RiverBender Blog: Insights from the Women's Conference

Surrounded by calm, cool and collected women, I found myself decidedly not calm, cool or collected. I am not, it turns out, a calm/cool/collected individual.

But I could be! And that was the confidence boost I needed at the recent “Women’s Conference: Be the Change: Transforming Generations” event I attended last week.

I got the opportunity to attend the conference through the Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob/Marine Chamber of Commerce. The chamber hosted the conference in Edwardsville and invited professionals and students from around the area. While it wasn’t exclusively women, the room was mostly full of confident, badass women bosses, executives and business owners.

I immediately set the tone of my day by sitting at the wrong table. Oops.

Once I eventually found my seat, the day kicked off with a panel of women talking about working in male-dominated industries. Journalism is decidedly male-dominated and has been since the beginning of time, so I was interested in this panel and what the women had to say. They had some great, practical advice about how to be taken seriously and gain respect in the workplace.

The day carried on with breakout sessions. I decided to sit in on sessions about emotional intelligence, imposter syndrome and self-empowerment.

The self-empowerment session was especially intimate, with just me and one other woman there. We spoke about our personal definitions of power and how we enact that in our daily lives.

I decided that, personally, I want to focus on confidence, kindness, assertiveness and purpose. I want to be more confident in my daily and professional life. We’re taught to be humble, and there’s a time for that (most of the time, in fact!). But having some self-assuredness, standing up straight, and feeling good about who you are and what you do? That’s powerful.

It was the day after the election, so I was already pretty exhausted from RiverBender.com’s late night election coverage. But the energy of the room buoyed me. Here I was, surrounded by experts in their fields. How could I not be energized and passionate and excited?

Here’s a tip: Surrounding yourself with people like that will make you twice as strong as both a professional and person. As the day continued, I felt extremely lucky to be in a position where I could learn from these women.

RiverBender.com allowed me to take this day, and the Troy/Maryville/St. Jacob/Marine Chamber of Commerce organized a conference that left me feeling empowered. I’m thankful for the opportunity to learn from these women and the chance to gain some perspective and insight about my own career.

The Chamber of Commerce will host their annual Women’s Conference again next year, and I highly recommend attending if you can. But even if you can’t, take some time today to think about your career and your goals. Think about your own power and how you can harness it in your daily life. Find the confidence within, like I’m working to do now, and let it shine.

I may not be calm, cool and collected, but I am confident, empowered and focused. And I’m proud of that.

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