Press Release February 14, 2006

San José/Evergreen Community College District Chancellor Rosa Pérez took center stage at Working Mother magazine’s “Women of Color Multicultural Town Hall,” delivering the meeting’s midday keynote address. The day-long conference was held on Cisco System’s campus in San Jose on February 1.

An eager audience of 200 women from Silicon Valley high-tech companies, law firms and nonprofit organizations enjoyed a day of frank talk, sharing their fears and aspirations, and offering each other practical advice on how to survive as a working woman of color in today’s diverse workplace. Embracing multiculturalism in the workplace is frequently easier said than done.

Chancellor Pérez, a champion of teamwork and creating opportunity for the traditionally underserved people of the community, is a strong advocate regarding working partnerships. “Build strategic alliances,” said Chancellor Pérez. “I find that more interesting than networking because it requires more action or intention.”

Creating allies across sexes and colors and seeking mentors and mentees are also time-tested and proven techniques that have resulted in past success. Chancellor Pérez gives much credit to one of her mentors, an African American man who was more than three times her age.

There’s no arguing Chancellor Pérez’ recipe for success—she is one of only three college or university Latina chancellors in the United States. And she daily practices what she preaches at the SJECC District. Chancellor Pérez’ efforts create new strategic alliances in the San José/Silicon Valley community, and strengthen existing ones through San José City and Evergreen Valley’s Service Learning program, and promises to maximize opportunities for all of San José’s children through the San José Aceurdo, A Declaration of Commitment to our Common Mission .

Carol Evans, founder and CEO of Working Mother Media Company explained the importance of the “town hall” meeting format. “The purpose is to have a safe place for women to talk about issues of where gender and race meet in the workplace. Why that is necessary is because we go through our regular business day and it is so hard to actually be honest about some of the issues that inevitably come up over and over again. When you’re at work the main issue is workability, you have to get through your day. People don’t have the time or the sense of security needed to talk about subtle issues.

“Women have always been taught to be careful in the workplace. Put race on top of that, and there’s even more reluctance. The Town Hall format gives them a chance to speak up, hear each other out on biases and offer advice.”

Other event faculty included Noni Allwood, Senior Director, Gender Diversity Development , Cisco Systems; Quinn Tran, CEO, GlobAll Connect; Annette P. Carnegie, Partner, Morrison Foerster; Evelyn Dilsaver , President and CEO, Charles Schwab Investment Management; Patti Chang, President and CEO, Women’s Foundation of California; Bishop Yvette Flunder, City of Refuge United Church of Christ; Laurie B. Lippin, Ph.D., co-author, Understanding Whiteness/Unraveling Racism; Anna, Partner in the Strategic Relationship Management Group, Deloitte; and Debra Langford, Executive Director, Strategic Sourcing and Talent Management, Worldwide Recruitment and Executive Search, Time Warner.

Working Mothers Media Company’s Town Hall meetings are one day events held in cities across the country where executive women of color come together to talk about the importance of racial and ethnic identity, trust between groups and how to develop corporate cultures in which multicultural women of color can flourish. Over 3,000 executives attended Working Mothers Media Company’s National Conference and Town Hall meetings in 2005.

For more information, go to: http://www.workingmother.com