By Dana Rollison
By now, you’ve heard it a million times: networking is one of the most essential activities for advancing your career. While it’s true, I don’t want to add to the droves of articles espousing its virtues. Instead, I want to talk about how a women’s network in Washington, D.C.—the Women’s Aquatic Network (WAN)—offers an alternative to the awkward conversations and business card exchanges over happy hour that we’ve all come to associate with networking.
From joining WAN as an eager new resident ready to take on D.C. to serving on its Executive Board a few years later, I’ve learned that there are many ways in which a women’s network can provide inspiration, connection, and strategies for succeeding in a field that is still dominated by men.
Learning from other generations. While many networking organizations are heavily targeted toward early career professionals, WAN develops events for every career level. The organization considers the challenges of attending events when other family and career responsibilities are present. Women have the opportunity to reach across generations and share advice on common roadblocks they’ve faced in their career advancement – transitioning to leadership positions, navigating motherhood, and negotiating finances, to name a few. Women and men from various career levels attend events, so the network provides a great place to meet others in the field and learn from their experiences.
Confidence building through professional development. Studies show that for positions that don’t advertise a negotiable salary, women are less likely to ask for more money when offered a job. But negotiation is one of the key tools to closing the gender pay gap, so WAN hosts professional development events with topics that include salary negotiation, giving and receiving feedback, and managing up. These trainings provide a safe space to learn how to navigate bias and solicit honest advice Rather than just increasing compensation, these trainings further help women build open dialogues around advancement opportunities and additional responsibilities.
You can’t be what you can’t see. Hearing stories from current leaders on their career choices is an important part of how we choose to carve our own path forward. But when women are in a workplace with minimal female representation at senior level positions, it can be hard to see the options for navigating forward. So every year, WAN recognizes the outstanding achievements of a Woman of the Year at our Holiday Party. The Woman of the Year Award is intended to celebrate the growing accomplishments of women in the water/ocean sector, expose the WAN community to strong female leaders in the aquatic sphere, and to learn from her career and personal journey.
With the massive environmental problems that we’re facing today, we simply can’t afford to miss out on the knowledge, diverse perspectives, and unique skill set that women bring to the table. Groups like the Women’s Aquatic Network provide access to mentors and help build powerful connections so women can advance in their careers and be better equipped to solve ocean, coastal, and aquatic issues. If you’re not already a member, you can sign-up here. If you don’t live in the Washington, D.C. area, talk with your friends, co-workers, or organization about starting your own aquatic focused group!
Other articles in the Women’s Aquatic Network December series:
- A Woman, a Vision, a Network: The Rise of WAN in Washington and the Importance of Women in Marine and Coastal Affairs, By Katy Lackey
- From Wrecked Reefs to Ocean Optimism, By Dr. Nancy Knowlton
- Becoming a Miami Waterkeeper, By Dana Tricarico
- SmallScaleOA: A Win-Win for Academia, Industry, Community, and Conservation, By Katharine (Kat) Leigh
- Diving Dreams and Solo Travel, By Victoria Bell
- Why the Women Around You Are the Network You Need, By Dana Rollison
Dana Rollison is a Project and Research Specialist with the Ecosystems – Water Team at the Environmental Defense Fund, where she works to broaden access to critical data and decision support tools that enable more sustainable water and land management practices. Dana builds relationships with stakeholders and acts as a knowledge broker to bridge the science-policy gap and solve water issues, both fresh and marine. She joined WAN as a member in 2015, and served on the Executive Board from 2016-2018.
Dana holds a B.S. in environmental science from the University of Michigan and a M.S. in environmental management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. She can be reached at: drollison@edf.org.
Note: Views expressed in this article are the author’s own. They do not necessarily represent WAN or the author’s employer.