On Wednesday October 30, The Lubin Business Association (LBA) conducted their weekly meeting, hosting the event “Politics and Public Service” in Miller 27.

Rachanna Shah, Director of Government and Community Relations for Pace was the guest speaker. Aside from the business student attendees, Jim Davis, Career Advisor, and three other business professors, Kathy Winsted, Paul Kurnit and Carl Malinowksi were present. The overall goal of the event was to give business students insight on career opportunities in other fields, such as nonprofits and political campaigns.

The forum was presented in a relaxed open lecture style. Shah expressed that she wanted to “keep this very casual” before she answered questions from the LBA treasurer, Nicole M. McMullen.  Shah was asked for a brief background of how she began her career, from academics to present. Her unique background stems from a degree in medical anthropology.

“I still like to think of myself as an anthropologist because of how I see the world,” Shah said.

Professor Kurnit pointed out his admiration and emphasised the importance of careers in the public sector.

“All of you are millennials, you have so much written about what you want from your careers what kinds satisfactions from those areas as opposed to punching in a time clock,” Kurnit said. “This is one of those areas.”

Shah took it from there to discuss the legislation she was a part of. Shah states that she was a part of “menstruation equity” legislation issues, which are issues pertaining to access to women’s hygiene products as well as the “tampon tax” issue, while working under a congress woman.

“From there it became a much bigger thing,” Shah said. “[The discovered issues spiraled into] incarcerated women not getting access to menstrual hygiene. All these issues are going into Congress,” Shah said.

Her accomplishments were eye opening for business students who are not sure what options they have or want to do with their degree and career.

Being her own one person panel, Shah exuded intelligence and inspired all those in attendance. She actively kept everyone engaged and interested. With great insight and advice, everyone including the staff left the meeting with more knowledge and perspective. As everyone was exiting, Shah proudly handed out her business card with the blue Pace logo next to her name.