About Sarah: Sarah Gerlach grew up in Southern California, but headed north to UC Berkeley for college and graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Economics. She then started a career in tech, working in digital marketing and digital transformation at Google in Mountain View and New York City. Sarah chose to attend UCLA Anderson because it gives her the opportunity to explore new diverse paths while also pursuing her passions like environmentalism.

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One of the highlights of my time at UCLA Anderson has been planning our annual women’s leadership summit, Velocity. The Velocity Summit is a celebration of the power and impact of women, bringing together current and future leaders of all backgrounds to explore ideas for a more equitable future in business and society. This year, we had an amazing suite of keynote speakers: Anne Walsh, the Chief Investment Officer of Guggenheim Partners Investment Management; Candace Nelson, the Founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes and Pizzana; and Lauren Neustadter, the President of Film and Television at Hello Sunshine. We also had two incredible breakout sessions that featured panels on Breaking Barriers In Finance and Driving Positive Societal Impact, as well as an innovation workshop to close out the event. Let’s dive deeper into everything it takes to plan our annual event!

The planning process started almost exactly a year ago when I was selected to be Vice President of Velocity Operations for Anderson’s female-identifying club, Women’s Business Connection (WBC). The planning team was comprised of five second-year Anderson students and WBC vice presidents: myself and my co-VP of Velocity Operations, Marysela Garza, as well as our three VPs of Velocity Programming: Bridget Bousa, Gina Leggio, and Briana Rayhaun.

First, we needed to decide on our theme for the 2024 Velocity Summit. Past themes have included Propel, Rise, and Forward. We wanted to continue that spirit of advancing women, so after discussing possible options and voting on our favorites, we landed on EMPOWER! Empower became our rallying cry and our north star for our future decisions and motivated us throughout the upcoming year.

Next, we looked at the programs over the last few years and decided to intentionally include new voices that we might not have recently featured. We found that finance, entertainment, and social impact were fresh industries that we could highlight this year and that aligned with our Empower theme. Then we created a target list of keynote speakers and panelists that we added names to whenever inspiration struck!

Starting in the fall, planning really kicked up a notch! We started our weekly meetings with the entire Velocity committee which included Anderson staff, professors, and partners. I was tasked with setting the agenda each week, prioritizing topics, and assigning follow-up items. Our team also grew with the inclusion of five first-year WBC directors who were tasked with helping with the planning logistics. Once we confirmed a date that aligned with Anderson’s academic calendar, we were off to the races. Our programming team started reaching out to potential speakers, panelists, and workshop hosts, and we brought on a team of first-year directors to help us out with all the logistics. Most of the decisions were fun, like what colors and imagery we wanted to represent the Empower theme, and what swag we wanted to pass out to the attendees. By the time winter break started in mid-December, Velocity was 90% planned!

Once we reconvened in January, we sent out our Save the Date announcements and created the registration page! Everything was starting to feel so real! We had to finish creating all the marketing assets, with help from Anderson’s marketing and communications office, and start promoting the event. Everyone in WBC and on the planning committee came together to spread the word across our networks, and we had over 400 people register!

The last few weeks before the conference went by almost too quickly as we worked to finalize all the small details. As a VP of Operations, I was tasked with coordinating our amazing crew of 20+ WBC student volunteers, who helped our attendees park and check in, ushered them to their breakout sessions, and coordinated with our fantastic panelists. Mari, my co-VP, was tasked with finding vendors for our happy hour, where we featured female-owned, Anderson-alumni start-up brands, like canned wine company, Besa mi Vino!

When we started planning almost a year ago, I could never have imagined how fulfilling this process was going to be. I learned so much about myself as a leader. On the day of Velocity, I woke up at 5:00 am, excited and ready to showcase all of our hard work! We had planned and programmed in preparation so much that it was only 5% stressful, and 95% thrilling! Seeing my peers and women from all over the LA community engage with us and enjoy the event was incredibly rewarding, and I am so proud to have been part of this Velocity 2024 team. Special thank you to everyone who made Velocity possible this year, including my fellow WBC ladies: Marysela Garza, Bridget Bousa, Gina Leggio, Briana Rayhaun, Sofia Mandel, Michelle Hernandez, Dani Motte, Veronica Seng, Shreya, and Nancy Ta. I am so thankful and in awe of the amazing UCLA Anderson support we received from Deans Heather Caruso and Jessica Luchenta, Associate Deans Patricia Godefroy and Jill Baldauf, Directors Eleanor Garibay, Veronica Moy, and Jill Hisey, and Vanessa Carey, Teresé Haley, Jeffrey Li, and Hannah Pingelton. And a very heartfelt thank you to Annette Blum Pearson, Deb Roges, Lori LoCicero, and Fanny Pinoul. I already can’t wait for Velocity 2025 (where maybe I can sleep in a little more)!

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Student Blogger: Sarah Gerlach ‘24

Undergrad: UC Berkeley ‘15

Pre-MBA: Digital Marketing at Google

Leadership@Anderson: Anderson Onboarding Committee President, Anderson Student Association Vice President of Social, Admissions Ambassador Corps Vice President of Events, Women’s Business Connection Vice President of Operations, Wine Club Vice President of External Affairs