NA@AP Boston's Professional Development Committee is proud to present
Women in NA@AP! Boston Chapter LAUNCH EVENT - RECAP
On March 26th, 2011, NAAAP Boston’s Professional Development Committee launched the Boston chapter’s Women In NAAAP! (WIN!) initiative at the Northeastern University’s Raytheon Theater. Nearly 70 Asian women professionals and graduate students attended this half day conference.
WIN! is focused on building competent and confident women leaders within NAAAP and within the Asian Pacific community. The vision of the WIN! Initiative is to “empower, support, and engage Asian women to succeed as professional and personal leaders as well as contribute to their communities and cultures.” With this launch, WIN! Boston has joined a strong network of female leaders across the country and Canada, from Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Kansas City, New York, North Carolina, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, to Vancouver.
The theme of the WIN! Boston launch event was "Branching Out: Above and Beyond the Bamboo Ceiling®." The event touched on some of the common challenges faced by Asian female professionals in the workplace and offered ways to develop a personal branding strategy to help overcome such challenges. The program consisted of a special keynote presentation, a panel discussion and small group discussions among the participants.
The keynote speaker was Jane Hyun, the author of “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling®.” In her rich presentation, Jane identified the some of the developmental barriers that Asian American professionals more commonly face in the workplace and illustrated the importance of and the effectiveness of networking as a way to counter such challenges and to develop and grow professionally. The keynote presentation was followed by a book signing by Jane and an opportunity for all the participants to network and to be connected.
The panel discussion consisted of three exceptional and seasoned Asian women professionals from the Greater Boston area:
Dina Chu, principal of Lorrayne Dina Chu consulting practice;
Jiahong Juda Ph.D., founder of Burnbright Partners, and
Vivien Li, executive director of the Boston Harbor Association.
The panelists provided from both personal and professional experiences key insights into how to turn a difficult situation into a positive and advantageous position in the workplace. During this engaging conversation, the panelists challenged the participants to be willing to step out and take the initiative without first obtaining permission, to take less glamorous jobs that may allow opportunities to offer your own creative solutions and to pay attention only to what really matters, what we identify as are the most important aspects of ourselves and our lives.
The last segment of the conference allowed the attendees to hold small group discussions regarding their perception of themselves in the workplace versus that of others and the gap that may exist between the two. With the opportunity to share in the findings all together, the exercise initiated the creation of a support network amongst the women that will continue to aid in each other’s professional and personal development going forward.
THANK YOU:
WIN! Boston and the Professional Development Committee thanks the attendees who participated in this event and also Samson Lee, president of NAAAP Boston, Jim Fong, co-director of Professional Development Committee and Judi Rhee Alloway, national director of WIN!, for their tremendous support.
A big thank you to the Minority Graduate Student Association at Northeastern University, our venue sponsor, and WIN! Boston’s core working group who organized the event:
Lois Rho (WIN! Boston lead)
Sien (Mel) Chen (Professional Development Committee co-director)
Diana Quach
Heidi Teng
Candice Trzcinka (Lam)
Tapanee Thompson
Monica Tian
Anita Yip
Lei Zhang
