Lyons Network Promotes Career Exploration
By: Meg Massey
Issue date: 3/3/06 Section: News
On Saturday, February 18, more than 100 female undergraduate students from colleges and universities all over New England descended on Gamble Auditorium for the New England Undergraduate Women's Conference on Leadership and Careers. The event was organized by the Lyons Network and sponsored by the Office of the President, Microsoft, the Mellon Foundation, 85 Broads and the Tuck Business Bridge Program.
The all-day conference began with a keynote address from Nina Lederman '81, the current president of Joe Roth TV, which is owned by Revolution Studios' Joe Roth and Paramount Television. Lederman had previously served as vice president of productions for NBC Studios and also produced several TV shows for NBC, CBS, ABC and HBO. Her address was full of frank, inspiring advice on how to successfully make it in the production business. In addition to general remarks on perseverance, Lederman also focused her speech on basic advice for those starting out, from getting an agent to finding spot jobs on a film or TV set that put women in position for networking.
After Lederman's speech and a question-and-answer session, students broke into groups based on career interests to hear panel discussions from professional women on Law and Social Change, Emerging Opportunities: Science and Technology, and a Business Workshop on consumer marketing strategy and the MBA program at the Harvard Business School. Panelists from each group detailed their paths to their current careers, and then fielded questions about the ins-and outs of graduate schools, internships and other relevant career information.
Following the morning panel discussions, students continued to practice their networking skills at the networking lunch, which once again paired students with speakers from a variety of fields, including Film, Pharmaceuticaland Biotechnology, the Tuck Business Bridge Program, Emerging Opportunities: Science and Technology, Law and Social Change, Medicine, Careers in Politics and Government and Not-for-Profits. These lunchtime discussions led into the afternoon panel discussions on Film: Behind the Scenes, Careers in Politics and Government, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology and Not-for-Profits and NGOs. The varied offerings for the panel sessions and the lunch, as well as the repetition of certain panels and speakers at different periods, allowed students the chance to hear sound advice from women in multiple fields.
The day was capped off with the final address, given by Enzo Mileti and Jason Reid, the writer-director and producer of "Pipe Dreams," a documentary following the lives of two Olympic athletes preparing for the 2002 Winter Games at Salt Lake. "Pipe Dreams" was featured in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to showing clips from the film, Mileti and Reid spoke about how they overcame their struggles early on as filmmakers, particularly with the fundraising needed to make "Pipe Dreams" a reality. Like Lederman, they emphasized perseverance and an understanding of how the business worked-an understanding that they were able to share with the conference attendees.
The all-day conference began with a keynote address from Nina Lederman '81, the current president of Joe Roth TV, which is owned by Revolution Studios' Joe Roth and Paramount Television. Lederman had previously served as vice president of productions for NBC Studios and also produced several TV shows for NBC, CBS, ABC and HBO. Her address was full of frank, inspiring advice on how to successfully make it in the production business. In addition to general remarks on perseverance, Lederman also focused her speech on basic advice for those starting out, from getting an agent to finding spot jobs on a film or TV set that put women in position for networking.
After Lederman's speech and a question-and-answer session, students broke into groups based on career interests to hear panel discussions from professional women on Law and Social Change, Emerging Opportunities: Science and Technology, and a Business Workshop on consumer marketing strategy and the MBA program at the Harvard Business School. Panelists from each group detailed their paths to their current careers, and then fielded questions about the ins-and outs of graduate schools, internships and other relevant career information.
Following the morning panel discussions, students continued to practice their networking skills at the networking lunch, which once again paired students with speakers from a variety of fields, including Film, Pharmaceuticaland Biotechnology, the Tuck Business Bridge Program, Emerging Opportunities: Science and Technology, Law and Social Change, Medicine, Careers in Politics and Government and Not-for-Profits. These lunchtime discussions led into the afternoon panel discussions on Film: Behind the Scenes, Careers in Politics and Government, Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology and Not-for-Profits and NGOs. The varied offerings for the panel sessions and the lunch, as well as the repetition of certain panels and speakers at different periods, allowed students the chance to hear sound advice from women in multiple fields.
The day was capped off with the final address, given by Enzo Mileti and Jason Reid, the writer-director and producer of "Pipe Dreams," a documentary following the lives of two Olympic athletes preparing for the 2002 Winter Games at Salt Lake. "Pipe Dreams" was featured in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to showing clips from the film, Mileti and Reid spoke about how they overcame their struggles early on as filmmakers, particularly with the fundraising needed to make "Pipe Dreams" a reality. Like Lederman, they emphasized perseverance and an understanding of how the business worked-an understanding that they were able to share with the conference attendees.