By Kyle Krystalowich
April 2015
Company of Young Professionals members share personal stories at TED-inspired event
On an annual basis, The Vancouver Board of Trade's Company of Young Professionals program hosts a TED-inspired event called CYPx, where members have the chance to hear the personal development stories, insights, and lessons of their peers.
This year, three CYP members — Sean Baxter, Melissa Polak, and April Yau — took center stage at Vancity Theatre to share their successes, failures, and lessons learned, along with some valuable advice.
First up was Baxter, a marine operations and dredging coordinator with Port Metro Vancouver, who talked about Vancouver's longstanding identity as a port city. Baxter's talk went as far back as the explorations of Simon Fraser and George Vancouver, who solidified Vancouver as a prime location for trade and port operations, to the current role of the city in global trade as one of the largest ports in North America.
Next was Polak, a risk manager with EY, who spoke about her career journey and the factors that can lead to your next big career move. She challenged the audience to always ask themselves "Why not?" when looking at new opportunities in their lives.
Last up was Yau, an account manager at 6S Marketing, who spoke about digital perfectionism and its impact on our lives. Yau shared personal anecdotes from her own life, talking openly about how perfectionism has impacted her life, and how the rise of social media has created a new phenomenon of "digital perfectionism."
One key takeaway from Yau's presentation was that we are often very hard on ourselves, because we're constantly aiming for perfection. Meanwhile, we would never be that hard on our friends or family when they are facing challenges. Self-compassion and gratitude are key to self happiness and living the life that you will be happy with, stressed Yau. These are just a few highlights from the 2015 CYPx presentations. The full presentations can be found at youtube.com/theboardoftrade.
If you want to continue your personal development journey with fellow developing young professionals, please join us on April 14, for a presentation on being more innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial by Mia Maki, a faculty member at the University of Victoria and independent consultant.
Kyle Krystalowich is a member of the Company of Young Professionals, The Vancouver Board of Trade's under-35 program. For more on how to get involved, visit boardoftrade.com/CYP.