The Asian Shipbuilders Including All Nationalities (ASIAN) employee resource group hosted a panel discussion titled “Leveraging Asian Values in Your Career” May 12 in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month (AAPIHM).

“It was pretty successful for our first in-person event in three years,” said Emmylou Mosley, ASIAN chair. “It was good to have an in-person event for our signature/heritage month event.” The COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding limits on social gatherings led ERGs like ASIAN to host virtual events in recent years.

Panelists for this year’s event included E68 Manager Sonia Gopal, X23 Manager Leah Colvin and Radiological Control Director Jon Calma. All three shared information about their background, upbringing and careers at Newport News Shipbuilding.

Brent Ruffy, who serves on ASIAN’s Board, had a number of valuable takeaways from the event. He said it brought to light the importance of continuous learning and development, building relationships, mentorship – both as a mentor and mentee, and situational awareness of one’s environment and strengths and weaknesses.

“Despite my cultural upbringing and ethics being very similar to Jon and Leah, the panelists as a whole brought motivational and constructive building blocks to better shape the person/teammate/leader that I could strive to be,” he said.

Mosley said she also related to the panelists background and upbringing that emphasized education. She was glad to hear the panelists talk about learning and growing out of their comfort zones, the importance of mentoring, building relationships and networking – even through ERG events.