PWN Norway Project “Hidden Assets” kicks off

By Jennifer Varino

During the pandemic, gender inequality in the labour market, particularly for immigrant women, increased. Recent statistics show that even native women continue to be underrepresented as leaders, receive lower wages and don’t advance as quickly up the career ladder as men.

We want to find out what helps and what gets in the way of career success for women in the country. And we’d like to put supporting activities in place.

Oslo Kommune recently gave us funding to do all of these things, focusing on the capital city. The initiative will be implemented together with our partner Oslo International Club.

The project Hidden Assets uses as its springboard research that we supported with Leadership Foundation almost 20 years ago. What has changed over two decades? It also builds on our experience with programs to empower and increase the workplace participation of international women.

In the first phase of the project, we ask you to fill in the SURVEY to help us determine the competency utilization of professional women in Norway. Associate professors Laura Traavik of Kristiania University College and our president Eva Turk of the University of Oslo will perform the research.

The second phase will include a mentoring program with workshops and masterclasses facilitated by experts.

Thanks in advance for your support and valuable feedback.

Note: The survey is open to all.

 

The Founder Institute Fellowship

  • By Aditi Jajal-Newey

 As a part of the long-standing partnership between The Founder Institute (FI) and PWN Norway, they have yet again extended two full fellowships this year.

 Two promising female entrepreneurs from PWN Norway will be granted 100% scholarships to FI's Fall 2020 Cohort.

 

 

 

Annual General Meeting - an evening with a Christmas twist

By Sara Hayden, VP Membership at PWN Norway

 

The room was a buzz with high energy chatter as PWN Members connected and networked. Indeed, this was no ordinary monthly meeting, it was our Annual General Meeting with a Christmas twist. 

The board kindly provided cakes to accompany the food from the Thon Opera Hotel and we were treated to Kombucha cocktails from Empress Kombucha. We kicked off the formal part of the evening with a very active Needs & Leads session, where members informed us about their companies’ and recruitment opportunities.

The focus was then drawn to our volunteers and all PMs were presented with gifts and certificates of thanks for the time and strong efforts they have contributed to PWN Norway this year. Outgoing board members were also thanked, we wished our President, Alicia Partee, well as she leaves Norway for the USA to pursue business opportunities there. She will pass the Presidency on to our current Vice-President Eva Turk. We heard bios from all candidates for the 2020 board before voting commenced and after the 2020 board was voted in Alicia gave us updates on PWN Global’s numbers and initiatives in 2019 followed by the president’s report from 2019.

I, Sara Hayden, gave a brief report from the Membership team revealing data illustrating who our members are. Eva Turk reported out on Events for 2019, in total we had 30 events in 2019, including the recent Northern Lights weekend trip. She continued with exciting numbers from Stavanger that has reached 58 members in 2019 and negotiated their first corporate partnership. Aleksandra Orekhova, PWN Norway’s VP Marketing, reported on our continued growth and increasing online presence for Marketing. She was followed by two VP Partnerships, Sonia Gilde da Silva and Laura Roth who engaged us to think about what our companies could benefit from forming partnerships with PWN Norway and Aditi Jajal-Newey did outgoing VP Entrepreneurship, Renata Pereira, proud by listing the achievements of the Entrepreneurship team. We wrapped up the formal part of the evening with Angela Holter firing up our interests in the mentoring program with glowing endorsements from mentors and mentees alike and VP Technology, Yuwen He to give us a glimpse of what a transparent and effective online communication could bring.

All that was left was to share gifts and celebrate together on what a productive 2019 it has been.

 
AGM 2019. Photo: VL
 
Volunteers 2019. Photo: VL
 
PWN Norway’s Board 2020 at AGM 2019. Photo: VL
PWN Norway members at the AGM 2010. Photo: VL

PWN Norway’s Northern Lights Trip December 6 - 8

By VL

 

The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) are among nature’s most spectacular masterpieces. No surprise that this special experience is on the travel list of many. I am not an exception.

When PWN Norway announced a trip in December from Kirkenes to Tromsø on board Hurtigruten, I was excited but also a bit skeptical. What would the weather be like? We only had one chance to see the green fairy dance across the sky. It was a hit or miss.

The long weekend trip was a part of PWN Norway’s 25th-anniversary celebrations - a great opportunity to network, meet new people and spend quality time surrounded by the raw beauty of Arctic Norway.

After the mandatory photos in front of Nordkapp, our enthusiastic group boarded the ship and adventure was in full swing. The weather wasn’t on our side from the beginning - snow, strong winds, and waves of 4 meters in height were on the menu. Not long after departure, our cheerful crowd got seasick despite taking the necessary precautions. To our regret, we had to cancel the planned activities for the day. However, the sea calmed down eventually and we rewarded ourselves with fine dining at one of the ship’s three restaurants.

Soon after dinner, the big news broke: there were some Northern Lights in the sky! Everyone rushed to the outer deck armed with cameras, tripods, and phones just to discover that clouds were dancing across the sky. My camera captured a pale residue of something green, however, we didn’t see anything with a naked eye. Disappointed but still believers!

In constant twilight during winter, the Norwegian Arctic landscape wowed us with its majesty and purity. To keep ourselves entertained, we attended lectures on marine mammals, a fashion show, made some splash in the jacuzzi, and got to know each other a bit better through a personal branding workshop. The latter was organized and executed by Aditi, PWN Norway - Oslo’s new VP Entrepreneurship. I was surprised to discover my own superpowers and excited to learn more about others.

We arrived in Tromsø at midnight. Some attended a midnight Christmas concert in the Arctic Cathedral, others made friends with the hotel beds.

Sadly, the day after was the last day of our trip to the Arctic. Tromsø welcomed us with snow and slippery streets which didn’t discourage us from visiting museums and riding the famous cable car with 360 degrees view of the town.

I checked the Northern Lights app and the forecast for Tromsø that evening was ‘’Go’’.

A global citizen’s journey as an educator, an entrepreneur, and a volunteer

By Karense Marie Fosilen

  

Karense is educated as a teacher. She studied at Oslo Metropolitan University and at the University of British Colombia in Vancouver. She has worked as a teacher for 15 years and has a lot of experience teaching immigrants. She is famous for her short and informative videos on YouTube and regularly broadcasts on her podcast.

With more than 55000 followers on YouTube and even more followers on her Facebook group, she is well known among many immigrants in Norway. Norsklærer Karense has become a household name for many immigrant families. Karense is the founder and CEO of NoTe Norwegian Teaching AS.

This online language school she established in 2015, is one of the few that are approved by Kompetanse Norge and UDI. Students who take courses at this school get accredited hours in Norwegian and Social studies that they can use in their application for permanent residency in Norway. The school offers flexible, high-quality Norwegian courses at all levels.

From teaching to blogging

In 2017 Karense began to make YouTube videos about Norwegian language and grammar. Her goal was simple: provide everyone who is learning Norwegian a free and quality resource. She believes that this will help immigrants grow confidence in speaking and understanding Norwegians.

She has more than 600 videos in Norwegian and makes new videos each week. Ideas for the videos come from her followers who simply ask her to make videos about different topics. She has videos about grammar, pronunciation, Norskprøven, and Bergenstesten, Norwegian culture, Norwegian idioms and expressions, words and explanations as well as videos about other free resources for learning Norwegian.

A global citizen

Karense considers herself a global citizen. She has traveled to many places, from Sri-Lanka to Qatar, and has lived in both Canada and Zanzibar. According to Karense being an entrepreneur in Norway is both fun and hard work at the same time, but it is definitely worth it.

It gives her independence and freedom to live the way she wants. She believes that being an educator and an entrepreneur is a good combination because one gets a lot of knowledge about people.

As a multilingual entrepreneur, she highly appreciates the importance of providing the right information to people who are new in Norway and is something she is very engaged in. She knows what it is like to be a foreigner having lived in Zanzibar for a year where she learned to speak Swahili.

Karense tells her followers the secrets about Norwegian culture and life to make them understand the Norwegian and their own culture better. In her podcast, she talks about her personal life, as well as sharing what life in Norway was and is like. Topics in the podcasts include discussions about a career in Norway, family life, important news, her travels and about her life as an entrepreneur in Norway.

She doesn't use a script for her weekly podcast episodes; it is all freestyle! When she isn’t teaching or engaged online she volunteers at events like “Give a job” that promotes employment for immigrants.

Her journey with PWN Norway

Karense joined PWN Norway around 2012. She joined the network because she wanted to be part of an international community of women who supported each other and helped each other grow and learn.

As an “international Norwegian” it was difficult to find communities where she could expand her network and meet new people from different countries in Norway. She likes to interact with different people and PWN Norway was the perfect place to meet a lot of interesting and wonderful ladies who helped her grow and develop as a person and an entrepreneur.

She recommends becoming a member of PWN to international women as well as Norwegian women. Karense believes that membership in PWN Norway enriches your life and gives you many new and great connections.

Plans and endeavors

Karense has many future plans for her online school NoTe. From 2020 she will have 15 teachers working at her school. Karense will focus more on developing her concept and perhaps even do physical classes in the Oslo area as well!

She wants to start a free language café where people can come and learn Norwegian for free. She hopes PWN Norway will help her to make her journey as an entrepreneur smoother and she wants to give back as well...And she is not done traveling the globe yet.

Connect with Karense and follow her online:

Online school NoTe

YouTube channel Norsklærer Karense

Facebook Group

Podcast

HearMeOut: a free app with voice messages APP

LinkedIn

 

 

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