NEW YORK –A special International Women’s Day discussion and reception was held at the Consulate General of Greece in New York on March 6, celebrating generations of amazing leaders with a distinguished list of featured speakers.
The Women in Leadership speakers were Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce President Eftihia Pylarinou-Piper, Hellenic Professional Women President Dr. Evelyn Bilias Lolis, Hellenic Medical Society Advisory Board member Dr. Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiadis, and Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce Advisory Board Chair and Hellenic-American Bankers Association Lifetime Member Nancy Papaioannou with moderator Nomiki Kastanas of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York.
The NextGen Leadership speakers were The National Herald Co-Publisher and Co-Editor Vanessa Diamataris, Hellenic Medical Society Advisory Board member Dr. Theofano Orfanelli, Cyprus-U.S. Chamber of Commerce Cypriot Young Professionals President Maria Christodoulou, and Kellari Hospitality Group Events Manager Anastasia Aktipis with moderator Professor Christina Salboudis of Philo4Thought Hellenic Mentoring Initiative.
Consul General of Greece in New York Iphigenia Kanara gave the welcoming remarks, thanking everyone for attending, and later noting that the event was the most successful during her tenure so far, except for the annual Greek Independence open house event.
Left to right: Eftihia Pilarinou-Piper, Dr. Evelyn Bilias Lolis, Dr, Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiadis, Nancy Papaioannou, and Nomiki Kastanas, at the podium. Photo: By Eleni Sakellis
The panelists then answered questions posed by the moderators. They shared their inspiring stories and advice for the younger generation.
Eftihia Pylarinou-Piper’s advice was “dare to dream and stay dreaming.”
“Also, I’d like to say that whatever you have on your mind in terms of what you want to do in the future, don’t get frustrated, because every road that you take, which has a lot of turns, at the end, is going to lead you to where you should really be,” she noted. “I wanted to be an engineer. My first job was in finance. I fell in love with finance.”
Dr. Evelyn Bilias Lolis spoke about the cost of multitasking all the time, pointing out that “it really requires an understanding that you can’t be great at everything all the time, but you could be phenomenal. On a given day, a given place for one role, and then phenomenal in the other role, and that one will always have to give a little bit, and that’s okay, as long as you keep yourself grounded in balance, to know that you deserve the pause, you deserve to say, I’m not a robot… And you deserve to have the time and space on your own, for your own mental well being and sustainability, to be able to respect yourself and love yourself that much, that you will take that time for yourself.”
Left to right: Maria Christodoulou, Anastasia Aktipis, Dr. Theofano Orfanelli, Vanessa Diamataris, Consul General of Greece in New York Iphigenia Kanara, and Prof. Christina Salboudis. Photo by Eleni Sakellis
Dr. Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiadis said: “[for] the next generation of physicians, what I recommend is that you do really well at school. Your grades matter. Your grades are everything, in fact.” She added that doing real research is also important along with finding a mentor and being financially savvy from a young age.
Nancy Papaioannou noted the importance of education and giving back. “Educate yourselves continually,” she said. “You will find it very beautiful as you grow in your working life. And also help the society that you live in… Help our church, help the schools, our schools, the Greek language, find ways to keep back to our society and to our people around us.”
In the NextGen discussion, the speakers also shared their insights. Vanessa Diamataris referred to Fr. Panteleimon Papadopoulos, presiding priest of Holy Resurrection Church in Brookville, who in a recent sermon asked for the spelling of the word love, “L-O-V-E, no, it’s another four-letter word, T-I-M-E,” Diamataris noted. “So I would advise the next generation to value time a lot… he was talking about your time in terms of spending time with those you love, but let’s go beyond that. Spend your time doing something that you love as well. We all have a finite number of seconds, minutes, hours on this planet, right? And you never know when your resource is going to run out. So spend the time with those you love, but also spend your time doing something that you love as well.”
Left to right: Prof. Christina Salboudis, Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce President Eftihia Pylarinou-Piper, Hellenic Professional Women President Dr. Evelyn Bilias Lolis, Hellenic Medical Society Advisory Board member Dr. Lorraine Chrisomalis-Valasiadis, HACC Advisory Board Chair and HABA Lifetime Member Nancy Papaioannou, Consul General of Greece in New York Iphigenia Kanara, and moderator Nomiki Kastanas. Photo by Eleni Sakellis
Dr. Theofano Orfanelli advised women starting off their careers that “nowadays, we have cryopreservation, so I strongly encourage any female individual to go through cryopreservation when they don’t know if they want kids… and they’re thinking about how they don’t have a partner, just doing this is the biggest investment, I would say it’s a better investment than your bank account, just in case.”
She also noted the importance of grades and research for those going into the medical field and saving money from an early age. “You have to be educated and start early and have your savings account and any investment that you want to have,” Dr. Orfanelli said.
A special International Women’s Day discussion and reception was held at the Consulate General of Greece in New York on March 6. Photo by Eleni Sakellis
Anastasia Aktipis said: “With time, good support, and people that are trying to guide you down the right path, everything always falls into this place as long as you have the right support system around you.”
Maria Christodoulou shared how she led her company to offer equal pay after she found out her male colleagues were being paid more than the woman. She also urged women to speak up when faced with challenges in the workplace and noted her Hellenic pride, adding that “I think it’s important that we continuously lift each other up in every way possible.”
A special International Women’s Day discussion and reception was held at the Consulate General of Greece in New York on March 6. Photo by Eleni Sakellis
Her advice to the younger generation: “Wherever you end up, whatever you do in life, I think it’s really important for you to know your facts, because regardless if you studied it or not, if you know what you’re talking about, people will respect you.”
“Every person in this room is a hero,” Prof. Christine Salboudis said at the conclusion of the discussion. “A hero is someone who reaches out to somebody else who uplifts, who trains, who will mentor, or just give a call… a person who looks and reaches out to the community… thank you.”
Consul General Kanara in her closing remarks noted the upcoming March 25th celebration will be held at the United Nations headquarters this year and encouraged everyone to RSVP online when the invitations are sent out as passes will need to be issued for all those who would like to attend.