
On Wednesday 13th February, I was honoured to participate in the Women in Leadership (WIL) 2019 event, organised by the Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce,

Yvonne Chin,
We were welcomed with a message by Caroline Kwan, event Chair, Director of
The audience was treated to very inspiring and insightful talks by four highly accomplished speakers. Rob Candelino, CEO of Unilever Thailand, delivered a talk on “Leading with Purpose”. Unilever has been a vocal, active and engaged voice in promoting women’s rights and are gender balanced advocates. Rob emphasised that the single greatest economic catalyst is through the growth of women. He also shared that the best next-gen leaders will be driven by something much stronger than a title. They will have a strong moral compass, and will be driven by their own personal why and purpose.

The following speaker was Sirinya (Cindy) Bishop, actress, supermodel, TV host and activist. Cindy’s talk was named “Embracing authenticity to empower the next generation”, and she shared great wisdom and tips through her own personal story on finding your authentic self and speaking your truth. Cindy’s raw vulnerability brought a very humble tone to the room, and most women in the audience resonated with the many struggles and inadequacies that she shared. Her underpinning message was to embrace who you are, embracing all of your qualities, both good and bad.
The third speaker was April Srivikorn, Head of Industry for Google Thailand. April’s speech was on “Resilience as a leader and learning to swerve”. Her impressive acumen and success in her career were accredited to her adaptability, social skills and resilience. Her advice to anyone wanting to access a leadership role was to develop a resilience leadership posture. April highlighted the fact that the true measure of a leader comes from how they show up through the difficult times, not the good ones. Throughout the many successes that April has encountered in her career, shaping a strong positive team spirit of resilience was critical. The final speaker was Ines Caldeira, Managing Director of L’Oreal in Thailand. Ines treated the room to a very moving talk on the subject “I’m
On a personal note, being a Leadership Coach, I feel very passionate about helping women become exceptional leaders and reach the top roles, and witnessing the participation and engagement in the room provided me with much enthusiasm and hope that together, we can continue to advance on women’s issues. It was also very encouraging to see how more and more men are joining the conversation, supporting their female peers and actively contributing to creating gender balance across all levels of the organisation. Women mean