Posted by vandyleads on Tuesday, October 3, 2017 in PREVAIL.

This past Sunday, September 24th, the Margaret Cunningham Women’s Center and the Office of Student Leadership Development held the PREVAIL Women’s Leadership Conference. Among the topics addressed were Feminism and Intersectionality, Working While Woman, and the Power of a Polished Package.

Lillian Boyle, a senior from Los Angeles, CA, attended this experience, and decided to share her insight with our office. Check out what Lillian had to say and hear about the great outcomes these women are coming away with.

Lillian Boyle

One of my biggest takeaways from PREVAIL was learning when to say no. Boundary setting is difficult for me as a yes girl and lately I have been struggling with the repercussions stemming from overextending myself. The workshop titled “I don’t f*$% with you: Being a yes to saying no” inspired me to stop overbooking myself to please others. While the song that inspired the workshop name is problematic when analyzed under a feminist lens, the lyric “I got a million trillion things I’d rather f%#*^+’ do” deeply resonated with the speaker and myself. Like most Vanderbilt students, I feel constantly busy and everyday I have “a million trillion things” that I would rather do  than add another thing to my to do list. While I would usually say yes even though I already have too much on my plate, I learned that it’s more than ok to say no.  The speaker Kate Moore taught me that no is a full sentence.  I feel empowered by this knowledge and I already have extended my new understanding of boundary setting to my daily life thanks to my experience at PREVAIL.