WE Local Bellevue, April 5 – 6, 2019
Overall, I really enjoyed the conference for its variety. I attended sessions covering a wide range of topics, including diversity and inclusion, professional development, volunteering and good causes, financial independence, self awareness, etc. Its contents and organization were similar to annual conference in many ways, but the networking was much more localized and rewarding. Boeing subsidized the registration fees for many engineers, and it was great to meet and connect with others from my company.
Fem Finance – 7
Habits for Success (Leanne Plancic)
Leanne Plancic is a retirement planning specialist at AXA
Advisors. She is passionate about
setting aside time each year to offer education and outreach to increase
financial education and literacy within the community. She helped to make the strategies simple,
whether we were “math” people or not.
- 4 Buckets of Money (the basis of her session)
- Now: 1 year, cash on hand
- Short-Term: 1 – 10 years, brokerage accounts;
Taxed on money going in, growth, and money coming out
- Long-Term: Roth, etc.; Taxed on money going in
only
- Retirement: 401K, pension, etc.; Taxed on money
coming out
- HSA: Bonus 5th bucket; No taxes going
in, growth, or coming out
- ID your financial goals: What does success look
like for you? Be specific.
- Live within your means
- Utilize compounding interest
- Take advantage of tax shelters
- Invest your HSA account, use Excel to track
expenses, reimburse years later
- Control your future tax bracket
- Maximize social security
- Amount is very different if you take out at 62
vs. 70
-
Should consider spouse when choosing an age to
take social security
- Check your social security statement at ssa.gov
and make sure your information is correct
- Leverage long-term care insurance
Leanne answered many questions, both basic and complex. During this highly interactive session, the
power went out in the entire hotel. We,
the amazing and diligent SWEesters that we were, continued discussions. Leanne even pulled up the remaining slides on
her smartphone!
WE Local Celebration
The hotel placed candles and string lights around the
ballroom to accommodate for the lack of electricity. It created an inviting and intimate ambiance
for the celebration. Each table had a
different game, including Sushi Go and Scrabble, to initiate some conversations. Food was served along buffet tables and by
servers around the room. Some of the
most delicious food was the tandoori chicken skewers and the chicken samosas.
When the power came back on, Glowforge created custom name
badges, luggage tags, and jigsaw puzzles on their 3D laser printers. We drew our designs on cardboard and chose
from a selection of woods, including maple, cherry, and walnut. As the employees walked us through the
program and the printer functions, we saw our drawings etched onto the wood
piece line by line.
Successfully
Returning to Work after a Career Break (Elizabeth Crain)
Elizabeth chose to take a career break for 2 years, and is
currently a part-time plan review contract at FM Global. She shared her reasoning, the planning she
did before taking a break, what she did while away, and lessons learned after
returning to work. Below are a few of
her suggestions.
- Consider finances, time, childcare, work
opportunities (pro/con list, motivations, structure)
- Consider alternative roles/schedules (ex.
full-time with reduced travel, flexible time, part time, contractor,
sabbatical/hiatus, office hours)
- Continue updating your resume, network and stay
connected, attend social events, develop yourself (ex. read, learn new skill,
volunteer, try new things)
- Returning to work: Compensation, support
(spouse, family), emotional and physical impact, childcare constraints, etc.
Plan ahead and act with intention.
Celeste Mergens of
Days for Girls
Celeste Mergens described her life growing up, how she
founded Days for Girls, and the experiences she’s had since its founding. There was not a dry eye in the room after she
described her journey.
Girls all around the world drop out of school due to lack of
feminine supplies. Some are forced to
live apart from their families during that time of the month. As she was preparing to return to Nairobi,
Kenya in 2008, she woke up in the middle of the night with a nagging question:
“What are girls doing for feminine hygiene?”
Her first attempt at creating disposable pads quickly evolved into kits
that include washable, long-lasting pads.
Days for Girls has created of women and girls who sew the
kits and educate the communities.
Celeste has changed how communities think of and treat periods. There are so many ways to support the message
and continue the impact worldwide.
The T about the T in
LGBTQ+, A Beginners Guide to Transgender Inclusion (Natalie Vanderspiegel)
Living in Seattle, LGBTQ+ is a common topic. We see it in the legislation that’s passed,
the rainbow-painted sidewalks in Capitol Hill, as well as the Pride Parade
every summer. I sing with the Seattle
Women’s Chorus, a voice for LGBTQ advocacy in the community and across the
country. However, there’s a lot of terms
as you get more into the community, and I was interested in getting it all
straight in my head.
Diversity and inclusion are often spoken in the same
sentence, almost as if they were interchangeable words. They are not.
“Diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to
dance.”
SWE has made great strides in increasing inclusion. Some of it can be seen on the new name tags,
with preferred pronouns prominently displayed.
Some of it can be seen in the subtle but powerful language changes in
the official documents.
Natalie went on to describe the full spectrum for defining a
person’s identity.
 |
| Source: The Trevor Project |
She described the challenges of the community, and drew on
her personal experiences with colleagues and friends. I learned so much from the session and
appreciated her candor and honesty in sharing.
---
Shari Wang
is a team member of the SWE PNW Virtual Brand Team. She is an
Industrial Engineering Manager at Boeing, supporting Everett Site
Operations through daily management, continuous improvement, and data
analytics. Shari
enjoys singing with the Seattle Women’s Chorus and volunteering for the
Industrial Engineering University Relations Team at Boeing.
