Hannah Phillips is a Senior at Harvard University. She has previously served as a research assistant for Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Senior Public Policy Lecturer Hannah Riley Bowles. Below, Hannah writes about her participation in the IOP's Women’s Initiative in Leadership (WIL), which was created to address the interest and importance of female students at Harvard in developing leadership skills.
Authored by Harvard University student Hannah Phillips.
WIL remains one of the best programs in which I've participated at Harvard. During my freshmen Spring, I was introduced to challenges that women face as leaders, and ways to overcome some of these challenges. Each week, I was inspired by the high profile speakers and my peers who offered new perspectives of looking at issues of women's leadership. We even helped successfully campaign the Government department to offer its first Women and US Politics Seminar (which I subsequently took the following Spring!).
Like many WIL alums, I found it difficult to stay connected with the program because of its one semester nature. I read the articles and went to a few events that were publicized over WIL-Talk, but I missed the specific space in which I could talk to my peers about women in leadership.
Then, last Spring, the fabulous WIL Chair Leah Goldman introduced the WIL Mentor Program, which consisted of former WIL participants being matched with one or two current participants in a mentoring relationship. As a PAF, I love the opportunity to engage with underclassman one on one to offer advice and share my experience of being a female leader on campus. It is the perfect way to stay involved with WIL.
This semester Leah expanded the WIL Leadership team to include two WIL Mentors Co-Chairs. I was lucky enough to be selected to work with the lovely Layla Stahr. We matched the mentors and mentees and maintained regular check-ins to make sure people were having a good experience. One of the best parts about this position was getting to know the WIL mentors who loved WIL as much as me, and who were keen to continue to discuss issues of women in leadership.