Jenny Lee: ‘I try to balance my life’
Jobs were scarce when Jenny Lee finished college and returned to her native Malaysia. So the information technology professional decided to start her own company in 1998. “A few of my friends came to me and asked how to do certain things, and they asked for computer courses,” Lee said Feb. 2, 2012, during the U.S. Department of State and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship Partnership Global Cohort at Thunderbird School of Global Management. “I love teaching, so I thought, ‘Yeah, I love teaching. Why don’t I have my own computer training center.’” Lee said one challenge has been balancing the needs of her family with the needs of her company. “During my working hours I just concentrate on working,” she said. “And after work I try not to think about my work. I try to balance my life.” She said the Global Cohort has taught her important skills in negotiation, strategy and marketing. Overall, the women’s empowerment program brought 28 businesswomen from 10 countries to campus for a two-week management course taught by Thunderbird professors. “I have learned a lot,” she said.
Visceta Meredith: ‘I always value something I have done myself’
Food tastes better for Visceta Meredith when the vegetables come from her own garden. The same principle applies when her income comes from the landscaping business she runs with her husband. “I always value something I have done myself,” she said Feb. 2, 2012, during the U.S. Department of State and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship Partnership Global Cohort at Thunderbird School of Global Management. The women’s empowerment program brought 28 businesswomen from 10 countries to campus for a two-week management course taught by Thunderbird professors. “There are just lots of things I have learned within the two weeks,” Meredith said. “The most important thing is I am creating relationships. We’re all from all over the world, different parts of the world, but we seem to share the same difficulties we go through in business, and we share the same success at times.”
Tietie Cati: ‘I am a woman, and I can make it’
Kiribati entrepreneur Tietie Cati reads books by and about successful businesswomen whenever she gets the chance. So she relished the opportunity to dine Jan. 29, 2012, at the home of bestselling author Sharon Lechtor, whose works include “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” “Three Feet from Gold” and other titles. “I really admire successful women in the world who have their own businesses, helping people,” Cati said during the U.S. Department of State and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship Partnership Global Cohort at Thunderbird School of Global Management. The women’s empowerment program brought 28 businesswomen from 10 countries to campus for a two-week management course taught by Thunderbird professors and guest lecturers such as Lechtor. Cati started her own journey as an entrepreneur in 2009, when she launched a wholesale food company that imports products to her South Pacific nation from overseas markets such as Australia and New Zealand. “I am really strong against the idea that I cannot make it,” Cati said. “I am a woman, and I can make it.”
Zhen Cui Zen: ‘When you plant a seed there, it will flower’
Social entrepreneur Zhen Cui Zen loves watching young participants come alive in the team building projects she organizes through her nonprofit organization in Malaysia. “When a project finishes, you can see all the young people who were quiet and passive emerge with new confidence,” she said Feb. 2, 2012, during the U.S. Department of State and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship Partnership Global Cohort at Thunderbird School of Global Management. The women’s empowerment program brought 28 businesswomen from 10 countries to campus for a two-week management course taught by Thunderbird professors. Cui Zen said the Global Cohort’s investment in women will pay dividends throughout the world. “Women, at the end of the day, they will share,” she said. “By investing in women, the impact grows bigger. When you plant a seed there, it will flower.”
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