While I’m still talking about the past: Another formative event for me was a Women Advancing Microfinance – Chicago chapter meeting on September 17, 2009, at the ShoreBank offices at 2230 S. Michigan Avenue. I think ShoreBank has since closed their Chicago operations (according to their website at https://www.sbk.com/personal) with the current financial crisis and all, but this was before the crap really hit the fan. Anyway, Women Advancing Microfinance, like it sounds, is a network of women in the field of microfinance who hold events to help people interested in microfinance as well as those already in the field learn more about it. Although by definition the group is largely women, there were 2 or 3 men in attendance at the event.
The format of the event was pretty standard – you show up, get a name tag, get some munchies and drinks, meet people, and then settle down for a short presentation about some specific topic. The networking continued after the event when we all went out to a nearby restaurant and had a late (around 9 or 9:30 pm) dinner. It was here that I really learned that a lot of business can happen over informal, social settings like at a restaurant, talking about family, kids, work/life balance, office issues, traveling to Africa alone as a woman, and so on.
Attention college students: If you get a chance, I highly recommend going out for mostly “social” events with businesspeople, not just the career services-run panel discussion. You’ll learn a lot more from a 2 hour dinner than 20 hours of “how to reformat your resume” events.
What also struck me about the Women Advancing Microfinance event was connected to the fact that it was almost all women. In the Chicago Booth “Future of Markets” 1000-person, 80% men conference, I felt what the statistics blandly say – that there are a lot of men in leadership positions in business. What was nice about Women Advancing Microfinance was the presence of dozens of awesome role models – women who had great careers, healthy families, and (with some individual travails) overall happy lives. In other words, professionals I could really identify with, look up to, see as mentors and ask for advice without feeling awkward.
There are a lot of studies about how more women ought to try for leadership positions, and companies want to hire women, but the 30-something baby attrition starts and that’s how men end up more in leadership positions. There are also studies about how women have smaller networks and should be more like men, who have more breadth (perhaps at the cost of less depth) and are supposedly better networkers. Whatever the statistics, well, I think it’s best to ignore them and just find your own way. The point of networking is to meet people with similar interests. I do think it’s a good idea to attend a mix of networking events, whether it’s single-gender or mixed-gender or some business, some nonprofit, some social, some formal conferences, because variety is not only the spice of life, but it can be good for your career. IT’s important to try a lot of things, but also to find out where you’re comfortable – perhaps it’s at women-only events, perhaps at male-dominated ones. Happy networking!
Women Advancing Microfinance – Chicago chapter event
Overall – 4/4 (Great event, since I’m interested in microfinance)
Noise – 4/4 Boardroom crisp / lecture hall clear
People – good depth (microfinance-specific, also those in business interested in the social sector)
Food – 3/4, decent munchies with healthy options (e.g. carrot sticks, tomatoes, fruit) and restaurant trip afterwards
Clothing – business casual (suits without jackets or something like that)
Approximate Gender Ratio – all women except for 2 men (maybe 95% women)
Age Range – 20s-50s (college students to mid-career)
Cost – free
URL / more info: http://www.waminternational.org/chapters/north-america/wam-chicago (WAM website)
LinkedIn group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=2319508
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