Can your destiny be ever pre-determined?
“We are all born with a purpose to leave a legacy and I honor those who have worked hard and sacrificed everything to allow us to live a better life for our families, our communities and for generations to come”
Colonel Shirley S. Raguindin shares her guiding philosophy. She keynotes FWN 2.0 Legacy: Next Generation Leaders "Mothers & Daughters, Mothers & Sons" Together- the theme of the 2015 Filipina Leadership Global Summit on October 29-31 in San Francisco.
Shirley grew up poor in Hawaii’s plantations. An honors student, she was hoping to receive a car for a graduation gift just like her brother's when he graduated from high school. Instead her gift was a 24-year old engineer arriving from the Philippines who was going to be her husband. Her parents explained that the agreement for the arranged marriage was made with the young man's parents on the day she was born. She was told that she would be "a good wife, a great mom and marriage would complete her life." But she had dreams. Like going to the Air Force Academy. She was kicked out of the house for defying her parents.
Today, Colonel Raguindin is Chief Diversity Officer for the Air National Guard (ANG), Chief of Diversity for the National Guard (NGB) and in her dual role, principal advisor to NGB Chief, General Frank J. Grass and ANG Director, Lt. General Stanley E. Clarke III. She is responsible for the strategic direction, implementation and alignment of ANG’s integrated global diversity and inclusion initiatives to achieve the highest state of military readiness to over 458,000 soldiers, airmen, airwomen and civilians.
Colonel Raguindin will speak on Women.Create.Change., her journey from when her father told her that the military was only for men to the years she was told university was not for her as "she will fail calculus" and the many disparaging remarks that she was going to college for an MRS degree (you're going to school to get married) and "no jobs for Filipina women like you."