LEDA successfully implemented its inaugural Career Institute last week at Brown University. 160 LEDA Career Fellows representing 50 top colleges convened last week to participate in the flagship component of the new LEDA Career Network. Career Fellows spent four days exploring career paths in a variety of industries and cultivating the skills needed to successfully enter and thrive as leaders in a broad range of careers. “I left the Career Institute with a clearer perspective on internships, greater confidence in myself, and excitement about the future,” said LEDA Career Fellow Aadit Viyas, a rising sophomore at Yale University.
LEDA partnered with 20 leading employers, including Creative Artists Agency, IBM, JPMorgan Chase & Co., NBCUniversal, PIMCO, and Ropes & Gray LLP, to provide workshops on various career options as well as job search techniques. Keisha Audain-Pressley and Chloe Kelley of PIMCO congratulated LEDA on the success of our pilot Career Institute: “The event was expertly planned to maximize engagement between a highly qualified candidate pool and a diverse slate of potential employers. We look forward to continuing our discussions with the LEDA Career Fellows to support their potential futures in the asset management industry.”
In addition, Fellows received one-on-one coaching from seasoned professionals and guidance on how to address the challenges faced by low-income and first-generation college students as they pursue careers. Some of the workshops included Building Your Personal Brand, The Insider’s Guide to Job Interviews, and Careers in Management Consulting. Fellows were assigned a LEDA Scholar mentor who provided ongoing advising for the duration of the four-day event.
This year’s Career Institute also welcomed three featured speakers: Angelina Darrisaw (pictured at right), Founder and CEO of C-Suite Coach; Stephen D’Antonio, former Global Chief Operating Officer of the Fixed Income Division at Morgan Stanley; and Seth Pearson, Associate and Business Lawyer for Private Equity & Venture Capital Practice at Foley & Pearson LLP and a graduate of the TRIALS program of the Advantage Testing Foundation. These individuals provided expert advice on everything from how to “live your best life” to treating career advancement as a social justice issue.
The 2017 Career Institute was developed with a flagship investment from the Gerstner Family Foundation, as well as support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and the Zegar Family Foundation during the conception and planning of the program.
Photo credits: Peter Goldberg for LEDA; LEDA staff