Written by: Andrew Cornel; Student Reporter

“[To] Promote, empower, and support women across the campus to become better, stronger leaders in order to foster a more gender-equal corporate culture”, says Women in Business President, Theodora Sofowora, to describe the club and its mission. 

Women in Business, also known as WiB, was founded four years ago. The club was founded with a purpose to represent women, and create that force of community through better representation and inclusivity. Each officer has their own experiences in the club and Vice President, Ivy Barton, shares her unique experience from the 2019 rebranding launch, “I was at Cascadia and I was looking for clubs at UW Bothell and the instance I saw Women in Business I was like that’s my people; I’ve gotten to see the club grow and see the community that comes from it.” She, along with the other WiB officers and members, also still talk to and connect with past members and those who have graduated and are out in the real world. 

An ideal candidate that’s interested in joining WiB is, “open-minded, kind, someone who wants to progress, to help others and be more informative; Also one that wants to learn more and use up all the resources they can,” says Director of Operations, Liana Park. The club tries to give out as many resources as possible to their members and community. They also do a great job in connecting their members with professionals that will probably be needed for students as they begin their career paths. 

Women in Business also wants to emphasize that just because you’re not a woman doesn’t mean you can’t join the club. “We are inclusive of all genders all of our workshops and members are heavily focused on women which is amazing so we can increase opportunities but are also welcoming of male students… our end goal is gender equality and to close the gap and create equal opportunities for all genders,” says Director of Marketing, Yuleeka Hayashi. 

A highlight event the club had in fall quarter 2021 was led by Director of Philanthropy Lindsey Scully. They held a week-long food drive for the Husky Pantry by promoting on Instagram and utilizing a bingo card that has different monetary amounts to donate. Donors went to help fill out the bingo cards by venmo-ing the donation to the WiB member. Within one week, they raised over $550 and received just shy of 600 food items for the Husky Pantry. A lot of people on campus got involved and it was a successful way that WiB came together to contribute to and build community. 

For those interested in joining the club there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with this new initiative. As Senior Advisor, Cindy Yang shares, students are invited to join “Hang out with WiB on Discord… There is a schedule every week and the best way to get involved is to go to a hang out with WiB sessions on our discord server in one of the voice channels; in terms of our events we try to keep our events as accessible as possible and low-barrier to entry.”

WiB tries to make their workshops helpful by not limiting knowledge or access, and make their events open to all majors. You can also stay up to date with the club and see other club resources and information by signing up on their newsletter in the linktree on their instagram account: @wibuwb. Be on the lookout for future events the WiB puts on this year. As Senior Advisor, Cindy Yang shares, “[Women in Business] may not be the biggest but their impact is the deepest.”