When you’re looking for a good place to eat, what app do you use? More than likely, you’re using OpenTable to secure your seat at one of your city’s hottest restaurants.
Susan Lee is the chief growth officer at OpenTable. Cold Tea Collective’s founder, Natasha Jung, met with Lee to ask her what AAPI excellence and leadership look like and offered advice on navigating motherhood in the workforce.
Being an AAPI executive in a global company
Lee is one of three Asian-American women on the executive team at OpenTable, a global company serving up the best in restaurant recommendations in more than 105 countries.
“The three of us come from an Asian Pacific background. It’s really nourishing, really comfortable and really inspiring… because for me and my career growing up, it was hard to find role models that looked like me or had my background.”
Lee tells a personal story about someone asking her to pour coffee at a business meeting in Asia, making an assumption based on her gender. “But sharing that and how that brings other stories of other people’s experiences to the table, can be triggering,” says Lee.
This experience Lee faced reminds us that we need to step up and speak our minds. “There’s been really great advancements in the last few years, but there’s more that needs to continue to be done… We need to show up not only for ourselves but for each other,” Lee shares.
What AAPI excellence looks like
For Lee, AAPI excellence looks like, “bringing our whole selves to what we do and being proud of who we are because of our background.” One of Lee’s strengths in the workplace is that she has diverse perspectives and experiences that are uniquely hers.
“Growing up, I struggled with feeling like I belonged. And that isn’t the story that I have told until recently because it didn’t feel safe to do so,” says Lee. “I grew up in Korea, and I came to America at a later age….
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