WEST Wisdom Blog

Considering a job or career change can be daunting, or it can be the most exciting life change you plan in a year. The difference is in how you approach making your career change. You could jump in blindly and hope to stumble on the right job, hope that your new position is a good fit for you and that you find a position you can finally call your career, but hope isn’t a plan. Starting your career change process with the Career Possibilities Panel & Speed Networking series put on by WEST and sponsored by Gilead Sciences can be. This series features panels with specialized STEM experiences. Each event gives panelists the opportunity to share about their backgrounds, experiences, and current jobs, as well as giving attendees the opportunity to network with the panelists and other STEM professionals. 

Often we misunderstand confidence to be a magical feeling that we either possess or it will elude us forever. We then find ourselves wondering how we can create this magical feeling of confidence. However, in reality, confidence is less of a magical gift and more a result of the everyday work of taking on difficult things, learning, failing, growing, and succeeding. In other words, it is not a question of whether you are a confident person or not, but a result of showing up courageously and authentically to things that feel hard (even impossible), scare us, and doing our best. Repeatedly showing up in those difficult situations courageously would slowly build that trust for you in your abilities, and that’s what confidence in self is: a feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgment. Confidence is an outcome of courage, not the other way around. This is what Pallavi Srivastava will focus on in her workshop for the WEST community “Nurturing Confidence: The Path Through Courage & Authenticity.”

Pallavi spent the better part of a decade as a therapist and then as a leadership coach, working with leaders and high achievers across different industries (mostly women) who found confidence standing in their way. She recounts how surprised she was to find so many high achievers struggling with confidence. After talking with leaders, managers, and career beginners across different industries, she says for many of her clients: “you would not have thought confidence would have been a challenge for them.” But it was, and it is for so many. She says in her experience, people struggle with nurturing confidence because they think of it as a personal identity flaw. Many think of someone as not a confident person, instead of looking at it as a quality or ability they want to learn and grow. 

She has heard it so many times and in so many different ways, “I am just not confident enough to speak in the work meeting,” “If I could just feel more confident, I could aim for that next promotion,” “Other people know so much more than me, I am not there yet,” etc. Pallavi sees in them what they can’t see in themselves sometimes- their naturally authentic, confident selves navigating challenges in work and life with elegance. It is this realization in others that is why she has made it a major part of her life’s work to encourage people to create new perspectives on confidence. She says, “Confidence is not who you are or who you are not. Confidence is the outcome of your courage to show up as your true self, and be seen.” 

This is the foundation for her upcoming event. Pallavi Srivastava believes that confidence is not inherently tied to any specific personality type, and is not something that only a select few are born with. Instead, confidence is: being more aware of ourselves and finding our own strengths and appreciating them. It's about being true to our authentic selves and knowing that being our true authentic selves and leaning into courageous action will get us through. 
This is what attendees can expect to learn in the upcoming WEST workshop: “Nurturing Confidence: The Path Through Courage & Authenticity.” Drawing on her professional experience as a leadership and growth coach, as well as her personal journey in nurturing her own confidence, Pallavi will bring practical coaching tools to this workshop. She says, “I am excited that attendees will have the opportunity to explore and reflect on confidence through a new lens of courage and authenticity. They will learn first-hand how they can tap into these aspects to nurture their confidence, so that it doesn’t remain an elusive feeling, but turns into a life-long asset.” The workshop will include small group exercises so that participants can experience the 'how’ of the process.

Pallavi says that a practical approach in bringing real-life change is the centerpiece for her whether she is coaching leaders one-to-one or facilitating workshops. She holds her belief in this practical approach because of her own personal journey of well-being, which included struggles with confidence, burnout, and relationships. 

Before jumping to the well-being field, Pallavi Srivastava started her professional career as a business journalist way back in 2007. After a few years in the profession, she found herself completely burned out. She realized that one of the biggest things she struggled with, and wanted to change for herself and others, was the narrative that success has to cost us everything else we care about. She left her job and went on a quest of exploring how one can create a life where success and achievements don’t cost us our well-being and fulfillment. 
Since then, using different tools and playing different roles (first as a therapist and now as a coach), she has been on a mission to support people in creating a successful career that is life-giving, enjoyable, and fulfilling. She wants to support people in their pursuit of successful careers in a way that is an opportunity for them to be their authentic selves, and live their full potential. That is the vision with which she created her coaching company, ‘The Wellbeing Ways LLC’. She says, “I am so excited to serve the extremely talented and successful women that are a part of the wonderful WEST community through my workshop and coaching”.

If you’ve ever thought having more confidence could help you be seen in the workplace and give you more opportunities to grow and succeed, you won’t want to miss this event! Join us in this 75-minute session to learn how to nurture your confidence and spring up to tremendous career growth!

WEST is excited to continue its Career Possibilities & Speed Networking series with it’s upcoming event focusing on legal career paths. While legal opportunities aren’t the obvious STEM route, there are so many opportunities to grow a very successful legal career with a STEM background. The panelists for this event are prime examples of following a passion for both legal work and the advancing of science and technology in our world. 

No, we're not kidding. While we at WEST certainly take pride in our ability to evolve with the times and seemingly constant fluctuations in climate and covid alike, we're also not above a bit of regression. That is to say, resuming a form of normalcy that moves to bring our community closer together once again.

This year’s National Women’s Month theme is “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope." According to the National Women’s History Alliance, as written on History.com, this theme is "both a tribute to the ceaseless work of caregivers and frontline workers during this ongoing pandemic and also a recognition of the thousands of ways that women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history."

March 1st marks the beginning of Women's History Month and what better way to celebrate the month than to attend a WEST Broadway event. Don’t be left off stage.

It is not too late to join the first event on March 10th with award-winning Arena Theater artistic director: Molly Smith, and actors Nikki Renée Daniels who recently played Angelica Schuyler on Broadway’s Hamilton and Pearl Sun of Broadway’s Come From Away, If/Then. This will be an exciting interactive event that you don’t want to miss. Tickets won’t last long. 

On March 7th,  March 10th, and April 7th, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. ET, WEST is hosting a three-part series to celebrate Women’s History Month, Broadway, and women in science. The exciting series will include three unique interactive, entertaining experiences focusing on the Art of Women in Science and on Broadway.

The mastermind behind this series is NYC-based director, choreographer, actor, musical theater coach, adjunct professor, and owner of Broadway Kids Auditions - Kurt Domoney. In the series, participants will watch Broadway stars perform, hear compelling keynote speakers, and see the portrayal of women in STEM and the arts. The best part Kurt says is how women in science and STEM will see many parallels and similarities between the hard sciences and the performing arts and he is excited to uncover the dialogue and cross-collaboration that will ensue. In an interview with Kurt, he explained to me how the way a science lab is run and the process scientists go through is similar to the production, tech, and process the theater undergoes to prepare and complete a production. He went on to talk about how the arts can inspire innovation and creativity in science and how participants will not only be entertained but will be fully immersed and engaged in the experience of the events.