On Sunday March 6, 2016, 21 female Hackley students went to Bloomberg L.P.’s International Women’s Day Summit to learn and discuss about women in the corporate world. The light let in by the shiny glass doors of Bloomberg L.P.’s spectacular 59th Street and Lexington Avenue headquarters could not have better reflected the empowering tone set by the day’s events. Bloomberg hosted multiple groups of girls including Hackley, Girls Inc., CUNY, Girls Who Code, and Prep for Prep. Hackley parent and Bloomberg employee Heidi Johnson and Sally Nichols ’87, a Hackley parent and Vice President of the Hackley Alumni Association arranged the opportunity for Hackley girls to get involved with this event for the first time in the event’s three year history. The recent creation of Women of Hackley, an organization dedicated to empowering and supporting Hackley women and young alumnae, parallels the goals of Bloomberg’s recent initiatives to involve women in the workforce.

The day kicked off with an opening ceremony at 9:30 a.m., where the girls gathered on the sixth floor to hear introductory speeches from Nanette Smith of Bloomberg Philanthropy and other Bloomberg employees. “The advice [Bloomberg employees] gave was really valuable insight into the professional business world, and I’ve learned a lot from what they had to say,” said senior Gabriella Zak.

The girls were divided into two separate groups. One group went to a career panel, in which a female-dominated group of Bloomberg employees discussed working with technology and media. “One of my favorite parts of the social media career panel was how they talked about the extent to which social media can influence people’s decisions, whether it’s how they angle their opinion on something or how they choose to display information through social media accounts,” said junior Amanda Stern.

The five panelists were poised, strong, and encouraging, serving as examples of successful women in influential roles in the company. “The panel showed me it doesn’t necessarily depend on what you study, you’ll succeed in your career as long as you’re passionate about what you’re doing,” said senior Jessie Paridis.

The second group of girls went to a resumé workshop, where Bloomberg employees provided them with a template to build resumes to best support applications for future jobs or internships. “I loved how I could organize my accomplishments and activities with help from empowering women,” said junior Lila Wolfe.

After the workshops concluded, the young women gathered in a room for where they received 10 minute mentoring sessions from different Bloomberg employees in various fields. Colin Murray, a Bloomberg software engineer and mentor, shared his advice for success in the workplace. “I read a quote somewhere that if you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room, because then you have no one to learn from. I could spend a lifetime in the computer science industry, and there is still way more that I could learn,” Mr. Murray said. Senior Arielle Stern loved the mentoring session, “They were all really helpful and encouraging, obviously some more than others, due to the certain field that I’m interested in, because I’m more science oriented.”

The day’s highlight was keynote speaker Seema Hingorani, founder of Girls Who Invest and chief investment officer of New York City’s pension plan, managing $160 billion for four years up until June 2014. She encouraged the attendees to learn how to invest and to consider careers as investment managers. “She was so honest and casual in telling her story, unlike other inspirational speakers and narratives, her’s seemed attainable,” said senior Phebe du Pont, president of the Dux Femina Facti. “To us at Hackley, while everyone has their own obstacles in life, we do have a lot of privilege. We can already start to grasp our own power, and we have the power to make those connections.”

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