What would you do if you couldn't fail?

House of Hong Restaurant, Seattle -  This was the question I asked at a recently held Women of Power Luncheon hosted by Assunta Ng, Publisher of the NW Asian Weekly and Seattle Chinese Post newspapers.  Before I get to the answer of that question, though, let me first tell you that this luncheon, now in its third year, benefits one of NAAAP Seattle's partners, the Executive Development Institute (EDI). Twelve lucky auction winners from EDI's Inclusion Fusion held earlier this year got to lunch with some very powerful women. In fact, I had the privilege and pleasure of being seated at one of the tables. I'll introduce them one by one as I go through their stories.

Women of Power Luncheon (l to r) Martha Choe, Donna Giordano, Grace Chien, and Amelia Ransom Letcher (Not pictured: Sandra Madrid)

As the food arrived, Donna Giordano, President of the Quality Food Centers (QFC), shared what she thought were her keys to success(es); that was:

• to listen and learn from others;
• to take any job offered as it would lead people to know that you're the obvious choice when opportunities arose;
• to know you are in the driver's seat of your career;
• to know and articulate your value; and most of all,
• to have a positive attitude as this will assist you in achieving results, both at home and at work. 

Next, the top Girl Scout or CEO, Grace Chien, made a point to stand firm with your commitments and define successes and failures in relation to these.

Martha Choe, Chief Administrative Officer for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and also a 2010 NAAAP100 recipient, talked not only about change, but about having it be sustained and lasting. She talked about how important it is to building lasting and effective relationships and used the term, "total leadership", when addressing one's well-being: mind, body and soul. Said another way, "When you're health isn't well, neither is your leadership."

When addressing work life-balance, "there is no perfect balance and it's a matter of balancing daily or weekly based on what is important to you. Put another way, if you are on your death bed, would you regret having gone to one more meeting?"

(l to r) Sandra Madrid, Carol Butterfield and Sandi Heddington

Now, Amelia Ransom Letcher, VP Corp Diversity Affairs at Nordstrom, rallied around people first and effective communication. Can you imagine the power in having people believe flowers grow in concrete? Getting to this level of effectiveness can help you become very influential.

Sandra Madrid, Sr. Advisor to the Dean, UW, shared a story about her own career transition. She was let go from the UW after 20 years of service. Her main point was to be part of a community because no one can do it by themselves. It was with the community's support that she got her job back at the UW.

As by now, I'm guessing you want to know what they said when asked, "what would you do if you couldn't fail?" I asked this question because throughout our careers we face fear and indecision and having gone through this themselves, they would give really good insight. Well, in short, the answer was not surprising. To paraphrase what each one of them said, "I would do anything".

Given that we're already on the topic of powerful women, I would like now to take a moment to let you know about the Women in NAAAP! program, which is our own program created and developed to build competent and confident women leaders within NAAAP and within the Asian Pacific community. If you don't already know about it, you can visit our website.

Special thanks to Char Grinolds of EDI and Assunta Ng, Publisher of NW Asian Weekly and the Chinese Seattle Post newspapers for creating a great meeting.

Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle

President

Leaving a Mark on the University of Washington (UW)

Photos by Lori Call © Alabastro Photography

Mark Emmert after six years of having been the University of Washington President has accepted the honorable position of President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In a farewell event at Kane Hall last week, many acknowleged his contributions to the history of the university. He is leaving the University of Washington having many achievements including creating new colleges: the UW College of the Environment and the Department of Global Health, which was done in collaboration with the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and with tremendous support from the Gates Foundation.

In words said at this event, President Emmert built a diverse administration based on merit and knowledge-based perspectives. In addition, his focus on social justice and responsibility led to the Long Journey Home event, in which Nikkei graduates of 1941-1942, who had been denied the opportunity to complete their higher-education at the UW during World War II, were honored with degrees .  This also served as an opportunity to recognize present and future generations of Japanese Americans and more broadly the Asian American community. The University of Washington was the first university to advocate providing honorary degrees to the Nikkei graduates of 1941-1942. Other universities, such as Berkeley, have since followed the leadership of the UW. (Note: You can read more about Japansese American history at Densho)

Photos by Lori Call © Alabastro Photography

Phyllis Wise will take on the role as President of the University of Washington. It's definitely a first, since she will be the first Asian American woman to hold the position. His wife, DeLaine, accomplished herself, will be leaving with Mark after having made contributions to the community in terms of environmental sustainability and wildlife preservation.

Congratulations to Mark, DeLaine and Phyllis on their new roles.

Thanks to the University of Washington, the Executive Development Institute, and UnionBank for organizing the program. Special thanks to community leaders Ted Yamamura, a former NAAAP Seattle President, Diane Adachi, Dr. Testu Kashima, Dennis Yamashita, and Dr. Phyllis Wise for their speeches.

Regards,
Gil Gido
NAAAP Seattle
President

First NAAAP-Seattle College Scholarship awarded to Stacy Huynh

Stacy Huynh is a native of Seattle, Washington and a proud UW Husky. She recently graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration - Accounting and will be continuing her education in the UW's Master of Professional Accounting Program for Audit & Assurance this Fall.

Stacy shares her thoughts on being a scholarship winner, on NAAAP-Seattle, and on where she would like to vacation.

1) How do you feel about being the first-ever recipient of this NAAAP scholarship?

I am extremely honored to be chosen as the first-ever recipient of the NAAAP College Scholarship. I truly admire that NAAAP-Seattle is doing more to help Asian American students develop professionally and by creating a scholarship for graduate school, NAAAP is pushing us to achieve even more. I hope this scholarship continues long into the future.

2) How did you hear about the scholarship and about NAAAP?

I first learned about NAAAP through my connections as the 2009-2010 Asian Student Commission (ASC) Director at the University of Washington. My predecessor and I were both students at the UW's Foster School of Business and we discussed the need for some program or event that would address contemporary issues of Asian Americans on professionalism and achieving our education and career goals. He was the one who first told me about NAAAP and then throughout the year, I received weekly e-newsletters from NAAAP's Seattle chapter and would eventually work with the Student Relations Chair to organize an ASC Networking Night. I hope that ASC continues to work with NAAAP so that the two organizations can work together in helping Asian students at the UW meet their post-college goals.

3) If you had $1000 to spend on anything non-school related, what would it be?

Part of the $1,000 would definitely go to my family because I would not have earned any of my achievements without their love and support. I would also use some of the money to help fund backpacking trips through Europe and Asia. If there is anything left, I would either put it in a savings account (this is the Accounting major in me) or donate it to a worthy cause.