Earning recognition as a Legacy Leader requires more than maintaining a high grade point average. It demands consistent action, strategic thinking, and a measurable commitment to community improvement. At RIT Croatia, senior Global Business Management student Leonela Krajač recently received the prestigious Legacy Leader Award, an honor that highlights graduating students who use their leadership to create meaningful, lasting change. For Leonela, this recognition highlights a journey defined by persistence, operational discipline, and a dedication to supporting women and nonbinary individuals in higher education.
The path to receiving a Legacy Leader Award is rarely linear. It involves identifying gaps in the university ecosystem and taking the initiative to fill them. As prospective and current students evaluate what they want to achieve during their academic careers, examining Leonela’s approach to leadership offers a practical blueprint for building sustainable organizations and leaving a meaningful mark on campus.
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Define Your Leadership Path in University
University is a unique environment where students can test ideas, build networks, and develop professional competencies in a relatively low-risk setting. However, many students wait until their final years to engage in extracurricular activities, missing out on years of potential growth. Defining a leadership path early allows students to iterate on their ideas, learn from failures, and build a track record of execution.
At RIT Croatia, the curriculum for programs like Global Business Management explicitly emphasizes experiential learning. Students are encouraged to participate in cooperative education, international study experiences, and community engagement. These academic structures naturally support students who want to take on leadership roles. Leonela Krajač utilized this environment to transition from a first-year student focused on adapting to a new environment into a confident leader capable of creating opportunities for others.
Building a legacy does not require a grand, immediate gesture. It starts with identifying a specific need within the student body. For Leonela, that need was a dedicated, supportive professional environment for women in business. Recognizing this gap is the first step; acting on it is what separates a Legacy Leader from a passive observer.
Founding the Women in Business Club at RIT Croatia
Recognizing a lack of structured networking and support for female business students, Leonela Krajač founded the Women in Business Club. What began as a conceptual idea quickly grew into one of the most active student organizations at the institution, currently boasting over 140 active members. In the broader context of Croatia’s evolving business landscape, fostering these networks at the university level provides a critical advantage for young professionals entering the workforce.
The primary goal of the Women in Business Club is to empower, connect, and create real opportunities for its members. Rather than functioning solely as a social group, the club operates with a professional mandate. Members engage in skill-building workshops, networking events, and mentorship programs that directly contribute to their career readiness. According to Leonela, seeing the club evolve into a space where students feel comfortable, empowered, and connected has been the most rewarding aspect of her university career. The club has actively helped members secure full-time employment opportunities and build meaningful professional connections.
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Creating Sustainable Student Organizations
One of the most common pitfalls of student-led organizations is high turnover. When the founding students graduate, the club often dissolves. Leonela avoided this by focusing on scalability and operational discipline from the outset. She did not just want to create a club; she wanted to build a system. This involved establishing clear processes for recruitment, event planning, and leadership transitions. By treating the Women in Business Club with the same strategic rigor applied in the Global Business Management program, she ensured the organization could survive and thrive long after her direct involvement ends.
Scaling Impact Through the Women in Leadership Conference
A hallmark of a true Legacy Leader is the ability to scale an initiative beyond its original scope. In addition to the Women in Business Club, Leonela conceptualized and launched the Women in Leadership Conference. Initially organized as an independent project, the conference has developed into a highly structured, collaborative team effort that brings together students, faculty, and industry professionals.
Organizing a large-scale conference requires navigating complex logistics, securing sponsorships, managing budgets, and coordinating speakers. These are challenging tasks for any professional, let alone a university student. By successfully executing this event, Leonela demonstrated that student initiatives can rival professional industry events in their organization and impact. Observing the conference grow bigger and more structured each year proves its potential to become a lasting tradition at RIT Croatia, further cementing the infrastructure available to future business students.
Mentorship and Operational Discipline in Action
The perspective of a mentor often provides the most objective measure of a student’s growth. Dr. Nina Antičić, Leonela’s mentor, highlights that what distinguishes Leonela most is her ability to transform abstract ideas into sustainable, scalable initiatives. As Dr. Antičić notes, Leonela stands out as a rare combination of intellectual rigor and executional excellence. She does not simply initiate ideas; she builds the systems, teams, and processes required to ensure those ideas endure.
Dr. Antičić recalls Leonela’s persistence during the uncertain early stages of the Women in Business Club. Building an organization from scratch requires consistently showing up, initiating contact, and laying groundwork without any guarantee of success. Over time, that persistence became contagious, attracting other dedicated students to the cause. Dr. Antičić emphasizes that the ability to combine persistence with strategic thinking and operational discipline is exceptionally rare at the undergraduate level. This combination of skills is exactly what employers in competitive markets seek, making Leonela’s practical experience just as valuable as her academic credentials.
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Actionable Advice for Aspiring Student Leaders
For students looking to replicate this type of success, the underlying principles are highly actionable. You do not need a fully formed business plan or a large team to begin. Leonela’s primary piece of advice to future students is straightforward: start before you feel ready. Most meaningful projects begin with a simple idea and the courage to pursue it.
To build a legacy during your university years, consider the following steps:
- Identify a Specific Gap: Look at your campus environment. Is there a missing resource, an unsupported demographic, or an unaddressed industry trend? The most successful clubs solve real problems for their members.
- Find a Faculty Mentor: Align yourself with faculty members who have experience in your area of interest. A mentor like Dr. Antičić can provide critical guidance, help you navigate institutional bureaucracies, and offer objective feedback on your strategies.
- Build Systems, Not Just Events: Focus on creating constitutions, standard operating procedures, and leadership pipelines. A successful event is good; a sustainable organization that runs successful events for ten years is a legacy.
- Embrace Teamwork Early: As your initiative grows, transition from doing the work yourself to delegating and managing a team. The Women in Leadership Conference succeeded because it evolved from a solo project into a collaborative effort.
- Commit to Persistence: Growth is rarely immediate. There will be low-attendance events and logistical failures. The defining characteristic of a Legacy Leader is the willingness to push through these inevitable obstacles.
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Conclusion
The Legacy Leader Award recognizes students whose impact is designed to outlast their direct involvement. Through the Women in Business Club, the Women in Leadership Conference, and her consistent demonstration of operational excellence, Leonela Krajač has set a high standard for student leadership at RIT Croatia. Her journey from an adapting first-year student to an award-winning senior illustrates the tangible results of combining academic knowledge with relentless execution.
For prospective students considering their educational options in Croatia, RIT Croatia offers an environment where student initiatives are supported and encouraged. The university’s focus on experiential learning provides the perfect incubator for students who want to build more than just a transcript—they want to build a legacy. Whatever direction Leonela chooses next, the systems and communities she has built will continue to support and empower future generations of business leaders.
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