Evelyn Pan ’13 Cohort 4

Interview by Jacy Li ’14

1.    What’s your leadership involvement on and off campus in Bryn Mawr?

 While participating in LEAP during my freshmen year, I started a network called Seven Sisters in China in 2010 (www.ssinchina.org) which aims to bring together women across disciplines to share their experiences and empower future young women leaders. We have successfully held conferences in China every summer for the past three years which brought together 500 people to participate. 

2.    What caused you to step up to these leadership positions?

 My passion for women’s issues and desire to challenge myself have shaped my decision to step up to the leadership position. 

 3.    How do you think LEAP helped you to shape your leadership style today?

 I think in LEAP we talked the about Warrior, Judge, Artist styles of leadership. I learned the strengths and weakness of these positions and I have learned to incorporate the strengths of these positions to help my leadership.

4.    Did you ever feel overwhelmed or imbalanced with the workload here? How did you deal with it?

Yes, all the time but I realized that the most important thing is not the work, is about having fun in the process. If I always think:” oh my god, this is so boring and stressful” then the work would actually be that boring. So I shifted my focus on how tough the workload is to how great I much I had challenged myself and be perseverant. This is a remarkable difference. 

5.    What is a challenge you faced, and how did you grow from it?

I think all challenges come for a reason for me to learn and expand. If I think this way, dealing with challenge is an effortless task. 

6.    What advice would you give to an underclassman?

 Advice to underclassman: Don’t worry too much and enjoy your life here. Expand your mind and go to as many as talks as possible to learn from people who are passionate about their fields. Don’t hang out with your close friends all the time, I know this is uncomfortable, but I learned the most from interacting with people who are very different from me.