More than 30 students gathered in the Questrom School of Business Saturday morning for a conference on how diversity helps businesses thrive.
The Diversity in Business Conference, organized by BU business fraternity Phi Chi Theta, was dedicated to educating students about business diversity initiatives and help students network with diverse employers, according to the conference’s website.
Aaron Lemmon, a BU alumni who graduated from Questrom in 2015, started the conference with a presentation. In his keynote speech, Lemmon addressed a wide range of topics, ranging from his own personal experiences with diversity to broader research about diversity in the field of business.
“Companies with diversity platforms way outperform other companies,” Lemmon said. “Companies that are gender diverse perform 15 percent better, and companies that are ethnically diverse perform 35 percent better, so that’s huge. There is no mistake that diversity is important in business.”
Chirag Aswani, a member of Phi Chi Theta and organizer of the conference, said the fraternity is relatively new, and putting on this conference helped them build a foundation that allows them to organize more conferences and panels in the future.
“This is our first conference, and it’s turning out to be great,” the College of Arts and Sciences sophomore said after the keynote address. “The most important part is just to make sure whoever is attending enjoys their time, and they really learn something from it.”
Daniel Cher, the president of Phi Chi Theta, said the conference’s focus on diversity was an especially important factor to its success.
“Sometimes diversity is something that’s just tossed over because it’s an uncomfortable subject,” the Questrom and CAS senior said. “So by actually spending time talking about [diversity], people will be able to see [diversity], and hopefully get a meaningful discussion from it.”
After the keynote address, students mingled and networked with the speakers at the conference before dividing into three groups for workshops, which focused on women in business, navigating the hiring process and leadership diversity.
At the end of the conference, students participated in a team-building exercise to bring what they learned to life — they used marshmallows and straws to try to build the tallest structure possible.
“With a lot of these things, you just have a discussion, but when you’re actually working on a team diversely,” Cher said. “It has an effect to learn and collaborate with one another.”
Several students, such as Jessica Ashley, a freshman in Questrom and an international student, said they enjoyed the perspective offered by the conference.
“It’s good that they’re targeting international students because it’s a diversity conference,” Ashley said. “In today’s day and age, it’s really good to have a global perspective.”
Virginia Kuan, a junior in Questrom and a member of Phi Chi Theta, said she came to the conference because business diversity is a topic that directly affects her.
“I’m very concerned with how minorities are treated in the workforce since I’m also a minority,” Kuan said. “Especially now people [are] coming out as not as accepting as we thought the United States is. It’s definitely important. A lot of times, people need to be reminded of the disparity.”
Luca Ricolfi, a sophomore in Questrom, said she was pleased with the keynote speaker, especially because the presentation included “a lot of data.”
“[The conference is] important because first of all, it brings to the table more views, and this helps the business a lot,” Ricolfi said. “Knowing people from diverse backgrounds makes you grow as a person.”
