WIB hosts sixth annual Pearls of Wisdom conference

The Collegiate Association of Women in Business (WIB) hosted their sixth annual Pearls of Wisdom women’s leadership conference on Tuesday March 20th, with this year’s title being, “Some leaders are born women.”

This year, WIB made sure to give every woman on campus the equal opportunity to “innovate, dream and lead” as their theme this year states, “by having one to two entrepreneurs sit and network on each table,” said Cuiyu Wu, senior accounting major, WIB Vice President and coordinator for the event.

The night commenced with Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Likeable Media Carrie Kerpen’s “Life lessons from a (non)trepreneur” keynote address. She spoke of how she is an entrepreneur in a calculated way, since she inherited non-risk taking DNA from her parents.

Her and her husband begun their business the day they got married. They had their wedding fully paid for and raised over 20 thousand dollars for charity by having their wedding sponsored at the Brooklyn Cyclones Field of Dreams. ABC World News and the mass media covered their wedding and it was 1-800-Flowers largest press event to date.

Though they didn’t open up their business that day, they built their initial company relationship base. Three years later after taking her daughter’s advice not to go to work one day, Kelly and her husband started Likeable Media.

“Though as women we may be programed in society to take less risks, it doesn’t mean women shouldn’t take risks, nothing beats taking calculated risks,” said Kerpen.    

Carrie explained that “it is who you make a connection with – listen to the whispers, trust yourself, love the roller coaster, create a personal board of advisors, regret nothing and give back;” that is what makes one a successful entrepreneur. “If you have a good idea, a plan and a vision, go with it,” she said.

Miriam Silverberg, founder of public relations firm Miriam Silverberg Associates, related her story on how she went from being the concierge of a multinational trading company to starting her own business without having any technical training.