumes, interview skills, cold call future bosses or mentors and much more relating to the professional world.
“We’re non-competitive and we’re not major based,” Cherry said. “The community of girls we have is very, very safe.”
In terms of events, The Women’s Network at Seton Hall hosts a plethora of professional development events over the course of the year. These include collaborating with the career center, boot camps, LinkedIn headshots and networking events.
Other events that are held by this chapter are considered social events. These include seasonal themed events and ice cream socials.
“The national organization promotes mocktails which is essentially a small gala,” Cherry said. “We bring in alumni, women in professional fields, and give the girls a chance to maybe meet their mentor.”
This organization not only presents the opportunity for women to meet professional mentors or leaders, but it also allows for lifelong friendships to be formed outside of one’s major, Cherry said.
Cherry is an example of this as her best friend is now vice president of events for the organization. “I’ve met some amazing people that I would’ve never met otherwise because they’re not in my major,” she said.
The Women’s Network “gives you a sense of you’re doing something good in your community and you’re building something good,” Cherry said.
The organization relies heavily on members getting involved and getting the word out about The Women’s Network.
With around 50 current members of The Women’s Network at Seton Hall, the organization continues to work on outreach through email and social media apps like Instagram.
Cherry said that she recognizes most clubs and organizations can expect a lot of commitment from their members; however, The Women’s Network just asks members to show up when they can and get as involved as they want to be.
The organization’s biggest point of contact is through their Instagram, which allows a quick and easy way to join the chapter in the page description. More information can be found on Engage and the national organization’s website.
Maia Coyle submitted this article from her Writing for the Media course. She can be found at maia.coyle@student.shu.edu.
