At my first-year (then called freshman) year convocation, then-president Ruth Adams characterized a Wellesley education as a life-long membership in a powerful and inspiring community. And wow, was she right: my favorite part about going to Wellesley was life after graduation. Since leaving Wellesley/graduating, I have experienced the worldwide reach and depth of the alumnae network, known in some quarters as “the Wellesley mafia”, respected as one of the most powerful women’s network in this country, if not the world.
It didn’t just happen overnight. Generations of women have invested in creating and nurturing those connections, and it’s almost a given that a Wellesley graduate will take a call from someone simply on the basis of her being a fellow graduate (of any vintage) or a current student. We use it to network professionally, get connected in a new community, get advice on almost any topic, and spread the word about our favorite causes. It’s there for us to “pull” on when we need it.
Now, it’s time to take the next step in building the power of Wellesley.
We moan that we don’t hear of the best jobs because they never make it to our recruiters, or that those jobs aren’t posted because the men have grabbed them after being clued in at the golf club locker room or over cigars at the bar. It’s futile to expect that kind of practice will change, much as we wish it might. But what we can do is to come to a new consciousness that our community has a similar kind of power, if only we would use it.
Wellesley graduates are all over the working world, domestically and internationally, in junior-, mid- and senior-level positions in corporations, not-for-profits, academic institutions and NGO’s. Collectively, we know about and have influence over the granting of countless jobs ranging from entry-level to board seats. If we were to get militant about using our access and our contacts to push these opportunities into the Wellesley community, we’d do other alumnae a good turn, but we’d also be doing something concrete to further build the value and visibility of a Wellesley degree. And every one of us would benefit from that.
The network, while strong, remains a “sleeper” asset in one major respect—it’s still too rare that an alumna takes the initiative to post opportunities with Center for Work and Service, or to actively scour the Wellesley network to find a likely candidate for a job opening of which she has become aware. The next step in building the power of this community—one that will take it to new heights—is for all of us to do what we can to spread the wealth of opportunities within the Wellesley community concurrently with, or even ahead of, publicizing it to the world at large.
Nancy Hawthorne is the Chief Executive Officer of Clerestory LLC, a firm providing counsel in corporate and organizational matters. In addition, she currently serves on three corporate boards including: The MetLife Funds, a $150 billion complex of mutual funds affiliated with the Metropolitan Insurance Company, THL Credit, a publicly registered investment company (NASDAQ: TCRD) and Avid Technology, Inc., a publicly registered (NASDAQ: AVID) company which is the world leader in digital media creation tools. Ms. Hawthorne served as Chief Financial Officer of Continental Cablevision, Inc. from 1982 until 1996. Prior to joining Continental, she was a banker at Citibank and Bankers Trust Company. She received a B.A. from Wellesley College in 1973 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1997; she also holds a certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. We encourage you to connect with the Wellesley Alumnae Network on LinkedIn, and visit the CWS website for more information on how to share job/internship postings with the CWS.