An update from mentor Kelsey Price

My wonderful mentee, Paige Sussman, recently joined me for lunch at the Google offices. Paige graciously made time to come down to Chelsea for a bite to eat and a quick office tour. Given she is in the process of applying for summer internships, we focused our conversation on summer opportunities and talking about career goals. 

Paige came prepared with a number of good questions. We talked about the experiences consulting could offer versus a spending summer in financial services. We also explored some alternative finance and marketing options on the industry side as well. I shared a bit of my experience in consulting at McKinsey and what my current role at Google is like.      Paige told me about her previous internships at Espirit and Perry Ellis and shared a bit about her Economics coursework. I have no doubt Barnard has prepared her well for the future.

It wasn't all work through - We compared notes on traveling to Europe for vacation and our families in Florida before grabbing some dessert. Afterwards, I took Paige on quick tour of the office. Between Googlers riding on scooters in the hallways and teams brainstorming ideas on floor-to-ceiling whiteboards, I hope it was a helpful glimpse of what life is like at Google. 

I'm already looking forward to dinner next week with Paige. I am excited to continuing our mentoring as the year goes on!

 

Thank You Dana Points and Program Participants!

Our second event, the Fireside Chat with Dana Points, was a success!  I wanted to thank Dana for attending and sharing her career trajectory thus far, as well as interesting facts and personal advice.  Also, I wanted to thank both the mentees and mentors for their sharing their candid comments and experiences with the group. 

I am enjoying getting to know everyone better, and I am excited to see all of you at our next event on February 7th.

Keep up the good work!

Warmest Regards,
Rachel Tannenbaum

A Fun & Inexpensive Meet-Up

Why limit yourself to the MoMa or the MET when you can explore the Museum of Jewish Heritage or the Brooklyn Museum? There are two exhibitions that are worthy of consideration and may stimulate nice conversation between mentors and mentees!

The Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles is a temporary exhibition at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in 36 Battery Place Battery Park City. The exhibition traces the footsteps of Lazarus life, an advocate and writer of Jewish experiences of immigration, home and exile in the U.S. She is considered one of America’s earliest prominent Jewish writers and is much revered for her poem that is now found on Lady Liberty! This exhibition is just a moving reminder of the previous women that have left their footprints embedded into the course of our history. Admission is only $12!

Hide/Seek is located at the Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing in the 4th Floor of the Brooklyn Museum. It is the “first major museum exhibition to focus on themes of gender and sexuality in modern American portraiture”. It displays a wide variety of photographs, paintings and media that deal with the ideas of sexual identity as well as works that openly express gay and lesbian topics in contemporary art. In addition, the exhibit shows the response of certain artists to the AIDS epidemic and the Stonewall Riots of 1969, creating an open discourse within the artwork. The suggested contribution for visitors is $12 and $8 for students.

An update from mentee Camille Van Kote

On Friday 11/18 I met with my mentor, Ashley Kelly, a 3 year associate at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. I waited in the firm’s lobby on the 35th floor of an impressive dark building, which was overlooking Manhattan. It was a crispy but beautiful day so the view was quite incredible. I met up with Ashley who brought me to a nice Mexican restaurant called Pampano on 3rd and 49th street. Over lunch, we talked about her first jobs upon graduating college,  her law school experience at Brooklyn Law School, her time as a clerk back in New Mexico where she comes from as well as her current position in the law firm. It was interesting for me to understand her background and to hear about her personal experiences as I am interested in attending Law School. We also talked about her Barnard College years as she reminisced about the places she used to go to around Morningside Heights, her college friends, the Marching band she was a part of and so on. It was great to be able to connect with another Barnard student even though she graduated in 2004. A lot of things have changed but there is an essence about the Columbia University environment that makes it special. I really enjoyed meeting with my Mentor and look forward to seeing her at the fireside chat !

An update from mentor Catherine Burns Wilson

Last Friday, October 28, Stefie Gan came to my office at Callison, an architecture firm located on Lafayette Street in Soho. I gave Stefie a brief tour of my office and then we headed to lunch at Ruby's Cafe on Mulberry Street. At lunch, we talked about my experience in the architecture field from portfolio development to graduate school applications and eventually choosing which firm to work for once in the "real world." Stefie shared with me the work she is currently doing in her senior studio for which she is traveling to Chandigarh, India on November 3 for an intense week long charrette and research experience with her classmates and professor, David Smiley. I am really excited for her to have this opportunity to explore architecture from such a unique perspective and look forward to hearing about her adventures. We already have plans to get together when she returns so I can see the book the studio put together for their trip and hear Stefie's reaction to her experience.

I am really happy to have been paired with Stefie and look forward to our mentor/mentee relationship growing over the next several months.

Dana Points to facilitate the Fireside Chat

Career Development is excited to announce that Barnard alumna Dana Points will be facilitating the Fireside Chat on December 1st!

Dana Points is the Editor-in-Chief of Parents and American Baby magazines and oversees content for the two brands on all platforms. Under her guidance Parents has won 18 awards in the past 2 years recognizing its excellence for editorial and design, including a National Magazine Award nomination, and debuted its first monthly issue for the iPad.

Before joining Parents in September 2008, Points worked as an editor specializing in women’s health and well-being for more than 15 years. She was named Executive Editor of Self in August 1999. There, she edited the food magazine Self Dishes, as well as the magazine’s book 15 Minutes to Your Best Self.

Points has also been Executive Editor of American Health for Women, a Reader’s Digest publication and has held editorial positions with Mademoiselle and Family Circle. She serves on the board of Safe Kids, an organization working to prevent unintentional childhood injuries. Points has appeared on “Today” and “Good Morning America”, as well as on CNN. She was chosen as one of MIN’s 21 Most Intriguing People of 2010.

A Fun & Inexpensive Meet-Up

Take a break and enjoy some comedy that will warm your body-- and heart. There is nothing like having a good laugh, especially if it comes at a low price! On Saturday November 6, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre is holding one of its many long-form improvised comedy shows called Let’s have a Ball. The show stars writers and performers form '30 Rock'(Kay Cannon), 'Bored to Death', 'Late Night w/Conan O'Brien'(Christina Gausas), and the UCB Theatre. The show starts at 7:30pm and reservations are made at ucbtheatre.com. Tickets are $10.00 and are paid at the door.

Take the time to check the line-up of shows at the UCB theatre to find one that fits both the mentor and mentee’s schedule since many shows are held throughout the week. One of its most popular, the Harold Night , is a 30 minute long-form improv created by NYC’s top improv groups and tickets are only $5! Plan ahead for reservations since tickets sell out fairly quick.

Reflections from Michelle Yip, Mentee and Class of 2012

I am very glad that I was matched with my mentor, Kavita Gidwani , a senior vice president in Investment Finance at Citigroup. The mentor information sheet that Career Development prepared for each mentee was very helpful in starting off our conversation. I learned that my mentor is passionate about philanthropy and community service, which is something that we both have in common. I was interested in what causes she supported, and also her future goals in possibly starting a social enterprise.  

We discussed a new non-profit venture fund, Acumen Fund, which uses a different approach in solving global poverty by investing capital to entrepreneurs who then provide basic services and goods at affordable prices to low income individuals.  I think that low income individuals will greatly benefit from Acumen Fund by having access to the basic necessities and I hope to help her with her philanthropy efforts in the future.

I mentioned that my sorority, Kappa Phi Lambda will be holding an annual benefit dinner, ARISE: Fight for Freedom to donate to victims of sex trafficking on October 29^th at Lerner, and she immediately took out her smartphone and logged the date. With such a demanding position at Citigroup, I appreciate seeing her actively trying to support me in a cause that I believe in.

I know that each student’s experience with their mentor was different. My goal was to get to know her better as a person, and learn about the amazing things that she has done since graduating from Barnard. We will be meeting again on a Friday afternoon for lunch since we work around the same area.

I am grateful for the match that Rachel made, and I look forward to further developing our relationship.

What A Lovely Brunch!

I just wanted to thank those of you that made it to the brunch.  It was nice to meet everyone in person and celebrate the beginning of the Alumnae-to-Student Mentoring Program.  I find it truly amazing what a strong energy a group of Barnard women can bring to a room, and I feel honored to be a part of it.

Please continue checking this blog and adding your comments.  I will be reaching out to program participants individually and asking them to contribute to the blog (and giving them login instructions that they need to do so), but please feel free to reach out to me if you would like to add a post (rather than just commenting).

I look forward to a fabulous year!

Best,

Rachel Tannenbaum



Mentors mingling and getting ready for the orientation to begin







Three student counselors from Career Development (two out of the three are also mentees in the program) running the alumnae registration table

Rachel Tannenbaum, Associate Director, Career Development, orientating alumnae to the program

Mentors listening intently to the orientation presentation

Maryangela Moutoussis '06 alumna and Manager, Alumnae Affairs, delivering the keynote speech

  




Alumnae and students enjoying the keynote speech

 



Participants engaging in the mingling portion of the event