What’s Your Why?

Hi all,

One of the questions that I think is important to ask yourself every so often is: “What’s your why?” Why are you doing what you do? And, perhaps more importantly, what is your purpose? My career coach recently posed this question to me, and it gave me a lot to think about in terms of what motivates me.

In the summer of 2019, I joined NYWICI’s Board as Co-VP of Student Affairs. Back then, we were focused on our big event – the NYWICI Student Career Bootcamp. My ‘why’ for joining NYWICI and supporting through Student Affairs is because I wanted to help other young women who are just getting started and trying to find what they love to do, just like I had done in my own career.

Fast-forward five years, I’m now so honored to serve as President of this great organization and I’ve been watching with great pride as our team – including Board members Chelsea Orcutt, Maria Ungaro, Megan Hess, Erin Styles, Lori Greene and Emily Dindoffer, plans our upcoming (sold out!) NYWICI Career Communications Conference. This time around, we’re broadening the Student Bootcamp to really focus not only on students, but also young professionals who are starting out their careers. And, it’s the first time we’ve done it in-person since 2019!

One of our keynote speakers for that event is Tammy Tibbetts, Co-Founder of She’s the First, who was also a former NYWICI Scholarship winner. She’s the First is a global nonprofit based in the U.S. and Kenya, which teams up with grassroots leaders to make sure girls everywhere are educated, respected, and heard. A mission that matches NYWICI’s mission to ensure women are heard, seen and make an impact.  I had the opportunity of meeting Tammy (by chance!) last week at the Forbes Power Women’s Summit, and I’m thrilled to hear her speak at our event on Sept. 27!

Tammy is also a former WICI Award winner, an honor she won in 2016 alongside other honorees that year like journalist and author, Elaine Welteroth, Masthead Media Co-Founder and NYWICI Podcast Host, Julie Hochheiser Ilkovich, the CEO of Puck, Sarah Personette, and the CMO of Mercedes Benz USA (and former NYWICI Board member), Melody Lee.

The last time we hosted our WICI Awards was in 2018 and this year, we decided to take a step back and reimagine this event as the NYWICI Trailblazers Awards. These awards will recognize exceptional emerging leaders nominated by industry icons, specifically past NYWICI Presidents, WICI Award Winners and Matrix honorees. In the spirit of “the hype woman era,” these women will be honored alongside their nominators at an exclusive event in October in NYC celebrating both the phenomenal women who paved the way and the rising women poised to redefine the communications, media, marketing, advertising, and PR landscape. We will be announcing our nominees and nominators this week, so stay tuned for more!

Today, I have many ‘whys’ that motivate me. My ‘why’ is to create a great life for my husband and children – and for my two young boys to grow up knowing that women, like their mom, can be hard-working, strong leaders in the workforce. My ‘why’ is to continue to grow, learn and do great work with my team at Forbes – the people who I am lucky enough to work with day in and day out. My ‘why’ is my motivation to ensure women who are navigating the comms industry to feel more empowered and connected at every point of their careers.

Before I leave you, I want you to think about what’s your ‘why’?

Hope to see you at a future NYWICI event this fall!

Best,
Laura Brusca
2024 NYWICI President