Daunting and overwhelming. These are some of the words that describe how WiFA management feels towards numerous messages that have dominated headlines over the past few weeks. We are deeply saddened by the terrible acts of racial bias and discrimination that have caused suffering and pain to many. Though much of the world’s attention has been focused on the United States, we recognise that as a region we are not immune to the complexities of cultural tension and to the injustices of racial inequality.

The global health pandemic and the resulting loss of life spread across the world has changed the way that we interact with colleagues, family, and friends. If there is a silver lining that we can take away from this pandemic – it is the opportunity to use technology to better manage our normal routines, from steerco meetings, sponsorship catch ups, event management to community initiatives. There are continued discussions and assessments across the six WiFA committees, charity partners, and supporting organisations to illustrate how we can improve the integration of technology into our work. Although it took significant effort and change to re-structure the WiFA organisation to adapt to our challenging environment, we are now better connected to our community. We are proud to connect a total of 2,000+ participants through 11 virtual events during the past six months. We are also excited to communicate with you directly through our website and social media, hitting up to 35,000 unique visitors online.

As WiFA members, we all play a part in shaping our culture by promoting diversity and inclusion to create a more versatile society. WiFA will continue to create opportunities to have deeper dialogues about gender, race, and culture. These events will encourage us to share our experiences and perspectives, provide insights while learning from each other, and give us a positive energy to foster inclusion.

The pandemic reminds us that we must come together virtually, the ongoing protests on racial injustice reminds us that we must act together to create positive change. Let’s embrace the rest of 2020 and focus our efforts on Creating the Work Force For the Future.

If you have comments and feedback, please feel free to email Bonnie So on bonnie.so@wifasia.org.

Vogue HK calls it ’the address no black book should be without’.

Martha Collard is fueled with a passion to elevate energy and alleviate suffering by introducing ancient practices that are simple, elegant, and effective, resulting in feelings of rejuvenation, energy, and hope.

Red Doors is the home of the largest meditation gong collection in Asia, a centre of excellence for product, training, and performance. WiFA is pleased to have reserved an exclusive evening of relaxation that can be joined remotely or in-person in the studio.

Join us online or live for a powerful 30-minute guided meditation into the neutral mind. Thereafter, participants in the studio will enjoy a live gong relaxation, followed by homemade brownies and spiced tea.

If you plan on coming in person, please bring clothes that are comfortable for you to sit/lie down in. Changing facilities are available on site and all you need to bring is an open mind.

With social distancing rules relaxing on Friday Jun 19 we are planning to have our first in person event on Jul 8 at AIA Central – welcome cocktails for mentors and mentees to network and also to meet the MMP Committee and the new WiFA Co-Chairs.

Further details to be confirmed directly with the MMP 2020 cohort closer to the event date. We look forward to meeting you all soon.

In the meantime, keep healthy and well. If you have further question or suggestions, please reach out to our WiFA Mentors/ Menteer Programme co-Chairs Sonja Key, Donna Titley and Tonia Wong Kee.

WiFA is hosting our first circuit training bootcamp session at Tamar Park on Thursday, July 16. Join us for some fun competitiveness by training next to each other in a group of 8. Led by our instructors, Beth Wright and Tricia Yap, assisting by Mairi Mcinnes and Emma Newmanthe 45-minute workout session aims to build strength and fitness through a variety of exercises, including an intensive cardio workout (while adhering to current social distancing rules).

If fitness is not your thing, or you're looking for a way to join in the fun from the sidelines of the WiFA Bootcamp, the Networking Committee is getting together for an informal networking 'picnic'.

Please feel free to bring a bottle and some snacks (along with plenty of water for those participating in the fitness workout, in addition to the picnic!) to reconnect and spread the energy.

The last few months have challenged us in many ways. So to reignite some positivity, we would be delighted to hear what you have been up to over the past few months and kick start the 'new normal' over lively conversations and a drink or two (while adhering to current social distancing rules).

All of us look for love in life but many of us do not believe we can find love in finance. At least that was what Amy thought when she left finance after a two-decade long career to join an NGO. After 4 years at an NGO, she surprisingly returns to finance. Is love really possible in finance?

Amy Fong is the Chief Operating Officer at FountainVest Partners (Asia). FountainVest Partners was founded in 2007 and is a leading China-focused private equity fund headquartered in Hong Kong. Prior to joining FountainVest in late 2019, Amy worked for 4 years as the CEO of Save the Children Hong Kong, the HK member of a global movement that works in 120 countries focusing on the most marginalized and deprived children. She will provide us with her insights on love in finance later this month.

Meena Datwani, who was at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority during the 2008 financial crisis, believes that despite the economic implications, the financial sector is suited to weather the challenge of COVID-19 and its associated impacts. She provided us with a summary of the 2008 crisis and the long-term impact it had on livelihoods everywhere. Meena gave us examples of the various regulations and policies that were adopted and implemented by the Hong Kong government post 2008 that should mitigate the financial impact of COVID-19. Her discussion provided interesting information about the transformative effects of COVID-19 on our economy and took a deep dive into the various monetary and macroeconomic policies implemented post 2008 that are shaping the current economic responses. WiFA thanks Meena for sharing the lessons learned from the 2008 financial crisis and her perspectives on today’s challenging environment.

Our discussion on personal branding while social distancing was lively and informative, with experts Adrian Fu and Nidhi Shah taking the lead to help us understand how to navigate strategic personal branding and marketing. Moderated by Catherine Law, this session gave us powerful insights on how to boost our profile while COVID-19 continues to impact how we live and work. Both Adrian and Nidhi touched upon a variety of factors that impact your personal branding including job interviews and networking, increasingly going digital, and how to navigate in today's challenging environment of social distancing. They shared personal experiences and practical tips on how to add to your profile and make you more visible. Insights were provided in several areas, including how to communicate your personal brand with confidence, how to promote your personal brand and gain visibility, how to maintain your network during social distancing, the different networking opportunities in Hong Kong, and many many more meaningful questions were answered. It was an enlightening discussion that provided invaluable information for all of us. WiFA thanks Catherine, Adrian, and Nidhi for sharing their thoughts and experiences on effective personal branding while social distancing.

In Conversation with Rebecca Sin, WiFA Thought Leadership Committee

When Lin was considering what to speak about, one of the key thoughts she had was the challenges that were faced by the modern leader. Lin quoted a 2019 survey which stated that 58% of employees would trust a complete stranger over their boss. She reflected that “leaders need to be understood not revered” and employees want to know their leaders better, to know what obstacles that the leader has had to overcome, and to be accessible.

Lin wanted a relatable topic to resonate with the idea of overcoming obstacles, and felt that failure is more relatable that success, and focused on how to turn negatives into positives. Her background and experiences have shaped her way of life and her choices thus far. Lin advised that looking for external reasons for failure is not the most positive approach. The right way is to use it to your advantage. Changing your perspectives on failure, you can see that setbacks are not a reflection on your competence. Rebuilding your confidence after messages of failure is critical to your comeback.

Lin reflected on the following points:

· There will always be moments, personally and professionally that will cause you to look inwards, but if you can develop the emotional resilience to accept these failures, rather than looking to blame others, then you will come out stronger on the other side.

· Use your support network; don’t be embarrassed to talk to supportive family and friends, who will step away from judgement.

· If you dwell in the emotional space, looking for an apology, you won’t move on. You need to move on to come back.

Her advice to everyone on career development is to look internally, to identify what matters to you. If you are doing it for someone else, you may not be fulfilled. Find a way to make it your own and ‘write your own legacy’. WiFA thanks Lin Shi for her insightful presentation.

We had the pleasure of having Christine Deschemin as our speaker for the second WiFA Lunch Series on Hypnotherapy: Tools for mental health, well-being and anxiety relief.

Christine shared with us some typical misconceptions of hypnotherapy, for example, that self-hypnosis is something that one engages in many times during the day. A common thing that we all do is when we are absorbed in something that we are reading and are so focused that we have forgotten the time. The person does not lose control, the person is merely focused on the task at hand. Also, hypnosis does not put you to sleep. One is only in a state of relaxation to the point that it looks like sleep. “Hypnosis is a state of focused awareness”. Europe is way ahead in using hypnosis as therapy in comparison to Asia.

Christine also talked to us about what hypnosis can do for us:

· Wellbeing, whether it’s confidence, sleep,

anxiety, depression

· Fears of public speaking or crowed spaces

· Performance and resilience, grieving, emotion

management, mental conditioning

· Pain management including chronic pain

Hypnosis can also help us discover our inner world. “Beliefs lead to thoughts. Thoughts can be kind and unkind. “When you start asking yourself the question “Why am I feeling stress?” you can understand your triggers. ‘’When you are stressed, your cortisol increases and you can experience a fight or flight response. Whenever your emotions change, your physiology changes.”

When asked about who can hypnotherapy help, Christine said pretty much anyone, but it does take practice. “Hypnotherapy can help anyone who lacks a good self-care routine (“sacrifice syndrome”/ exhaustion), high stress/high stakes jobs, C-suite executives, entrepreneurs, athletes etc.”

Regarding how to thrive in the new normal, Christine recommended, “Reframing your perspective, moving from I should/can(not) to I am doing this; learning to talk to yourself kindly as you would with others; and finally, to develop resilience and seize opportunities – preparation and prevention are key.”

You can check out Christine’s latest UpNow app for more information on self-care.

WiFA’s past chosen charity, RUN, is encouraging us all to cook for a cause. RUN focuses on the most vulnerable refugees, particularly women, offering them the opportunity to rehabilitate and recuperate through sports, education and beyond.

RUN has worked with its refugee participants to document family recipes that have been passed down through the generations into a collaborative RUN Cookbook. The hope is that despite having to flee their homes, the participants can strengthen their connections to their cultures as they rebuild their lives. The cookbook includes 49 recipes from 12 different countries and stories of RUN participants representing each country. Fancy some Egyptian meatballs, Rwandan matoke (green bananas), Somali pancakes or Sri Lankan ala hodi (yellow potato curry)? You can buy the RUN Cookbook here. All proceeds go directly to support RUN’s programmes.

Also follow RUN on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn for details of how they are marking World Refugee Day which is coming up on 20 June.

Soapcycling, the sister organisation of our 2020 WiFA supported charity EmpowerU, is expanding its Hong Kong operations abroad for the first time and they need your support! For the past 9 years Soap Cycling has sent 80% of unused soap from Hong Kong's hospitality sector to the Philippines. That amount represents approximately 3 million bars of soap - reaching 250,000 children for an entire year.

After years of working remotely with local partners, Soapcycling is hiring a country manager to oversee soap donations, distributions, recycling and hygiene education programs for some of the neediest communities in the Phillippines. Your support will allow Lovelyn, a committed volunteer and domestic worker living in Hong Kong for the past 22 years, to return home to scale Soapcycling's impact.

Your support will be critical to Lovelyn's efforts to bring products and education programs to rural communities with limited access to hygienic resources. Lovelyn will also serve as a model for entrepreneurship and civic action for migrant workers looking to return home from Hong Kong. To donate, please visit here. For questions about direct sponsorship, please contact Karen Liu.

Fund-Raising Link:

We are doing a final call out for volunteers to participate in our volunteering programmes with our 2020 chosen charities, EmpowerU and HER Fun. Sign up here by 30 June to help deliver financial literacy information to some wonderful women from grass-roots organisations and marginalised populations in Hong Kong. Further details are below. Thank you to those who have already signed up – we will be in touch with you shortly.

· All WiFA members are encouraged to apply

· We welcome those who are ready to make a consistent but flexible commitment for 6 months from June 2020 to December 2020

· Volunteering to support EmpowerU will involve being part of a team that develops curriculum content, lecture slides and short pre-recorded lecture videos on one or more topics of personal financial literacy (saving, budgeting, borrowing, remitting), retirement and insurance, investment and entrepreneurship

· Volunteering to support HER Fund will involve team participation in developing and delivering two Saturday workshops at the end of the year focusing on basic financial and accounting knowledge for small organisations. It is preferable, but not necessary, for HER Fund volunteers to speak Cantonese

· Briefing sessions will be arranged for all volunteers