Women in Management, Inc. National Conference

My second official appearance was at the Women in Management, Inc. National Conference, held at the Carleton of Oak Park this past Tuesday, May 20th. KL is currently the National President of WIM, so she was in charge of many aspects of the conference. Ashley Hatfield, the reigning Miss Illinois, was the keynote speaker at the event. There were many influential and inspiring women that are members of WIM, most of which are business leaders or important figures in the corporate world. It was very cool to be in a room full of such high profile individuals, and as always, I had a great time with my exec directors Patti and KL!

As the recipient of this year's Nancy Ecker Maczka-Burke Scholarship Award, I received a certificate and was honored at the event. Ashley and I also helped hand out awards to the amazing women who won the Woman of Achievement Awards within WIM. And we picked raffle tickets! haha


Ashley and I



With one of the WIM chapters



With my exec directors and Amalia (director of Miss Illinois) !!



Miss Illinois 2007... keynote speaker! Her speech seriously almost made me cry... ya it was that good.

Ashley's speech was very fluid and impactful... she got her message across strongly and in a friendly way. She began talking about how her becoming Miss Illinois came about. At 24, she decided to compete again in order to get some scholarship money for school. If she at least made the top 10 at Miss Illinois, she would be able to cover the majority of her expenses! She hadn't competed since 19, and many people doubted her ability to come out successul because of her age. She went on to talk about her year as Miss Illinois, and the ways in which she has promoted her platforms. Yes, she has been working to promote more than one platform. Breast cancer is her main platform issue, but she also talked to schools about the CHARACTER COUNTS! program, and she has been a strong advocate for the Miss America Organization. She became emotional when talking about what the Miss America Organization does for young women... This is the part that really hit home with me. What the MAO does is build confidence in women, empower them, provide them with important interview practice and experience, help them develop their talents, provoke their interest in community service and giving back through volunteer work, promote strong moral standards within them, and keep them striving for a healthy lifestyle. I feel that competing in the locals has done all of these things for me in one way or another. I am so excited to see what competing at the state level will be like and how it will help me reach my goals. I am very proud to be a representative of the organization, and I encourage all young women to get involved in some way! Miss America truly does great work. Possibly the most important thing that Ashley mentioned, WE ARE NOT OWNED BY DONALD TRUMP!!!

hahahha that was the greatest thing she could've possibly said about the Miss America Organization. I didn't know that Trump actually tried to BUY the Miss America Org, but they turned him down and he retaliated by creating the Miss USA Pageant. good stuff... OH and it was Ashley's birthday! Happy b-day Ashley :)



Ashley & KL, two amazing women



presenting awards to some of the WIM members



SPRING FORUM TOMORROW!!!!!! Ahhhh!
i've been spending almost every waking moment preparing for this thing. I went around the past few days trying to find sponsors. I went downtown, around the Lincoln Park area, and in the neighborhood asking people and businesses to sponsor me. It's intriguing to see how people react to a girl in a crown and sash..... Ashley mentioned it at one point on Tuesday. When asking people if Miss Illinois can come in and speak to people at an event or school, the directors often encounter silence. Oh well, I strongly believe in the message and goals of the Miss America Organization. It really isn't your typical beauty pageant.

OK i gotta finish my resume and get some stufff notarized. Later!

<3 Marisa