A SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION CHAMPIONING OUR LOCAL WOMEN IN BUSINESS. PHOTOGRAPY BY JESSICA WHITLEY.

Wesleyan College
President
4760 Forsyth Road, Macon
478-757-5212
vfowler@wesleyancollege.edu
wesleyancollege.edu

What is the mission of your business?
Wesleyan College is committed to women’s education and helping every student find a unique voice and purpose.

HOW DOES WESLEYAN PREPARE STUDENTS TO BECOMEBUSINESSWOMEN?
All Wesleyan classes are designed to be interactive, with students sharing responsibility for the overall learning endeavor. The business administration major is our top major year after year. Our students learn how to participate in and facilitate meaningful dialogue, an essential skill for business leaders.

I ADMIRE WOMEN WHO:Are confident but humble, are resilient but sympathetic and who lead boldly but not alone.

HOW CAN MEN BETTER SUPPORT WOMEN IN BUSINESS?
Don’t tell or laugh at jokes about women. Don’t buy into stereotypes about women. Don’t dismiss the potential of a woman in a leadership position. Mentor a girl or young woman. As parents, friends, family members, teachers, community volunteers, etc., provide examples of women’s leadership to children.

WHAT IS THE MOST GRATIFYING PART OF YOUR JOB?
Our students! The women’s college experience is truly transformational for many students. They graduate with confidence and with a level of interpersonal and academic maturity that makes them stand out in their graduate programs and careers.

How do you define success?
I view personal success as being one’s “best self”:working together, valuing differences, setting collective goals. We can be more successful as a team than all of us combined but working independently.

What are you most excited about right now in our community?
I’m excited about community conversations surrounding unity, diversity, inclusion and equity. At Wesleyan, we have been working for many years to seek ways to “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly,” to use the words of the prophet (Micah 6:8).

You might be surprised that: Wesleyan College was the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women. There are fewer than35 women’s colleges left in the United States.

What has been the most challenging part of being a woman in business?
The wonderful part about women’s higher education is that we believe women can be successful in any field. Our graduates enter businesses knowing that they can lead, can speak, can think and can solve problems.

What was the best business advice you ever received?
The best leadership advice I’ve received is, “Don’t ask someone to do something you’re not willing to do yourself.”

I hope more women will:Find a seat at the table. We need more women on community boards and agencies, both volunteer and elected.

Looking back, I wish I had recognized: How amazing were some of the women in my life – my mother, my grandmother, my aunt, my teachers and mentors. I wish I had asked them to tell me their stories.