What nobody names when you mix business and philanthropy
Two calendars, one week Anyone who runs a company and also gives real hours to a cause knows the feeling. You have a board meeting at nine and a foundation call at eleven, and your brain does not switch gears as fast as your calendar does. People assume the hard part is finding the time. […]
Something I changed my mind about when it comes to giving back
The version of “helping” I used to believe in For a long time I thought the most useful thing I could do for a cause was show up with a check and a good title. Write the check, attend the gala, post the photo. It felt productive. It also felt safe, because it kept the […]
How to say no without losing the relationship
The word I had to relearn For a long time, my calendar was a record of every request I had said yes to. Board calls, extra committee work, a favor for a friend of a friend, another nonprofit ask on top of the ones I already carry. None of it was unreasonable on its own. […]
The trade-off nobody names when you say yes to a board seat
The invitation that sounds simple Someone asks you to join a board seat, sit on a parent council, or take a volunteer role that “won’t take much time.” You say yes because the cause matters and the ask feels small. Then six months in, you realize the real cost was never the meetings. It was […]
What Parent Voices Are Teaching Us About NICU Care
Why Families Belong in the Conversation When a baby enters the NICU Care, the medical team takes the lead. Doctors, nurses, and specialists make decisions minute by minute, often under intense pressure. Parents, meanwhile, are living through one of the most disorienting experiences imaginable. They’re learning medical terminology on the fly, watching monitors they don’t […]
Why the Arts Might Be the Missing Piece in Your Leadership Toolkit
The Unexpected Connection Between Performance and People Skills Most leadership development programs focus on strategy, finance, and operations. Few mention the arts Yet the skills developed through creative performance—presence, empathy, reading a room, responding in the moment—are exactly what separate competent managers from leaders people actually want to follow. If you’ve ever watched someone command […]
Why “I’ll Get Involved Next Year” Never Actually Happens
A Problem I Hear All the Time A friend told me last fall that she wanted to help out at her daughter’s school. She had ideas. She had time on Tuesdays. She kept saying she would sign up for the next PTA meeting. She never went. Not because she stopped caring, but because the “right […]
The Shortcut That Works When You Are Learning to Lead, and the One That Does Not
Two Ways to Skip Ahead When I was younger and new to running things, I wanted a shortcut. Everyone does. You watch someone who seems to have it figured out and you think, if I just copy what they do, I will get there faster. Some shortcuts work. Some just feel like they do, until […]
What Community Really Means: Lessons Learned Through Service
The word “community” gets used often. We hear it in conversations about neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and charitable organizations. While it is a familiar word, I believe its true meaning is often found in the small moments that bring people together. Over the years, I have been fortunate to be involved with a variety of organizations […]
Leadership Lessons I Learned Growing Up Between Indonesia and Singapore
Formative Years Across Two Cultural Landscapes My upbringing between Indonesia and Singapore played a defining role in shaping how I understand leadership, communication, and responsibility. Long before I encountered formal frameworks of business strategy or organizational development, I was already learning, through lived experience, how culture influences perception, decision-making, and human connection. Each environment offered […]