Abigail Karl, a junior from Monmouth Beach, represented CHS at the Women’s Leadership Conference on Sunday, Feb. 26. The conference was held at Monmouth University and was sponsored by Morgan Stanley.

The conference consisted of a luncheon with a panel of female leaders, such as the assistant vice president of L’Oreal. The audience included both college and high school students, who were able to ask questions to the women on the panel.

Karl asked whether any of the leaders had ever experienced discrimination based on their gender. All of them had very unique answers on ho0w to deal with discrimination, Karl said.

One woman on the panel even told a story about a time when she got called a monkey by her boss.

The woman was doing her job when her boss asked her why she was working so hard and told her that she looked like a monkey. Less than six months later, the woman got promoted.

“She said to take it in stride. Take a moment to stop and think and you know what you are and what you can do,” Karl said.

The female leaders especially wanted the attendees to know that they have to be confident in themselves, Karl said.

A soccer player at Shore Regional High School, Karl has been playing soccer since she was five years old and has provided Karl with an outlet for leadership.  

When asked what made her a leader, Karl said that she “tries to treat other people the way [she] would like to be treated and [she] tries to go out of her way to be friendly to everyone, just in case someone is in a position where they feel like they’re not included or maybe they don’t fit in as well.”