Not quite sure if I mentioned this earlier, but I look forward to Fridays in the LEAP office with my fellow LIA interns. We always have the most interesting conversations (just take a look at our google group emails), but always manage to get our work done efficiently.
Last week I got to see them a day earlier because of the LEAP dinner, yay! We were all required to be there by 11:30am and prepare for hectic moving and set up. Instead, thanks to the recession we were able to have the ballroom earlier this year and most of the LEAP staff moved the stuff over to the hotel the night before already. Before lunch Grace came in to tell us our assigned seating and who would be sitting at the tables. First off was Jen, who basically had all the honorees and big name you-should-google-them-before-hand people. I was scared. How big was this awards dinner anyway? 400 people. SHIT. Time to get my networking groove on.
After some awesome Hot Pastrami with Russian Sauce from Langers, it was off to the Omni Hotel for setup. Next thing you know we were getting dressed in a hotel room and off to the VIP Reception in the upstairs Grand Cafe. Since no one was there, we kinda formed a welcoming committee. Then more and more people stopped by, and it was time to network, network, network. Of course, Linda was there to introduce us again, instead of us being some awkward interns trying to get in on the action. I first struck up a conversation with one of the honorees, Henry Gee, Vice President of Student Services at Rio Hondo College. He had a couple links to Bob Naples, an administrator at UCLA who hooked us up with some money for SEA Admit Weekend. Apparently Bob used to be Henry's pitcher in a softball league. Interesting. Met some past and present board members, and some guy heading up a young AA professionals association in OC. He lives about 2 streets down from me. o.O By the end of the VIP Reception alone my throat was parched. I still had the silent auction and dinner time to talk to people. Networking is tiring!
Silent auction and dinner time basically meshed together. We interns just huddled together along with some past (younger) LEAP staff. Even my friend Viet Bui was there, whose sister is on board for LEAP and OCAPICA. We were all visibly tired. For dinner, I sat at Tram Vo-Kumamoto's table. She was recently assigned a dean position at a small college up north. She was pretty quiet compared to the others involved in Higher Ed I met, but we had some similarities. Surprisingly when I asked her where she's from (thinking she would list an American city), she replied, "Saigon" from which I followed with "I'm from Little Saigon." Her husband also teaches in Oakland, where he had a lot of Mien and Lao students. Good people doing good things. She tried to introduce me to others in higher ed, but I was lured away by some of the other interns whispering DAVID ONO.
By far the best part of the night: David Ono as the MC and meeting/taking a picture with him at the end of the dinner. When he came on after JD's long speech, I immediately fell in love with calm, soothing voice. He hella butchered my last name, but he corrected it so its ok. Like Lisa said, homeboy should go on KOST 103.5 after he's done with ABC-7.
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