In a campus-wide effort to help student leaders be proactive in managing the pressures of college life, Salem College hosted student wellness expert, Maria Pascucci, on Thursday, August 18. Pascucci, a national leadership speaker, award-winning author and the president of CampusCalm.com, delivered her keynote presentation, "Today’s Women in Leadership Lesson: Success Starts with Self-Love."

"Salem's mission is to develop the unique potential of each individual student,” says Krispin Barr, Dean of Students at Salem College. “For young women who want to be successful and realize their potential in the 21st century, learning how to take care of themselves is a critical part of their college education. Maria's message is a much-needed ‘wake-up call’ for women to be intentional about developing a personal strategy for taking care of themselves - beginning in college and for the rest of their lives."

In light of new research, "Success Starts with Self-Love" is a leadership message that today’s high-achieving, but overworked and overwhelmed college women are craving. According to the American College Health Association’s Fall 2010 National College Health Assessment:

 90 percent of college women reported feeling overwhelmed by all they had to do in the previous 12 months (17 percentage points higher than college men).
 48 percent of college women reported feeling things were hopeless (11 percentage points higher than men).
 52 percent of women reported feeling overwhelming anxiety (17 percentage points higher than men).
 84 percent of women reported feeling exhausted, though not from physical activity (17 percentage points higher than men).
 46 percent of women rated academics as "traumatic or very difficult to handle" (9.6 percentage points higher than men).

"Campus Calm’s mission is to deliver calm, confidence and well-being for today's young and ambitious woman who wants to be in charge without sacrificing her health or self in the process," said Pascucci. "We aim to spread the message that healthy, resilient women have a leadership advantage in the 21st century." Accenture’s 2010 research study, "Women Leaders and Resilience," found that more than 71 percent of corporate leaders report that resilience is very to extremely important in determining who to retain.