FY19 Annual Banquet: Guest Speaker, Helen Chiang

We are excited to introduce you to our FY19 Annual Banquet Guest Speaker Helen Chiang.

Fun Facts about Helen Chiang
Where do you live?
Kirkland

Did you grow up in the Pacific Northwest area?
No

What is the best piece of professional advice you’ve received? 
To always surround yourself with people smarter than you, and to make yourself replaceable.

What is your favorite hobby/hobbies?
Tennis, skiing and exploring new parts of the world.

What is your favorite place in the world?
New Zealand

Do you have any interesting or little-known facts about yourself?
I once ran the Boston Marathon next to Will Ferrell. And beat him 😊

Favorite TV show?
American Ninja Warrior

If you could eat one thing the rest of your life what would it be?
Sushi

What is your favorite thing about your job?
I am proud of the work we are doing to use Minecraft as a platform to build a better world.

Where can we find you on the weekends?
Exploring the Pacific Northwest with my husband and two daughters.

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About Helen Chiang

Helen Chiang is the head of Minecraft, where she is responsible for driving and implementing growth plans for one of the most popular video games of all time. Prior to leading the studio, Helen held the roles of General Manager and Senior Director of Strategy and Business at Minecraft, helping navigate the team through the Microsoft acquisition of Mojang and numerous updates, events and releases to the franchise over the last four years.

As a longtime Xbox veteran, Helen has been a key contributor to many aspects of the Xbox business. In her previous position as Chief of Staff for the Microsoft Studios group, Helen managed Studios business operations and communications for a geographically diverse organization of 1,000 people across three locations – Redmond, Vancouver, and London. Microsoft Studios is known for blockbuster franchises such as “Halo”, “Gears of War”, “Kinect Sports”, “Fable”, “Age of Empires”, and “Forza Motorsport”.

Prior to joining Microsoft Studios, Helen managed the Xbox LIVE subscriptions business where she was responsible for driving and implementing strategy and growth plans and was accountable for a $500M business. Under her business leadership, the subscriber base more than doubled in size and created the foundation for what Xbox LIVE is today – a world class online entertainment service with 40+ million worldwide members.

Prior to her nine years with Xbox, Helen managed the Streets & Trips software business where she was responsible for product management and product marketing.

Helen holds a dual bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and computer science from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. In her free time, Helen enjoys taking on new athletic challenges and has summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, ran the Boston marathon alongside Will Ferrell, and climbed Mt. Rainier for charity. She lives in the greater Seattle area with her husband and two daughters, with whom she plays Minecraft in creative mode

WE Local Bellevue in Review, Part 2

Guest Contributor: Shari Wang

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 5^th 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.

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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.

WE Local Bellevue in Review, Part 1

Guest Contributor: Shari Wang

WE Local Bellevue, April 5 – 6, 2019

Although I’ve attended annual conferences and regional conferences, WE Local Bellevue was my first conference since the format change to local conferences.

On the Sunday prior to WE Local, SWE PNW held a small session at Hot Cakes in Capitol Hill to provide some general guidance on the conference.  Dana Day, the WE Local Bellevue Chair, led the event and answered questions about navigating the conference, tips for preparation, etc.  The biggest difference between the local conferences and regional conferences was the level of standardization and the involvement of SWE Headquarters.  It was a casual event that helped me to prepare myself for volunteering and attending the conference.

I started my Friday morning by checking attendees (including myself) into the conference.  Beautifully prepared badges, lanyards, and pins awaited every attendee.

Source: Theresa Krack

The keynote speaker, Judy Twedt, started off the conference with a powerful perspective shift by demonstrating climate science through music.  She shared the musical interpretation of surface temperature rising and falling through the years as well as the sonification of the Arctic sea ice.  She posed a powerful question to start off the conference: How do you make the data speak to you and others? (For more information: https://www.judytwedt.com/)

Successful Transitions: Make the Most of Your Move (Anna Mary Mathew)

Anna Mary moved from Intel in Portland, OR to Microsoft in Redmond, WA.  She and her husband debated and discussed whether it was time to change, where to move to, and the logistics of making this transition before, during, and after.

• Conduct a career retrospection (goal, experiences, good/bad)
• Understand the landscape of your career field, future company
• Discuss your options with mentors for feedback and suggestions, including ones who have made a similar transition
• How do you pursue impact-driven positions and add value?

Creating Mid-Career Momentum: How to Accelerate Your Move into Senior Leadership (JeanAnn Nichols)

JeanAnn Nichols used to be Vice President and General Manager at Intel, before pursuing a career in exexcutive coaching.  Her session focused on tools and practical advice to assess your personal brand and compare that with expectations for senior leadership roles. (For more information: http://www.jeanannnichols.com/)

• Sketch out your career arc as a way to look at the bigger picture of your life and career
• Do you want to step back from higher-impact roles to travel, start a family, continue education, etc.?
• What type of impact do you want to make?
• What’s the value of the next promotion to you?  Cost and benefit?  Why? Desire?  Passion?

Source: www.jeanannnichols.com

• Personal brand: The way others perceive you
• Ask others: How am I known?  What do you come to me for?  (Adverbs & adjectives)
• Fill out the following table with tasks / characteristics and communicate to influencers

		ENJOY
		NO	YES
GOOD AT	NO / NOT YET
	YES

• To move into senior leadership, you need
• Vision: Articulate something unknown or fuzzy
• Advocate: Speak for something that’s not your expertise
• Systems thinking: Upstream, downstream, left, right
• Authenticity: Have an opinion and own it
• Executive presence: How do you show up?
• Emotional intelligence: How are my actions affecting your performance?
• Allies: Deeper relations
• Sponsor: Help your sisters, sponsor others from where you are
• Patient persistence (we know this all too well, ladies)

How to Thrive in a Competitive Environment (Priyanka Dobriyal, Jill Murfin)

Two women professionals speak to balancing and re-thinking life after children, redefining it as a collaborative rather than competitive environment.  Who knew a WE Local session could start in childcare?

• Find mutually beneficial relationships.  We are all working through the same issues and challenges.  Find friends at work, in childcare, etc.  Collaborate, don’t do it alone. 
• How do you re-see your interests to fit your current life?
• How to turn interests into benefit for the company? (ex. Love for volunteering with children + advertising maker kits for Intel)
• What does success really look like?  Happiness?

How to Build a Chatbot (Amara Graham)

Sprinkled among the professional development sessions were opportunities for me to learn something completely new.  Amara Graham, an IBM Developer Advocate, shared a great introductory and demo-filled session about using Watson Assistant to create chatbots.

High-level framework:

Source: Amara Graham

Guts of a chatbot

• #Intents: Goal of the user’s input (ex. order pizza)
• @Entities: Portion of user’s input that can provide a different response (ex. pizza toppings)
• Dialog: Return response to user’s input
• $Context: Keeps Watson aware of what has taken place in the conversation (ex. pizza size, pizza type)

How to be a Catalyst for Change in any Environment (Shawnlee Brown)

There are many types of change, some better than others.  There is ecstatic change, desired change, required change, and traumatic change.  Before asking others to “change,” we must evaluate our own perspectives and utilize innovative strategies to approach stressful and challenging situations.

• Say first what you fear most
• Next best action (don’t compound the mistake)
• Leave the baggage (active choice to leave the regret, guilt, etc.)
• “KonMari”: Learn from it, say thank you, and leave it
• Traumatic events can change your perspective, can being wrong also change it?
• When actuals deviate from the plan, don’t ask about how to get back on plan, ask what changed since the plan was created
• Leadership: Be the last to speak

A common theme throughout the entire conference, including this session, was asking for and offering help.  The people who become Navy Seals are not the ones who are the strongest or largest, they are the ones who ask for and help each other.  We are not alone.

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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.