[Women’s Forum 10th Anniversary] A 'Place of Learning' for Job Seekers, Mentors Say It’s a "Source of Inspiration"

On the 27th, attendees are listening to the keynote speech by Sohail Inayatullah, the inaugural chair of the UNESCO Futures Committee, at the '2021 Asia Women Leaders Forum' hosted by Asia Economy at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 27th, the entrance of the venue for the '2021 Asia Women Leaders Forum' held at the Crystal Ballroom of Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, was decorated with star-shaped ornaments and photos of mentors. Mentees, including university students and office workers, were busy taking commemorative photos in front of the photo wall set up at the entrance of the venue. Nearly 100 people, including mentors and mentees, attended the event in compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines.

The mentees were seen exchanging business cards with mentors they had wanted to meet and diligently taking notes on memo pads filled with questions to ask.

Kim Yeon-jeong, a student at Seoul Institute of the Arts, said, "My professor recommended that I attend because there was a good lecture, and I think I will receive a lot of direct and indirect help by listening to the stories of women leaders." She added, "Since I am about to enter the job market, it was a great opportunity to broadly hear stories from women leaders who have advanced into various fields of society."

Office worker Kwon Ye-ha said, "I participated in the event through a company recommendation," and added, "I am in charge of work in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, and I am very interested in ESG (environment, social, and governance) management, so I plan to have various discussions with mentors in related fields." No Min-young, a woman in her 30s, said, "I joined because I wanted to discuss with female mentors the necessary aspects to grow as a leader," and added, "I am responsible for digital transformation-related work and wanted to talk about it in relation to my job."

Lee Ki-won, who participated as a mentor for the first time this year and is the head of company-wide education under CHO at LG Uplus, said, "This is my first time attending, and I thought I should attend more often at gatherings where women leaders come together."

Yeo Ji-young, Vice President of SK Telecom (in charge of Open Collaboration), who has attended the women’s forum three times in a row, said, "When I receive an invitation to the women’s forum, I try to attend even if I have to cancel other schedules. When I come to the event, I, as a mentor, am also greatly inspired," and added, "Seeing women leaders who have challenged fearlessly and achieved results in their fields helping juniors makes me feel a greater sense of responsibility."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.