FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chinese American Museum Launches Women in Leadership Speaker Series
First Webinar – Tuesday, September 22, 2020
September 20, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – The Chinese American Museum, a new museum about Chinese American history, culture, and topics, currently in development in Washington, DC, announced a new program, the Pauline W. Tsui Women in Leadership Speaker Series, beginning Tuesday, September 22, 2020. The series is sponsored by the Ruth H. Kuo and Rhoda How Memorial Foundation.
Currently to be held as a virtual webinar, the first in this series of speaker events is intended to highlight figures and voices of Chinese American women in business, arts, politics and diplomacy, and other disciplines.
Webinar: Pauline W. Tsui Women in Leadership Speaker Series “Pivoting Pathways: Reinventing and Retooling for Successful Careers”
When: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 – 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM ET (7:00 AM PT)
Registration: http://www.chineseamericanmuseum.org/pivotingpathways
Costs: Free to registrants
The first panel discussion will be moderated by Dottie Li, a journalist formerly with Voice of America. She is the Founder and President of Transpacific Communications. Fun fact: Ms. Li is the Chinese voice of the language program, Rosetta Stone.
The panel includes three prominent Chinese American women who will discuss the unexpected turns in their careers and lives in which they have had to reinvent and retool along their personal and professional journeys.
Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch, the first Asian American to be appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, started her career in government and the Peace Corps. She transitioned to be a leader in the corporate and nonprofit world and circled back to her roots in China. Ambassador Bloch founded and is President of the US-China Education Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting US-China relations through education and exchange programs.
Syaru Shirley Lin, became the youngest female managing director of Goldman Sachs, before she reinvented herself through a career in academia. Shirley is currently Compton Visiting Professor in World Politics at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.
Ting Xu was a computer programmer at the Virginia State Health Department. In launching a second career for her parents, she inadvertently also launched an even bigger career for herself. Ting is Founder and Chairman of Evergreen Enterprises, one of the nation’s largest flag wholesalers, and CEO & Co-Owner of Plow & Hearth.
The event is free to all registrants online by visiting http://www.chineseamericanmuseum.org/pivotingpathways.
Pauline W. Tsui was born in Nanjing, China in 1920, during a time when women were second-class citizens. She believed it was essential that girls in China were properly educated. At the end of World War II, Pauline secured passage on a boat sailing from China to the United States as a birthright citizen due to her American father. She earned her MA in Music Education from Columbia University and planned to established schools in Shanghai before her plans were halted by the Communist Revolution. She moved to Washington, DC where she worked at the U.S. Army Map Service for 30 years. It was during this time Pauline encountered discrimination against Chinese women. She observed in times of government downsizing that it was always women and minorities whose pay was reduced and titles removed. This became a driving force for Pauline. She was promoted to the position of Federal Women's Program Manager at her agency where she advocated for the equal treatment of 700 female employees. She also co-founded a chapter of the organization for Federally Employed Women (FEW) and founded a childcare center for agency employees. Her job taught her that organizing was the key to gaining equality. She joined the Organization of Chinese Americans and served as Vice President, expanding her understanding of organizing in the community. The United Nations declared 1975 as the International Women's Year and Pauline was named to the Advisory Board of the State Department. In 1977, Pauline co-founded the Organization of Chinese American Women (OCAW), an organization dedicated to empowering Chinese women through education and training. OCAW continues to pursue its mission and now has chapters across the United States.
The Chinese American Museum Foundation is a non-profit, non-political, non-geopolitical 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to advance the understanding, knowledge, and appreciation of the Chinese American experience, by highlighting the history, culture, spirit, and contributions of Chinese Americans to our nation and beyond. The Foundation, with the support of private and institutional funding, is building the first Chinese American Museum in our nation’s capital.
To learn more about the Chinese American Museum visit http://www.ChineseAmericanMuseum.org