Posted by Heading to the Women’s Foreign Policy Group Mentoring Fair tonight 2/26 6-9pm? Here’s a recap of the event in 2013!
The Women’s Foreign Policy Group 2013 Mentoring Fair brought together dozens of foreign policy professionals and NYU students for a night of quick but critical insights to the field.
Even WFPG’s president, Patricia Ellis, participated by speaking on her experience as a journalist for fifteen years.
Donna Welton, with over twenty-five years of experience as a diplomat and arts professional, shared her public diplomacy experiences in Japan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and Washington. She emphasized the need for interpersonal skills, as diplomacy is often done one person at a time.
But don’t let event’s name mislead you: several male mentors also gave their vital expertise on how to effectively work the international affairs career path.
Donna was joined by David Firestein, Vice President for the Strategic Trust-Building Initiative and Track 2 Diplomacy at the EastWest Institute, who gave valuable advice on entering a career with the US Foreign Service. David stressed that the State Department’s biggest need is smart people who can effectively communicate, recalling an experience in China where he needed to negotiate with an air traffic controller in order to secure an immediate flight out of the country.
Dan Konigsburg of Deloitte underscored the fact that professionals should bring every part of themselves to their profession, rather than have the two severed. Upon telling me that he never leaves a big event without three business cards, I astutely handed him mine.
With mentoring rounds lasting fifteen minutes each, attendees found the event helpful despite the fast pace. To learn more about the Women’s Foreign Policy Group and future mentoring fairs, visit http://www.wfpg.org/.
Written by:
Serhan Ayhan
Vice President, NYU International Relations Association
Master’s Student, Politics Dept
NYU Wasserman Blog 