Kowin News

The third 2012 KOWIN Leadership Seminar was held at the City View Room at the Ellicott School of International Affair at George Washington University. The event was co-hosted with the Korean Students Association of GWU with the theme of Empowering Womanhood: Reclaiming Feminine Power. The keynote speaker was Senator Yonah Martin of British Columbia whose speech had the title, "Y"s women: Wisdom of Women (and a Few Good Men)." Following this speech were the panel discussion on "Reclaiming Feminine Power in Politics," a lecture, "Superwoman Complex," by Mina Cheon and a roundtable mentoring session. Over 100 participants attended this event.

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The third 2012 KOWIN membership meeting was held at Woo Lae Oak near Tyson"s Corner. There were 16 participants present at the meeting. A new member, Anne Choe, joined the meeting. The participants watched a slideshow of the pictures from the Yeosu KOWIN Convention. The main event was a "Etiquette and All About the Tea" demonstration and tea tasting by Ms. Euna Kim. The topics of discussion include the Leadership Seminar, and the Gala.

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We held a fundraising tea party held at the home of one of our members, Marina Kim, in Mclean, VA. Around 14 people attended this event. There was a Jewelry and Art fundraising show in which attendees could purchase different jewelry and art pieces. Also a variety of fruits, cheese and Korean snacks as well as wine and tea was served.

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This summer, from August 28 to 31, the annual KOWIN International Convention was held in Yeosu, Korea. Approximately 200 Korean women leaders (both from Korea and overseas) participated. Seven of members attended this convention: Dr. Lucy Nam, Dr. Suzanne Doud Galli, Sue-Kyong Shin Vittas, Helen Won, Stella Yi, Judi Rhee Alloway, and Susie Won. Under the theme " Dealing with Rapid Climate Change," there were a number of speeches by notable people such as Yeon Suk Lee, the former second Political Affairs Secretary and Hee Ja Lee, CEO of LOOPEN, and further group discussions. Other activities in the event included the book donation program, in which participants donated about 1200 children books in their local languages, and an outing to the Steel-making factory and the Expo Aquarium of Yeosu. The convention concluded with a tea time at Cheongwadae (the Blue House) with First Lady Kim Yoon-ok.

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The second 2012 KOWIN meeting was held at Woo Lae Oak near Tyson"s Corner. There were about 16 participants present at the meeting. The newly joined KOWIN members are Anna Morris and Susie Won, the 2012-2013 Fellow. The participants watched the Romania KOWINNER slideshow, and it was announced that the next KOWINNER will be held in India in January 2014. The topics discussed included the following: Sue-Kyong Shin Vitta"s lecture on international party etiquette, the March meeting minutes, the current KOWIN financial report, Dr. Suzanne Doud Galli"s glycolic peel fundraising opportunity and the Junior Membership.

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The 3rd International KOWINNER Convention was held in Bucharest, the capital of Romania from June 15-17. The attendees from our chapter included Dr. Lucy Nam, Hong Ja Kim, Sue-Kyong Shin Vittas, Sami Lauri, and Susan Oh. The Korean congressman, In Choon Shon, attended this event. Han Tae Kim, the Korean ambassador to Romania, gave the opening speech. The focus was on the arts and culture. KOWINNER awarded prizes to 21 people for the advancement of art and culture by Korean women in the international community. Hong Ja Kim from our DC chapter was awarded the "Worldwide Recognition of Women"s Art and Culture" award. Hong Ja Kim gave a presentation, "Looking Back on the Last 40 Years of My Art Life." Sue-Kyong Shin Vittas also demonstrated the manner and etiquette for international events and parties. Towards the end of the convention, there was a culture show involving performances by KOWIN members from various countries. The purpose of this show was to portray the different cultures of the countries in which our KOWIN members reside.

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The first 2012 KOWIN meeting was held at Woo Lae Oak near Tyson"s Corner. There were about 30 participants present at the meeting, including the invited speakers as well as nine new KOWIN members. The newly joined KOWIN members are Melissa Park, Sukza Park, Dr. Suzanne Doud Galli, Sung Hee Lee, Cathy Kim, Ginny Kim, Hoonae Kim, Moon Sook Shin, and Estella Kyungmi Lee. The meeting was held in English, and the topics discussed included the following: the KOWIN International Convention in August at 2012 Yeosu Expo, the KOWIN International Conference in Romania in June 2012, the financial report of the 2011 fiscal year, and the committee assignments of KOWIN members. There were two special presentations that day on retirement strategy for women by Ms. Lieba Macias and building the Korean Community Center by Mr. Youngseu Park.

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During January 27-29 2012, the following KOWIN members attended a KOWIN"s first retreat to Berkeley Springs in West Virginia: Judi Rhee Alloway, Hia Kim, Sami Lauri, Myung Ja Lee, Yoosook Lund, Myong Ho (Lucy) Nam, Sue-Kyong Shin Vittas, Helen Won, and Stella Yi. The main objective of the retreat was to plan and discuss future KOWIN activities. During this retreat, the members participated in hands-on workshop sessions led by Judi Rhee Alloway to learn leadership qualities including group IQ dynamics and behavior conflict management styles. In addition, there was a viewing of the documentary "Don"t cry for me, Sudan", a story of the late Father Lee, Tae-seok who worked as a doctor, teacher, and musician to impact the lives of the poorest people in Sudan.

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