YPIN: International Women’s Day Speed Mentorship

The 12th annual International Women’s Day Speed Mentoring event is upon us! The Young Professional International Network is excited to invite the Pacific Northwest’s top female leaders and young professionals for a day of networking and mentorship. We’re thrilled to announce Expedia Well—Women at Expedia Group Learning and Leading—is sponsoring this year’s event!

The event will kickoff with thoughtful discussion from this year’s keynote panel, followed by a group Q&A session. Afterwards, mentees will have a chance to rotate through 20-minute 1:1 mentorship sessions with female leaders working in the Seattle-metro area.

This event is perfect for early career women seeking to enhance their leadership potential, mid-career professionals looking to make a career change, or folks hoping to accelerate their current trajectory. Attendees will have the opportunity to gain industry insights, learn about new organizations, and build a network of exceptional women.

To learn more about this year’s mentors, read our bio packet: 2024 International Women's Day Mentors (Google Doc)

Before the event, we will follow up with registered participants with a form to collect your mentor preferences. We look forward to seeing you soon!

YPIN has reserved a limited number of free tickets for those who may face barriers accessing this event. If you would like to claim one, please email ypin@world-affairs.org.

Professional headshots, provided by Deja Booth, will be available to all attendees.

Thank you for the support of our venue host, Expedia Group.

Keynote Speakers

Sindura Bikkani - Sindhura is a leader in technology, adept at building collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing teams to solve business problems through technological solutions. She was born and brought up in India but moved to the US 15 years ago. She attended the University of Washington, where she studied Computer Science before taking on a developer role. Since then, she has worked with various companies in different roles, accumulating a wide range of experiences that have contributed to both her personal growth and that of her teams. Currently, Sindhura is accountable for the packages experience at Expedia Group, which assists travelers in booking everything they need for their trips, generating 25M gross profit for the business. Along the way, she has recognized the value she brings to her teams and advocates for a diverse and equitable team environment. She is passionate about mentoring early-career women in tech and strives to provide guidance and support for women to succeed in the technology world. Sindhura also shares her knowledge to empower women to pursue jobs, especially where it remains a challenge in developing countries. Additionally, she financially supports the education of two children who are the daughters of families that were once household help, with hopes to expand this support in the future.

Emily Kim - Emily Kim was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. She attended the University of Washington and studied journalism and political science, before attending law school at Seattle University. Emily then worked in public policy in Washington, D.C. before returning home to work on legislative policy at Seattle City Council. After working in the public sector where she helped pass policies furthering equity and social justice, she joined Molly Moon’s Ice Cream to help form and launch their non-profit, with the goal of getting milk and dairy to neighborhood food banks. She then headed their social impact and marketing team, leading both internal and external giving and equity initiatives, before meeting Heather and co-founding The Pastry Project. At The Pastry Project Emily gets to bring her love of pastry and social justice together as their Community Impact and Marketing Director. The Pastry Project provides free baking and pastry training to individuals with barriers to employment.

Pamela Oakes - Owner of The Profitable Nonprofit, Pamela has remained at the forefront of driving racial equity solutions across the globe.  She consulted with the top 100 corporations in South Africa during the post-apartheid Truth & Reconciliation period, conducting training workshops for government, corporate, community, and faith-based organizations in the areas of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Gender Equity, Employment Equity, Affirmative Action, Organizational Transformation, and Change Management. Upon returning, Pamela worked for nearly a decade with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s  US Programs team working to create more equitable systems of promoting social mobility and economic development for low-income, underrepresented, students of color. In 2020, she designed a participatory engagement strategy for a California community foundation on their multi-year $4.5Billion initiative to implement inclusive economic initiatives. 2021 found Pamela facilitating the Seattle mayor’s Equitable Communities Initiative Taskforce to develop investment recommendations as part of a $100Million city initiative. In 2022 she designed and administered a program for King County to provide guidance and technical assistance to 100+ emerging nonprofits and community-based organizations serving communities most impacted by racism. Most recently in 2023 Pamela developed a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Toolkit to guide the decisions of Washington’s mediation association and its 22 state-wide affiliate offices. Currently a Nonprofit Organizational Development specialist, Pamela is a certified state trainer for the Washington Nonprofit Association and the Nonprofit Association of Oregon. Pamela attended the University of Washington majoring in Political Science and remains a champion for empowering women and girls in developing nations.