THANK YOU for your participation in the recent IWD event. It was such a memorable 2 hours spent with our inspiring speaker and panelists!  For those who have missed it, here is a recount of the event:

The Financial Women’s Association of Singapore (FWASG) co-hosted their flagship event, International Women’s Day Celebration 2014, with Citi Singapore, in the latter’s Asia Square offices.

In keeping with this year’s global theme of Inspiring Change, the jam-packed event, which drew a hundred thirty five (135) attendees from 13 banks, 14 non-bank financial institutions and 18 other organisations, focused on how esteemed panelists, Dr. Marleen Dieleman of the National University of Singapore (NUS), Alison Kennedy of Accenture, Margie Pagdanganan of Citi and Junie Foo of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi have fostered and encouraged a change in the diversity mindset in their own spaces and throughout their careers.

No less than Citi's ASEAN Head, Michael Zink, led the animated discourse about the importance of diversity in the workplace, and more specifically, gave both a CEO and a man’s view of how women can make positive and significant strides in the corporate world.

"Given our presence in more than 100 countries, diversity is a business imperative at Citi.  We believe that a diverse workforce, which fully reflects our communities and clients, will ensure that we continue to deliver quality and innovative solutions to meet their needs," Zink said.

Zink went on to share that in Citi, "one of the key focus areas is to create a senior management scorecard for diverse slates, to ensure that there is equitable consideration of female and diverse talent for senior level opportunities. It is part of our commitment in promoting women leadership by recruiting, developing and supporting diversity."

During the panel discussion moderated by Lisa Oake, founder of Oake Media (www.OakeMedia.com) and former co-host of CNBC Asia's top-rated morning program Squawk Box, Dieleman shared the experiences she has had in the academe, specifically with her young female students, while Kennedy offered her expert advice in dealing with issues in her challenging advisory job from a female perspective.

Being a woman in Asia was central in the contributions given by Pagdanganan and Foo, both of whom reiterated the need to stand up and be heard in today's fast paced, ever changing business landscape.

All four individually dynamic and successful women brought to the audience valuable personal experiences and insight on the reality of the diversity issue in the current climate, encouraging the newbies in the audience to make themselves more relevant in their places of work, and to the more mature, to continue to break barriers and to engage others in the issue. 

The event was capped by the revelation of an amazingly accurate and telling visual mind map, created from scratch, by Art of Awakening artist Tim Hamons, who fully captured the key points and the most meaningful exchanges of the day, giving everyone an impactful picture to mentally embed and to think about - at least for another year!

For more event photos, please visit our Facebook Page.