Wednesday Webinar’s Lunch & Learn Series

The Center for Career and Professional Development in partnership with Alumni Engagement hosted Wednesday Webinars: a series of lunch and learn virtual sessions.

The first in the series of Wednesday Webinar Lunch and Learn sessions on May 20, at noon, with branding professionals was on “Creating Your Professional Brand” offering the importance of having a brand and successful strategies on defining your brand and delivering your brand message. The focus of the discussion were on key areas such as:

  • The importance of having and defining your brand
  • How to deliver a focused and consistent brand message
  • The key things you should do to boost your brand and increase your online presence

The engaging session with branding experts was moderated by:

  • Bill Haug – Executive Director of Marketing at Sacred Heart University (SHU ‘12). Bill engaged the panel of branding experts in having great branding discussions and sharing of their professional experiences

The guest panelists included:

  • Paul Guarino – Founder of PG Sports (SHU ‘15)
  • Ramon Peralta – Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Peralta Design
  • Robert Dim – Founder of Darty and the Director of Acquisitions at Norton Capital Inc. (SHU ‘15)

Session 2 of the Wednesday Webinar Lunch and Learn series was held on May 27, at noon, with HR professionals on “How to Effectively Manage Your Job Search during These Challenging Times”. The focus of this session was centered on the following:

  • The importance of a well-written resume
  • Showcasing your strengths
  • How to best handle the job search process now
  • Job search strategies

The inspiring conversation was moderated by:

  • Mia James – Manager of Employee Education at Sacred Heart University (SHU ‘13) who facilitated an inspiring conversation with the speaker that resulted in some great job search take-a-ways

The guest speaker was:

  • Melissa Poli – HR Consultant at Barnum Financial (SHU ‘15)

This discussion was streamed on Facebook Live and was later featured on the “In Case You Missed It” post which reached over 2.8K people who saw the video playing in their feed as it was happening, over 970 people who clicked on the video to hear the content, and with over 250 engagements of reacting, liking, or sharing the post

Session 3 in our lunch and learn series was conducted on Wednesday, June 3, at noon, with marketing professionals on “Marketing Yourself for Career Success”. The exciting discussion was filled with insights from marketing professionals as they focused on some key elements of career success such as:

  • The methods and benefits of effectively marketing yourself in alignment with social media marketing
  • Crafting your marketing pitch
  • Re-evaluating your action plan
  • How to stay positive and encouraged

The session was moderated by:

  • Kimberly Swartz – Associate Director of Media Relations at Sacred Heart University. She engaged each of the panelists in sharing key tips to positively impact career development

The guest panelists of marketing professionals consisted of the following:

  • Taylor Anastasio – Digital Sales Account Executive with Valassis (SHU ‘15)
  • Juliana Fetherman – Founder & CEO of Making Authentic Friendships (SHU ‘18 & ‘19)
  • Nicole Gittleman – Associate Director, Brand Partnerships with ACTIVATE (SHU ‘15)
  • Chuck Marcelin – Talent Acquisition Partner, Technology with Reonomy (SHU ‘13)

This discussion was streamed on Facebook Live and was later featured on the “In Case You Missed It” post which reached 3.7K individuals who saw the video playing in their feed as it was happening, 1.5K views indicating the number of individuals who clicked on the video to hear the content, and with over 410 engagements of reacting, liking, or sharing the post

 Session 4 is the final in the Wednesday Webinar lunch and learn series. On Wednesday June 10, at noon, this value packed session featured varied industry professionals with the theme of the conversation “Get Unstuck: Own Your Career”. All participants engaged in an insightful and meaningful conversation that provided the following:

  • Guidance to take responsibility and add value to your career
  • Ways to own your career
  • How to move forward with your career
  • How to know if and when it is time to say goodbye

The conversation was moderated by:

  • Erica Lucca (SHU ’11) – Manager of Global Team Member Communications with Hilton Worldwide of Hilton Worldwide hosted a motivating discussion with some talented professionals

The guest panelists were:

  • Rudy Favard – National, Senior Associate for Diversity Talent Acquisition at KPMG (SHU ‘15)
  • Maureen Mackey – President of Mackey Staffing & Co.
  • Courtney Perlee – Business Strategy Manager at Canon Solutions America (SHU ‘10)
  • Meg Sahagian – Recruiter, Nuvance Health and Mackey Staffing & Co.

This discussion was streamed on Facebook Live and was later featured on the “In Case You Missed It” post which reached 2.5K individuals who saw the video playing in their feed as it was happening, 767 views indicating the number of individuals who clicked on the video to hear the content, and with over 218 engagements of reacting, liking, or sharing the post

Thank you participating alumni and industry partners for your continued SHU support!

By Helen Boyke
Helen Boyke Director of Alumni, Veteran and Graduate Career Development