Esther Belogolovsky ’10 was recently named as one of four recipients of a $1,500 Women in Leadership Grant awarded by the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The grants – given to Belogolovsky and Christine Sim of Applied Materials, Katee Peek of TeenForce and Jessica Sullivan of Blach Construction – are intended to help the four women continue their educations while working for locally-based businesses. Each awardee receives a separate grant. In the past four years alone, the Women in Leadership Grant Program has issued more than $35,000 in awards.

The grants go to collegiate women who demonstrate extraordinary leadership qualities in a business environment. Applicants must be full-time students and employed or interning at Silicon Valley-based businesses.

Belogolovsky is a communications major and business minor at the University of California, San Diego. Last summer she served as a human resources global leadership and manager development intern at Applied Materials, a global leader in making smartphones, flat-screen TVs and solar panels more affordable and accessible to consumers.

During her time with the company, she created an online survey for newly promoted managers, led benchmarking efforts, conducted global interviews and provided recommendations for improvements to Applied Materials’ new manager orientation program.

“My educational goals are to work in a field that I am truly passionate about, and keep learning on the way!” enthused Belogolovsky, who is now back for a second summer interning with Applied Materials.

Last year, Belogolovsky’s global survey, sent out through Europe and Asia, culminated with her presenting a development plan to HR executives in staffing, recruitment, talent and finance. She also participated in an advanced training program with senior managers (of 20+ years’ experience), in which she observed improvements that could be made to the company’s orientation program. She then assessed the organization’s wellness needs by gathering data from country presidents in Europe and aligning international managers’ needs with local ones.

Belogolovsky and her fellow grant recipients were honored during a special chamber-sponsored dinner in early June, which was attended by more than 350 people at downtown San Jose’s Doubletree Hilton Hotel. Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne’s pretzel franchise, was the keynote speaker at that event.