The Ismaili Professional Network (IPN) West invites you to learn about and discuss Cultural Competence in the Workplace.
Many employers contend that cultural competence, the ability to interact effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds, is a non-negotiable skill in the 21st century. Whether you are treating a patient whose culture or religion prohibit certain procedures, or you are closing a deal with an international customer who conducts business in a different manner than you, the ability to recognize disparate perspectives and navigate those conversations is an industry-agnostic competency.
While diversity and its challenges in the workplace are often discussed, professionals today more than ever before need to focus on how to optimize their working relationships in such multicultural environments. In this session, IPN will facilitate a discussion on the topic of cultural competence and have our expert panelists share their experiences. You’ll hear ideas on what you and your employer can do to promote cultural competence within your organization.
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, December 9th at 1 p.m. PT in Downtown Seattle for an engaging discussion followed by time to network. Light refreshments and snacks will be provided. Our confirmed speakers include Shelmina Babai Abji (Global Empowerment Speaker and Former IBM Vice President), Affshin Valji (Partner, PwC Technology Consulting), Feyrouz Kurji (Principal, FDK Consulting) and Jamil Valliani (Partner Group Program Manager, Microsoft).
The event is open to all friends and colleagues! Please register by December 8th at: https://www.tinyurl.com/ipnwestcultural
WHEN: Saturday, December 9th from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. PT
WHERE: Microsoft Westlake Office, 320 Westlake Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
REGISTRATION ENDS: Friday, December 8th at 11:59 p.m. PT
TICKETS: $20 + processing fee
Our confirmed speakers include:
Shelmina Babai Abji, Panelist
Shelmina Babai Abji is a global empowerment speaker, a former IBM Vice President, an investor in early stage technology companies, a distinguished alumni and an advisor to C-suite executives. She serves on boards of United Nations Girl Up and Young Women Empowered. Shelmina rose up to be one of the highest ranking women of color at IBM (employs over 400,000 people globally) and had the opportunity to lead many different businesses: hardware, software and services. She has run start-up businesses as well as mature businesses with revenue in excess of a billion dollars annually. She had the privilege of hiring over 1,000 people during her career and promoted / guided the careers of many. She has a proven a track record of consistently delivering on all of her key performance indicators while living a balanced life as a single mother of two children. Shelmina earned her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where she was honored as a distinguished alumni, and her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics at the University of Poona, India. As part of IBM’s top talent, she has received extensive leadership training at IBM, Harvard University and UCLA.
Affshin Valji, Panelist
Affshin is a Partner within PwC’s Technology Consulting group focused on clients in the High Tech and Retail industries. He has over twenty years of consulting and industry experience leading global programs that deliver measurable business value leveraging technology and business process transformation. Affshin regularly leads teams that are spread across the globe and has lived in multiple countries including Singapore and Australia. He is actively engaged in the local community as PwC’s Pro-Bono consulting services leader, which provides strategic services to not-for-profit organizations in Seattle, as well as being an active board member at Treehouse (treehouseforkids.org) and Leadership Tomorrow (leadershiptomorrowseattle.org).
Feyrouz Kurji, Panelist
Born in Kenya, Feyrouz Kurji immigrated to Canada with her parents at the age of three. She received a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford and subsequently her Master’s in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Feyrouz has extensive experience in the areas of public policy and global development. As Principal, FDK Consulting LLC, she focuses on management and delivery of complex, high-priority projects requiring cross-team and inter-organizational input and accountability. She also conducts policy design and implementation and strategic program assessments. Feyrouz previously worked as Director of Higher Education Research and Development Policy within the Canadian federal government and was the Executive Director of the Secretariat for the Science, Technology and Innovation Council. Prior to that, she was an analyst with the Privy Council Office of the Government of Canada, Country Manager for Kenya for the Aga Khan Foundation, and worked at Kagiso Trust assessing grant proposals and working with communities to strengthen their development efforts.
Jamil Valliani, Panelist
As Partner Group Program Manager at Microsoft, Jamil Valliani leads Bing Image Search, Video Search, Entertainment, Home Page, Growth and UX Platform teams. These experiences and platforms touch over 100mm users and billions of searches every month. Jamil has experience building world-class product teams, driving rapid growth and shipping outstanding products. During his 10 year tenure in Search, he has become well-known as product leader for Bing Image & Video Search – differentiating features that have contributed heavily to Bing’s rise to over 30% US market share. More recently, he also became leader of Bing’s Home Page and Entertainment experiences, which have also had significant impact to Bing’s growth and are industry-leading. As a seasoned manager, Jamil has a reputation for developing strong leaders. Individuals on his team have graduated into senior product leadership roles around the industry.