Article by Justnya Szumigala and Francesca
The ladies of Aspiring Women for Excellence (AWE) have been busy in the month of May, holding two activities, a paint and sip and monthly meeting. AWE will be hosting their one year anniversary party on June 11th, so keep an eye open for details.
Paint and Sip
On May 14th AWE (Aspiring Women for Excellence) held a paint and sip activity. These paintings have been donated by the participants for a charity auction. Proceeds from the auction will go to Xi’an Cancer Rehabilitation Association (Xi’an Anti-Cancer Club) a network of medical workers and social volunteers which provides support to cancer patients and their families. The association actively develops and organizes rehabilitation groups to enrich the lives of patients in addition to participating in social welfare and cancer prevention promotion.
The auction will run until the June 10th with current bids being updated each evening, so don’t forget to check back and make sure you are still top bid!
The winners will be announced at the AWE one year anniversary party on June 11th!
AWE Monthly Meeting
The monthly meeting of the AWE was held on May 14th in 西南夷·云贵川民族风情餐厅 restaurant. The topic was “Business women or women with business? Defining feminine and masculine energy and its balance in private and business life”, hosted by Justyna Szumigala.
AWE members – female leaders, face decision- making and organizing challenges in their professional lives every day. They perform through masculine energy that taken to spheres of life outside of work, can be exhausting. How to integrate these two energies in order to find inner balance and perform at highest potential? This and many other questions were discussed.
The meeting started with defining what feminine (also referred to as “yin”) and masculine (“yang”) energies are and what femininity means to each of ladies. Some responses indicated clearly feminine features (caring, emotional, gentle, sensitive, elegant), whereas others the masculine ones (doing, decision- making, organizing, planning, initiating), with the main response being “powerful”.
Next, ladies estimated how much feminine and masculine they felt, with almost 50% of them admitting to feel more masculine than feminine, not only at work. They pointed out having to make decisions and face problems by themselves or the need to have everything under control. This focus on “doing” often produces anxiety that doesn’t allow one to be in the moment or to connect with another.
Finally, different ideas of how to integrate these two energies were brainstormed, concluding that being a woman with business, not a business woman, means switching roles and balancing time for work, planning & organizing (“yang”) and private and family life, (“yin”).