Over a week ago on Saturday, March 23rd, 2019 our small organization hosted its 3rd Annual Fly Pinays Leadership Summit as part of our broader Fly Pinays Mentorship Program. The day included a series of keynote addresses and panels, workshops, and interactive group discussions.
Check out the official event photos from the Summit here.
A day that is held in celebration of Pinayism during Women’s Herstory Month, our Fly Pinays work is a symbolism of the shared belief that our community holds in the importance of positive modeling, mentorship, and above all: sisterhood.
Our 3rd Annual Fly Pinays Leadership Summit attracted over 200 guests from across the Northern California region and was held at Mission College in Santa Clara, California. Of the 200 attendees, almost 150 were Pinay professionals – serving as mentors – and mentees – many of which were either current students, young adults, or professionals looking to pivot and/or transition.
For some context to those unfamiliar with LEAD Filipino and our Fly Pinays Mentorship Program, the Leadership Summit is a follow-up to a Pre-Session that we organize internally for our mentor and mentee participants. The goal of Fly Pinays Mentorship Program is to provide fora on Pinay experiences, women advancement in the workplace and public leadership, and personal/professional development.
Our Fly Pinays co-emcees returned for a repeat performance at our 3rd Annual Fly Pinays. Our crowd favorites that aren’t shy about singing and wobbling in front of large audiences, our San Jose sheroes: Ate Ann Reginio and Carina Orozco were in the house and led us throughout our ceremonies all day!
To kick-start our ceremonies, Chef Chel Gilla, the founder of Tselogs opened our day with remarks on integrity, accountability, and leadership. She shared of her own story on founding Teslogs (she just opened a location in SF and another will open later this year in Milan, Italy) and how principles of mental framing and positive thought patterns guided her decisions and risks in venturing to found, own, and operate Tselogs.
Throughout the day, our mentors and mentees also engaged in small group icebreakers at their tables including conversations on inspiration, mentors they’ve had, and other fun questions to get our ladies talking!
The twin themes for this year’s 3rd Annual Fly Pinays were: “Bossing Up” and “Breaking Expectations.” These themes were derived from a series of focus groups that LEAD Filipino’s Fly Pinays Director Team led throughout the Bay Area at colleges and community spaces with mentees and mentors alike. The simple focus group question: “What are you facing today?”
Based on these focus group outcomes, LEAD Filipino’s response to curating reflective content was to organize our workshops on these two resonant themes. Thank you to our workshop leaders that led distinct breakout sessions at our Leadership Summit: Cheryl Cruz with Asian American Recovery Services, Anakbayan Silicon Valley, PAWIS, HeyBerna, Francesca Mateo of Empire in the Air, Erin Pangilinan of Silicon Valley FASTER, Kristen Dominguez, Tracy Pascua Dea of St. Mary’s College of California, Cheska Dolor, Ian Zamora of UC Davis. Here are a few photos from our workshops:
We closed out our 3rd Annual Fly Pinays Leadership Summit with back-to-back guest speakers, including a panel on “Empowerment through Creativity” with artists and creatives Kate Dash, Melanie “DJ ThatGirl” Panergo, and Lauren Garcia.
To end the day with a bang we were joined by Micah “DJ Noodz” Mahinay, a tastemaker, influencer, and DJ for recording artist and performer, Kehlani. In her closing keynote, she addressed our group of 200 attendees on the importance of commitment, dedication, and support in defying the odds and persistence in the face of doubt — or Breaking Expectations and Bossing Up. 😉
Success has a thousand contributors. The same rings true for the successful putting on our largest event of the year, our Fly Pinays Leadership Summit.
Thank you to all of our volunteers, our Tech/AV and catering teams, Mission College staff, workshop leaders, tabling community partners, organizers, advisors, donors, and sponsors, our 3rd Annual Fly Pinays wouldn’t have happened without each of you.
We look forward to seeing all of you for our summer Fly Pinays activities.
In community,
Angelica Cortez, (on behalf of) LEAD Filipino
