“Surround yourself with positive people; people who build you up and encourage you. Stay away from people who tear you down as much as you can.”

That’s the advice keynote speaker Susan Denmon Banowsky gave to everyone at the second annual Women’s Symposium Wednesday morning in the SUB Ballrooms.

The symposium opened with breakfast and the keynote followed by a series of panels by different sets of local professional women who spoke about the hurdles and rewards of success.

There were nine panels, ranging from topics about education to professional development, wealth and health, and two roundtable discus- sions at this year’s symposium.

Although men were scarce – if not nonexistent – at last year’s sympo- sium, more men were in attendance this year.

Students were excited about the topics, networking and bonding that the symposium offered.

Rebecca Walters, a junior public relations major, said she came for the panelists.

“I love Brooke Foy, and so I wanted to learn more from her,” Walters said. Walters said she needed advice, and the women and wealth panel was important to her.

“As a student, we do accrue some debt while we’re in school, and so learning how to save and be nan- cially successful later on in life was important to me.”

Panelist Darian Atkins said it was great to share her struggles to a group of people who were so inter- ested in learning about them.

“Young women de nitely bene t from the experience of older wom- en,” Atkins said. “What a great way to bring those two groups together under the guise of sharing informa- tion.”

There were three awards given at the end of the event: Rising Professional Award, Distinguished Leader Award and the Legacy Award. All three were given to ULM alumni.