We recently held elections for next year’s GBA. One year after electing 2 men for the positions of President and Vice President, we made a complete 180 and elected 2 women to lead the GBA next year. This is pretty exciting because not only do we have two very qualified candidates leading but also this shows everyone that Tepper is just as much a woman’s place.

Everyone knows Tepper for being a data-driven and tech-focused program. This causes a lot of people, especially women, to wonder if Tepper is the right place for them and whether they can succeed in such an environment. For those of us in the Tepper community, we know that anyone with any background can succeed. The small, tight-knit, supportive community we have here makes that possible. My classmate, Lauren D’Souza blogged about how the “nontraditional candidate” can succeed at Tepper but I’m hoping to show you that women can and do succeed at Tepper.

When I received the news that Victoria Lopez and Kelly Mercer were elected as the next GBA President and Vice President respectively, I was so excited. Even though the GBA was led by 2 women in the past (in 2015), it still felt like we were making progress. Personally, I hoped Victoria and Kelly would be elected because their personal statements, speeches, and debate answers represented the Tepper spirit. As GBA Marketing Officer, I wanted to show people that Tepper is a place for women as well.  While I am so happy for Victoria and Kelly, I can’t help but feel like this is a personal victory for all Tepper women (past, present, and future).

We talk a lot about diversity and inclusion, but how do we get people to believe us when they don’t see it in the stats? Not many people know that we have 10 female club presidents this year! Business & Technology, Data Analytics Club, Graduate Finance Association, and Consulting Club were just some of the clubs led by women this year. Given the male-to-female ratio of the program, this is pretty amazing! The fact that some of the most popular career-focused clubs have female leaders should show you that women not only succeed at Tepper but also are trusted to be take clubs to the next level. Now that the GBA will have two women at the highest positions, I hope this fact will be more apparent and encourage more women to apply and join Tepper. As a female, non-tech student, I have learned more, experienced more, and succeeded more than I ever expected to. All of this was possible because of the opportunities I have had at Tepper through the GBA and the Swartz Center. I am confident the GBA is in great hands with Victoria and Kelly. I can’t wait to see what is next for Tepper with these two ladies leading the school through many upcoming changes.

In the wise words of Queen B – “Girls, we run this motha (yeah!)”