Re-upload from the PDF Podcast for archival purposes. Find out more about PDF here: https://professionaldevelopmentforum.org/
Episode Themes (timestamps below)
Re-upload from the PDF Podcast for archival purposes. Find out more about PDF here: https://professionaldevelopmentforum.org/
Episode Themes
About The Dream Collective
The Dream Collective was founded in 2012 by Sarah Liu, a passionate advocate for women in leadership and furthering diversity and inclusivity practises in corporate culture to transform the way we work.Sarah was named one of the “40 under 40: Most Influential Asian-Australians” in the Entrepreneurship category at the 2019 Asian-Australian Leadership Summit.The Dream Collective is a global leadership consultancy, helping businesses across Sydney, Shanghai, Melbourne, Tokyo & Singapore build diverse and inclusive workplaces: https://www.thedreamcollective.com.au/our-story/
Timestamps
1:20 – Introduction
3:50 – Cultural & diversity barriers in the workplace.
6:00 – Advice for others…career journey, upbringing, entrepreneurship.
9:25 – How did the Dream Collective start?
12:00 – Sarah’s transition from corporate to startup. Thoughts on having a “safety net” & taking risk.
12:40 – Seeing a gap in the market for mid-career level women
13:55 – What exactly are the barriers for women in the workplace?
15:40 – How is Sarah & The Dream Collective solving the lack of female leaders?
17:25 – thoughts around diversity & inclusion quotas in the workplace. The importance of having measurable targets. The lack of meritocracy in the workplace.
21:40 – utilising cultural & gender barriers to your advantage, addressing cultural barriers.
24:35 – why women have been unfairly impacted by COVID? What is the ShePivots program? How is it addressing this problem?
26:40 – opportunities for women in tech. You don’t need a technical/coding background to succeed. Using your diversity as a strength
28:25 – thoughts around entrepreneurship, advice for others on a similar journey, understand your “why”, impacts of COVID.
31:00 – Expanding globally to expand into other markets, differences in diversity & inclusion between countries.
34:10 – Using Japan vs Australia as an example
36:10 – COVID impacts and how to turn obstacles into opportunities
38:15 – Wrapping up, final thoughts, the launch of 50/50 in 100 days
41:15 – how to find out more about The Dream Collective, ShePivots, other programs & initiatives.
[This episode is adapted from my recent YouTube upload]: Dr Joseph Lai is the Founder & Chief Investment Officer of Ox Capital, an Australian-based boutique investment manager specialising in emerging market stocks & equities. We interview him about the investment opportunities in Asia for making money (with a focus on China & Indonesia) and his thoughts on the recent recession & inflation news (timestamps & topics below).
Born in Hong Kong, Dr Joseph Lai came to Australia at a young age. After becoming a medical doctor, he realised that a career in investing was much more exciting and made the career change to finance.
Prior to founding Ox Capital in 2021, Dr Lai was the Portfolio Manager for Platinum's Asia Funds (one of the biggest Asia-focused funds in Australia with $~8bn AUM across multiple products) and has a successful track record of investing in Asia.
You can find out more about Dr Joseph Lai and Ox Capital here: https://www.oxcapm.com/
Topics & timestamps:
[Subtitles available on YouTube) Born in the Netherlands, Huihan started to ask questions about his Indonesian-Chinese ancestry & heritage. Knowing nothing about the language or culture, he moved to China 18 years ago to find out more about his roots and experience life working & living in China. In the process, he found many others on the same journey and so he founded My China Roots to help other Overseas Chinese reconnect with their roots & families.
Essentially aiming to be the Ancestry.com of Asia, My China Roots offers a wide variety of services to help Overseas Chinese find out more about their ancestry. They have an extensive database of records both in China and overseas (simply create an account and answer a few questions to start building your family tree) and also provide investigative, research and translation services if you run into any brick walls (or if you simply have no idea where to start).
Find out more about My China Roots here & and join their Discord community!
The Zoom audio was a bit glitchy and the conversation was a bit rushed at the end as we realised we were running out of time. But feel free to reach out to Huihan directly if you want to find out more.
Timestamps:
Today's podcast guest is Rosaline Chow Koo, the Founder & CEO of Asia's leading InsurTech startup, CXA Group. We chat about the advantages & disadvantages of navigating business in Asia as an Asian American serial entrepreneur.
Rosaline grew up in a poor and chaotic environment, developing survival skills and becoming street smart (especially during events like the L.A. Watts riots). This adversity early on in life is what ultimately contributed to the success she has now, giving her the resilience and motivation to push through when times are tough.
Listen to this podcast episode to hear how Rosaline built the biggest InsurTech startup in Asia, why she thinks there are more opportunities in Asia than the US, and advice for aspiring female leaders on how to navigate the glass & bamboo ceilings.
Timestamps & Topics
Asami is the founder of Shapes and Sounds, the leading voice for Asian-Australian mental health and wellbeing, seeking to normalise conversations about mental health in the community.
As a registered music therapist, she noticed that many Asian-Australians were falling between the gaps in the Australian mental health system and so she started Shapes & Shapes in 2019 to normalise conversations around racism & cultural expectations in the community and also provide specific resources (like a list of Asian Australian mental health practitioners for those seeking someone who can understand their own cultural background and upbringing).
Shapes and Sounds Links & Resources:
Timestamps & Topics:
In this podcast episode, Franco Varona, a Filipino Venture Capitalist, explains why the Philippines is one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems in the region and the opportunities this presents for entrepreneurs. Born in Canada, we also chat about why Franco moved back to the Philippines and also why other overseas entrepreneurial Filipinos are returning.
As the Managing Partner of Foxmont Capital Partners, the first independent Venture Capital (VC) firm in the Philippines, Franco has had a varied career, most notably being a founding member at MyTeksi Phillippines (now named Grab). This opportunity to get on board one of the most exciting startups in the region supercharged his career into what it is today, something that might not have been possible if he stayed in the States.
As passionate advocates of the Philippines startup ecosystem, Foxmont's investment thesis is this: “We invest in Filipino-focused or Filipino-founded early-stage technology startups that have proven that they can scale effectively and lead the Philippine digital evolution. We believe that if a Filipino startup can succeed in the Philippines, it can succeed anywhere.”
Show Notes: https://bordersless.com/business/philippines-opportunity-franco-varona-foxmont/
Episode Topics & Timestamps
Today’s guest is Denise Sandquist, the founder of Fika, a female-focused AI social & dating app in Asia. Born in Vietnam and adopted to Sweden, Denise is truly a global citizen, speaking 6 languages and having lived in multiple countries.
Episode Themes
Find out more about Fika here: https://keepfika.com/
Timestamps & topics:
Introduction
On Fika
Fun Questions