I attended a lunch at the Knight Center private dining room on Thursday, April 23 with Marianne Schnall, a leading commentator and journalist focused on women’s issues nationwide and author of What Will It Take to Make a Woman President? Conversations about Women, Leadership and Power.

Marianne Schnall

In town to speak at the Women’s Leadership Forum graduation that evening, Schnall shared details of her professional journey as a writer, which began with a stint as an assistant to a literary agent and progressed to celebrity interviews on the red carpet before Schnall realized her passion for writing about women’s issues. Schnall said, “I had the best job ever. Everyone was telling me this, so I thought it must be true. And then I realized that it wasn’t.”

Schnall has written widely about women in leadership, and interviewed countless people in the public eye on the topic. Learn more about Schnall and her work at her website: marianneschnall.com.

Additionally, this lunch provided the first opportunity for Executive MBA and Professional MBA students to participate in an Olin Women in Business (OWIB) event. OWIB is an organization run by full-time MBA students.

Photo by Franco Vogt Photography