President's Panel IWD22
Tuesday, 8 March 2022
Women and girls are effective and powerful leaders and change-makers. To mark International Women’s Day, Carma Elliot, College President, and Andreia, Grade 12 scholar welcomed panelists connected to the UWCSEA community to a discussion exploring topics related to the UN Women IWD22 theme: Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow.
Focusing on ways to empower women and girls with opportunities, panelists will examine how to tackle constraints on equal participation in decision-making and action related to climate change and equitable sustainable development.
Panelists
- Jolene Lum, UWC Singapore National Committee and Client Development, Asia Sustainable Platform, Temasek Holdings
- Kanak Muchhal, Women’s Strategic Development Manager, Daughters of Tomorrow
- Shailey Hingorani, Head of Advocacy, Research and Communications, Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE)
- Mia Eskelund, Co-founder and Co-executive Director, Amala
- Andreia, Grade 12 Scholar at UWCSEA, co-host
- Carma Elliot, College President, co-host
Without gender equality, a sustainable future, and an equal future, remain beyond our reach. The discussion was wide-ranging and lively as the panelists tackled questions posed by UWCSEA students:
Panelists
Jolene Lum
UWC Singapore National Committee, and Client Development, Asia Sustainable Platform, Temasek Holdings
Jolene graduated from UWC Adriatic in 2015 after completing her International Baccalaureate as the National Committee scholar from Singapore. She spent 2 years in the agrifood industry in Singapore, where she was the Founder/CEO of Urban Tiller, a farm-to-table agribusiness focused on controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), digitalizing and diversifying hyperlocal supply chains, and optimizing fresh food logistics and distribution at a B2C & B2B2C level.Additionally, she also worked in agritech venture building, where she contributed to the founding operations of 3 other startups in fermentation-based alternative protein, blended protein technology for alternative animal feed and black soldier fly farming, and a SaaS platform for agritech. She currently works at Temasek Holdings' new Asia Sustainable Foods Platform hoping to accelerate the commercialization and adoption of sustainable foods across Asia Pacific.
Kanak Muchhal
Women’s Strategic Development Manager, Daughters of Tomorrow
Kanak is the Women’s Strategic Development Manager at Daughters Of Tomorrow
(DOT), a local IPC charity that is enabling livelihoods for underprivileged women and
their families in Singapore. Since 2014, she and her team has impacted more than
1000 women through community collaborations to provide them with skills,
confidence and access to sustainable job opportunities.
Currently, she is curating and running support programs and initiatives to increase
job readiness by mobilizing volunteers and partners. She believes holistic
improvement in quality of life, not just income, is needed for social mobility. She
aspires for DOT to empower every woman to harness their strength, experiences
and voice to create positive changes for herself and her family.
She is a fun-loving mother of 3 children, hiking enthusiast and Sudoku whiz.
In conjunction with International Women’s Day, Daughters of Tomorrow are organising a three-day roundtable/workshop centred around the theme "Women in the Workplace: Equity and Equality". You may find out more about this workshop here.
Shailey Hingorani
Head of Advocacy, Research and Communications, Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE)
Shailey Hingorani is the Head of Advocacy, Research, and Communications at AWARE, the Association of Women for Action and Research. Before joining AWARE, she worked on women's rights and child rights in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States. She has worked with the Open Society Foundations, the FXB-Harvard Center for Health and Human Rights, the Indian Mission to the United Nations, Save the Children, and the Bloomberg Initiative. Shailey was a Fulbright scholar at Harvard University where she received a Master’s in Public Administration.
Mia Eskelund
Co-founder and Co-executive Director, Amala
Mia Eskelund Pedersen is the Co-founder and Co-Executive Director of Amala, a not for profit organisation which uses the power of education to transform the lives of refugees, their communities and the world. Amala has developed the first international high school programme specifically designed for displaced youth, and offers non-formal education programmes in areas including Ethical Leadership and Peace-building. Young refugee adolescents are often the least likely to access high quality education and be equipped with the tools to create a sustainable future, and Amala is actively working to address this challenge. Prior to co-founding Amala, Mia spent six years working for UWC International in the area of programme and volunteer management. She is also an alumna of UWC Mahindra College.
Andreia
Grade 12 IB Scholar part-time, feminist activist full-time, UWCSEA, co-host
Andreia is a grade 12 Portuguese scholar at UWCSEA Dover. Yet, more than a student she is an avid feminist and passionate activist; being the first one to raise her voice upon injustice. She is a deep believer in individual (re)claiming of power and feminist collection action; and is determined to empower all silenced souls, who just like her younger-self, have been victims of violence and hostages of oppression!
She is a loving friend, daughter and classmate who is a strong believer of the power of vulnerability and public speaking in generating positive change— having given a TEDx talk on self-empowerment, being a panelist on several occasions and collaborating with many activist NGOs.
Carma Elliot
College President, co-host
Carma joined UWCSEA in 2019 as the first College President, following a career as a British diplomat. For 23 years, until 2010, Carma worked in a wide variety of roles and across continents, including bilateral politics, trade and investment, immigration and protocol. Her final three postings were as Consul-General in Chongqing (China), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and finally Shanghai (China).
Carma spent much of her adult life in China; first going to China as a student at Fudan University in Shanghai over 35 years ago. After leaving the Foreign Office, Carma became Executive Director at China’s single largest international NGO, the Half the Sky Foundation (2010–2013), focused on enriching the lives of China’s orphaned children, before joining the British Council in 2013 as Director China, and concurrently Minister for Culture and Education in the British Embassy Beijing, a member of the Ambassador’s senior leadership team. Throughout her professional life, Carma has affected meaningful change in the government, international education and development sectors in several countries, most recently completing a complex business transformation at the British Council in China.
Carma is originally from Scotland, and is proud to call herself a global citizen. A ‘third culture kid’, she grew up living in multiple countries as her family moved around with her father’s job. Through her professional life, she has developed a deep knowledge of the cultural nuances required to successfully navigate and create intercultural understanding and an appreciation of the importance of respecting diverse perspectives when working towards peace between people. Carma has been honoured twice by Her Majesty The Queen, for her service to the UK abroad.
She is single and has two adopted daughters.
Carma's Blog is called Thought: Process