Speakers
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Claire Chiang Senior Vice President, Banyan Tree Holdings Pte Ltd (Shirin Fozdar Trust Fund Chairperson) Claire Chiang is a social activist, entrepreneur and author, was Singapore's Woman of the Year (1999) and former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP). She is executive director of the Banyan Tree Gallery, a company that she conceptualised. Her business acumen led her to break the long-standing tradition of an all-male Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI) in 1995 by becoming one of the first two women to be admitted to it. She is an active advocate for women's rights, family life and the disadvantaged in society and the current chairperson of the Shirin Fozdar Trust Fund. She will be delivering the opening address at the conference. |
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Ann Medlock Founder, Giraffe Heroes Project (Key Note Speaker) Ann Medlock is Founder and Creative Director of the Giraffe Heroes Project. Her background includes editing Viet Nam Presse in Saigon; chairing the Children's Cultural Foundation in New York; freelance writing for magazines and corporations, and media consulting for Western Union, AT&T and the US Maritime Administration. She has been editor-in-chief of Children's Express, a curriculum developer at Macmillan and Science Research Associates, and speechwriter to the Aga Khan. She earned a BA magna cum laude from the University of Maryland, and recently published her first book of poetry. She is the Key Note speaker and will be presenting the inagural Shirin Fozdar Lecture for this conference. She will be speaking on the topic, "Women Leading Communities Around the World". |
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Helen Zhang Writer, Mother & Business Advisor (Plenary Speaker) Confucius, one of China 's greatest teachers once said “Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.” By sharing some Chinese stories and contemporary examples of inspiring women, as well as her own journey of “seeing the beauty”, Helen will discuss the following with the audience: How do we find our own passion and our own voice? How do we define and measure happiness and contentment?How do we tap into our inner strength and living our dreams?How does the Chinese view change and the future? Helen is a writer, mother, business advisor and student of life. She lives in Beijing with her husband and two children, calls Australia (her second) home and travels to Europe regularly for work. She will be speaking on “The Woman you are meant to be: A Chinese Perspective” |
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Catherine Lim Writer, Political Commentator (Plenary Speaker) Catherine Lim is a Singapore writer with several short-story collections and novels written in English, published in the US, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries. She has a PhD in Applied Linguistics and regularly speaks on cruise ships and at International Seminars. She contributes social and political commentaries to local and foreign newspapers and magazines. Catherine Lim was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature by Murdoch University, Australia. |
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Bridget Welsh Associate Professor, Political Science Singapore Management University The new decade offers both lessons on the challenges and the opportunities for women in politics. Women remain only a handful the representatives of parliaments in Southeast Asia and face major obstacles within political parties for representation. At the same time, however, the climate has shifted in favor of engagement with issues affecting women and their inclusion, giving a more prominent voice to female representatives. Drawing from a study of patterns of female participation in Southeast Asia, the discussion on "Women & Politics" centers on how the political role of and for women is changing. |
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Chutimaporn Kasemsuk Corporate Director, PR & Communications, Dusit International Chutimaporn Kasemsuk joins Dusit International as the Corporate Director of Public Relations and Communications, who is responsible for the company's communications plan and strategy targeting domestic and international audiences across the world. As Dusit is expanding its hospitality network through Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe , Chutimaporn plays a significant role in providing the company with the platform to deliver its message to the global community. She is also a key executive who develops company's Crisis Communications and Management plan as well as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) campaign. |
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Darlene Boyd Director, Gifted Students Academy University of California-Irvine Darlene will speak on "Coming of Age in the Modern Community: Women of Legend and Sustainability of Worth". In this session, through discussion and dialogue, she will attempt to analyze the ebb and flow of womankind. The analysis will be set in the context of the perspective of community by considering brief case studies of selected women, (some famous and some not so celebrated, yet recognized as being legendary). The case study review will enable us to determine commonalities of struggle among these women of note. We will also identify contemporary community practices that have become women friendly and why. Most importantly, we'll identify bursts of progress and attempt to identify just what ensures sustainability of effort versus happenstance. Dr. Boyd is a founding board member and Past President of the American Creativity Association. Previously she served as Widener University 's Director of the Gifted Education. She has served as an assistant professor of educational administration, educational policy studies and gifted education studies. |
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Deborah Reid Lecturer, Monash University English Language Centre Deborah's workshop will be about "Challenges Facing Women As International Students". This workshop will explore the challenges that female international students face in studying abroad, with a focus on Australia. Topics to be discussed include: culture shock/ cultural adaptation, coping with the different academic expectations and teaching styles of a Western university, adjusting to living independently in a Western, multicultural society, safety issues in Australia, dealing with language problems, including comprehending the Australian accent and finally, tips on how to overcome loneliness and make new friends. Information will also be given on how to prepare for study abroad before departure, and strategies on how to best plan for a new living and study environment. |
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Duong Thuy Nguyen |
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Eliza Quek
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Eunice Areola
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Faridah Manaf Associate Professor International Islamic University Malaysia Her topic will be "Across class, gender and race: Malaysian women making a difference through their community service work". This paper aims to examine Malaysian women's participation in NGO work especially in addressing urbane poverty in Kuala Lumpur. Who are these women, what motivate them to work outside hometheir professional career to care for others? Do they just care for those of the same race, religion or class or have they rise above all these barriers? The findings of this study will inspire empowered, highly educated women to do their bit for their society (many quit work to attend to THEIR OWN family needs which may seem to many to be a bit self-centred and against nation-building). |
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Firdous Azim Professor of English BRAC University, Dhaka , Bangladesh Firdous Azim is Professor of English at BRAC University in Dhaka , Bangladesh . She has published widely on literary, cultural and women's issues both inside and outside the country. Her critical writings include The Colonial Rise of the Novel (1993), as well as contributions on post-colonial and women's writings in journals and edited anthologies. She is an active member of Naripokkho, a woman's activist group in Bangladesh . At the moment, she is part of an international research project entitled ‘Pathways of Women's Empowerment'. Her presentation will be entiltled " Violence Against Women & Naripokkho. She will look at the movements around violence against women that this group has mounted since mid-1980s and will trace how it drew greater public attention to this issue through engagement with civil movements, or by spearheading its own campaigns, as well as working with the government. |
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Jane Horan
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Jennifer Angwin Senior Lecturer, Deakin University, Australia Using Journals As Reflective Writing Tools :A Hands-On Workshop. Many of us are always writing: writing research articles, writing our stories, narratives, reflections, etc. It is an extraordinary activity- this writing that we do and we all know that writing, especially reflective writing, takes a good deal of courage and discipline. In this workshop she will discuss ways of developing reflective journal writing both as a research tool and a means of research writing. She will also discuss reflective writing as a "self" expression tool. The idea is to help break down a sense of isolation in the research and reflective journey. |
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Jennifer Cronin Vice President, Sales & Marketing Dusit International Jennifer will be speaking on "Women In The Hospitality Industry: Real Challenges and Issues". She oversees all marketing activities including sales deployment and distribution channel development. Ms. Cronin brings with her over 25 years experience in her field in both operations, at general management level, and sales and marketing. Based in Singapore for almost 6 years from 2001, she began her international postings as Area Director of Marketing-Southeast Asia Hyatt International, as well as Grand Hyatt Singapore Director of Marketing; and was responsible for relaunching the property after extensive renovations. She then held the position of Executive Assistant Manager Sales & Marketing for The Ritz-Carlton Millenia, Singapore for two years prior to joining Dusit International. She obtained a Master's in Business Administration from Bond University in Australia, having been conferred the MBA Director's Award for Outstanding Achievement. She was also a Rotary Exchange Student to Japan and is conversant in Japanese. |
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Linda Naiman
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Loretta Chen Creative Director, Writer, Actor Loretta Chen is an erstwhile host, writer, actor, elected NMP candidate, part-time lecturer, almost-all-the-time director and full-time woman. Having recently completed the Asian Premiere of Victor Victoria starring jazz legend Laura Fygi and her PhD in Theatre, Loretta thinks she knows a little about The Importance of a Good Release (and she is not talking about sex, just yet). Her workshop “The Theatre as Release: Women & Self-Expression” gives insights to the seedy underbelly of women's theatre in Singapore, enables an intimate understanding of the theatre as release and also encourages all participants to delight in their own cathartic self-expression. |
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Mary Maher
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Natalie Turner Founder, entheo Ltd The workshop titled "Building & Communicating the Business of Your Dreams!" will be facilitated by Natalie Turner, Founder & Creator of entheo innovation and change agency. This two hour intensive workshop will take you on a journey from creating a compelling vision, defining clear and focused bold steps and a practical action plan that will kick start or refocus your business. Highly interactive and practical, you will walk away with renewed enthusiasm, an outline business plan and effective tools and techniques that will enable you to communicate your business with passion and conviction. Natalie brings experience as an entrepreneur, trainer and coach as well as a Master Practitioner in non-verbal communication and group dynamics. |
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Naysla Edwards
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Sreyashi Sengupta Founder, INDIBIZ Sreyashi Sen will be speaking on the NGO dimension and the women in the community. She will be sharing her experience of 12 years in the NGO sector with case studies of work with women in the Asian region specifically and the hurdles and learning from working with diverse communities. Most of the times women are seen as a disadvantageous section of society, and the NGO sector believes that a large proportion of working with communities needs to focus on the condition of women therein . The presentation will also cite some learning from the UN resolutions and the Beijing Declaration together with insights on the way forward. |
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Tara Coste
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Tina Lim Founder, Strange But Cool So you want to stay sane, make money, be part of community, do all and still remember you're female? Have you been told it's quite impossible! That's utter rubbish. Tina's sharing "Working from Home, Setting up Business and Staying Sane" is a practical workshop may be for you. It's to the point, a beginner's crash course in getting focused and realizing that it's all do-able. In a nut shell she will cover: Why set up a business from home? Defining your business to be set up. The advantages and disadvantages of working from home and what you will need for the short, medium and long term? |
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Kirpal Singh Director, Wee Kim Wee Centre Dr Singh is a highly reputed scholar in the field of Shakespearean and post-colonial literatures and is the author of numerous articles, essays and books. Dr Singh sits on the Editorial & Advisory Boards of top journals and his advice is sought by many-from governments to non-government organisations. He is an integral part of the AII (Asia Innovation Initiative) and a Board Member of the IRFD (Int Research Foundation for Research)-a UN registered NGO. He is the first non-American to be elected to the prestigious Board of Directors of the ACA (American Creativity Association) of which he is now the Vice-President. In 2008 Dr Singh returned to being Director of the Wee Kim Wee Centre at the Singapore Management University -a Centre he had found in 1999 when SMU was being established. |
