The next CWIB Leadership Committee to be featured is the Finance Committee! These ladies work very hard to keep track of our club's expenses, finance treks and earn money to carry out club events! Keep reading to find out what the team got out of being in these leadership roles!
Ashley Roberts
Chief Financial Officer
Position description: The CFO overlooks the VP of Finance, VP of Fundraising, and the Philanthropy Chair. Ashley is responsible for handling money given to the club, such as membership dues and trek fees. She approves expense decisions and handles any reimbursements for club events or treks. She is also in charge of the club budget.
Empower – Confidence has been the main skill Ashley has gotten from this role. Her fellow leadership members have always encouraged and supported her through her job, and she has “had the chance to grow her preparation and organizational skills”, as well as delegation. She has been able to empower the other members of the finance committee by pushing them to take on new responsibilities and encourage them to move up the leadership chain. She also empowers other CWIB members to “step up and become more involved in the club”.
Prepare – Ashley says this role has helped her to “grow many necessary skills such as organization, leadership, and communication”. CWIB offers many opportunities for leadership members to network with professionals and learn how to communicate. Ashley also says that CWIB was very helpful during the job recruiting process. She also says it’s very important to be prepared during the semester when it comes to collecting dues and keeping track of them.
Connect – A large part of any leadership position involves connecting with others. Ashley has to interact with every person she has to collect money from, through texts, email, etc. She’s also constantly in touch with the Outreach and Events committees for planning treks and other events. Ashley believes this role has “made her more comfortable with asking for things”. She can speak up with ease and get what she needs from the other members. Attending CWIB’s networking events have helped her become a better listener and learn to compromise when working through differences.
Angela Zadrima
Vice President of Fundraising
Position description: The VP of Fundraising’s duties include distributing the CWIB Sponsorship Packet with the club’s faculty advisor, Chief Communications Officer, and CFO, coordinating benefits for our corporate sponsors, and organizing fundraising efforts to raise money for our club.
Empower – Angela believes having the role as Vice President has empowered her to speak up, whether she agreed or disagreed with something. She has been able to “strengthen her communication and leadership skills” through interacting with members of her committee. Angela says that “the dynamic amongst all the finance positions has been extremely beneficial; we each empower each other through collaboration”. Being part of a committee has also allowed her to extend her ideas to other CWIB members.
Prepare – This role has prepared Angela for the corporate world by teaching her the “ins and outs of an organization’s financials”. She has learned how to organize budgets, as well as how to work in a team, which she believes are both “important parts of any career”. Angela has to prepare for certain events, such as planning profit-shares with local businesses, for months in advance. She states, “preparation of a budget is key to ensuring that funds are distributed appropriately and effectively”.
Connect – Angela connects with others when reaching out to local restaurants for events such as percentage nights, during meetings with the CFO and VP of Finance, during committee meetings, and when speaking to club members during the monthly meetings. Overall, she believes this role has taught her “how to professionally communicate with businesses, and has connected her to so many influential businesswomen”.
Ashton Hughes
Vice President of Finance
Position description: The VP of Finance is in charge of organizing the budget, submitting funding requests to the school board, overseeing any club expenditures, and assisting the CFO in handling club dues and any other payments.
Empower – From this role, Ashton has gained skills in executing and managing a budget, keeping up with a schedule, and making requests with the student budget board. She believes this position has “helped empower others within the finance leadership and the general leadership of CWIB.” She has also felt empowered through being in a finance committee. She says, “It’s great to see them accomplish tasks while working together”.
Prepare – This role has prepared Ashton by teaching her time management and communication skills, which will benefit her later on in the workplace. Some of her duties include reaching out to CWIB leadership in order to gather receipts and reimbursements. In terms of preparing her for leadership, she’s “learned how to ask questions and take guidance from a leader above me”. Preparation is very important to succeed in this role, as she has to stay on top of the budget and properly schedule events. “Planning ahead for meetings and showing up on time have been beneficial skills to learn,” she says.
Connect – Ashton connects with the CFO and other leadership members on a regular basis to get receipts or numbers for the budget. She also works with the student budget board to request funding. She also applies her role to networking and communicating with companies. When interviewing for company positions, she says, “when I told them about my role as VP of Finance for CWIB, they looked at me with a different perspective”. Overall, she believes it’s a privilege to serve this organization in the role she’s in.
Cara Yates
Philanthropy Chair
Position description: The Philanthropy Chair is in charge of coordinating leadership philanthropy activities, organizing service activities for the club, and working on fundraising for the OneGirl project.
Empower – Something Cara has gained from this role is a greater sense of responsibility, about which she says, “responsibility doesn’t just come from assignments or work obligations; responsibility comes from helping those who need it”. She is also able to empower people she leads, as well as people in the Blacksburg community through activities such as Girls on the Run.
Prepare – Being Philanthropy Chair has prepared Cara for life after college by teaching her it’s important to give back, “no matter how high up your position is”. It’s also important to prepare for events ahead of time so things run smoothly. Cara has found that waiting till the last minute to get things done can lead to stress and inefficiency.
Connect – Connecting with the Blacksburg community is an integral part of this role. Some of the CWIB Leadership projects Cara contributed to were writing cards to Girls on the Run Roanoke, as well as sending donations to the Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley. Due to this, “CWIB has been able to establish a relationship with these two amazing organizations,” Cara affirms. This role has taught her to be able to effectively communicate with “not only people in the business world, but people throughout the entire community”.