PLEN: Women in Global Policy

Meet Natalie Strauber! Natalie majors in and is interested in a career in International Relations. Thanks to a grant from the Newcomb College Institute, she attended Public Leadership Education Network (PLEN)’s Women in Global Policy seminar. Read about her experience below:

Describe yourself and why you wanted to attend the PLAN conference:

I have always been interested in international affairs. I wanted to learn about ways that I can break into this highly competitive space. I wanted to learn from successful women—their best practices and how they successfully navigated through their careers to get to the point where they are today. This program seemed to be the absolute best way to do this, and as it turned out, it was.

Describe your favorite parts of the conference:

I particularly liked my site visit to the Embassy of Spain. Because the women were so kind. Spain is the country I am most interested in. I am going abroad to Spain this Fall and I was very happy I got to meet these esteemed diplomats and ask them questions about the relationship between Spain and the United States.

Highlight a speaker or a job site you visited:

Kaylee Cox-Cybersecurity and Privacy lawyer.
She talked about things I learned about in my law class and she appeared to me to have the job that I aspire to. I am looking forward to connecting with her in Washington in the future.

Tell us what you learned that you hope to never forget:

The fact that a career in global policy is attainable if you are diligent and focused. The conference has taught me to never feel awkward to reach out to people in the industry.

Why should other students attend a PLEN conference:

To be informed about their career paths. You don’t need to have everything figured out right now, but you can get a closer look at the industry and be better qualified to judge whether it is the right path for you to continue on.