Finding Meaningful Purpose in Your Career
Can you recall those work days when it feels like a grind, and seems overwhelming?
We ask ourselves, “Why am I doing this?” When I’m faced with one of those days, I feel so fortunate to be able to answer with certainty, that “I’m doing this because I am contributing to our future female shining stars!” In the following story, I would like to introduce to you, three amazing young women, ready to take on the world, and make a mark for themselves in the future.
In 2011 I joined the West Chester University community as an Adjunct Marketing Professor and since 2018 I’ve been the Director of The Cottrell Entrepreneurship Center. I fondly refer to this position as the final act in my career, but have discovered this final performance is what I was meant to do from the beginning, and that all the experience I have acquired through the years is meant to share with the next generation of professional women.
I am truly fulfilled by creating the positive impact on students, particularly, the lives of 3 young women.
I am filled with pride, as I watch them grow and develop into amazing people, and am anxious to watch them thrive into the future.
I would like to shine a bright light on Nicole Boylan. Nicole was a student of mine in Principles of Management during her sophomore year, and worked with me as an undergraduate assistant at The Cottrell Center. From the onset, Nicole stood out as someone who would perform well at WCU and beyond. She came to my office to share with me her entrepreneurial dream of owning a bridal boutique. I shared my personal entrepreneurial experience of owning a retail shop, and helped her frame what her business could become.
She is now completing her MBA at WCU this March, and is pursuing her doctorate degree.
AMAZING!!!
Last month I was cleaning my office and found a note Nicole wrote to me that was full of gratitude. She expressed how the support I had provided during her time at WCU had shaped her. Probably not true, as she is brilliant on her own, however, I immediately felt the same gratitude to receive such a lovely letter. Wow!
Now, I’d like to introduce you to Gabby Velazquez who joined the Cottrell Center team in 2019 during her junior year. She’s stayed on as the Graduate Assistant at the Center and will graduate this July.
I feel immense joy, watching Gabby grow, find her way, and make her mark. She is an exceptional young woman with a bright future.
She has worked hard, and at many jobs, to put herself through WCU. I’ve been able to connect her with employment opportunities that have stretched her and helped her discover the power of entrepreneurial work ethic and spirit!
It warms my heart when Gabby gives me more credit than I believe I deserve. She reminds me that I created the path that will launch her into her future. These are the moments of reward, that remind me of why I am at The Cottrell Center, and those days of overwhelming responsibility seem worth every minute. Gabby is a true treasure, and I struggle with the thought of losing her, but excited to watch her spread her wings and fly!
Enthusiastically, I’d like to introduce you to Emma Wagner who graduated this past December. Emma is a self-described serial entrepreneur, who I realize today, I have never met in person. Like so many others, in spite of COVID, we continue to manage building meaningful relationships over zoom. Emma was an entrepreneur minor at WCU and was selected to participate in the Cottrell Center’s Entrepreneur Fellows Program in 2020.
I knew immediately that she had superpowers and is a superhero!
Her enthusiasm around women and entrepreneurship were evident from the start. During the pandemic Emma established Women Supporting Women Global Empowerment group for mutual support and open discussion. During weekly Zoom meetings she connected women around the world, to offer support with mental health, life purpose, goals and self-awareness. She participates in whatever she can, to support women, and to grow as an entrepreneur. You can read more about Emma’s story here.
I will keep in touch with all three of these amazing young women, and others who have given me the joy of working in a career where I can encourage, shape and make a difference for others, especially rising female superstars!
I will keep in touch with all three of these amazing young women, and others who have given me the joy of working in a career where I can encourage, shape and make a difference for others, especially rising female superstars!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Pattie Diggin, MBA
Director of Cottrell Entrepreneurial Leadership Center
West Chester University
Pattie Diggin earned an MBA degree from West Chester University in 1996. She joined West Chester University in 2011 as an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and currently serves as the Director of The Cottrell Entrepreneurship Center. Pattie sits on the Board of Directors at The Fund for Women and Girls where she heads up the Marketing committee and is past chair of the Development Committee. She is also a member of the Ambassador and Education Foundation committees at the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce and sits on the i2n Board of the Chester County Economic Development Council. Since 2014 she has been a SCORE volunteer and works collaboratively with organizations in the region that are committed to expanding the impact of entrepreneurship programming and supporting development of small businesses. One of Pattie’s proudest accomplishments as Director of The Cottrell Entrepreneurship Center is the Annual WCU Women’s Entrepreneurship Conference which is a collaboration between the University and SCORE of Chester and Delaware Counties. Over the past several years the conference has grown to almost 200 attendees and it is a must attend conference for women entrepreneurs in the Greater Philadelphia Region.
