Marketing, Branding and Financial Preparedness: November and December YEOC Sessions
This blog post was written by Foster student and YEOC Mentor Khatsini Simani. Photography by Mentors Khatsini Simani and Mike Guevarra.
November: Marketing & Branding
How many uses can you find for a brick?
November’s session began with an exercise in creative thinking, an important skill utilized by Marketing professionals.
Mentors Alvin Benavides and Bontu Yousuf began the session with an introduction of core marketing concepts and invited mentees to reflect on the impact of brands in their lives.
Senior Marketing majors Bontu and Alvin introduce the Marketing lecture
Alice Oh and Reece Vollmer of EY’s advisory team continued the theme by sharing tips for personal branding, networking, and developing executive presence.
Alice Oh and Reece Vollmer lead a professional development session on personal branding and networking
In addition to emphasizing the importance of one’s personal brand, keynote speaker Leona Locke, Chief of Staff at Microsoft, acknowledged role models who’ve helped her achieve a successful career.
Leona Locke, Chief of Staff at Microsoft delivers keynote lecture
The day culminated with a competition to redesign a new YEOC logo and marketing campaign. This activity challenged students to think about what the program stands for and how they’d communicate YEOC’s brand to a greater audience.
Mentees present their YEOC logo challenge design
December: Financial Preparedness
Finance majors Bahari Watson and Khatsini Simani drew upon their individual experiences with finances to design December’s session themed Financial Preparedness.
Bahari delivered an action-oriented lecture, detailing the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on everyday Americans and highlighting the importance of being an informed investor. In addition to learning how they can invest today, mentees were introduced to key finance concepts.
Mentor and Finance major Bahari Watson delivers a lecture to mentees
Following the lecture, mentees competed in teams to achieve a finance goal, as part of a finance simulation activity. Students were challenged to utilize concepts such as opportunity cost from the lecture to inform their decisions about whether to save invest, work, or apply for scholarships.
Mentees work together during the Finance simulation activity
A final highlight was the keynote delivered by Abby Calabrese, Director of Strategic Alignment at CGI. Ms. Calabrese delivered a motivational lecture about proactively creating success and shared her triumphs and challenges as a black woman in corporate America.
Abby Calabrese, Director of Strategic Alignment for CGI delivers keynote lecture
The mission of the YEOC (Young Executives of Color) program is to cultivate the academic potential of underrepresented high school student leaders in Washington State through college preparation, powerful mentorship, and the development of real life business skills. Find out more about the YEOC program on the Foster website. Follow YEOC on Facebook and Instagram: @yeocuw.
