WORK-LIFE BALANCE HOW VOLUNTEERING GIVES YOUR WORK MORE MEANING P
Pursuing one’s passions in volunteer interests is key to be- ing successful in building a life rich with career, home and community commitments, according to three women who are at the top of their game.
NASA engineer Diana Centeno-Gomez, IBM Program Director Meow Yee, and Charlotte Russe, president and CEO Jenny Ming, each agree that selecting charitable and civic projects with which they have personal connections is a critical element in keeping them invested.
For Centeno-Gomez, a research engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, jug- gling work, home and community has become a bit easier recently. Now that her daughter has graduated college and moved to Los Angeles, Centeno-Gomez and her husband are empty- nesters with a little more time for—and a little less stress from—outside commitments.
community and asks herself what she can contribute. She specifically leans toward organizations that she says, “honor my heritage,” and those that are “striving to lift the community” as well as groups that address issues in innovative ways.
To maintain balance in her life, Centeno-Gomez has learned to say no to some volunteer requests, limiting her board commitments to no more than four at a time; however, she often recommends colleagues to serve on boards when requests come to her.
When she needs to de-stress, she favors reading books such as Julia Childs’ My Life in France and Island of Eternal Love by Daina Chaviano. And because she loves to dance, Centeno-Gomez admits she's a fan of the television show “Dancing With the Stars.”
Diana Centeno-Gomez
Meow Yee, program director of business development for System z at IBM Corp., also has learned valuable lessons over her quarter century working at Big Blue, be- ing the head of a family, and serving in leadership roles in the community.
Centeno-Gomez is NASA’s steward of the space shuttle’s Purge, Vent and Drain subsystem’s functions. In layman’s terms, she oversees purging the orbiter to ensure that it remains in the required environmental conditions to maintain its integrity and safety. Last year, the 28-year NASA employee was awarded the most prestigious honor for NASA employees, the Space Flight Awareness Hono- ree Award.
Centeno-Gomez also is actively involved in Cleveland’s Hispanic community. She is currently a board member of the Hispanic Roundtable, LATINA Inc., and the Domestic Violence Center. She’s also a mentor with the Civic In- novation Lab. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s pursuing her Ph.D. in biomedical mathematics at Kent State University.
Centeno-Gomez says she is selective about the groups to which she gives her time. She evaluates organizations' missions, stability and what they are doing in the
6 WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2011
Yee is the mother of two, president and co- founder of the Asian Women Leadership Network and recipient of multiple awards, including the President’s Volunteer Service Award (created by President George W. Bush in 2003). She also previously served as president of the Westchester and Hudson Valley chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans.
Meow Yee
“What’s important to me is to work with young people developing their talent and helping Asian women achieve their potential,” she says.
Yee says that it’s important to recognize that commitment levels change during different stages of life. She notes that when her children were younger, much of her volunteer centered on their school activities. (They are now 19 and 23). She volunteered at their schools teaching Chinese
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