By Poulomi Sengupta, MBA candidate 2021

Because of our commitment to advancing women into fulfilling careers through business education, Schulich is a partner school of the Forté Foundation. All Schulich women have access to Forté’s resource by signing up at fortefoundation.org with your Schulich email.”

The Forté Community empowers women to achieve their goals and learn about other successful like-minded women in the field of business through valuable conferences, webinars, panels and workshops. Fellows are able to enhance their networks with employers, and meet other Forté Fellows from 54 other MBA schools.

The Forté webpage contains stories of female achievers and their journeys, career switching, work-life balance, college success stories, personal finance, diversity and inclusion as well as mentorship/sponsorship opportunities. There is all-access to articles, webinars, podcasts, and videos- each personalized to women at all points of life whether a student, early careerist, or mid-level/executive position.

Through Forté, women can explore the endless career options available through business— strategy, consumer goods, energy, financial services, marketing, pharmaceuticals, finance, operations, technology, E-commerce, education, etc —and acquire valued skillset to prosper as leaders.

The June 7th, 2019, Forté Meet at Smith School of Business gave us the awareness about how Forté Foundation provides women the real-world tools to transform career paths.

 

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The sunny spring evening of June 7th saw a bevy of lovely Forté Fellows all of whom, driven, hardworking, self -reliant and of course brave, came together to discuss their ambitions and business experience through the course of the MBA journey. In accordance to the warm convergence, the underlying topic of discussion revolved around altering the status quo with the intention to improve the percentage of women in the MBA programs.

After introductions and an open networking session, Jessica Morgan, Assistant Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Schulich School of Business, provided a detailed picture of the practical tools that Forté provides us: conferences, a web platform and the network, all of which make an impact on global businesses and touch lives.

 

From left to right: Teresa Pires, Associate Director at Queens University, Jessica Morgan, Assistant Director of Recruitment and Admissions at Schulich School of Business, Bryana Rakhola, Forté Fellow at Rotman School of Business, and Kikeloye Oyerinde, Forté Fellow at Schulich School of Business.

After Jessica’s informative talk, our very own Kikeloye Oyerinde from Schulich and Bryana Rakhola from Rotman, gave valuable insights of their key takeaways from the previous Forté meet in 2018:

· Get out of your comfort zone – Meet people who are different from your field of study, background, ethnicity, etc. The more you distance yourself from your comfort zone, the better you will learn; not just about others, but about yourself. In the MBA, take the electives that you are unfamiliar with, take on a project that is challenging, and push the boundaries.

· The power of small talk – We often ignore the influence that any verbal exchange can have. It’s easy to skip events, which eliminates the possibility of building a powerful grid of like-minded, hardworking and ambitious people who can be our future colleagues, managers and mentors.

· Showing up! – Yes! Woody Allen once said that 80% of success in life is just showing up. You never know what opportunities present themselves when you attend an event. Kiki gave an example how a Forté Fellow from University of Toronto impressed a U.S employer, who referred her name to the Toronto office, that helped her land her dream job.

· Following up! – If 80% of success in life is just showing up, then the remaining 20% of success is following up. Do follow up with the individuals you have met at events with a thank you note, your LinkedIn invitation and a request for a Coffee Chat to learn more about the positions and work at their respective companies.

· Optimism: Unless you believe you can do it, you are highly unlikely to take responsibility of your future. Forté and the MBA school has provided all the tools that you require in your kitty to make it BIG!

Visit Forté Foundation

The next Forté conference is slated on June 12-13th, 2020, Los Angeles, California