Transitioning out of Brown comes with a myriad of challenges: getting your first job, moving to a new city, finding community, making grad school decisions, and more. For many alumni, it can be an exciting time, but also an overwhelming and even lonely experience. Join BCDC and A4 to delve deeper into these questions!
We hope to create space for the Asian/Asian American experience and to build connections among Asian/Asian American alumni in the area. Our panel will feature fellow Brown alums discussing big questions like navigating diversity in the workplace, advice they'd give their younger selves, and more. We'll start off from 5 to 6PM with casual community conversations where you can chat with fellow Brown alumni over light snacks and refreshments and then at 6 move on to hear from the inter-generational trio of US Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda '92, Capital One senior ssociate Jessica Zhu '20 and International Finance Corporation investment analyst Sophie Xu '21. Check out their bios below!
Even though this talk is targeted to an AAPI audience, all alums are welcome to come and join in the conversation. Please consult the BCDC event policy before signing up.
We look forward to seeing you there!
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Speaker bios:
Seema Nanda '92 was confirmed as Solicitor of Labor — the top legal officer — at the Department of Labor by the U.S. Senate on July 14, 2021. She leads the largest litigation department in the federal government outside of the Justice Department and manages a staff of over 500 lawyers.
She previously served as Chief of Staff and Deputy Solicitor at the US Department of Labor in the Obama Administration. Before that, Nanda spent over 15 years in various roles as a labor, employment, and civil rights attorney, mostly in government service. She led the now named Office of Immigrant and Employee Rights Section of the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, worked at the National Labor Relations Board, and worked as an associate in private practice in Seattle. After the Obama Administration, Nanda led the Democratic National Committee as its Chief Executive Officer for two years, running day to day operations and managing the party’s engagement with the primary candidates. During her tenure as the DNC chief, the party captured the House of Representatives in the 2018 mid-term election. Prior to joining the DNC, she served as the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President at the advocacy group Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. She has also serve as a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. Nanda, who grew up in Connecticut, is a graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School. She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband, two teenage sons, and her dog Buddy, her ten pound Russell terrier
Sophie Xu '21 is an investment analyst at International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, where she is responsible for evaluating and executing private investments in global emerging markets. Prior to joining IFC, she spent two years as an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan in New York City. Sophie graduated from Brown with a dual A.B. in International Relations and Applied Mathematics.
Zixi "Jessica" Zhu '20 graduated from Brown in 2020 with a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience. Originally from Beijing, China, she came to Brown as an international student (and was an IMP mentor at Brown!). During her time at Brown, she explored paths from working with children, to research, to social entrepreneurship, before finding her way to strategy consulting which combines her interests in creative problem solving, translation between fields & industries, as well as working with people. She is currently a Senior Associate at Capital One's Corporate Strategy team, working on solving the challenging, fun, and highest-leverage problems that the company faces. Outside of work, she regularly hosts events in her living room (also known as "13th Street Liberation Club"), enjoys walking & biking around DC, and recently found her passion for surfing.