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Junior and senior female students from William Floyd High School recently attended an informative “Women in Business” workshop, arranged by Jacqueline Giacalone, chairperson, William Floyd High School Business department, to help inspire the next generation of female leaders by introducing them to highly-accomplished women in business, Holly Rae Felicetta and Marina Mentzel.

Business department chairperson Jacqueline Giacalone introduces “Women in Business” speakers. Click image to see additional photos!

Holly holds a dual MBA in international business and marketing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and has more than 15 years of experience in launching and scaling businesses, having worked in numerous start-ups and large organizations throughout her career. She currently serves as a senior partner and general manager at Holding Company (Holdco) The Inflection, where she oversees portfolio prioritization, incubations, strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

Marina is a graduate of the 2024 LBAN Business Scaling Program at Stanford University, a 2022 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow, and an alumna of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program while also holding degrees from The George Washington University and UNC Chapel Hill School of Law. She is the Founder and CEO of urSwim, a company that, under her leadership, has delivered more than 80,000 swimming lessons, earned national industry recognition and was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in the northeast.

At the workshop, Holly and Marina shared their journey toward becoming successful in business and all the effort that goes into professional development. They also explained key components of how their businesses run and what their roles are within those businesses.

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After a great opening discussion, Holly and Marina then fielded questions from a highly-engaged audience of students. The topics of the questions ranged from general career advice, managing internal and external pressures and ways to best thrive in traditionally male-dominated career fields. These questions led to productive conversations regarding self-confidence, taking risks, forging networks and having a good support system.

Upon the conclusion of the workshop, Holly and Marina continued to engage in conversations with the students and even provided them with contact information if they are ever in need of professional advice in the future. This workshop will undoubtedly help all of the students who were in attendance as they begin to work toward having a successful career of their own!