Knocking on the right door for help eight years ago led Trinity Western University student Anja Hintelmann to discover her leadership potential.
Hintelmann, a human resources expert who is working on her B.A. in Leadership at TWU, will attend Dress for Success Worldwide’s 12th annual Dress for Success Summit this June in Chicago as one of just 50 delegates.
“Being a chosen candidate at this summit in combination with my TWU degree is an exciting accomplishment,” Hintelmann said.
Hintelmann moved back to Canada from Germany just as the financial crisis of 2008 was causing a recession in Canada. After struggling to find contract human resources work, she knocked on Dress for Success Vancouver’s door for help.
As it has done for almost one million women in 20 countries since its inception in New York in 1997, DFS helped Hintelmann regain employment in her chosen field. DFS Vancouver continues to support her through its Professional Women’s Group by providing ongoing support, practical information and leadership inspiration for women.
After seeing Hintelmann’s leadership potential, Lucia Crosson, DFS Vancouver’s Career Services Manager, encouraged her to go for the gold—a coveted position as a delegate at the Dress for Success Summit.
The Dress for Success Summit does not consist solely of talks and networking events. Delegates have to develop a Community Action Project (CAP) that they take back to their local PWG chapter and realize with their peers. The project identifies a social need in their community and uses local resources to create an initiative to address it.
Hintelmann is definitely pumped about the summit and her future project. Her passion for leading and nurturing leadership in others has motivated her to make her CAP project the subject of her TWU final-year project.
“I chose the TWU HR leadership program because I was inspired by the DFS PWG leadership program and because I’ve been told I’m a natural leader,” says Hintelmann. “In fact, coaching managers through the leadership maze is a big part of my current job. I enjoy studying leadership and the skills I’ve learned in TWU’s program will benefit me when I manage my own team.”