Navigating the Professional Opportunities Maze: Women in the Workplace

Navigating the maze of professional opportunities and challenges can be a daunting juggling act of keeping an eye on the moving target of where you want to end up, and the logistics of finding the path that is uniquely optimal for your needs. To help, AABEA hosts a series of Professional Development events, including the well received “Navigating your way to an MBA” and “Coping with the Recession” seminars in the past year.

The next event currently being planned is designed to highlight some of the unique professional challenges faced by women in the workplace. Understanding the gender dynamics in the workplace can be an asset to all developing professionals regardless of gender, professional specialization or stage of career. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there is a clear need for mentorship, inspirational role models and learning from others’ experiences and perspectives.

Please join local young professionals and inspirational women leaders in the workforce for an afternoon of exchange of ideas and inspiration. This event aims to educate and inspire attendees, both men and women, to invoke courage, cooperation and creativity in their pursuit of their professional and personal goals.

Our distinguished panel includes men and women from a variety of industries and professional roles who will address the audience about the professional challenges and opportunities women face. Their diverse professional and personal experiences will provide a unique blend of perspectives to enrich your own ideas on how best to navigate through the professional opportunities maze, create your own unique paths, become pioneers and leaders in your fields and achieve both professional and personal successes.

• Venue: Tressider Oak East, Tressider Memorial Union, 459 LAGUNITA DR, Stanford, CA 94305
• Date: Sunday, December 06, 2009
• Event agenda:
• 2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.   Networking reception
• 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.    Panel presentation: Women Leaders of the SF Bay Area Bangladesh Community
• 3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.    Q&A from the audience
• 10 minute break: Round Table Leaders find their designated tables
• 4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.    Breakout session I: Round table discussions by individual topic areas
• 4:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.    Breakout session II: Round table discussions by individual topic areas

RSVP by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ., or through Facebook/LinkedIn
(search for "Navigating the Professional Opportunities Maze: Women in the Workplace“ on the events announcement pages).

Breakout Session Topic Areas:

• I: Women in Executive Leadership Roles – Breaking the Glass Ceiling without Shards

• A recent Development Dimensions International study of global leadership found that not nearly as many women are in accelerated-development programs as early in their careers as men, which means their chances for executive promotion diminish. Specifically, there were 28% more men in first-level leadership programs, while at the executive level, there were 50% more men than women in the high-potential programs. Hear from our distinguished panelists, men and women, about their own experiences and perspectives on the “glass ceiling”. How can you best break through the glass ceiling without cutting yourself and others? What worked well for our panelists and mentors and what didn’t? Bring your questions, no holds barred.

• II: Are there Forks in the Road? - Balancing Professional and Personal Goals

• Everyone wants to know how high-achieving women balance work and family. We can all read inspiring stories from, say, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, Carol Bartz of Yahoo, and Jeanne Jackson of Nike, who have recently shared their strategies on CNNMoney.com for keeping their careers on track while coping with everything from cancer to kids. But finding personal relevance and being able to identify with and directly relate to these inspiring stories often need a role model closer to our personal situations.
  Our Emerging Women Leader panelists come from diverse professional, academic and personal backgrounds. With anywhere between a couple to a dozen years of work experience, we hope you will find the right mix of perspectives that resonate with your own personal situations.

• III: Choices, Transitions and Restarts – Choose your own Adventure

• The need for professional flexibility and transition across industries, functional roles and even disciplines is not specific to any gender: the strategies to most effectively transition a technology background into executive management or business, a medical background into healthcare policy and development, or any other traditional or non-traditional professional switch transcends gender divides and will be relevant to both men and women in the audience. Our panelists will share their personal experiences and advice about down-the-road implications of our choices today of college majors, graduate school/program choices, first job choices and functional roles, choice of professional growth pathways at work etc. Relevant for professionals at all stages – starting with college/grad school students to young professionals as well as those with 5-8yrs of professional experience or more.

Panelists:

• Nagma Hossain, Infectious Disease Specialist

• Nagma has been in private practice in the San Jose/Los Gatos area for the past 5 years and is currently in the process of relocating to New York. She graduated from a 7 year combined BS-MD program called Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, an affiliation between City University of NY and Health Science Center in Brooklyn. She then completed an Internal Medicine residency at Salem Hospital, and later her ID fellowship at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center.

• Naushaba Rashid, Vice President - Investments at Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC 

• At Wells Fargo Advisors, Naushaba works with individual or business clients to offer retirement, education, tax and estate planning services. Prior to her current position, she was the Vice President of Investments with Wachovia Securities, and an Investment Officer with Atlas Securities. She completed her B.A. in Economics, with a minor in Finance, from the University of Rochester.

• Rahima Mohammad, Thermal Engineering Manager and Technical Lead, Intel Corporation

• With Intel since 1998. Rahima currently manages and technically leads a thermo-mechanical team in the Platforms Validation Engineering group. She has architected and delivered validation platform mechanical/thermal design and thermal tools designs for 9 platforms in the DP/MP server market and 2 platforms for visual computing graphics market segment. She completed her PhD study at Yale University and her M.Sc. (Mechanical Engineering) from University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her B.Sc. (Mechanical Engineering) from Arizona State University.

• Reza Islam, Vice President, R&D Operations at Affymetrix

• Reza has 20 years of experience in R&D and Program management. Prior to his role at Affymetrix, he held various leadership roles in Applied Biosystems, GE Healthcare and Amersham Pharmacia Biotech. An electrical and biomedical engineer by training, his entire career has been in the biotech industry starting with product development, then moving to R&D and project management. His main focus currently is in process improvement and implementation for rapid new product development.

• Roksana Badruddoja, Assistant Professor, California State University-Fresno
  

• Roksana is a faculty member in the Women’s Studies Program at CSU, Fresno, and has earned her Ph.D in Sociology from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her research includes examining South Asian-American urban community formations through migration, race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and cultural performance within the rapidly changing demographic landscape of America. Roksana teaches Women of Color in the U.S., Feminist Research Methods, and Diversity in the U.S.

• Sanjida Mazid, Manager, Solano County Health and Human Services, Mental Health Division

• Sanjida brings over 15 years experience in non-profit social service program development and management. Prior to her current role, she spent six years working with low-income, high school drop-out young adults with multiple employment barriers. During 1988-1999, she led teams in several non-profit organizations that address women’s rights and empowerment issues, such as spearheading the prevention education program at Planned Parenthood of Marin, and coordinating and directing several programs at the Rape Crisis Center of Marin and Contra Costa Counties.

• Salman Ansari, Founding Employee and Senior Platform Engineer, Involver
  

• In 2007, soon after completing his B.Sc in Computer Science at University of Waterloo, Salman joined Involver during its first few months as a company. Working in a small entrepreneurial team setting, he plays several roles across the spectrum of business operations; including management of products, employees, clients, and customers. He also spends his free time participating and volunteering in events that promote entrepreneurial growth. Recently, Salman taught classes in a workshop designed specifically for women who want to learn about web development.

Read the full brochure.