OWN IT was started by Georgetown University students, Helen Brosnan and Kendall Ciesemier, in 2013 as a means to bring awareness to the lack of women in leadership positions across various professional fields. The inaugural Own It conference was held at GU in April of 2014, and brought over 40 speakers and 400 attendees together for a day filled with motivation and female empowerment. In March of 2015, both Georgetown University and Boston College held conferences with over 800 and 300 attendees, respectively. The success of the conference and its ambition to empower young women towards leadership roles has made its impact across the nation to numerous universities and the University of California, Davis.
