A Better Force

Sarah Seraj, PhD and I are beyond excited at having won the 2024 Emerging Business award last night at the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce Ovation Gala - Awaken the Dragon, in the presence of so many of our friends, peers and loved ones! We couldn't do what we do without the support of our clients, community partners and well wishers, so we dedicate this award to our ABF family and community. Each one of you have helped us get to where we are. Hope to continue to serve you all and work together to usher in a better, more equitable world ?? A few highlights from the night: ?? To the event team, Kimberly Chung and the behind the scenes GAACC team, Mark Hanson, Albert Tinay, you all really outdid yourselves this year. Thank you for creating something so special for the Austin Asian community. ?? Loved the keynote speaker by Jerry Won. He spoke about the need to disaggregate the data on Asian Americans so we could fully represent the complexity and nuances in this large umbrella identity. ?? A big congratulations to Sammy Lam, DipWSET, MW Candidate for winning the Entrepreneur of the Year and Ruchi Gagrani for winning Community Leader of the Year awards. ?? Good to see so many familiar faces and catch up - YJ Lin, Naoko Cole, Clarice Cross, Lin Quach, Emlyn Roesler, Irene Kang, Eddie Wong, Nita Soni, Amitesh Singh Baghel. To those I missed seeing - let's get coffee sometime! ?? Always love the Leadership Austin representation in the room - Manjunath (MJ) Charmani, Nayer Sikder, Aileen Yu, Cat Duong-Valadez ?? Loved realizing how much solidarity there is with Pa|estine in the Asian American community. Sarah and I were wearing our Pa|estine flag pins, and people always noticed and spoke up.

Exciting news! We're thrilled to announce the finalists for the first five categories of the 2024 Austin Young Chamber FAVE Awards! ?? ? Arts, Brand, and Culture ? Changemakers ? Community-Minded ? Company Culture ? Go-To Spot These exceptional businesses and individuals are making a huge impact in our community. Stay tuned for more finalist reveals! #FAVEAwards #AustinYoungChamber #GoingPlatinum"

At EGBI, we are proud to highlight our amazing clients in celebration of National Women's Small Business Month. Meet Sarah and Saamiya Seraj, the powerful owners of A Better Force! They have been clients of EGBI since 2023. You can follow their journey on Instagram at A Better Force. Show your support for local women entrepreneurs by booking an appointment with them, joining their book club, attending their workshops. When you choose services from women small business owners, you’re not just investing in your personal and professional development—you’re also helping our community thrive! Their website: https://lnkd.in/gQzkuP_P

It was wonderful to celebrate 20 years of EGBI yesterday and hear all the amazing stories of business owners they've supported throughout the years. EGBI has been instrumental to our own success after cancer and we can't thank our mentors Larissa Davila and Monica Pe?a enough for believing in our message and the work that we do ?? P.S. it was so good to run into so many old friends at the event and celebrate along with them. Lisa Kang Miranda Barcena Juan Carlos Barcena, MBA Sheyenne Alvarez Katherine Sobel

In moments of intense grief, I feel like I lose my ability to speak. As if the grief has turned inwards, choking my voice and my words to silence. But speak we must ... so I turn to poems to express my rage, my grief, my dissent. You may not see it, you may not believe it, but the embers of our revo|ution are glowing and growing. May we all be free - from the r!ver to the s*ea. Sending so much love and solidarity to my Pa|estinian and Leban*se community.

Our next Deshi Voices meeting is THIS Wednesday - FREE FOOD will be provided ?? We’re going to be unpacking intersectionality, the struggles of being a minority within a minority and how this shows up in the ways we experience and move in the world. Thank you so much to A Better Force for collaborating with us in creating discussion guides. We are so grateful to continue expanding on the meaningful conversations we’ve been able to have on what it means to be Bangladeshi in America and how restrictive gender roles have contributed to violence within our communities ?????? These conversations are where change happens and ripples out in the communities we are a part of and care about. Hope to see you there! Please RSVP at the link the comments ?? When: Sept 25th @ 6:30-8:00 pm Where: Carver Branch, Austin Public Library: 1161 Angelina St, Austin, TX 78702

Really excited to announce that Sarah Seraj, PhD and I have both been selected to be part of the Leadership Austin program this year. Sarah joins the Emerge Class 18, while I will join the Essential Cohort 46. Hoping to take all the wisdom from this amazing program and serve you all even better. Our course started off with discussing Austin's history of racial segregation because of the 1928 plan and how East Austin residents have a lower life span than West Austin residents. Wanted to extend a special thanks to Lila Valencia for such an amazing presentation on Austin's history and demographics and to Chris Nieto for hosting 2 days of amazing leadership exercises. A big thanks to the entire Leadership team, and to my Essential 46 cohort as well, for making this opening retreat so special!

Sarah Seraj, PhD and I had such a great time tabling at the at the DECA event today and meeting so many amazing entrepreneurs and professionals from the Greater Austin area. At a time when marginalized communities are under threat in the US, it felt inspiring to see the different ethnic chambers of commerce in Austin join forces to help the small business community. A special thanks to Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce for all the support you've given for our business to relaunch after my cancer treatment. A big thanks to the Greater Austin Black, Hispanic and LGBT Chambers of Commerce as well for all the work that you do to support us small business owners. If anyone is considering being a member of these chambers, I highly recommend it! Congrats to Hong Ly for winning the raffle draw to be a member in all 4 chambers! To everyone who stopped at our table to give us support for our first tabling event - thank you! Ruchi Agrawal, Kitty B., YJ Lin, Monica Pe?a, Regina Budet, Kiyomi Beach, Lisa Kang, Albert Tinay, Mark Hanson, Sheyenne Alvarez (I'm sure I'm missing others). Thank you Erich Pelletier for the picture! See y'all at the next DECA summit!

Sarah Seraj, PhD and I had such a great time tabling at the at the DECA event today and meeting so many amazing entrepreneurs and professionals from the Greater Austin area. At a time when marginalized communities are under threat in the US, it felt inspiring to see the different ethnic chambers of commerce in Austin join forces to help the small business community. A special thanks to Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce for all the support you've given for our business to relaunch after my cancer treatment. A big thanks to the Greater Austin Black, Hispanic and LGBT Chambers of Commerce as well for all the work that you do to support us small business owners. If anyone is considering being a member of these chambers, I highly recommend it! Congrats to Hong Ly for winning the raffle draw to be a member in all 4 chambers! To everyone who stopped at our table to give us support for our first tabling event - thank you! Ruchi Agrawal, Kitty B., YJ Lin, Monica Pe?a, Regina Budet, Kiyomi Beach, Lisa Kang, Albert Tinay, Mark Hanson, Sheyenne Alvarez (I'm sure I'm missing others). Thank you Erich Pelletier for the picture! See y'all at the next DECA summit!