Empowerment Series: Speak Your Value: Turning Achievements into Recognition
Who : IU Center of Excellence for Women & Technology with Claudia Ramly
Where : Tudor Room at Indiana Memorial Union
When : 09/09/2025
How : lecture with practice work sheet and mini-networking session
Why : (For them and me) to empower woman and support their career.
See the Poster
Indiana University has a wonderful center called the Center of Excellence for Women & Technology. Their mission is to inspire, encourage, and educate IU women to develop and use tech skills as tools of empowerment and career success. (And by the way—they don’t exclude non-women, so no need to be intimidated!) The center regularly hosts tech workshops, networking sessions, and career events.
This session was focused on communication—specifically, a workshop on how women can promote their own worth. As Rudman (1998) showed, when women engage in self-promotion they are often recognized as competent, yet at the same time penalized as arrogant or unlikable. This creates a double bind: wanting to be valued for their abilities, while fearing the judgment of seeming “too proud.” Because of this, many women hold back from talking about their work in public—or if they do, they share it only briefly, avoiding anything that might sound like self-promotion. And this hesitation connects directly to larger inequalities: wage gaps, and the different career opportunities shaped by gender.
Claudia Ramly, a healthcare and policy professional as well as a leadership and empowerment consultant, led the workshop and shared practical strategies for women to present their contributions more effectively. I couldn’t capture everything she offered—it’s her intellectual work—but I’d be glad to share my notes with friends who might find them useful. For now, here are three key takeaways from my memo:
1. “Self-advocacy is not being prideful. It is about being present.”
2. In professional networking, you can talk about your recent work naturally—try using the STAR method.
3. If self-promotion feels difficult, frame it as “dual promotion”: highlight your team and collaboration alongside yourself.
The session closed with a worksheet on one-month self-practice, followed by informal networking. I spoke with the woman seated next to me, and we connected on LinkedIn, promising to check in with each other over the coming month
.
This session was focused on communication—specifically, a workshop on how women can promote their own worth. As Rudman (1998) showed, when women engage in self-promotion they are often recognized as competent, yet at the same time penalized as arrogant or unlikable. This creates a double bind: wanting to be valued for their abilities, while fearing the judgment of seeming “too proud.” Because of this, many women hold back from talking about their work in public—or if they do, they share it only briefly, avoiding anything that might sound like self-promotion. And this hesitation connects directly to larger inequalities: wage gaps, and the different career opportunities shaped by gender.
Claudia Ramly, a healthcare and policy professional as well as a leadership and empowerment consultant, led the workshop and shared practical strategies for women to present their contributions more effectively. I couldn’t capture everything she offered—it’s her intellectual work—but I’d be glad to share my notes with friends who might find them useful. For now, here are three key takeaways from my memo:
1. “Self-advocacy is not being prideful. It is about being present.”
2. In professional networking, you can talk about your recent work naturally—try using the STAR method.
3. If self-promotion feels difficult, frame it as “dual promotion”: highlight your team and collaboration alongside yourself.
The session closed with a worksheet on one-month self-practice, followed by informal networking. I spoke with the woman seated next to me, and we connected on LinkedIn, promising to check in with each other over the coming month
.
