Power of Women luncheon keynote speaker addresses quiet leadership

The University Foundation hosted its 12th annual Power of Women Luncheon and Expo on Wednesday, May 3, to connect female students at Southeast Missouri State University with mentors and community resources.

At the event — presented by the foundation, SEMO Dining and SoutheastHEALTH — SEMO president Carlos Vargas highlighted the effect women have had on the university over the last 150 years, such as buildings being named in their honor, scholarships made and more.

Vargas thanked the audience of women for their continued support, mentorship and contributions to lift up the next generation of women.

Molly Eggleston, a 2014 SEMO graduate, was the keynote speaker. She spoke fondly of helping other women grow in leadership. Eggleston was one of the first recipients of the Power of Women scholarship. She earned a bachelor's degree in nursing, and has worked at Mercy Hospital-St. Louis in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit as a registered nurse and adult ECMO specialist. She earned the 2018 St. Louis Magazine Cardiovascular Nurse of the Year recognition and the 2019 Missouri March of Dimes Critical Care Nurse of the Year award.

Eggleston's speech focused on the power of quiet leadership. She described herself as one with a quiet, shy and reserved personality. Growing up, she said she believed leaders needed to be extroverts, outspoken and with an endless supply of confidence. These qualities did not line up for her, Eggleston said.

Alyssa Lunsford ~ alunsford@semissourian.comSEMO women of STEM in attendance for the Power of Women Luncheon and Expo on Wednesday, May 3, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Alyssa Lunsford ~ alunsford@semissourian.comSEMO women of STEM in attendance for the Power of Women Luncheon and Expo on Wednesday, May 3, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Instead, she discovered she could be a leader with three main qualities — humble confidence, the ability to listen and compassion — as someone who was more reserved.

Eggleston said she had to rebuild her confidence when she started at SEMO.

"I didn't need to seek success to build confidence. I was good enough as it is," she said.

Once discovering this, she started joining organizations, and through them, opportunities started to arise for her.

"Humble confidence is knowing you are smart, knowing your talents and success without having to shout them to the world, and I credit my parents for raising me that way," Eggleston said.

When talking about the ability to listen, Eggleston spoke of a time she had a patient in an intensive care unit who was labeled as stubborn, but after an afternoon of learning what they were going through, she discovered they felt they had nothing to live for because of members in their family passing away. After a few weeks, the patient was able to go home with little to no help.

Eggleston said a compassionate leader is someone with compassion for others, as well as compassion for themselves.