There is a new chapter on Quinnipiac’s campus, and it’s recruiting women leaders.

Leading Women of Tomorrow aims to increase women’s representation on campus and within the surrounding community.

The national organization rooted in Washington, D.C. reached out to Quinnipiac’s political science professor, Scott McLean, who then reached out to female students interested in public service to interview for the chapter’s executive board.

“This club is really focused on the facilitation of more movement of women into politics,” said President of Leading Women of Tomorrow, Gabriella Colello. “Our main focus really is just increasing representation of women in public service and public representation.”

Quinnipiac’s population is currently 61% female and 39% male, but many clubs are male-dominated in leadership positions.

Ohidiani Imevbore, Vice President of Leading Women of Tomorrow, says the club wants to see an increase of women in those positions.

“Males definitely dominate a lot of the roles in politics not only on campus but in American politics in general so that is one of the main issues we are kind of looking at and make sure that it is not just sixty forty,” Imevbore said. “It is almost fifty fifty political presence and women don’t have to feel like they should shy out of those positions.”

Bringing women representation to political positions on campus is important to the club. There are women empowerment and political science clubs, but this is the first time where there is specifically a club advocating for women in politics.

The chapter looks to start a speaker series bringing in women who currently work in public service.

The club will also reach out to local public schools to encourage younger students to pursue politics and provide them with a mentorship with the Leading Women of Tomorrow members.

Colello and Imevbore say the other board members are great leaders to help build this chapter from the ground up.

“A quality that we all share is that everyone is super passionate, ambitious, and charismatic,” Colello said. “I think that we have a true group of leaders all working together towards a cause we are very invested in.”

Imevbore says the new Leading Women of Tomorrow chapter gave her an opportunity she could not get when growing up in Nigeria until she was 15.

“I came from a country where there’s not that many leaders in politics and I thought it would be nice for me to step outside of my comfort zone and go for something that I always wanted to be in.”

Young women who dream of working in politics one day can look forward to gaining the resources and skills through the new Leading Women of Tomorrow chapter to confidently become an advocate in their professional fields.