A Tennessee Tech senior founding the new campus organization Women Who Lead to provide professional and leadership development opportunities for female students across all academic disciplines.
Women Who Lead President and Founder Cheyenne Bare said the organization’s initiative focuses on helping students connect with peers.
“I really noticed a need for a group that was not necessarily major specific,” Bare said, “But was open to all people across all majors so that they could come together and grow in their leadership skills and connect and network with others across other disciplines and majors at Tech.”
Bare said many talented young women are capable of leadership but often hesitate to take the initial step toward professional growth. The organization aims to start conversations that encourage students to utilize available resources and recognize their own potential.
“I think mainly the biggest issue is necessarily taking that first step,” Bare said. “I think a lot of what we see is just young women, they know they’re capable, but they don’t take that next step knowing that they’re capable.”
Bare said the group prepares students to enter the workforce with the ability to immediately contribute to professional teams. This includes learning how to navigate group dynamics and understanding how to function effectively as both a leader and a team member.
“We talk a lot about communicating in a team and building up leadership skills so that when you do graduate, you’re well, you have the ability to just jump right into a team and really contribute your maximum instead of having to have a little bit of time where you kind of have to figure out how you work in a group and how you work with a leader or how you act as a leader,” Bare said.
The organization supplements existing campus resources by introducing students to professionals who provide real-world examples of career paths. Bare said these connections can influence a student’s decision to pursue specific internships, jobs, or graduate programs.
“The connections that you get from just that alone can be the difference in getting a job or finding your next internship or deciding to go into a grad program,” Bare said. “I really try to show real world connections versus just saying here are the resources for you, we try to show real world examples of that.”
Bare said her own time as student body president helped her realize that leadership opportunities are available to any student willing to pursue them. The current semester serves as a pilot period for the organization to establish a foundation before Bare departs for law school.
“We’re hoping that this semester it’s kind of our pilot for a lot of things, that next semester we can get really settled and bring in newer freshmen and sophomores that are passionate about the group currently and bring those into leadership positions to see how they continue to grow the group after I’m gone,” Bare said.