UMKC Students Form New Club Dedicated to Women in the Corporate World
An organization with a goal to support female students in their future careers
Woman in Business is a club looking to address problems that plague women in the workplace.
December 2, 2022
Two UMKC students created a new organization to support women in business, and over 120 students signed up in the first week.
Co-presidents Maggie Schoemehl and Grace Yu–both juniors in the Bloch School–will lead the newly founded Women in Business club.
The duo wanted to form an organization to support female-identified students as they start their careers after recognizing there wasn’t already a group on campus.
“We wanted to provide a space to inspire and empower our female students,” Yu said. “The goal is to be better equipped to work around obstacles in the business world and achieve success in our future endeavors.”
Women in Business plans to start hosting events in January. Schoemehl and Yu’s goal is to host an event every month. They hope to invite guest speakers who are local women in business.
Tentative guest speakers will be women who are business leaders in the Kansas City area, women who own their own businesses, and women who work in underrepresented industries.
“We want to bring in successful women in male-dominated industries to show students who want to go into these fields that someone else has done it, and they can do it too,” said Schoemehl.
The organization also plans to host workshops, such as a salary negotiation workshop where members will talk about the pay gap, discuss strategies for negotiating salaries, and even roleplay negotiations with other members.
“Being able to hear the perspectives and learn from the experiences of women business leaders in Kansas City is invaluable,” Yu said.
“There are a lot of obstacles for women in business. It’s not uncommon for women to be treated or paid unfairly in the workplace,” Schoemehl said. “We want to give women the tools and resources they need to succeed.”
Schoemehl created flyers to hang around campus with a QR code that would make it as easy as possible for prospective members to get more information about the organization. UMKC’s Bloch School sent an accompanying email that went out to all undergraduate students in the Henry W. Bloch School of Management.
“My biggest fear is that no one would show up or be interested, but that wasn’t the case,” Schoemehl said.
As of Nov. 16, 126 students have completed the interest form attached to the flyer. Within a week, 116 students registered as members on RooGroups. Over 50 students filled out the form within 12 hours after the email was sent. Schoemehl believes the level of interest indicates that students see a need for the organization.
“It shows that people are interested and want to see change,” Schoemehl said.
The Women in Business club will be open to undergraduate and graduate students and students of all majors and genders.
