BRAG!
Connections Corporate Outreach
“While we've come a long way baby, even young women
raised on Britney are uncomfortable promoting their accomplishments
at school, on the sports field, and ultimately in the workplace,” says
Peggy Klaus, the Fortune 500 workplace communication and leadership
expert who created BRAG! Connections. As a corporate outreach program
designed to educate the employees and consumers of the future, BRAG!
Connections pairs professionals from individual companies with teens
or disadvantaged young women to teach networking and self-promotion
skills.
"Learning to talk about themselves and their accomplishments
with others (gracefully, of course!) reinforces feelings of self-worth
and provides a valuable life skill.” Klaus, who penned BRAG!
The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It (Warner Books),
based BRAG! Connections on her popular professional development programs
delivered to companies and organizations including General Mills,
Levi Strauss, American Express, Pfizer, Linkage, The Harvard Business
School Alumni Association, and The National Association of Female
Executives, among others.
The first BRAG! Connections workshop took
place in the spring of 2004, when the prestigious executive organization
100 Women In
Hedge Funds joined forces with the Young Women's Leadership School
of East
Harlem (www.tywls.org). Held at the Manhattan offices of event
sponsor JP MorganChase, the cross-generational workshop paired
80 high-school
girls with members of the 100 Women In Hedge Funds. Featured on
the CBS Early Show, the first event was such a huge success that
many
additional BRAG! Connections programs have since been scheduled
around the country.
"All the girls said this was the best field trip they had ever
taken—the
students and teachers were buzzing about the self-promotion transformations,” said
Sarah Wendt, Director of Development at the Young Women’s
Leadership Foundation, who hopes to take the program to its satellite
school
in Chicago.
"We are so excited about this program. The more confident and
prepared young women are when they join our organization, the more
likely
they are to succeed—and their individual success can be linked
directly to our business success," noted Patrice Hall, Managing
Director, Investment Bank Diversity at JP Morgan Chase.
"Many young girls are told to take pride in their efforts,
but to do so quietly because otherwise it will not reflect well on
them.
We hope these talented girls will now feel more confident about
letting the world in on their accomplishments," added Kathleen
Kelley, Volunteerism Chair at 100 Women In Hedge Funds.
The most recent BRAG! Connections program to be held is another
one with students from the Women’s Leadership School—this
time pairing 65 high-school juniors with 65 senior Merrill Lynch
women and hedge fund executives who are members of a prominent philanthropic
group called High Water Women
http://www.hedgefundwomen.org.
Additionally, about 40 low-income women from Training, Inc. www.traininginc.org,
teamed up with executive women from a variety of Fortune 1000 companies
for a BRAG! Connections event at the Women's Leadership Summit held
by Linkage, Inc. in Boston at the end of last year.
Innovatively
expanding the line-up of BRAG! programs into the realm of corporate
outreach, BRAG! Connections events are similar to
the BRAG! Parties that Klaus initially designed for business
professionals. These interactive, meet-and-greet affairs allow participants
to
network
and fearlessly practice tooting their own horns while Klaus reveals
key self-promotion techniques interspersed with fun, experiential
exercises. More comprehensive BRAG! programs for corporate training
are also available that extend the focus from promoting a personal
agenda to promoting the company's products and services.
| "If you don’t walk into one of Peggy’s workshops feeling confident and proud, you’ll feel that way when you walk out! We have been working with her for years at our inner-city public schools. Our students are all girls and there is no one better than Peggy Klaus to help them find their own voices, sing their own praises, brag when bragging is merited, and build self-assurance. In about two hours time, the girls turn emotional corners and light up with the knowledge and connection of more inner strength! The work of Peggy Klaus is truly remarkable and can change lives. Run, don’t walk, to set up a workshop with her." |
Ann Rubenstein Tisch
Founder and President of The Young Women’s Leadership Network |
For information about any of our programs including how to sponsor
a BRAG! Connections event, please contact Sarah Rees at sarah@peggyklaus.com or
call 510-464-5921.
Learn
more about BRAG! programs.
Visit brag4teens.com, our new website just for teens who
want to learn how to toot their own horns.
