A Resolution for 2019: Finding the Inner You

Credits: AWIP Team, Hanh Bui (Program Lead for December), Esha Joshi (Post-event Blogger)

Advancing Women in Product (AWIP) finished on a high note in 2018: in addition to adding three national and international chapters (San Francisco, Seattle, and Paris) and growing by 4,000 members worldwide, they held an end of year party centered around empowering a group of beautiful and bold ladies to bring their most confident selves to work, and life. Members of the AWIP community came together at Ted Baker San Francisco on December 6th, 2018 and welcomed two fierce ladies who wholeheartedly support AWIP’s mission of empowering more women in tech leadership roles: Betty Hsu, professional presence coach, and Elisa Cicinelli, professional headshot photographer.

From her presentation on Leadership Training and overview of her Leadership Codes of Conduct, to a breakout session on practicing these skills in everyday life, Betty presented tips and tricks to looking and feeling confident for life’s important conversations and presentations.

A few important takeaways from Betty’s presentation were:

Emotional Intelligence, also known as Emotional Quotient (EQ), is the strongest predictor of performance.

EQ is a strong predictor of performance, accounting for nearly 60% of success in all types of professionals. This also translates into success for relationship management. EQ is a measure of one’s ability to be aware of the emotions of those people you interact with, along with your own emotions, in order to build a strong working relationship.

A strong posture is key to being recognized as a confident professional.

Betty believes that strong body posture is one of the most effective ways to express positive body language and confidence. Standing up straight and tall can convey much more than words can describe.

To achieve a strong posture, Betty’s advice is to stand with your weight balanced equally over both of your feet, keep your head, and to grow your intrinsic presence to command the space around you.

“When we take up more space, our testosterone hormone increases and stress hormone decreases.”

A strong voice demonstrates confidence and assuredness in the message being conveyed.

Included in her Codes of Conduct, a strong voice is integral for conveying personality and confidence. Betty’s recommendations are to speak with an optimal volume, keep a relaxed pace, highlight your message with subtle expressions, and lastly, engage your diaphragm for resonance.

“When you’re on the phone during a phone interview, try standing up! Even though it’s over the phone, your interviewer can tell when you smile, and also when you lie down.”

A strong eye contact is a good indicator of trustworthiness.

During important presentations or conversations, your ability to sustain your focus and hold eye contact for at least 3–5 seconds per person is vital to engaging with everyone in the room. Even more so than having speaking confidently, eye contact is the foundation of all your social interactions. Your eyes can convey a wide range of emotions: fear, happiness, confidence, and even trustworthiness.

These tips, along with Betty’s willingness to talk with individual ladies at the event, made her presentation a success.

Betty Hsu presenting her Leadership Codes of Conduct

Ted Baker SF, the sponsor for the evening, presented their lovely store space for the event and delectable hors d’oeuvres. Additionally, they donated a dark blue velvet Rosalaa crossbody bag as the prize of the event raffle. The evening was also accompanied by Elisa’s headshot photography of event attendees.

The raffle prize was awarded to AWIP member Maria Gudkina! In speaking with her after the event, she said, “I have found AWIP events to be extremely useful for my Product career and my acclimation into the SF community. [AWIP], please continue to hold these great events!”

AWIP is looking forward to the new year–keep your eyes open for upcoming events in 2019!

Please visit our website: www.advancingwomeninproduct.org or Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/awipInfo/ for more information on our 2019 upcoming events and chapters!

Follow Betty Hsu at @bettyhsutedjong.

Follow Elisa Cicinelli @elisacicinelli.

Learn more about Advancing Women in Product here.