First Time at the British Embassy

The first session of the EMPOWER women empowerment program took place today at the British Embassy. There was a session to meet fellow participants and understand the program, and after the session followed the reception hosted by the British Ambassador at his residence to celebrate this new cohort’s launch and celebrate the graduates of the last cohort. Guests were business partners and gender equality networks including UN Women.

The embassy was stunning, felt very special as it is very historical building & restricted. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a proper party!

A few remarks from today…

Colin Crooks, the British Ambassador to Korea, was such a nice and down to earth person. I imagined talking to him would be difficult but no, there were plenty of chances to talk to him and during the feast he walked around to mingle! I might’ve asked him too many questions with my lightning round tho..

Questions I asked – (1) what was the drive for this program? (2) how is your work-life balance? (3) Do the foreign ambassadors in korea have a gathering or group chat (lol) (4) Do other embassies have programs like this? (5) Was Korean government involved in building this program in any way? – Imma keep the answers to myself. 😉

It was REFRESHING to learn everyone in my cohort’s profession! It’s hard to learn what other foreign, multi-national companies out there are – and since almost everyone was from multi-national – it was valuable way to and expand my professional network and knowledge. i.e. real estate brokers, auditors, construction consultant… I joked: Perfect if you’re thinking about joining other companies!

We haven’t learned everyone’s age yet but I have a feeling I’m the youngest in my cohort since many are married & have kids – It’s going to be an amazing network for me to learn from cool Unnies!!

It’s nice to join a community of like-minded people. Since it’s a cohort of English-speaking korean businesswomen, likely to be working in foreign multinational, and who are interested in women empowerment – it’s given we’re probably like-minded.

I could already sense that from day 1 cause A. I’ve found a mutual with a person from the last cohort. B. Found out during the ice-breaking: Already found 2 other people in my cohort who has dated Northern Europen men (I’m married to the Danish guy. – Oh, my ex was Danish. – My ex was from Norway!) Such a funny TMI but hey it’s rare.

At the same time I think it’s important to remind us: To prevent this being an eco chamber, we should find a way to truly influence and transform the Korean business environment – because I know it’s drastically different from these multi-national companies to Korean companies. It’s not going to be an easy mission to achieve, but totally worth achieving.