Tell us about a woman who inspires you.

Senator Tammy Duckworth is a woman that inspires me: — soldier, public servant, mother, wife, fiercest warrior and advocate for our AAPI, the disabled community, and defender of our Men and women in harm’s way!

Tammy Duckworth’s humble beginnings, growing up in a family who knew poverty firsthand, learned from a tender age, the values of hard work, dignity, and endurance. She works hard at various jobs while attending college, and joined the Army National Guard. She was called to duty, and in one of her many missions flying her helicopter over Iraq, she lost both her legs. What inspires me most about Tammy is her resiliency, her endurance, her integrity, and her dedication to doing what is good for our country. She served our country as a high-level official in the US Dept of Veteran Affairs, ran for Congress and won a seat representing her adopted home in IL. Not content with having achieved so many things, she went on to get her doctorate while serving in Congress, ran for and won a Senate seat; gave birth to her second daughter while serving as US Senator from IL. I admire her the most because she had the courage to stand up in a dramatic way, not afraid to wield her considerable power in support of our AAPI community, at a time when we needed her most. She is my hero.

Who is a woman that you believe has enhanced the field of public administration? And how?

It is hard for me to identify just one woman who has enhanced the field of public administration. There are so many women in public Administration who have broken barriers for themselves, but most importantly, they have helped break barriers for others, and helped others reach their potentials

Why do you think Women’s History Month is important?

SO many reasons:

• It is important because we need to shine a light on women’s accomplishments and hold them up as examples for role models for contemporaneous and future generations to emulate
• Recognize their important place in history in every walk of life
• Encourage the next generation to achieve the next level of excellence, and to continue that unbroken chain

The theme of Women’s History Month for 2022 is “Providing Healing, Promoting Hope”, is there a woman who you believe embodies this theme?

Yes, I believe that Dr. Leana Wen (pictured right) does that. A young physician, and trained in emergency medicine, she was the youngest Health Commissioner for the City of Baltimore. She is today using her knowledge, and her no-nonsense approach to provide healing in her clinical role, as an adjunct at GWU Medical school and as a medical contributor on CNN and Washington Post. Her sound advice and guidance give hope to those of us sequestered during this Pandemic.

What steps do you think still need to be taken to achieve gender equality?

We have to change our culture, to recognize that women can achieve anything that a male can professionally , and to compensate them (not only in salary) but in positional authority and stature accordingly; to provide pay equity; to promote women into position of authority, and pay them the same as their male counterparts; to get more women at the Board level, at the C-Suite, whether in the public sector, in the private sector, in academia, or in the non-profit world.

If you could choose any woman, dead or alive, to sit down and have dinner with, who would you choose? And what would you want to talk about?

I would choose Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (pictured right). I would just want to get to know her!

What is a women’s issue that is important to you, and why?

Gender equality—because it is the fundamental basis for women to achieve their full potential.