Christine Barnabic, MS
Academic Services Manager, Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine
Scholarship: Professional Leadership Program for Women

The Professional Leadership Program for Women was an impactful professional development experience. Leadership is a choice you make to dedicate yourself with your skills, inspiration, and influence to make a difference. The program connected like-minded women in a variety of fields to learn, collaborate, and support one another. The skills I have learned from this custom training, building on my personal strengths and leadership type, will continue my growth both personally and professionally. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to participate in this program.

Shereece Singleton, MS
Office Manager, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
Scholarship: Professional Leadership Program for Women

I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the Towson University Professional Leadership Program for Women. Listening and learning from the other participants who work in varied organizations was inspiring. It revealed that no matter your background, as women, we all face similar situations in the workplace. I have also expanded my network with a group of amazing professional women. A special thanks to the program leader, Kathleen Case. She promoted self-awareness, and her one-on-one coaching session helped me to apply each of the concepts of the program. I believe the most valuable lesson I learned was to rethink the meaning of the word leadership, and as a result, start thinking of myself as a leader regardless of my position within an organization. The perception I had is that leadership is determined by your title, salary, and how many people report to you, and therefore that term is reserved for a relatively small group. But that is just one aspect of leadership. Leadership is based on my behavior and character on ordinary days. On any given day, if I can promote integrity, empower someone to do their best, make a commitment to strengthen relationships within my team, and make a positive impact on someone, I was a leader on that day. Get up the next day and repeat.

Hee Yeon Kim
Junior Dental Hygiene Student, University of Maryland School of Dentistry
Scholarship: National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL)

I sincerely appreciate UMBrella giving me the opportunity to learn from inspiring women. Despite the difficulties that came with the pandemic, NCCWSL provided priceless resources to me, a dental hygiene student who will be graduating in Spring 2022. My favorite workshops were “BRANDYOU for career excellence” by Chelsea C. Williams, “AAYW start smart: know your value and get paid” by Andrea Martinez and “Careers that do good” by Allison Conyers. Ms. Williams's session helped me define values that I put emphasis on for career building and for my life goals. Ms. Martinez shared lots of practical strategies in salary negotiations and how to effectively tell others the values I bring to a workplace. There were three experts in non-profits and philanthropy in Ms. Allison's session. I recently received an award for my business venture pitch idea and my business idea's core value is corporate social responsibility, so this meeting was very helpful. I would strongly recommend participating in next year's NCCWSL (hopefully in person) to anyone who has the opportunity.