The annual UVU Polished conference empowers and connects students and professionals. Attendees learn about leadership, entrepreneurship, and financial planning. The event provides networking opportunities and inspiration for young leaders to thrive in business.
For young girls and women to see a place for themselves in the business world, they need to see other women who look like them in the industry. This is the ultimate purpose behind thePolished: Women in Businessevent held atUtah Valley Universityon Friday, November 11, 2022. This was a women-led, one-day conference that connected students and young professionals with successful female leaders in areas of business leadership, entrepreneurship, and financial planning.
Lindsey Lewis, UVU Alum/Founder of the Polished event, and Nikki Walker, Domo, stand at the UVU Polished Conference in 2022
Nikki Walker, Director of Community Engagement & DEI at Domo, kicked off the event as the opening keynote, speaking on the “Human Side of Tech” to discuss the importance and benefits of diversity in the workplace. Nikki is a champion at Domo and in the community for such efforts to create employment pipelines and support student leadership programs that help build and nurture a more diverse pool of qualified talent for the tech industry. According to Nikki, “Utah has some of the most brilliant women, and they are so brilliant because they have been stifled.” She shared her experiences of moving to Utah and being one of the few women of color in her neighborhood and her professional experiences to implement new DEI practices across the company.“Belonging means that you feel your ideas matter,”Nikki said as she asked attendees in the primarily female audience if they felt their voices are heard. She received a reaction of nods as well as vigorous shakes of ‘no’ from the audience. She encouraged the attendees to ‘be brave’ and willing to step into new places where they might not typically ‘belong’ and reminded everyone that diversity was not just a measure of black or white, or male or female. It is about a diversity of experiences and ideas. Before the attendees left for their next sessions, she encouraged them to say goodbye to the friends they came with and sit next to someone new, meet other people with a different backgrounds, and create a diversity of ideas.
Energized from the opening keynote, attendees had a choice of speakers to choose from in morning and afternoon breakout sessions on leadership, entrepreneurship, and financial planning. These speakers and their topics included:
Leadership
Entrepreneurship
Financial Planning
Beyond the educational sessions, a key component of Polished was networking. If women are to empower women, then they need to build those relationships. A networking luncheon broke up the day to give attendees a chance to meet one another and talk one-on-one with some of the speakers. During the luncheon, a panel of successful UVU alumni, Diane Acevedo, Senior Vice President of Operations at Gabb Wireless; Aleksa Porter, Co-Founder of Wander; and Jamaica Martin, MBA, Account Executive at Eddy, all spoke to the group about their own personal experiences and took questions from the audience.
They each shared advice for what current students or young professionals could do for their career journey and discussed the importance of networks and connecting with other women to gain needed resources. In response to one attendee’s question about overcoming fears, Aleksa pointed out,“When you hold on to fears and do not go for your dreams, one year later you will likely be in the same place with the same fears. You have to go for it!”
Now in its fourth year, Polished has grown and will continue to grow with the support of community members and speakers such as these incredible women who see the importance of educating and talking with the future generation of women leaders. The founder of the event,Lindsey Lewis, MBA, ChFC®, CFP®, spoke to the attendees:
“The inception of the Polished: Women in Business mini-conference was to show women, girls, and allieswomen who they can be inspired bythrough their career journey. Growing up in Utah, it was challenging to find women who were income-producing outside of the home on a consistent basis while raising kids. As a two-time alumna of UVU & a mother of two children, I have chosen to work full-time through their upbringing. In my career journey, I stand as a beacon to women that there is an "AND" in their lives. Women can be world travelers, caregivers, parents, philanthropists, AND have a career.”
The 2022 conference truly personified that mission. The diverse group of speakers and panelists showcased how they achieved success through all different upbringings, affluence levels, cultural backgrounds, and life situations. The common thread was that empowered women empower women. Alongside powerful women, we need male and non-binary allies that sponsor, mentor, and amplify the voices of women.
Following the event, Lindsey stated, “Often in my conversations, firms will say that they cannot find diverse female talent. This event showed not only that talent is out there but that women are ready to have a seat at the table. Organizations can learn that a diverse talent pool can be built. That building requires spending time and planting seeds early.”
UVU encourages organizations that want to start the cultivation of empowered women to participate in the Polished 2023 event, where the female-focused organizations in the Woodbury School of Business will continue to inspire young women to reach their summit. Elevate women with us.
Polished was produced by the UVUWoodbury School of Business,UVU Women in Business Impact Lab,UVU Entrepreneurship Institute, WE Lift, and Money Success Center. The event was sponsored by Clearlink with donations from Brandless, MixHers, Sodalicious, Jo Jewelry, LanaRue Woolies, Love Woolies, and Wingmn.
Event organizers included Lindsey Lewis, MBA, ChFC®, CFP®,Jessica Montana Ballard,Kelly Hall,Breanna Hale,Meagan Sanders,Celestia Frei, andMegan Charchenko. Most importantly, the event was executed by UVU students in the Event Management Program in the School of Business as part of their semester engaged-learning project.
UVU's Event Management students gained real-world skills as they planned and executed the successful event!
