UPLIFT is a new Employee Resource Network to support females, and those who identify as female, at all levels.  UPLIFT was officially launched with an all-day Summit to discuss women’s professional and personal development, diversity, and leadership. This year’s Summit was action-packed with nationally acclaimed speakers, presentations, workshops, vignettes from FMI employees and networking opportunities. Our colleague Daphney shared her thoughts on the day’s impact.

Attending the Uplift Summit was one of the greatest experiences I have had while working at Foundation Medicine. It was really empowering to be among numerous successful women, all sharing their journeys to success. It was encouraging to hear the ways that they have overcome their struggles into achieving their goals and the ways that they continue to work hard to maintain their level of success. I attended the Summit for half of the day and loved every second of it. One of my favorite parts of the Summit was the welcome + Opening section, Leader in You and Stories that Uplift. I was really impressed by the speakers and their stage presence and the way they exuded confidence. I watched in awe as they all shared their stories and made me feel like I too, can work hard to overcome challenges and inspire others.

Attending the workshops helped me learned a lot about myself in my professional world and life in general. Attending the Harnessing Your Inner Strengths workshop taught me about ways to interpret my strengths and the ways to leverage them into moving forward in my career. Like so many others, I tend to be hard on myself whenever I make a mistake at work. So, the Learning and Growing Through Mistakes workshop was important to me to attend. It gave me a different and more positive outlook on making mistakes and the ways in which to deal with them. It was an especially great workshop to attend after listening to Priti Hegde’s speech and the mistakes she had made earlier on in her careers and the ways she dealt with them and turned them into lessons that pushed her towards a successful career. That workshop really taught me that a mistake does not define a day or an entire career. It is just a fact of life that is bound to happen and should not ruin a day or an entire career.

I absolutely loved this summit and what it represented. Attending a summit with women for women by women was truly exciting and represented endless possibilities. It gave me the feeling that If they were able to pull through and be successful in their stories, I too can do it. I am already looking forward to the next Uplift Summit and the next wave of inspiring stories and advice that will be so helpful to so many women at Foundation Medicine.

- Daphney, Team Lead, Client Services

Building off the success of UPLIFT, we have just announced our PROUD Employee Resource Network, which will serve to support our LGBTQ+ employees and their allies. PROUD stands for Promoting Representation, Openness, and Understanding of Diversity. Stay tuned as we build out more Employee Resource Networks to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with organizational mission, values, goals, business practices, and objectives.