 Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee and I am your host for this program. Today I am excited to introduce my friend and someone who I told her is very humble about her accomplishments, Bianca Mordesini. She is the senior director of alumni and external relations for the Scheidler College of Business and today we are going to start off talking about the YP, the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii YP program in which she serves as chair of the steering committee. Bianca, welcome to the program. I can't so good to see you. Thanks for having me and you're very sweet. Yeah and I'm glad that you are on the show and I mentioned that you I've always admired you for your humility so I want to let the viewers know that I believe Bianca is the perfect person to talk about women empowerment so in 2021 she was named as one of Pacific Business News 40 under 40 awardees and this year she is also one of the women who mean business awardees as well so congratulations on those accomplishments Bianca. Thank you so much Kat. It's funny because I didn't nominate myself so it was a little bit of a shocker but thank you. Of course so aside from that wonderful intro about you I'm really just stating what you've accomplished tell our viewers about yourself. So I guess to sum it up I'm currently at the Scheidler College of Business. I've been here since 2017. I do our alumni relations, external relations so that encompasses anything that happens with large events, our fundraisers, our website, social media, any copy that goes out marketing so it's really fun as well as all of the alumni advancement trips that we do and then I've been involved with the young professionals program basically when I joined the chamber as an employee there for really in 2013 and when I moved on basically they would not let me leave so I'm still here almost 10 plus years later which makes me feel old and now I'm currently serving as chair for this year. Beyond that I have a one and a half year old plus son. I always forget how many months because after the first year the months seem kind of crazy for me to count but yeah and it's been fun being a new mom and trying to balance all the things but so far so good. That is wonderful and I want to let anyone and everyone who's watching out there that you did meet Bianca through the young professionals program and it has been a great connection since then so thank you for that. For those who don't know could you describe what the young professionals program of the chamber is? Sure, so the young professionals program is for anyone between the ages of 21 to 39 and essentially our mission is to build a platform for young professionals to level up in their careers, be able to receive mentorship, connect with other like-minded leaders, as well as connect with business professionals so we do have a lot of signature events and programs that are specific to connecting YPs with people in the business community related to both civic engagement, ways to just level up in your career. Some of the topics include how to advocate for yourself, how to be an entrepreneur or an entrepreneur and the list goes on and on. We have about 25 plus programs a year sometimes more and the YP program is made up of 100% volunteers beyond our executive director Trisha Fatui and our coordinator but everyone who serves otherwise is 100% volunteer driven so it's really great to see the program thrive and expand and grow and be able to offer new programs as we are moving on into the next generation and being around for more than 10 plus years. It has been a while definitely and I know for myself it has brought me the best connections including you so I'm thankful for that. With that being said in your opinion what benefits have the YP program brought to you? So personally and professionally speaking I was part of one of the first mentor groups so we have a signature program called Mentor Hawaii. They are now in their ninth cohort which is amazing. I was one of I guess the test beta mentees and my mentor at the time was Marty Welch who's with Hemic. I'm still in touch with him to this day and it was interesting because once I completed the program I had actually received the potential job opportunity during Shidler and he was literally on speed dial for me to really just talk through the pros and cons and figure out you know it's just a good choice and it was just really awesome to have that support from a mentor and just be able to connect with somebody so close to really walk you through the process. Beyond that I would just say the level of camaraderie between the YPers as you might know Kat has been amazing. I have made some of my very best friends through the program. In addition to that everyone is just extremely engaged. All of our volunteers really want to do more. They all want to do bigger do more and have more programs which is amazing and I guess lastly it's funny because this position came up for me because I was connected to the former executive director of this advancement program and she basically recruited me through the YP program. So I mean there's plenty of benefits but for me I guess the personal connections that I have fostered business and professionally have been the biggest thing that you know keeps me really engaged and a huge supporter of the program. I think that is so wonderful and to remind people how important networking is and establishing genuine connections with organizations is great. So thank you for that. You mentioned earlier that the steering committee is made up of volunteers. What made you decide to take on the helm of the YP steering committee? That's a great question. Well it's kind of funny because I have to give a shout out to him, Kanifa Morris. I was supposed to take on the chair roll a year ago and because I was very pregnant at the time and I was like I can't do this with a newborn she served for two terms. So that was wonderful but I think it's really the people that make the program worthwhile. Again everyone here they're from diverse industries. They all care about Hawaii and you know we recently launched two signature programs including the Wahine program which is really meant for women empowerment and teaching women how to advocate for themselves, how to navigate through life changes like having a baby and what to do after as well as civic engagement. So I have to give a huge huge shout out to the steering committee for launching these programs. Civic engagement is also meant to get YPs engaged in issues happening in Hawaii so that might include the cost of housing and the cost of living. We recently had a summit and in that summit there were you know over 20 plus legislators invited and I've never had that opportunity to really sit down with a legislator and really have them genuinely ask you so what do you think about this or what are things that are you know facing young professionals and just to have that open forum is really an opportunity that's incredibly unique. So it's the network it's the programming for me it's also the mentorship and getting to know these other business executives. In addition everyone is just very very their gung-ho to keep moving forward and I think we're really trying to make it impact to better the lives of people here and hopefully you know relieve some of the brain drain of people leaving Hawaii because the cost of living or there's not as many opportunities as the mainland. So how did the Lahina committee come about? Good question. So there were a few iterations of the Lahina committee but in essence we did a survey maybe about two or three years ago and one of the biggest things that we saw in the survey was that women that were part of the program just didn't feel like they had the right tools and resources for life changes so that could range from you know how to negotiate a higher salary for yourself how to have uncomfortable conversations about these things and then also how to work with your employer when you're facing life changes such as having a new baby and figuring out what type of things that you can do to work with your employer for scheduling. So the committee themselves launched maybe about two years ago and since then they have a huge number of signature programs which are almost always sold out so it's great to see the community come together as well as the demand for this type of programming. I think that is awesome I get asked this whenever and I ask it as well whenever there is like a gender specific type of organization is it just for women or are like white team members who aren't men or identify as men allowed to join as well? Yes so basically the Wahine programming is specifically the issues are surrounding women so we might have a panel of women leaders to talk about negotiations or advocating for higher salary but anybody is invited to join so we have had quite a few males join us and I think that they find it very enlightening and it's great to see them you know participate in the programming with us as well. I think that's great I brought this up a couple of times already because I think you do a great job at it and you've sort of touched on this earlier as women it can be challenging for us to step forward and you know and kind of recognize or claim like what we're about with that being said like how do you balance the idea of humility with making sure that you are recognized for what you do what you can do and what you can bring to a company. That's a great question um I think personally for me and I'm just speaking from my own experience um unfortunately I've had a lot of not so great bosses and they happen to be females um so for me I think I've always kind of thought back on you know 10 plus years ago when I was first starting my career um who had shaped me and who made a difference don't get me wrong I had amazing female leaders too but there were a few not so lovely female leaders um who I reported to and I think you know just being able to reflect on that and hopefully shine it through my ethics and what I want to promote in my workplace um has really stood true to me I also think that um with some of the younger women in our office um I encourage them to join the YP program to also do their own volunteer shift to do leadership roles um so I guess it's a hard balance but your question about humility I think one thing that women also have trouble with is learning how to advocate for themselves but doing so in a way that you know we are true to ourselves and maybe we're not being so aggressive in the process so for me it's been definitely a learning experience um and I think having coaches to help you through negotiations or how to have difficult conversations and also how to back up whatever you have with factual information um has definitely helped so there's quite a few females who I definitely go to for advice when I'm like hey I have a really challenging situation how would you address this or what do you think I should do and we've actually role played it out um which sounds odd but it it is really helpful so those are the things that I recount on yeah I think role playing actually works very well um you talked about women leaders that you looked up to and you're one of them now who exactly have gone and you know mentorship programs that you have um like you know delved into what are some lessons that you've learned that you'd like to pass on to individuals who are women specifically since we are talking about women empowerment um to help them move up whether in life or their careers that's a great question I think if there was some advice I would give it would certainly be to find a mentor whether that's a you know formal program or just somebody who you can speak to who's in a higher role that you know you can confide in and just share things on daily um another thing I guess I would say is for me and my husband's often told me this he used to tell me you know like you don't have enough confidence like if the guy was applying for this position he would definitely ask for like ex salary and like you should too um so I think just knowing your worth but it's really challenging sometimes to get there um but also doing your research so if you are applying for a new role like see on you know salary on a salary dot com what the role calls for and maybe just go above that number um the worst thing someone will tell you is no um and that's totally fine I guess in addition um having a good circle of friends is really really key um so I think my friends are not only people that I rely on for personal things and you know I can confide in them but also a lot of my circle they're also in the business world too so for me we can kind of bounce ideas off of each other we can ask like hey what would you do in this situation or who would you contact for that um so that's been really helpful and then especially me being a new mom um I rely hugely on my other mom friends who are in the business world and doing all the things I always ask them like what would you do or who are you using for that or what d-care are you using can I get their information so those are sort of some things that I can think of I'll chop my head I love that is there anything about anything else about the yp program um or the wehine committee that you would like to share that I have not asked about yet uh there are a number of events happening throughout the year so I would encourage anybody listening or who's interested to look on the website cochoi.org and then click on the yp program to see what's coming up while the yp program is only for those between the ages of 21 to 39 we do tag team a lot with the chamber to make sure that our programming um really hits everything that the chamber wants to hit in terms of advocating um professional development um again there's a ton of events coming up and I have a list here that I was going to read out but I won't um but at least every month there's about three events and they range from networking mixers to sit down lunches with executives to professional development classes which you know provide um a platform for you to talk to a leader in their field um so there's plenty of ways to get involved we also are still looking for members to join us for our steering committee and our volunteer committees um so again everything is volunteer based and it's a great great way to meet new people to bounce ideas off of others um especially if you're new to hawaii um that's what I've heard a lot is I had one of my friends who's actually for the steering committee she came to Hawaii she's from here but she moved back maybe five or six years ago and so she was just like this is the best thing that I've done um so I would encourage anybody who wants to learn more get involved to come to an event check us out and then we're happy to chat with you and provide any information that you need I'm a bit if not a lot biased towards the yps because I was part of it for years how is that program different from other young professional programs that are out there are any different or how does it work with other programs great that was also a great question I think what differentiates us is when um our programs are really broad and deep meaning we're not just focused on volunteerism we're not just focused on cultural aspects we really kind of hit in my opinion all the markers to provide a well-rounded um education if you'll say for a young professional so we have everything from mentorship volunteer events mixers again the wahine program civic engagement and then there's a bunch of other programs that we offer for instance we also mentor um high schoolers which is kind of unique um so there's really something for everybody but it is kind of like a gym membership I hate to use that terminology but it is right so the more you go the more you engage the more you attend things the more you raise your hand and say I'd like to learn more and I want to join a committee um really the more you'll get out of it I'll also say that this program is the largest program so we have over 400 young professional members and growing um we do have the support of the chamber of commerce Hawaii so I think that allows us to leverage a lot of opportunities with the chamber as well as their executives and further I guess I would say that the program is very diverse so we have members from healthcare banking services nonprofits um a lot of consultants people that are remote it really hits all targets so you're not going to meet just one type of industry professional when you've come to an event um and lastly I'll say that most of the steering committee and our members are very very welcoming so I hope that people feel really welcome when they do attend some of our events thank you for that I want to go back to the whole idea of women empowerment while we still have some few minutes so um I know you started out the wahina committee you and the steering committee did that um because you were addressing a need what are some challenges that you've heard that women have um so you've mentioned a couple but what are some challenges that you've heard that you feel you folks can help out with um I guess going back to the survey that we conducted a few years ago some of the biggest topics that I recall just from memory are how to balance um work and personal life um so a lot of the white people members you know they're in the age range of they're starting their first family they're getting married they're having kids um so that was a huge one how to balance work and family life and then secondly um the biggest thing I can remember is really trying to advocate for yourself as a female in terms of how to negotiate a higher raise or how to have difficult conversations with bosses um so those were the two that really stick out to me personally and ways that we can help I think um all the leaders that the wahina committee has put together they all represent a diverse range of people so for instance we've had Marie Kumabe who is Kumabe HR um we've had Christine camp of Avalon um and the list goes on and on but there's been specific takeaways from each person um that I think has been really helpful so there was a recent event that we had and they also um they focused it on on one issue per speaker so for instance one person I think she was with one of the preschools um and her name it doesn't come to me right now but she talked about how to advocate for yourself when you're starting a family and then another woman had spoken about um making a career shift in her 40s so that was really interesting um I think the topics are you know we try to always find speakers that match the topics and you know attendees are welcome to come and talk to the speakers after too which so there is a lot of good networking that happens after I think that's awesome with the few minutes that we have left let's talk about what you do for UH sure so um I've been with the Schuyler College of Business now since 2017 and um what we do here is really important work um basically our office handle all of the alumni relations as well as external relations um but our alumni relations is super important because our alumni you know really provide us the path to grow and succeed so as you know Schuyler probably um everyone knows that name he donated a huge sum of money and we were able to then rename the college and do a huge amount of initiatives um thanks to Jay Schuyler um since then you know a lot of other alumni have stepped up and provided programming scholarships endowments for professors um we also recently reemerged or I'm sorry reintegrated with the Tim's School in 2019 so that's been a huge huge opportunity for us to reengage with the hospitality community and really provide a lot more support to Tim's students um who are seeking to make that career shift especially in Hawaii when that's the largest industry um so we do a lot of things at the college too lots of events um and we're super grateful to all of our alumni who are involved and engaged and continuing back to us with a few minutes that we have left um let me just go a little bit deeper Bianca what is your why why do you do what you do that is a great question um I guess I've also been contemplating this myself um for me you know the reason why I joined Schuyler is because previously um I had worked at a luxury hotel and while it was fun and cool and exciting and I had all these influencers come in and you know do drone footage and things like that at the end of the day it didn't fill my cup so Schuyler has really given me the opportunity to do what I love and to have a lot of diversity um you know to meet people to impact students we do so much here that really when you see it come full circle and you meet the donors and you see the students like at the scholarships it's so worthwhile um I guess for the Waipi program the same thing the network of people they're amazing and I think when we hear stories of people um especially women who have gotten promoted or have that been offered new positions so we recently got some testimonials from our last Mentor Hawaii cohort and we asked them hey how did this impact you um one woman was offered a position when she was you know almost ready to pack up her bags in the back to Texas so to hear that and to know that we're actually making a difference and people are listening and they care um I think is really the reason why I work at Schuyler and also why I'm still with the Waipi program thank you for sharing that in the few minutes that we have left is there anything else that you would like to add um nothing in particular other than that um if you have any employees that are in the eighth the age bracket of 21 to 39 um you know really consider maybe having them know about this program again we have so many programs that are really beneficial I think the mentorship program is huge it's our signature program we have over 30 plus mentor mentee matches now in addition it's just a great way for employers to offer something to their employees to really you know hone their skillset so if there's any way that you know people want to get involved I would encourage them to come to an event or just check out the website you can email any one of the steering committee members we're happy to talk story and the support system is just great so um if there's anything we can do to help happy to assist with that and also there's plenty of ways to support the Waipi program as well as a sponsor Bianca thank you so much for being on the show today this has been very enlightening and I always enjoy talking to you so again big mahalo for you being on the show today thank you thank you no thanks to you Kat and it was great that we're reconnected again after 10 plus years when I first met you at a Waipi event so it all comes full circle right it all comes full circle thank you for that so again thank you to Bianca more to see me the current Waipi program chair of the steering committee um she's also the senior director of alumni and external relations at the Shidler College of Business and thank you to the folks at Think Tech Hawaii as well for making shows like this possible thank you to Jay Beidel, Karen Monli, Mike who's helping us out today and Haley until next time aloha if you liked this show why don't you give us a like or subscribe to our channel thanks so much