Join the East-West Center’s Changing Faces Women’s Leadership Seminar to address the challenges confronting working women entrepreneurs.

This 12-day immersive, leadership and professional development seminar is designed for innovative women entrepreneurs from Asia, the Pacific, and the United States.

Objectives

The Changing Faces Seminar seeks to:

• Enhance the entrepreneurial capacity and leadership skills of innovative women through facilitated training exercises, workshops, meetings as well as community site visits
• Implement a year-long project for the betterment of a participant’s business or community by means of a concrete Action Plan;
• Expand the social capital of participants and establish a community of women leaders via networking opportunities as well as ongoing social media contact with speakers, trainers, Changing Faces alumni, the local community, and one another;
• Create regional awareness among participants through reciprocal learning and exposure to new ideas and divergent perspectives;
• In addition, Empower the next generation of women leaders in Hawaii by way of a service project undertaken in partnership with the Sacred Hearts Academy.

Funding:

Funding supports the participation of six to eight women from the United States and the Asia Pacific region. A full scholarship is approximately USD$2,985/per participant and includes the following programmatic costs:

• Interisland airfare from Oahu to Hawaii Island
• Ground transportation and airport transfers throughout the 2022 program
• Also, Lodging on Oahu and Hawaii Island for 12 days of the 2022 program
• Program meals and a modest per diem to cover meals not provided throughout the 2022 program
• Pro-rated speaker honorariums and training workshops
• In addition, Individually tailored host mentorship
• Cultural activities and networking opportunities
• Participant resource materials
• Moreover, experienced facilitators with knowledge of regional and women’s leadership issues

Eligibility:

• female business owners and social entrepreneurs who have demonstrated leadership and the ability to affect change and influence others in their communities.
• Also, innovative entrepreneurs, business managers, government and industry policymakers, and civil society leaders with at least seven years of work experience and who play a leadership role in their community
• Applicants must have the ability to communicate in English in a professional setting.
• Moreover, preference is given to candidates with limited opportunities for international exchange and professional development as well as those who offer to cost-share programmatic costs.

Required Documents:

Applicants must submit all of the following:

• Complete online Changing Faces Seminar Application Form
• Letter of Interest (maximum 3 pages) including:
  • A brief description of your company/organization and your role
  • What do you expect to contribute and gain from participating in Changing Faces
  • Concrete example(s) of your professional leadership and innovation, as defined above
  • Demonstrated potential for impact within your community
  • Identify an actionable goal for either your organization or community that you wish to work on and outline the role you can or would like to play in achieving that goal.
• Resume/CV(maximum 2 pages)
• 2 Professional Letters of Recommendation describing your suitability for the Seminar. The letters should be signed and on letterhead.