While watching an episode of the TV talk show Oprah, Jessica Parson, a 20-year-old junior, found herself inspired to form a new campus organization to address the needs of young, aspiring professional women like herself.
“I saw her work for the Legend’s Ball . . . a program that involved inspiring Black women, American and international,” Parson said. “I just thought it would be a great idea to unite all of the females on campus to help us get a head start on our careers, so when we graduate, we’re prepared completely, and we’re networking because we already know one another.”
Legendary Ladies is the name of the group that Parsons established. Currently, it has about 100 members and is continues to grow with each meeting.
“At first I thought that there were only going to be certain groups of females who would want to be a part of this,” Parson said. “But to my surprise, it was everybody!”
The goal of the organization is too give all of the members a head start in their future careers, by means of job and graduate school fairs, as well as meetings with inspirational speakers, which will provide important information about what is occurring in the professional world.
Though a new organization, Legendary Ladies has already received financial assistance from at least two major corporations, Kinkos and Starbucks.
Junior Taneshia McCauley, 20, said she decided to join after attending one of the interest meetings.
“I wanted to be a part of an organization where all of the members are actively involved,” McCauley said. “I have been in other similar organizations where only certain people participated while the rest were just left to sit by and look on. I’m actively involved instead of just saying that I ‘m a member without having anything to show for it.”
In September, Legendary Ladies sponsored a forum in conjunction with Black Men for Change, which addressed the gap between African American men and women. The organization plans to hold additional forums with other campus organizations, including Women for Change.
Some upcoming events that members can look forward to are job and graduate fairs, a luncheon with a special guest speaker and lectures with motivational speakers.
As for the future, Parson said she would like Legendary Ladies to expand and spread to other college campuses.