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The impact of the novel coronavirus has been felt across the entirety of society. As governments have enacted major stay-at-home restrictions, businesses and schools have shut down for months on end. Healthcare workers are beyond stretched, and grocery store and delivery employees have become essential workers. While governments and federal banks are organizing their responses to ease the health and economic impacts, individuals and businesses are stepping up as well to care for one another. All across the country, people are finding innovative ways to serve frontline medical workers, employees who have been furloughed or laid off, and in general support vulnerable community members in need — and in many cases, women are leading the way.

Join Asia Society as we welcome some of the most creative and hardworking women in the food industry who have found innovative and people-centric ways to serve the community during this challenging time.

Schedule

Thursday, June 25, 2020
6:30 p.m. Moderated Discussion
7:15 p.m. Audience Q&A — Questions welcome via YouTube Live and Facebook Live

This program will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. We welcome you to tune in early.

About the Speakers

Barbara Bronstein is founder and president of Second Servings. Following a successful career marketing some of America's leading brands for Unilever, Mars, and Coca-Cola, Barbara founded Second Servings to address the staggering rates of food insecurity and food waste in Houston. Under her pro bono leadership, Second Servings, in just 5 years, has become one of the city’s fastest-growing nonprofits, helping to nourish over 170,000 Houstonians with high quality food all year long through 90 local charities. When the Covid-19 crisis struck, Second Servings was on the frontline, rescuing valuable perishable food from disrupted hotels, business cafeterias, sports venues, restaurants, and schools. The need for food was skyrocketing, so Second Servings sprang into action, forming new collaborations and creating an adjunct program called “Dinner’s On Us”, to provide 100,000 chef-prepared meals for Houstonians in need. Barbara has been featured in local and national media, and honored with the Mayor’s Proud Partner Award, the Houston Humanitarian Award, and the Compassionate Action Leader Award. She currently serves on the Board of the Houston Culinary Guild.

Cat Nguyen is a local sommelier who has curated a number of award-winning wine programs for casual to fine dining restaurants all over Houston, Texas. To assist with the COVID-19 effort, Cat used her network from working as a Vanguard representative for Republic National Distributing Company and her role with Houston Sommelier Association to team up with a friend and colleague, Jonathan Beitler, to create Houston Shift Meal (HSM).The mission of Houston Shift Meal is two-fold: 1) Provide free meals to employees in the food service and hospitality industry who have been furloughed or laid off due to the COVID-19 crisis, and 2) Support local restaurants during this time by providing them with funds to help subsidize the costs of preparing these free meals and offering an additional advertising avenue to let the public know they are still open for business. To date, HSM has distributed over 20,000 meals to out of work hospitality industry workers and over $100,000 to restaurant partners.

Helen Nguyen was raised in Seattle with roots in California and Vietnam, and has always had a passion for food. After a decade in real estate business and sales, she pursued her passion and moved to New York and attended the Institute of Culinary Education. While at school, she started an apprenticeship at L'Appart under Chef Nicolas Abello, who led his team to their first Michelin star within the first few months of opening and then worked her way into the kitchen of Chef Daniel Boulud's famed Restaurant Daniel. There she trained with the Feast and Fetes catering and private events team for 3 years. Though trained in classic French, Vietnamese comfort food is where her heart resides. Helen has shared her love for food, culture and community via her monthly Pop-Ups. Her restaurant Saigon Social was slated to open in March this year, but before the restaurant could open, she had to pivot to curbside and deliveries once stay at home orders were issued in New York City due to COVID-19. In her effort to give back to the community during this crisis, Helen has partnered with non-profits such as Heart of Dinner in providing cooked meals through her restaurant to vulnerable community members especially seniors. Heart of Dinner is providing home cooked meals and groceries to Asian-centered nonprofit organizations in New York City like the Chinese-American Planning Council which runs five senior centers in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.  She has also partnered with Frontline Foods and Off Their Plate to help provide meals to local hospitals and healthcare workers.

About the Moderator

Niloufar Molavi leads PwC’s Global and U.S. Energy practice serving Global energy clients in the oil and gas industry. She is responsible for all client services – assurance, advisory, and tax. From 2011 to 2016, she served as the Greater Houston Market Managing Partner for the Greater Houston Market. From 2009 to 2011, she served on PwC’s leadership team as the firm’s Chief Diversity Officer. In this role, she oversaw the firm's diversity strategy, and all of its related programs and initiatives. With 25 years of tax experience with PwC, Niloufar has served a wide range of energy companies both in the U.S. and abroad, advising clients on international and U.S. tax structuring, mergers, acquisitions, and potential public offerings. Niloufar earned her bachelor's degree in Accounting as well as a master's degree in Professional Accounting with a concentration in Taxation from the University of Texas at Austin. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the McCombs School of Business and Accounting Advisory Council at the University of Texas. She serves as the Chair of the board of Dress for Success Houston and Awty International School. She also serves on the non-profit boards of the Alley Theatre, Central Houston, ALPFA, and the Greater Houston Partnership.

About the Women's Leadership Series

The Women's Leadership Series (WLS) celebrates influential, diverse women making a substantive impact in both the business and culture arenas, locally and globally.

Previous programs:

Asia Society Welcomes Journalist Ann Curry for Bank of America Women's Leadership Series
Asia Society Launches the 2019–2020 Bank of America Women's Leadership Series with Former PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi
Asia Society Concludes 2018-2019 Bank of America Women's Leadership Series Season with Focus on Women in Entertainment
Bank of America Women’s Leadership Series Spotlights Local Energy Executives, Importance of STEM Education
Bank of America Women’s Leadership Series Kicks Off 2018-2019 Season with Celebrated Female Asian Chefs
Asia Society Concludes 2017-2018 Women's Leadership Series with Women in Fashion Evening
Technology Trailblazers on the Business of Innovation
Third Year of Women’s Leadership Series Begins with Medical Innovators
Former UK First Lady Leads Dialogue on Women’s Education
Women's Leadership Panel Addresses Female Representation in the C-Suite
Former Secretary of Labor Credits "Strong Families, Education, and Hard Work" for Success
Local Leaders Share Personal and Professional Successes at Inaugural Women's Leadership Program

The Women's Leadership Series Steering committee is chaired by Dr. Anne Chao. Members include Nancy C. Allen, Dr. Dina Alsowayel, Lisa Barksdale, Rania Daniel, Kathy Goossen, Dr. Ellen Gritz, Dr. Michelle Herrera, Richa Himani, Brigitte Kalai, Mandy Kao, Shirley Kwan, Sultana Mangalji, Niloufar Molavi, Davana Petree, Vani Rao, Sue Sim, and Y. Ping Sun.

Title Sponsor

Presenting Sponsors

Anne and Albert Chao
Nancy Pollok Guinee

Lead Sponsors

Nancy C. Allen
Michelle and Hector Herrera
Brigitte Kalai

Additional Support

Kathy and Marty Goossen
Mandy and William Kao
Shirley and Peter Kwan
Sultana and Moez Mangalji
Y. Ping Sun and David Leebron
Sue and Randy Sim
Sahana and Kishore Sundararajan

About Asia Society at Home

We are dedicated to continuing our mission of building cross-cultural understanding and uplifting human connectivity. Using digital tools, we bring you content for all ages and conversations that matter, in order to spark curiosity about Asia and to foster empathy.

About Asia Society Texas Center

With 13 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and West. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.