Foster Leadership Academy

How I developed curriculum and moderated discussions for a leadership certificate program for NCAA athletes and business students

Former UW (current USC) Athletic Director Jen Cohen and I on stage at a FLA event

After being a participant in the Foster Leadership Academy during my freshman year, I returned to the program through an internship position I created in partnership with the Foster office for student engagement and experiential learning.

After bringing feedback on what I wanted to improve, my manager Dominic Evans and I collaborated to scope out some of my responsibilities as a student leadership development intern.

The position centered on helping the program run smoothly but was also created with the objective of giving our participants a familiar face to make it feel less like another lecture and more like an interactive program.

I also ended up taking on the role of moderator for our guest speakers and panel events, which was the majority of the FLA’s programming. Throughout the 6 month program, I had the opportunity to moderate discussions and Q&A sessions with prominent female leaders in the greater Seattle community.

From left to right: Former UW (current USC) Athletic Director Jen Cohen, First Lady of Seattle Joanne Harrel, SVP of Commercial & Business Services at BECU Dana Gray, and Executive Vice President of Advisor Group Erinn Ford.

I am especially proud of how, as the events went by, I was able to bring out more of the speaker’s insights with my responses rather than simply add my own experiences.

By the end of the program, we were able to award a certificate of authentic leadership to 33 students, and the opportunity for many others to reflect on their leadership journey.

• More information about the program
• FLA, featured on the Foster School of Business Instagram