Together and Forward
SCU Own It promotes female empowerment and changing conversations
It’s not every day that the Santa Clara community comes together to exchange stories of successful women while empowering a new generation of women to follow a similar path. Santa Clara Own It Summit aims to make this a common occurrence—at least annually.
A day-long conference that emphasizes development, networking and personal growth, Own It has historically focused on tailoring their messages to women since it was established on Santa Clara’s campus in 2017. This year, senior co-chairs Laura Pearl and Andrea Feltz want to shift who the conversation includes.
“If any real change will come, it’s not going to come from one side,” Feltz said. “It has to be a collaborative effort.”
As with past summits, this year’s Own It team encourages men to attend the event as well. Although the summit’s focus is on successful women in various fields, anyone can benefit from the messages that are shared at Own It.
“A huge focus this year was to create a more inclusive event to foster an environment that’s more diversified and collaborative within the community,” Feltz said.
An element that the 2020 summit will include that past summits lacked is a multifarious speaker group.
Molly Blume, best known for her memoir, “Molly’s Game,” that was adapted into an award-winning film of the same name, is one of two featured keynote speakers.
Bloom turned into an “accidental entrepreneur” when her assistant job resulted in running one of the most high-stakes underground poker games in the world.
“She really embodies that resiliency we can all learn from,” Pearl said. “She trusted herself and her abilities. She never doubted herself.”
The remaining keynote speaker is Paula Schneider, CEO and president of Susan G. Komen.
Schneider is a breast cancer survivor herself and is responsible for the strategic direction of the foundation and general operations.
The lineup of speakers rounds out with an orthopedic surgeon, an attorney, a technology manager, an assistant professor and a director of an investment group and differs from previously business-dominated speaker series.
“It’s a very universal event,” Feltz said. “It’s an important conversation for everyone to engage in.”
University students are not the Own It team’s target audience. In years past, many high school students, faculty and staff and community members have participated in the summit. The 2019 summit saw 180 attendees listen to keynote speakers, discuss at breakout sessions and socialize in networking opportunities.
The Own It Summit is completely student-run and generally dependent on ticket sales and donations to keep it running. The first Own It Summit took place on Georgetown’s campus in 2016, and Santa Clara alum Bella Gianini initiated Santa Clara’s participation the following year.
“It’s kind of sad to have that realization that it’s still rare to have a space in which women can share their stories,” Pearl said. “That’s really what we want to provide: a candid and intimate setting where everyone is being sincere and tackling those issues.”
Registration for Santa Clara’s 2020 Own It Summit closes on Friday, Jan. 31, at 11:59 p.m.
Contact Meghan McLaughlin at mhmclaughlin@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.