WWOCN leadership confab
Surviving a tough economy
Surviving a tough economy
| Heidi M. Pascual* Publisher & Editor * 2006 Journalist of the Year for the State of Wisconsin (U.S.-SBA) |
| For more Asian American stories in Wisconsin, click: |
College, a very appropriate choice of venue, on a beautiful day this Spring.
The keynote speaker and workshop presenters are known for their expertise in what they do, and they
tackled their topics with passion and energy, really driving their messages across. For these women of
color, the hard times are trials of life that we all have to hurdle and overcome. The presenters were: Malika
Monger, Rose Jenkins, JoAnn Moore, and Gladis Benavides.
Keynote Speaker Daryl Davis Fulmer, Ph.D., is MATC’s Vice President for Learner Success. Her
previous positions include: interim dean for Liberal Arts and Sciences at Milwaukee Area Technical College,
associate dean for the Mequon campus, interim dean/associate dean for the Division of College Transition,
and assistant dean for advising and academic services at UW-Milwaukee. Her expertise includes urban
adult education, developing and managing diversity, affirmative action, leadership development, and
students’ first year experience. Among her many awards, Dr. Fulmer was most recently named one of “Our
Treasures, Our Jewels, Our Women” in education, by the Milwaukee Community Journal. Originally from
North Carolina, she moved to Wisconsin to challenge herself some more. She co-founded the African
American Women’s Fund that helped women affected by the W2 program in Milwaukee.
Keynote Address
At the outset, Dr. Fulmer introduced herself not by recounting her educational background, but by
recalling her growing-up years in North Carolina. “I grew up during the civil rights movement,” she said,
“and that was an interesting time to grow up because we didn’t really know what our place was in America.
But we knew that we had a place and that we shouldn’t be in the place we were; that we needed to make
something happen so that we could have the further experience of being here in America versus living in the
Jim Crow era, where you can’t go through the front door but the back door and you couldn’t do this and you
couldn’t do that.”
She stressed that during that time, living in such a way was not an oddity but the norm. It was the
“affirmative action” recruitment that paved her way through college, together with 199 other Blacks who
entered the University of North Carolina in 1971. Her rich experiences from then on prepared her well for
working with people. She now understands various cultures.
“We’re living in critical times right now, and we really don’t know what’s going to happen or what to
expect,” Fulmer said. “I think as women, we’ve always been challenged to do things differently or to really
make things happen … doing something with the little bit we have, so that when times are tough, we can
figure it out. We know how to make do while others don’t.”
She told the story of a manager who met with her staff to talk about recession and directed her staff that
they were not participating in it. Fulmer said that we should not use the economy as an excuse for poor
performance, or as a reason not to take care of our personal needs, to prepare for today and tomorrow and
enhance ourselves and our careers. She expressed how good it is to be in America than to be in other
The keynote speaker and workshop presenters are known for their expertise in what they do, and they
tackled their topics with passion and energy, really driving their messages across. For these women of
color, the hard times are trials of life that we all have to hurdle and overcome. The presenters were: Malika
Monger, Rose Jenkins, JoAnn Moore, and Gladis Benavides.
Keynote Speaker Daryl Davis Fulmer, Ph.D., is MATC’s Vice President for Learner Success. Her
previous positions include: interim dean for Liberal Arts and Sciences at Milwaukee Area Technical College,
associate dean for the Mequon campus, interim dean/associate dean for the Division of College Transition,
and assistant dean for advising and academic services at UW-Milwaukee. Her expertise includes urban
adult education, developing and managing diversity, affirmative action, leadership development, and
students’ first year experience. Among her many awards, Dr. Fulmer was most recently named one of “Our
Treasures, Our Jewels, Our Women” in education, by the Milwaukee Community Journal. Originally from
North Carolina, she moved to Wisconsin to challenge herself some more. She co-founded the African
American Women’s Fund that helped women affected by the W2 program in Milwaukee.
Keynote Address
At the outset, Dr. Fulmer introduced herself not by recounting her educational background, but by
recalling her growing-up years in North Carolina. “I grew up during the civil rights movement,” she said,
“and that was an interesting time to grow up because we didn’t really know what our place was in America.
But we knew that we had a place and that we shouldn’t be in the place we were; that we needed to make
something happen so that we could have the further experience of being here in America versus living in the
Jim Crow era, where you can’t go through the front door but the back door and you couldn’t do this and you
couldn’t do that.”
She stressed that during that time, living in such a way was not an oddity but the norm. It was the
“affirmative action” recruitment that paved her way through college, together with 199 other Blacks who
entered the University of North Carolina in 1971. Her rich experiences from then on prepared her well for
working with people. She now understands various cultures.
“We’re living in critical times right now, and we really don’t know what’s going to happen or what to
expect,” Fulmer said. “I think as women, we’ve always been challenged to do things differently or to really
make things happen … doing something with the little bit we have, so that when times are tough, we can
figure it out. We know how to make do while others don’t.”
She told the story of a manager who met with her staff to talk about recession and directed her staff that
they were not participating in it. Fulmer said that we should not use the economy as an excuse for poor
performance, or as a reason not to take care of our personal needs, to prepare for today and tomorrow and
enhance ourselves and our careers. She expressed how good it is to be in America than to be in other
Part 1 of 2
By Heidi M. Pascual
The Wisconsin Women of Color Network, Inc.
(WWOCN) confronted head-on the most important issue
of the day — the economy, and how we can “survive”
or, as tough as it seems, succeed, amid its difficult
challenges. People are losing jobs — by hundreds of
thousands — almost every week, as America’s
companies, including several state governments,
wobble on their foundations. Many big firms have closed
shop, following the death of smaller, and most of all,
minority-owned businesses.
The group met at the Madison Area Technical
By Heidi M. Pascual
The Wisconsin Women of Color Network, Inc.
(WWOCN) confronted head-on the most important issue
of the day — the economy, and how we can “survive”
or, as tough as it seems, succeed, amid its difficult
challenges. People are losing jobs — by hundreds of
thousands — almost every week, as America’s
companies, including several state governments,
wobble on their foundations. Many big firms have closed
shop, following the death of smaller, and most of all,
minority-owned businesses.
The group met at the Madison Area Technical
(Left) MATC’s Dr. Daryl Fulmer gives her keynote address
(Right) WWOCN attendees listen intently to Dr. Fulmer’s presentation.
(Right) WWOCN attendees listen intently to Dr. Fulmer’s presentation.
countries and quoted Pres. Obama, saying, “This is our time.”
“But we need to make it better for ourselves as well as our children and this is in he midst of things that are out of control, like the
economy, like company shutdowns, like the weather, etc.,” Fulmer urged her audience. “…This is an opportunity to demonstrate our
values, our worth, and opportunity to share our talents and help others in a meaningful way.”
Reinventing Ourselves
Fulmer stressed that we can either let the recession win or take advantage of the time to reinvent ourselves and to better the world
we live in. However, she admitted there’s another side to this positive outlook. “If you are a person of color, circumstances often help
dictate the control,” she said, “and the less control you have over your own life, the higher the stress, and more likely you would end up in
an unhealthy situation, further creating less control of what happens to you.” She explained how daily stress for people who don’t have
control over their lives results in many diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and a shorter lifespan. Problems of acquiring medication,
coupled with job loss and lack of health insurance aggravate the situation. “On top of that, we have racism … and when you are on guard
for it, that creates further stress!”
Fulmer cited a PBS documentary commentator who said that the economy will recover, but we will recover differently. The hope is,
we will be more humane, take care of each other better, and America will no longer be just about the money. She also pointed out to her
audience that the economy that brought hopelessness to people who used to be very high up in the economic ladder. While poor people,
particularly people of color, have also been hit, we are more used to doing something out of nothing, Fulmer emphasized.
Fulmer’s tips to survive this tough economy & some leadership strategies:
• Service –we must do that in order to change things and make life better for the masses versus a few.
• Reinvent yourself and invest in education – go back to school, like MATC, to enhance your current skills (employers like employees
who can critically think and problem solve); use the Internet as a resource to learn new things; go to the library.
• Keep a positive attitude and a positive image – hang out with people with positive vibes; look at the recession as temporary and an
opportunity to improve yourself; live incrementally (apartment instead of a house, low salary versus none).
• Stay healthy – eat right, have enough sleep, exercise.
• Go to church, find ways to develop spiritually.
• Learn to smile and develop a healthy ego.
• Concentrate on what you can control and don’t try to change the things that you can’t.
We should have Plan B and Plan C, in case things don’t happen the first time we try, Fulmer added. “There’s no substitute for hard
work,” she said matter-of-factly. “Accept that you’re not perfect … be prepared to make mistakes and recover from it.”
Quoting Thomas Friedman, an educator and author, Fulmer said, “We need to be prepared to be great communicators … orally and in
writing, because we cannot lead if we cannot tell people what we want them to do. We need to be great collaborators; we need to be able
to work together and join others to work together. It is no longer ‘I’ but ‘we’ pulling together.”
Fulmer encouraged her audience to “pull together” as women of color, to help each other make things better so that many will benefit.
The result, she said with certainty, would be, these women feeling good for giving back to our community.
Other qualities that we need, according to Fulmer, are to be great synthesizers, mobilizers, and pass our good fortunes forward.
Presentation on Employment Opportunities
Malika Monger – “Where are the Jobs-Public Sector?”
Starting with a positive outlook, Monger said, “Even with the present economy ;… there are still jobs out there. You just have to be
patient (because) sometimes it is taking a little longer, as people try to work on their budgets.”
She encouraged attendees that if a job is really something that they want, they should go for it. She said technology is great nowadays
that a lot of jobs are posted on career websites, such as careerbuilder.com, monster.com, and yahoo.com; as well as job-specific
websites for different professions and skills. The email is also a great tool for people to learn about current employment opportunities,
Monger said, adding that joining a listserv and being part of a mailing list are also an advantage.
“Networking is a great tool because a lot of times, it’s not what you know; a lot of times it is who you know,” she explained. “Being
able to talk to people, being able to put your foot in the door, (and) getting to know the people in the area you’re interested in working in.”
Monger talked about how to prepare oneself for jobs, which is actually “working with what you have.”
“Reinventing yourself, as Daryl said (in her keynote), is the keyword,” Monger said, “especially if you’re moving from one job to
another or you’ve been home (stay-at-home moms, for example) for many years. There are lots of ways to do that.” For moms who have
gaps in employment, for instance, Monger suggested finding volunteer or internship opportunities at first, because that will give you the
work experience you need.
Monger enumerated other ways to reinvent oneself, as follows: participate in training, if you already hold a job, to develop yourself
further professionally and help move up in your career; network to connect with other people; hone in to transfer your skills, like teaching;
and really work with what you have.
“Working with what you have”-resume and interviewing skills
“With your resume (it’s really important to) be able to tighten up your resume in what you’re looking for,” Monger explained. “I always
say,
‘Know the purpose of your resume.’ -- I have seven or eight resumes, depending on the job I am applying for. Your resume is really
tailored to that job. For example, if it’s a management job, you really have to focus on the responsibilities you had in management
positions.” There are keywords that are in job descriptions, she said, that should be used in your resume to show work experience,
accomplishments in the line of work you’re applying for, and names of coworkers in your team.
“When you’re preparing for an interview, do your mental rolodex,” Monger strongly recommended. “For instance, if the job requires
that you have to develop and implement programs, go back to your resume and find out what you’ve done in developing programs.“
Monger answered questions from her audience, stressing in addition, to know about the company you’re applying for by going to the
website of the company, and find out who they are, what they do and what’s important to them through their vision.
Next issue will report on the presentations tackling self employment, educational opportunities and mentoring.
“But we need to make it better for ourselves as well as our children and this is in he midst of things that are out of control, like the
economy, like company shutdowns, like the weather, etc.,” Fulmer urged her audience. “…This is an opportunity to demonstrate our
values, our worth, and opportunity to share our talents and help others in a meaningful way.”
Reinventing Ourselves
Fulmer stressed that we can either let the recession win or take advantage of the time to reinvent ourselves and to better the world
we live in. However, she admitted there’s another side to this positive outlook. “If you are a person of color, circumstances often help
dictate the control,” she said, “and the less control you have over your own life, the higher the stress, and more likely you would end up in
an unhealthy situation, further creating less control of what happens to you.” She explained how daily stress for people who don’t have
control over their lives results in many diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and a shorter lifespan. Problems of acquiring medication,
coupled with job loss and lack of health insurance aggravate the situation. “On top of that, we have racism … and when you are on guard
for it, that creates further stress!”
Fulmer cited a PBS documentary commentator who said that the economy will recover, but we will recover differently. The hope is,
we will be more humane, take care of each other better, and America will no longer be just about the money. She also pointed out to her
audience that the economy that brought hopelessness to people who used to be very high up in the economic ladder. While poor people,
particularly people of color, have also been hit, we are more used to doing something out of nothing, Fulmer emphasized.
Fulmer’s tips to survive this tough economy & some leadership strategies:
• Service –we must do that in order to change things and make life better for the masses versus a few.
• Reinvent yourself and invest in education – go back to school, like MATC, to enhance your current skills (employers like employees
who can critically think and problem solve); use the Internet as a resource to learn new things; go to the library.
• Keep a positive attitude and a positive image – hang out with people with positive vibes; look at the recession as temporary and an
opportunity to improve yourself; live incrementally (apartment instead of a house, low salary versus none).
• Stay healthy – eat right, have enough sleep, exercise.
• Go to church, find ways to develop spiritually.
• Learn to smile and develop a healthy ego.
• Concentrate on what you can control and don’t try to change the things that you can’t.
We should have Plan B and Plan C, in case things don’t happen the first time we try, Fulmer added. “There’s no substitute for hard
work,” she said matter-of-factly. “Accept that you’re not perfect … be prepared to make mistakes and recover from it.”
Quoting Thomas Friedman, an educator and author, Fulmer said, “We need to be prepared to be great communicators … orally and in
writing, because we cannot lead if we cannot tell people what we want them to do. We need to be great collaborators; we need to be able
to work together and join others to work together. It is no longer ‘I’ but ‘we’ pulling together.”
Fulmer encouraged her audience to “pull together” as women of color, to help each other make things better so that many will benefit.
The result, she said with certainty, would be, these women feeling good for giving back to our community.
Other qualities that we need, according to Fulmer, are to be great synthesizers, mobilizers, and pass our good fortunes forward.
Presentation on Employment Opportunities
Malika Monger – “Where are the Jobs-Public Sector?”
Starting with a positive outlook, Monger said, “Even with the present economy ;… there are still jobs out there. You just have to be
patient (because) sometimes it is taking a little longer, as people try to work on their budgets.”
She encouraged attendees that if a job is really something that they want, they should go for it. She said technology is great nowadays
that a lot of jobs are posted on career websites, such as careerbuilder.com, monster.com, and yahoo.com; as well as job-specific
websites for different professions and skills. The email is also a great tool for people to learn about current employment opportunities,
Monger said, adding that joining a listserv and being part of a mailing list are also an advantage.
“Networking is a great tool because a lot of times, it’s not what you know; a lot of times it is who you know,” she explained. “Being
able to talk to people, being able to put your foot in the door, (and) getting to know the people in the area you’re interested in working in.”
Monger talked about how to prepare oneself for jobs, which is actually “working with what you have.”
“Reinventing yourself, as Daryl said (in her keynote), is the keyword,” Monger said, “especially if you’re moving from one job to
another or you’ve been home (stay-at-home moms, for example) for many years. There are lots of ways to do that.” For moms who have
gaps in employment, for instance, Monger suggested finding volunteer or internship opportunities at first, because that will give you the
work experience you need.
Monger enumerated other ways to reinvent oneself, as follows: participate in training, if you already hold a job, to develop yourself
further professionally and help move up in your career; network to connect with other people; hone in to transfer your skills, like teaching;
and really work with what you have.
“Working with what you have”-resume and interviewing skills
“With your resume (it’s really important to) be able to tighten up your resume in what you’re looking for,” Monger explained. “I always
say,
‘Know the purpose of your resume.’ -- I have seven or eight resumes, depending on the job I am applying for. Your resume is really
tailored to that job. For example, if it’s a management job, you really have to focus on the responsibilities you had in management
positions.” There are keywords that are in job descriptions, she said, that should be used in your resume to show work experience,
accomplishments in the line of work you’re applying for, and names of coworkers in your team.
“When you’re preparing for an interview, do your mental rolodex,” Monger strongly recommended. “For instance, if the job requires
that you have to develop and implement programs, go back to your resume and find out what you’ve done in developing programs.“
Monger answered questions from her audience, stressing in addition, to know about the company you’re applying for by going to the
website of the company, and find out who they are, what they do and what’s important to them through their vision.
Next issue will report on the presentations tackling self employment, educational opportunities and mentoring.
(Above) WWOCN President
Rachelle Ashley welcomes
attendees.
(Below) MATC’s Malika
Monger makes a
presentation on
employment opportunities.
Rachelle Ashley welcomes
attendees.
(Below) MATC’s Malika
Monger makes a
presentation on
employment opportunities.