The Business Oriented Leadership Development (BOLD) Conference is a remarkable event that brings female CEOs, business owners, and founders together to speak to young women interested in business and leadership. This year’s conference was held at Harvard University on Saturday, November 9th, and Sunday, November 10th. The Scituate High School Women’s Business Association (WBA) sent a record-breaking 50 students to represent the SHS community.
Scituate High’s impressive turnout was attributed to the efforts of WBA presidents, seniors Bailey Young, Savana Garabedian, and Gracelyn Veiga, who promoted the event and generated interest, leading to a school attendance that surpassed all other participating schools.
WBA was initiated in 2023 to address gender imbalance in the business world. While the Harvard conference was not officially part of the club’s schedule, it was one of their most popular activities. This year saw a notable increase in attendance from just six SHS participants last year. Young noted, “The conference allowed us to see and understand the issues women in business face, as well as the empowerment that comes from it.” Young explained that men have traditionally dominated the business world; however, the BOLD conference introduces young women to inspiring role models in the field.
According to Young, the conference environment fosters a sense of community and support, reinforcing that every girl has the potential to achieve greatness in whatever field she decides to pursue.
First-year attendee SHS junior Tori Kroeger reflected on her experience: “I enjoyed it–it felt empowering to see women running these businesses.” She noted that attending the conference changed her perspective and allowed her to engage with students who aspire to enter the business world and pursue ambitions in a traditionally male-dominated field. “I am not going into business, but I thoroughly enjoyed attending the conference. You do not have to pursue a career in business to find this experience impactful.”
Senior class president Jane Ryan attended the conference and reiterated Kroeger’s thoughts about the value of the event: She commented, “I also don’t want to go into business, but I thought it was interesting to learn about the power of owning your own business and how you can work to create a company that benefits humanity instead of just yourself.” Ryan was particularly impressed with guest speaker Kathy Mazzarella, the CEO of Graybar, a Fortune 500 company. Ryan noted, “She was just so confident.”
SHS sophomore Hailey Gill plans to pursue a business career. When asked what she enjoyed about the conference, she commented, “I think the first thing I enjoyed was all the people speaking on the panel were women. They had a really good age range. And they covered a bunch of different aspects of business.” Because she is interested in entrepreneurship, Gill appreciated learning more about the founder of the Little Words Project: “She once needed a little something, so she started making friendship bracelets.” The founder’s small acts of friendship and thoughtfulness eventually developed into a custom jewelry company. Gill remarked, “The cool thing is you can scan who has the bracelet to see where your act of kindness went. I thought it was really cool.”