Happy Daze: Women’s Summit Drives Progress

The Center for Career Excellence and St. Lawrence’s University Advancement Committee hosted another successful Saint to Saint Women’s Summit on Saturday, April 13, 2024, in Sykes Formal Lounge. The summit welcomed 31 female-identifying SLU students who occupy prominent roles on campus in athletics, academics, or leadership to gather with 10 powerful female alums for career and leadership development, connection, celebration, and education. The summit was made possible by sponsors Mary Pat Suits ’83 and Dan Suits ’83! 

At the beginning of the event, attendees checked in and were greeted by Laurentian guests, including Lisa Gale ’89, an attorney at Gale Legal Group PLLC Attorney, Jordyn Buzza ’11, manager of Starbucks Enterprise Communications, Marianna Locke ’09, a former SLU professor and the director of the St. Lawrence County Historical Association, Joanna Loomis ‘10, deputy director at NOCO Initiative, and Susan Merrell ’83, P’13, ’19, ’21, NYS deputy director and U.S. Senator Gillibrand. Students had the opportunity to network with these honored guests, find common interests, and connect for future endeavors. This not only offers practice for other networking events but also fosters a sense of community and empowerment among our female student leaders. 

Kathryn Mayer ’82, President and Founder of KC Mayer Consulting Inc., was the keynote speaker for the summit and provided a very thought-provoking presentation on concepts from her latest book coming out in May, “The Productive Perfectionist: A Woman’s Guide to Smashing the Shackles of Perfectionism.” We discussed why women struggle more with perfectionism. Research suggests two reasons: one reason is gender expectations start and get reinforced in childhood, causing girls to be rewarded when they are most obedient as opposed to boys who are “given more latitude” Mayer said. The other reason is that in the workplace, “men are most likely to be rewarded for being daring and risk-taking, while women are most likely to be rewarded for precision.”. Mayer informed us that some of us are perfectionists, and that can sometimes be productive. However, we quickly learned that most of our perfectionism has shackled us, preventing us from functioning healthily in our lives. Through anecdotal stories, Mayer shared how she reframed her thinking to not shackle herself with what she “should” do, referring to this as “shoulding all over yourself.” Mayer’s insights sparked meaningful conversations and left a lasting impact on the women leaders in the room as they started to think about embracing authenticity and self-worth. 

Dr. Lisa Towle ’92 provided a moving guided meditation on our path to wellness. She identified three basic but essential contributions to our overall mood and function: posture, breath, and words. First, Dr. Towle drew comparisons between what would be considered poor posture and what our body does when we are feeling lonely, afraid, or sad: We slouch, arch forward, and drop our heads. She informed us that this actually elicits a chemical response from the body and makes us feel worse. She noted that this is often our posture when we are on the computer and phone, and she encouraged us to check in with our posture often. Second, she discussed how important the breath is, referencing the book “Breath: A New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor. Breathing through the nose instead of the mouth has multiple health benefits, including filtering and moistening the air you breathe so your lungs stay unbothered. This can also boost oxygen intake and slow heart rate. Lastly, Dr. Towle spoke about “wellness words,” which are words that we use to be kind, support, and uplift someone. Wellness words are also the things that we say to ourselves such as “I am so proud of you,” “You have the best laugh and smile,” “You brighten my days, thank you for being here,” and so on. These are things we often don’t hear, with most of us probably having negative self-talk, but these are so important for our mood, happiness, and longevity. The summit finished with a meditation with wellness words guided by Dr. Towle, which illuminated how posture, breath, and words can work together to heal and create lasting wellness. 

Recent grads Thoin Begum ’18, co-chair of the Communications Committee for South Asian Public Health Association, Kyani Vazquez ’16, Hearst Technical product manager, and Emma Phillips ’16, Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Agriculture program manager, set the bar high with their achievements after St. Lawrence. “It was so impressive to see how some women who had graduated six and ten years ago have come so far. Not only was I able to get advice and relate to them, but I also got the honor of seeing them fully in their light,” an attendee noted. I got a chance to speak with Elyse Merrell ’21, who is a new business coordinator at Northwestern Mutual in Boston; she mentioned that there was not a space like this summit available to her when she was on campus and was glad to be a part of cultivating this space for current students. 

It is clear from the attendees that more mentorship for women in leadership on campus is needed. Being the 14th female president in Thelmo (yes, since its founding in 1856,) I learned that more women need to be in leadership roles to show others that it is possible to become female leaders and they will be supported in their endeavors. “It was honestly amazing to hear how other women like me at SLU were struggling too; the interactive parts of the event made me feel so comfortable,” stated Rory Sauereisen ’26; “I loved the perfectionist talk a lot, too; I knew I liked to give my 100% but didn’t realize that perfectionism was shackling me in a way.” Other attendees shared Sauereisen’s sentiments and also added a new perspective on defining success. As we continue our journeys as women leaders, our time together continues to resonate, empowering us to prioritize progress over perfection and celebrate our contributions to the world as women! 

A big thank you to the Student Leadership Team, Beth Larrabee, senior associate director of the Center for Career Excellence, University Advancement, and various alumni for making this lovely luncheon happen! In addition, thank you to dining services for catering this event and providing us with options for all dietary needs! Lastly, thank you to the students who attended the event and contributed thoughtfully