Driving change at the Heights and beyond
Joining the CWBC was a simple choice for Rochelle Webb ’01, a continuation of the values she developed in her time at the Heights and practiced throughout her career: altruism, community, and justice.
- Published on May 10, 2021
“We become what we surround ourselves with.”
Rochelle Webb ’01
For Rochelle Webb ’01, this is more than a hollow platitude; it’s a truth she’s heeded her whole life. Visiting Boston College for the first time as a prospective student, the Georgia native was struck not only by how beautiful the campus was, but how down-to-earth the students and faculty she talked to were. Compared to the other schools she’d visited, this combination of tireless motivation, alongside a deep humility born out of the University’s Jesuit, Catholic identity, felt unique. Even as she was already committed to another institution, Webb course-corrected to the Heights in order to study at the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences and surround herself with the people and place she was so drawn to.
Two decades, a graduate degree, and a move across the country later, it would have been easy for Webb to lose touch with her alma mater on the opposite coast. But after good friend Jeni Hansen ’00 insisted for years that she would be an excellent addition to the Council for Women of Boston College (CWBC), especially given her expertise in all things media and marketing, Webb followed that same impulse that brought her to BC in the first place. She then became one of the newest members of the Council, where she found an organization indefatigable for progress, community, and success. “With the CWBC, you’re with family,” says Webb.
A professor of entrepreneurship at Loyola Marymount University as well as a former lecturer in the Carroll School of Management’s Distinguished Marketing Lecture Series, Webb is passionate about teaching and opening doors for people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to opportunity.
Having founded Optimist Made, a global online shopping boutique aimed at uplifting undiscovered creators, in addition to a marketing and business strategy consulting firm, The Dialectic Compound, she’s built an extensive resume of altruistic entrepreneurship. In fact, her experience and enthusiasm for the CWBC’s mission have made her an invaluable member of the communications steering committee.
Welcomed into the CWBC just as the pandemic sequestered everyone to their homes, the virtual meetings allowed Webb to connect with fellow women Eagles who shared her many of her passions as well as her love for BC. Not only did they provide a source of community and solidarity at a time marked by profound isolation, but the intergenerational relationships she formed proved particularly inspiring and rewarding.
It’s no wonder she’s found a home in the CWBC, where she can “take on a role [driving] progress and impact for a community that I love,” she adds. Webb is heartened by the University’s continued progress in creating a more diverse student body—increasing the AHANA student population from 10 percent during her time as an undergraduate to 42 percent of the Class of 2025. Encouraged by this, as well as the University’s steps in recent years towards furthering diversity and inclusion on campus, Webb looks forward to ongoing change at her beloved alma mater.