Rising Through Transition: Embracing the Unknown with Intention

There is a particular kind of tension that lives in the final stretch of senior year. It sits quietly beneath every celebration, every congratulation, and every question about “what comes next”. It is the feeling of standing at the edge of everything you have worked for, looking out at a horizon that is wide open and entirely yours to shape.

I will be honest with you: I felt it too. I remember sitting with friends as they discussed their next five years, the jobs, partners, and apartments already secured. In that moment, while their plans seemed to be clicking into place, I found myself standing in a blank space. I was facing rejections and a future that felt entirely without structure. But somewhere along the way, I stopped fighting that uncertainty and started moving with it instead.

It’s the doorway, not the finish line.

As the YBPW Chair, I have had the privilege of walking alongside women who are brilliant, driven, and quietly terrified of getting it wrong. The biggest misconception I want to address is this: graduation is not a finish line. It is a doorway. The fact that you cannot yet see the room on the other side is not a failure of your preparation. It is simply what it feels like to stand at a meaningful threshold.

One of the most valuable abilities I have developed is the capacity to make decisions without having all the answers. There is no course for it, and it will not appear on your transcript, but the moments that have shaped my leadership most have been the ones where I had to move forward anyway. In the search for structure, it is tempting to grab onto any opportunity that offers a glimmer of hope, even if it is the bare minimum.

"Learning to say no when you are scared and without a plan is a profound act of leadership."

Leadership as human connection

Human-centric leadership is rooted in that same spirit. It means staying attuned to the people around you, even when circumstances shift. Leadership does not happen alone; it happens when you are able to bring humans together to hear their truth.

Being part of NFBPWC has been genuinely transformative for me in this way. This community gave me a different lens for understanding setbacks, not as signs of inadequacy, but as information. Surrounded by women who have faced closed doors and found new ones, I learned that resilience is not built in isolation. It is something we build together.

Embrace uncertainty as growth

To the junior who is already dreading what senior year holds: I see you. The uncertainty you are feeling is not a sign that you are behind. It is a sign that you are paying attention. The pressure and the chaos are bound to come, but you must promise to prioritize your own well-being in the midst of it all.

If I could summarize this season of my life in three words, they would be: curiosity, empathy, and self-awareness.

Stop waiting for the uncertainty to go away before you begin. Uncertainty is not the obstacle. It is the terrain. Learn to move through it, seek out your community, and give yourself permission to not have it all figured out. We are all rising through transition, and we are doing it together.

Diya Adhikari
Chair Young BPW
youngbpw@nfbpwc.org

The Engineering of Stability: What Sustainability Means to Me

When I hear the word sustainability, I think of my mother holding a ten-rupee note in her hand, deciding how to stretch it across an entire week.

Before I ever understood the formal definition of the word, I lived inside it. My mother earned her master’s degree while raising two children. My father worked long days at a job he quietly disliked because our stability mattered more than his immediate happiness. At the height of her career, my mother stepped away from her professional life to focus on us while my father carried the financial weight alone.

In our home, sustainability was not a theoretical concept. It was a lived experience of sacrifice paired with a long-term plan. As the eldest child, I watched my mother pause her own future. I watched my father choose security even when it cost him joy. Our household ran on resilience, patience, and the belief that temporary sacrifice could create lasting opportunity.

To me, sustainability means remaining steady under pressure. It means building systems that do not collapse when circumstances shift. It also means ensuring that equality does not rise and fall based on politics or wealth. Sustainability is the stability that endures.

How Women Design the Future

When I moved to the United States at eighteen, my understanding of sustainability grew from family survival to structural change. While volunteering at the United Nations, I met women from across the globe who shared their lives as blueprints for action. They navigated unfamiliar systems to create financial stability while mentoring others. These women reinforced what I had learned from my mother: true sustainability is about designing systems that remain strong long after we are gone.

I believe this kind of lasting change only happens through inclusive leadership. When women design technology, write policy, or manage finance, they change the conversation about what matters to a community. I look to changemakers like Savitribai Phule, Wangari Maathai, and Malala Yousafzai. These women remind us that sustainability starts the moment a girl is allowed to choose her own path.

"Sustainability is not just survival. It is resilience."

The Foundation of Financial Independence

At the end of the day, financial independence is the key to this vision. Resilience is about surviving, but sustainability is about finally owning your life. When a woman has control over her own career and her own finances, she is not just protecting herself. She is securing the future for her family and everyone around her. My mother’s strategic choices created the very foundation I stand on today.

As a student in Computer Science, I now realize my mother was my first engineer. She engineered stability in a world that was often uncertain. Because her sacrifice created space for my growth, she is now pursuing the PhD she once put on hold.

This is the true meaning of sustainability. It is not just survival. It is the resilience that carries forward into the next generation. I am the result of that sustainability.

Diya Adhikari
Chair Young BPW
youngbpw@nfbpwc.org

What Are You Building?

As a Young BPW, take some time and answer these questions for yourself.

1. What are you working on right now (personally or professionally or both)?
2. What does success look like for you five years from now?
3. What professional challenge keeps you up at night?
4. What skills are you actively trying to develop right now?
5. What kind of training would move the needle for you?
6. If you had the right support, what would you attempt?

Your voice matters. If you are willing to share, please send your responses to youngbpw@nfbpwc.org.

Your insight will directly shape what comes next.

What do you Want us to Know?

Young BPW members get to navigate a unique and demanding stage of life. Most are students or in the early years of their working lives, trying to balance education, new careers, financial pressures, and decisions that will shape what comes next for them.

This is a time where questions are still being asked openly, where careers are shaped and reshaped in real time, and where responsibilities, ambitions, and new identities are competing for limited resources of time and energy.

For students and young professionals, this stage just doesn’t exist without pressure.

Pressure to choose wisely. Pressure to prove and improve your capabilities. Pressure to say “yes” to opportunities even when your time and energies are limited.

And how do we tend to do this? All too often, the choice is to put your own needs on hold while we focus on education, career moves, and gaining a steady financial footing.

It isn’t easy. We all know that. Showing up is hard. Juggling schedules that are full. Insufficient bandwidth is a real thing. And when something doesn’t feel valuable or relevant, it doesn’t make it to the calendar. That is the point of that question. What is relevant to you matters to us (NFBPWC).

Young BPW is not about having everything figured out. It is about being supported while you figure things out. Some members may want skill- building, others may want mentorship, other still want connections, and some just want a place to “be.” They want a place to listen and learn. All those needs are valid.

As we consider our Heart of a Woman theme this month, we can also reflect on the hearts of our members. Thank you for being part of what keeps BPW going.

Young BPW Call to Action

Your voice matters!

NFBPWC is still looking for a member willing to step forward and take a leadership role for the remainder of this term (ending July 2026) and members to serve on the Young BPW Committee.

If you are interested in the Young BPW Committee or joining the Executive Committee and Board as our Young BPW Officer, please contact me via president@nfbpwc.org

Barbara J. Bozeman
National President
2024-2026
president@nfbpwc.org

The Road to Success is Yours to Choose

How Young BPW evolves will continue to be guided by the voices and choices of the members themselves.

Young BPW is a category within NFBPWC for members ages 18-35, including students, entrepreneurs, and professionals across a wide range of fields. 

It is not a preparatory program or a waiting room for future leadership. Young BPW members are fully participating members of the Federation, bringing lived experience, professional insight, and perspective that reflect today’s world of work and service.

The purpose of Young BPW is to support connection, visibility, and opportunity for members navigating early and mid-career growth, advanced education, entrepreneurship, and leadership development.

It is intended to be shaped by the members it serves, in ways that are relevant, flexible, and responsive to their lives and priorities.

Participation in Young BPW can take many forms. Some members engage through conversation and networking, others through committee work or leadership roles at the local, national, and international levels.

There is no single path and no required level of iinvolvement.

As we move into the new year, our focus remains on ensuring that Young BPW members are informed, welcomed, and supported within NFBPWC, with access to the same opportunities for leadership, growth, and service as any other members.

Call to Action:

If you’re a Young BPW member, start where you are. When you’re ready, share what matters most to you and how NFBPWC can best support your path by emailing youngbpw@nfbpwc.org or president@nfbpwc.org

Barbara J. Bozeman
National President
2024-2026

The Power of NOW

Momentum is building…

On December 4th, Young BPW members (age 35 and under) will meet for The Power of Now, a virtual session built around one simple idea: you are shaping NFBPWC today.

This isn’t a lecture; it’s a collaboration. A chance to connect with your peers, spark new ideas and define the kind of professional community you want to grow with. Whether you are a student, an entrepreneur, or early in your career, your insights will help guide our national focus for 2026 and beyond.

Special Guest Speakers

You bring the energy; we’ll bring the platform. Together we want to ensure Young BPW remains the pulse of progress…visible, vocal, and visionary!

WHEN: December 4, 2025, 7:00pm EDT/4pm PDT

WHERE: Zoom

Barbara J. Bozeman
National President
2024-2026

Our Rising Stars—Allies in Action

This month’s theme, Allies in Action, feels especially fitting as we refocus our commitment to our Young BPW members, our vibrant, ambitious, and fiercely talented RISING STARS.

For a few years now, Time Magazine has had an annual “Time100 Next” list. It recognizes influential figures across the spectrum of endeavors. They are seen as “shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership.” They are defined by what they do and not the calendar.

And I believe we have those same stars right here in NFBPWC.

Too often, the phrase Young BPW has been treated as a qualifier, something that comes “before.” That is not how I see it. Young BPW is a badge of momentum. It’s where possibility meets purpose and it represents the energy that keeps our Federation in motion. You are not the future of this organization; you are its current pulse.

As we head toward December, we’ll be realigning our constellation, bringing your voices together to chart a path forward. Consider this your early call to connect, contribute, and claim your space in that sky. Many exciting things are coming and I want every single one of you to be part of it.

Call to Action: Your Voice, Your Vision

Tell me what matters most – in your career, your studies, YOUR LIFE.mWhat can we do to make NFBPWC more conducive to your aspirations? Where do you want to shine? You are not the “next generation” of BPW. You are the NOW generation. Together we can make sure that light shines bright in every direction.

For more information on Ray Allensworth and her accomplishments go to https://time.com/collections/time100-next- 2025/7318811/ray-allensworth/

If you have needs or ideas to share, please contact me via president@nfbpwc.org

Young BPW Meets December 4^th

Barbara J. Bozeman

National President

2024-2026

“If you have the right experience and perspective, even at a young age, you’re able to do something really important.”

—Ray Allensworth

Honoring Young BPW Leader, Bryn Norrie

It is with both pride and gratitude that we share an update about our Young BPW Officer, Bryn Norrie.

With great regret, her resignation was accepted on September 19th, 2025.

As many of you know, in August, Bryn began her studies at George Washington University Law School, a remarkable milestone and a testament to her dedication and talent. With the demanding schedule of a first-year law student, Bryn has recognized that she cannot fully continue her

responsibilities as our Young BPW Officer. While we are sad to see her step back from her role (and no – she is not leaving us as a member), we absolutely must and do celebrate the exciting new path she is pursuing.

Bryn was elected to the NFBPWC Executive Committee as Young BPW Officer in July 2024. At the International Congress in November 2024, our region (North America and the Caribbean) elected her to be our Regional Young BPW

Chair. Her leadership has been inspiring, not only to our Young BPW members but also the    2024-2026 Executive Committee, where her insight, energy, and collaborative spirit have been invaluable.

On behalf of NFBPWC, I extend my heartfelt thanks to Bryn for her service, her leadership, and the passion she has brought to every role she has held. We are proud of her accomplishments and grateful for the time she has given to our organization.

As she continues her law studies, we know Bryn will excel, and we will be cheering her on every step of the way. We wish her nothing but the best and look forward to supporting her endeavors as a continuing member of NFBPWC.

What is Young BPW?

If you're between the ages of 18 and 35 and are looking to collaborate on BPW’s local and international initiatives – including career, leadership, and women's rights – then Young BPW is for you!

Young BPW members exchange ideas, information, and support to help each other to achieve their career potential. We offer a tight-knit, engaged community, as well as leadership opportunities, resources, and career-focused programs.

Email us at: youngbpw@nfbpwc.org

By Barbara Bozeman, President, NFBPW, 2024-2026

What is Young BPW?

If you're between the ages of 18-35 and are looking to collaborate on BPW local and international initiatives – including career, leadership, and women's rights -- then Young BPW is for you!

Young BPW members exchange ideas, information, and support to help keep all members achieving their career potential. We offer a tight-knit, engaged community, as well as leadership opportunities, resources, and career-focused programs.

Email us at: youngbpw@nfbpwc.org

Keep in the loop of Young BPW activities and join in on them by following us on:

Instagram: @YoungBPWUSA                                                 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/YoungBPWUSA 

Bryn Norrie
NFBPWC Young BPW CHAIR
2024-2026

What is Young BPW?

If you're between the ages of 18-35 and are looking to collaborate on BPW local and international initiatives – including career, leadership, and women's rights -- then Young BPW is for you!

Young BPW members exchange ideas, information, and support to help keep all members achieving their career potential. We offer a tight-knit, engaged community, as well as leadership opportunities, resources, and career-focused programs.
Email us at: youngbpw@nfbpwc.org

Keep in the loop of Young BPW activities and join in on them by following us on:

Instagram: @YoungBPWUSA                                                 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/YoungBPWUSA

Bryn Norrie NFBPWC
Young BPW CHAIR
2024-2026