The 2022 Christiana Foglio DC'84 Douglass Career Conference

Each year, The 2022 Christiana Foglio DC'84 Douglass Career Conference serves as a launchpad for the passions, aspirations, and goals of current Douglass students. Throughout a full day of speakers, panels, and networking events, students begin to chart their course for in and beyond college. The Career Conference, where students make connections with women professionals in a variety of industries, is essential for shaping and refining how a student’s future may look.

“As students, we’ve been to so many panels where we’ve met different people from different companies,” said Halee Dani DRC’24, “But what is specific about this conference is that we’re being inspired and empowered by other women—many who have also graduated from Douglass. Because we’re hearing stories we can recognize, it makes the experience that much stronger.”

This year, over 240 students attended the conference and heard from over 40 speakers, including keynote speaker Allyson Fryhoff DC’80, the Managing Director of Amazon Web Services Nonprofit Business. The 12 different breakout panels included a wide range of topics such as futures in education, legal careers, nonprofit opportunities, information technology, STEM pathways in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and more. The panels were intentionally designed to model pathways for students of diverse interests and majors so that all attendees could see themselves reflected.

“It’s important to make connections with individuals, learn about careers and opportunities available, and gain more insight on navigating the career world,” said Maryam Mendes DRC’25.

For Aniba Chowdhury DRC’25, connecting with potential mentors who are specifically committed to diversity and inclusion makes an impactful difference.

“I’m looking forward to networking with professionals who are open to diversity,” she said as she waited for the event to begin. “I know they’re not going to look down on me for anything, and I look forward to all the opportunities that they’ll bring to the table.”

The Career Conference also connects first year students with the BOLD Center at Douglass for Leadership, Career, and Personal Development. The BOLD Center offers a variety of innovative initiatives that position Douglass students for excellence in work and life. Through career development initiatives at Douglass, students access externship opportunities, workshops and seminars that teach critical soft skills, and mentorship programs.

The College would like to thank Christiana Foglio DC’84 for her generous sponsorship of this important event that helps set students on a journey towards career success. If you are interested in learning more about supporting career development initiatives at Douglass, please contact drcadvancement@echo.rutgers.edu or give here.