Junior helps launch USC chapter of The Women’s Network

When Jaryn Valdry heard that a chapter of The Women’s Network was launching at USC and was accepting applications for its first executive board members, she didn’t think she was qualified enough to apply for the president position. But after speaking with Jamie Vinick, who founded the first chapter of the organization at Syracuse University in 2017, Valdry understood the true mission behind the organization — championing ambition and empowering women to break through their preconceived limitations. 

She applied for president and got the position. 

In just three years, TWN has expanded to 23 campuses nationwide and is continuing to grow. Vinick’s interest in adding a chapter at USC began after she started a beta chapter at UC Berkeley. The USC Chapter of TWN was expected to launch in Spring 2020, but because students were sent home early amid the coronavirus pandemic, the official launch moved to this fall. 

Valdry, a junior majoring in communication, worked with her 10-member e-board throughout the summer to lay the groundwork for the organization and plan virtual events for its launch. Her team hopped on social media to get the word out about the organization and direct-messaged USC women and women’s organizations on campus to gauge interest, but still she said they had no idea whether or not it would be successful in a virtual environment.

“Over the summer, it’s different because you’re seeing all of this from the outside,” Valdry said. “But when you actually start doing meetings, you’re like ‘Are people going to show up? Are people going to be excited?’” 

From their expansive messaging to students, more than 100 people attended TWN’s first meeting and more than 1,000 people joined the mailing list. 

Valdry said that TWN puts on various events that help women redefine ambition and target specific aspects of networking, such as resume revisions and LinkedIn workshops, networking trips and alumni receptions. One event the organization hopes to hold once in-person operations resume, “Mocktails,” encourages members to interact with one another and develop soft skills, such as making eye contact, shaking hands and sending follow-up emails. 

“[The events are] focused on championing ambition, which is something that, a lot of times, in the workforce, is seen as a negative factor of women,” Valdry said. “A lot of people believe that women who are ambitious are tryhards or overly passionate and really, it’s our way of reclaiming that word and using it as a fire for our confidence … using that as a way to bring our own views to the table and feel confident in that and have that kind of self recognition of ‘I am a confident woman who deserves to have a seat at the table, even if it’s a table full of men.’” 

TWN also invites high-profile female leaders across different industries to speak about their careers and offer advice, such as Christine Broda, former consumer insights manager at Spotify, and Rebecca Jarvis, chief business, technology and economics correspondent at ABC News.  

“It’ll be kind of like an informational interview, but with a live audience,” Valdry said. “It’s all about building those networking skills and feeling confident in those. If you’re able to start in a comfortable network, you’ll be able to do it outside of the network as well.”

Despite the success of TWN’s virtual launch, the e-board and members are looking forward to in-person events and bonding. 

“In the future, it’ll be even better to be able to be in an environment where you get to go to companies like Hulu and BuzzFeed and really feel what the environment is like working in that space,” Valdry said. 

Bella Teta, a sophomore majoring in public relations, is the marketing coordinator for TWN. She said that aside from the events, she enjoys getting to know the other members of TWN.

“I feel like one of the great things about The Women’s Network is that we attract people across all majors in all disciplines,” Teta said. “Everyone is extremely open minded. Everyone is honestly so nice too, which I love. These are all people who I can definitely see going out into the professional world. They’re going to do some big things.”

Lyme Cho, a freshman majoring in journalism, joined TWN as a new member earlier this month after coming across the organization’s Instagram page. Attending her first-semester classes from South Korea, Cho said the timezone difference paired with virtual learning has made it difficult for her to meet her peers. She is looking forward to creating connections within TWN.

“Especially during these times, we don’t have any opportunities to meet in person,” Cho said. “We’re doing this solely through the internet, through networking. It’s another example of how powerful networking can be, and being a woman and being able to prove that through this, is really inspiring.”

In addition to accepting members from all majors, TWN does not require any dues or prior professional experience. Valdry said she searched for a women’s organization at USC for a long time prior to TWN but was often restricted due to the application processes, the experience requirements and the time commitment. 

“For me, the draw was that there’s no application, there’s no dues for undergraduate members,” Valdry said. “And I wanted to be able to influence others to be able to be as confident in themselves as I have been able to be throughout my life. And that’s only then because I have strong women in my life.”