The doors were wide open at Mayer Brown to inaugurate and welcome another cohort #7 of passionate and ambitious young women of The Empower Program. The room was buzzing with the energy of endless possibilities to level up the current employment demographic with more diverse voices and unique perspectives to bring positive change to the underserved communities of Hong Kong that often go unheard. And to build long-lasting root bridges that will help build a community of support for more talented young women.
Led by example, the night started off with a warm and energetic welcome by Elizabeth Thomson, Founder of The Amber Foundation, who called for more visual and realistic representations of diversity in homogenous sectors like hospitals and law firms. She reminded us to “Speak Out!” when in doubt.
Rachel Guan followed with an empowering note on how women can change the paradigm by rising to the occasion, being bold, and proactively seeking opportunities in corporate spaces that may have diverse openings.
We also had a riveting moment of envisioning a future liberated from the trappings of our past during the touching, “What’s a Game That’s Worth Playing?” segment led by Felicity McRobb. We were encouraged to “stand in the possibility of a Future that Inspires”, and to have a right to build our own stories. It fueled us to share inspiring and powerful goals of breaking gender stereotypes, building financial independence, finding agency in one’s voice, and helping our EM community to uplift itself. We were moved to find our calling and purpose to contribute to society in a way that’s impactful.
The night concluded with a constructive session on building a 9-month outline of the goals set earlier to actively take steps that will empower us to chart out a future of success.
Well, the possibilities are endless on how the next 9 months are set to pan out with these new bold voices working actively on our dreams. You’ll just have to watch this space to find out how it goes!
The amazing event would not have been possible without the generous support and hosting by the team at Mayer Brown Asia; special thanks to Rachel Guan for motivating talks throughout the event to uplift the girls, and the wonderful guests for the night Angela Watkins, Jasmine Chiu, Mei Ling Lew, Cherie Leung, Jenny Yu, Marie Thongphanh, Allison Lee, Pheona Chow.
As always a big shoutout to the EMPOWER ExCo Members for committing to another power-packed year of Empowerment: Elizabeth Thomson, Soundari Mukherjea, Felicity McRobb, Reena Rollason, Mamta Hotchandani, Manisha Wijesinghe, May Anne Vergana Bird, Anisha Sakhrani, Petunia Kingsley and Program Manager Christa Nujis.
Special thanks to Soundari Mukherjea and Felicity McRobb, for facilitating the event. And Event Help and Alumni Joti Rai, Sabiha Marium, Aisha Ali, Tayebba, Komal Bibi, and Momna Bashir for assisting during the evening.
Ayesha, a brilliant write-up on the first session of EMPOWER Cohort 7 hosted by Mayer Brown! You have succinctly and beautifully captured the evening's events and reminded us all of why we were at the EMPOWER session and why we do what we are called to do at EMPOWER, in our family and social circles, and the world at large. There's nothing we cannot achieve when we have the Vision, the Passion, and the Drive to make a change.
Petunia Kingsley - EMPOWER