Adelphi Welcomes Juju Chang at 8th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference
- Delphian Newspaper
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
By Hussein Ali Rifath
Adelphi University hosted its Women’s Leadership Conference on Saturday, March 29. The summit marked the eighth annual installment of a campus tradition bringing more than 350 students, alumni, professionals, industry leaders and community members together for empowerment, networking and professional development.
During the kick-off session, Kindra Hall, a “Wall Street Journal” best-selling author and renowned keynote speaker, spoke about how the power of storytelling to cultivate deep personal relationships has helped her achieve success throughout her professional life.
“One story can build the bridge between two people faster than anything else can,” she told the attentive audience. “You can affect the energy of the room by telling stories. Regardless of the kind of room you’re in, if you bring a story into the room, the energy will change. We are more authentic and more human when telling stories.”
The event continued with three breakout sessions throughout the day, allowing attendees to sit in on discussions of topics such as self-care, confidence in the workplace, managing up, career change and entrepreneurism. Attendees also had access to a Career Support Hub at the Commuter Lounge, consisting of career counselors from Adelphi’s Center for Career and Professional Development. They were available to assist attendees with their job searches by providing feedback on resumes and LinkedIn profiles, as well as conducting mock interviews.
At the University Center Art Gallery, there was a photographer present throughout the conference to take professional headshots of 140 attendees. These photos are commonly used as profile pictures on LinkedIn and other professional social networks.
The Career Closet, which was first introduced by the Center for Student and Community Engagement during last year’s Women’s Leadership Conference, returned with a pop-up donation site. The initiative, which was partly inspired by Rent the Runway, aims to make professional attire more accessible for students in need. Donations of all kinds of business attire in good condition were accepted, including suits, blazers, sports coats, trousers, dress shirts, dresses, skirts and shoes, as well as accessories, such as ties, jewelry, belts, purses and briefcases.
The event concluded with an awards celebration and a keynote dinner. This year, the Women’s Leadership Conference welcomed Juju Chang, a prominent, Emmy-award-winning journalist with a decades-long career, to have a keynote discussion with President Christine Riordan. They discussed their professional journeys, motherhood and what it means to persevere as a woman in the workplace.
In an interview with this reporter for The Delphian prior to the keynote event, Chang answered questions about her professional journey, her experiences as a woman in the journalism world and the challenges she has faced throughout her career. She emphasized how important having confidence is for any field.
“I spent so much energy and so much time being insecure and not having the guts to raise my hand or put myself out there,” she said. “I think that holds a lot of people back.”
Although there has been progress in the gender pay gap throughout the past few decades, she said there is still much work to be done.
“You can look up a million statistics about how women on average earn either 70 or 80 cents to the dollar,” Chang said. “It’s come up from 50 to 60, but what that means is it’s a reflection of power. It’s a reflection of status. It’s a reflection of women’s role in every sphere. And I think the other thing that goes hand-in-hand with that is that I think most people think there’s no more sexism, and that women have equal rights and equal power. But the truth is, there are lots of areas in which women are still seen through an unconscious bias as sort of less than or less capable than, based on nothing other than subconscious biases that people have. And I think the biggest thing is overcoming people’s denial about having it or that it’s out there.”
Through it all, Chang has always responded to such attitudes with patience, she said. “Rather than take it head first and be aggressive or whatever, I tend to do it with a little bit of humor, because I think very few people who engage in vaguely sexist behaviors see themselves as sexist. I try to gently point out thinking or behavior that is or may be construed as sexist.”
At a time when social media reels have made it easier than ever to consume new information quickly, she recommended that Adelphi students take more time to think critically and get information from a broad range of sources.
“I do think that, as viewers, I would advise young people to engage in as much critical thinking as they can and broaden their spectrum… I engage in all sorts of vigorous debates with my children about what constitutes a credible source,” Chang said. “And so it’s not just that you have a factoid; it's about talking to people, about delving deeper into an issue, and really not just taking a 30-second clip and taking it as gospel. If you’re an aspiring journalist, I would say it’s even more important to consume a broader range of media, and I mean traditional media, because there’s a reason why reading `Foreign Affairs’ or the `Wall Street Journal’ or others gives you more perspective than a shorter snippet.”
Throughout her career as a journalist, Chang said she has encountered many people who were afraid to tell their stories or voice their opinions. That required her to balance empathy with the demands of her work.
“We often deal with fear. Two weeks ago, I was doing a story about a woman who was accusing a man of grooming her and being a pedophile,” she said. “And she was afraid to go on camera, and she was afraid for a whole host of reasons, understandably. I would say: trust your gut and do what’s human more than anything else, because I try not to over-pressure somebody who’s feeling that. And I explain to them that their fear is warranted. I’m not going to pressure you to go on camera.
“As a broadcast journalist, especially, I feel strongly that it’s important to humanize people, whatever story it is. That said, we’re living in an era of retribution,” Chang said. “We’re living in an era where that fear is warranted. The last thing I want to do is put somebody in harm’s way. That’s what I mean about being human first before being a journalist. For students here who want to speak out but who fear retribution, those are real fears. And so it's about balancing all of those things. It’s not easy.”