Organization ROARs against injustice

October 19, 2009 by Pashtana Usufzy 

R.O.A.R holds conference with goal of ‘breaking the ice’ among Asian students

Laughter, food and leadership tips drew students and members of the local business community to the Raising Our Asian Rights upROAR 2009 leadership conference in the Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural Oct. 17.

The event, which included icebreaker activities and multiple prominent speakers, attempted to introduce students to some keys to leading a successful organization.

“For all of the hard work that we do, we don’t get that return on that investment,” said Hyepin Im, describing the status of Asians in American society.

Im, whom former U.S. President George W. Bush appointed to the Board of Directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, discussed how students can give back to their communities, and brought up the stereotypes imposed upon Asian students and homeowners.

“In many ways, we’ve been told ‘Work hard. Work twice as hard and you’ll be successful,’” she said.

Im joined business and community leaders including Michelle Didondo of Mandalay Bay, Boyd Gaming Vice President for Human Resources Bob Gerst and Gwen Migita, Harrah’s Entertainment corporate director of corporate social responsibility, in examining how Asian students especially can foster their leadership abilities.

Conceptions of Asians as quiet and shy hurt their chances of gaining leadership roles, Im said. She added that the characterization did not seem to apply to R.O.A.R. members.

“This is the loudest Asian group I’ve ever been in front of,” she said as audience members cheered and hollered.

Wayne Tanaka, a retired teacher and community leader, gave tips to the members of different organizations within R.O.A.R., advising students on how to connect to Asian professionals in different industries.

He went down the list of the organizations that collectively form ROAR and provided members with the names of community leaders who may be willing to sponsor or provide scholarships to group members.

“You have to build your organization of purposeful people,” he told students, some of whom nodded their heads or jotted down notes as he spoke.

Tanaka said it is important for Asian students to reach out to one another and to other communities to show that stereotypes about Asian culture can be debunked.

He joked that exclusion is something that can only be necessary when it comes to the performing arts, like Polynesian dance groups.

“If you kind of don’t have any talent, then you don’t belong there,” he said, drawing a laugh from the audience. “William Hung taught us that, right?”

The business owners and mentors who attended, all of whom were either Asian-American or had ties to the Asian and Pacific Islander business community, stressed the importance of thinking for oneself and being aware of a leader’s role.

“Me, as the leader, I have to be purposeful, not purposeless,” Tanaka said.

Gerst said he hoped to explain to students the necessity of being aware of your mistakes and having integrity in a leadership role.

“It’s probably best, if you’re going to mess up, [to] do it with gusto,” he said. “Do it big.”

Gerst and Didondo encouraged students to write down their goals for the future. They provided a sheet of paper with 101 blank spaces and told students that getting their list of goals to 101 is the first step in accomplishing anything.

“Write as many as you can to get to 101,” Didondo said, addressing her audience, “but put it somewhere where a year from now or two years from now, you can look back at it.”

Author Bonnie Tsui attended the event as the keynote speaker. As students tasted Asian dishes, Tsui described her experience growing up near Chinatown in New York.

“Chinatown, to me, was a place we went to be Chinese,” she said.

Tsui showed a slideshow of photos from her book “American Chinatown: A People’s History of Five Neighborhoods” and invited students to write their own experiences in Chinatown down and submit them for publication on a blog.

She said she hoped her story would resonate with the Asian-American students in the room, many of whom grew up in a mixture of the American and Asian cultures.

“I was really just impressed by all of the people who came to participate,” she said, adding that she felt honored to be invited to the event.

Students also had the opportunity to break into groups and speak with mentors – prominent Asian members of different business fields.

Experts ranging from the hotel industry to the journalism field spoke and advised students on career goals.

Tsui told students that, to be leaders, they must take advantage of the positive situations that arise as they move forward.

“Is luck just something that happens,” he asked, “or is it the intersection between opportunities and preparedness?”