Women in Resilience with J.P. Morgan Private Banking

Every “Empowerment” movement requires Empowerees & Empowerers. Most headlines usually focus on the Empowerees (women, racial minority, low income groups etc) because it’s more sensational, yet, I feel not enough credit is being given to those who actively stand in the gap for those in need. 

Many wonderful themes were covered during JP Morgan’s inspiring Women’s Forum, with keynote speaker Condoleezza Rice and many other industry-changing trailblazers sharing their wisdom. But I do want to shine a special spotlight on these often overlooked “Empowerers”.

For instance, there’s Condoleezza Rice's champion, George H.W. Bush, who changed the course of her career by declaring in front of Gorbachev & his White House staff that he deferred to Condoleezza for wisdom on Soviet Union foreign policy so that she could earn instantaneously public respect as a young woman of color. 

Then, there’s my co-panelist John Wood, who wrote the international best seller “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” and founded Room To Read & now U-Go, 2 global charities that have helped low income children and low income young women find higher education that can transform the course of their destinies, impacting lives by the millions. 

Finally, I was admitted to the hospital for an emergency surgery just 2 days before this conference, which I had committed to be a speaker at. If my gem of a husband did not drop everything in front of him and flew 17 hours from USA to Singapore to care for me (literally picked up every bag for me because my wounds were too delicate for me to carry anything), I would not have been able to show up and speak at this conference. 

Being an Empowerer is not exclusive to men, but anyone who has the ability to stand in the gap for those who may be (at that moment) weaker, more in need, lack luck in being dealt the right resources. It is moving and inspiring when I meet these real life everyday heroes. 

When our moderator asked me what I’d say to our next generation, these are my thoughts: 

“There's nothing more important than to understand other human beings in this age of AI. To our next generation: go do the difficult things. Try to broker peace between neighbors who are fighting, travel to a 3rd world country that's struggling and find solutions for them, make choices that are inconvenient but worthwhile. That way, you will always be able to add value to society.”

Thank you J.P. Morgan Private Bank for your kind invitation & feature.