With over 15 years of professional experience, Lana Assadian is currently working at the NBC – Nissan’s Integrated Logistics Center located at Smyrna, TN, and supporting various departments through Nissan Database and Universal WMS. She is known for her tenacity, excellent teamwork, and dynamic leadership skills.

Lana was born and raised in a traditional family in Azerbaijan. Her heritage is Nordic, English, Irish, Russian and French. She is a first-generation young American and currently resides in Nashville, TN, for the past 12 years.

Lana’s mother was a Chemistry laboratory professional who worked as a teacher in the College. She returned to work when her brother, the youngest sibling in the family, turned five years old and enrolled in kindergarten. Her parents were educated professionals of their time. Her father was an accounting professional and worked most of his professional life at the Institute of Technology. Lana always will be thankful to them for raising her as a good, loving, and caring human being. Both of her parents have passed away young, and she wishes their souls to rest in peace in heaven!

Lana started working right after graduating from secondary school. She has been working since then with no interruption. Lana has worked with organizations with diversified backgrounds, national and international, which contributed much experience and knowledge into her professional experience. While she started to work at an early age, she also focused on her continuous education. She was a work and study girl, and since then followed all the steps of education: high school, vocational school, certifications, associate degree, Bachelor’s degree and is now working on her MBA at Belmont University located in Nashville, TN, USA.

Life took her through all the ups and downs of life. She did not have any help, even money, from her parents and family. As a young woman, it was hard, and day by day, it became even more challenging. She had minimum or no support at all; however, she never stopped working on herself and improving herself. Self-development and self-education is an essential part of her journey, that is what she has always said to herself to keep her hope and positivity. She always keeps in her mind a motto “never stop learning,” “it is never late to learn”, and “repetition of the education is the mother of knowledge and learning.”

Lana’s life became even more challenging when she had a beautiful baby girl named Sophie. Trying to raise her child and give her all the care she needs while continuing her education made her move away from her career path since 2019. Her daughter was six months old when she started working night or weekend shifts on underpaid and labor-intensive jobs. The flexibility of the work schedule was vital for her as a mother and student rather than pay. She is currently living on a tight budget due to an underpaid job; however, after graduation, she will have many career paths open for her and have the flexibility and pursue her career. Her daughter Sophie will then be three years old and will become a full-time student at daycare. An educated woman working in underpaid and labor-intensive jobs has played a negative role in her wellbeing and health. She has gone through health problems since 2016 and has had multiple surgeries since then. Her professor at Belmont University told her once, “as a learning student and future manager, must accept the humility and stress factors around,” however, humility and the negative impact of external factors have been overwhelming in her life and mental health.

Lana has decided to share her story with the world publicly lately. She knows there are so many women in the world who need inspiration. They need to hear as many stories as possible to pursue their dreams and find their career path. Also, she intends to find an employer who appreciates professionals’ hard work and dedication like herself. She is currently looking for an open position as a Financial Analyst in a Financial institution that will offer her growth and career pursuits.

Lana always speaks positively about her professors and teachers in Khazar (Caspian) and Belmont Universities. She is thankful to her teachers and professors, who always supported her morally and pushed her on the right career path.

To spread her story to the world will have positive effects on many young mothers and professionals who juggle between work, childcare, personal health, and trying at the same time to become educated. Her other intention of sharing her story is to get help with her tuition fees in scholarships and grants. She is sure some organizations are willing to help young mothers and students like herself!

Lana holds her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and Management and is currently a graduate student; she plans to graduate as soon as possible. She is fluent in English, Russian, Turkish, Azerbaijani and knowing several other languages, like Japanese, French, and Dutch. Moving forward, she hopes to network with like-minded professionals worldwide as much as possible.

Women’s Networking Association Member Lana Assadian, can be found on the Association Directory, where she is looking forward to networking with professionals, mentors and get interviewed with international organizations.
 

Rekha Utham is Operations Manager for ASMA CAPITAL. A member of Toastmasters International and Indian Ladies Association – Bahrain, she is a natural team leader who enjoys travel and cooking. She joined the work place after 18 years of being a home maker and very quickly reached the Regional Manager level for Delta Airlines India.

Rekha left a Business Development job in the airline industry to start a career with Allianz Takaful, a subsidiary of the global financial services giant Allianz in their human resource and admin department. Her customer care and crisis management experience with pioneer airlines such as DELTA, Singapore Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines was precisely the expertise that propelled her career advancement in a completely new domain and industry. Today, she is heading up Operations at Asma Capital, a private equity investment firm serving in a pivotal role of HR as a strategic partner and managing their operations.

Rekha is a guest lecturer at CIPD, teaching HR courses to aspiring practitioners.  She regularly conducts leadership and communication workshops for corporates and has also conducted workshops on talent development for professional bodies like CFA and CMA chapters in Bahrain.  Her interest in people has led her to her other major pursuit of counseling people to help them resolve their problems as a certified counselor. She is passionate about language and literature. Some of her other interests include teaching spoken English to laborers from the Indian subcontinent and conducting workshops for children and adults in Reading and Creative writing.

She has a highly creative personality and is an avid reader. Rekha writes poetry and prose in her spare time. Passionate about theatre Rekha has scripted, directed and curated plays in English which have had acclaimed stage debut in Bahrain and has also curated theatre workshops for children.

With over three decades of work experience, Rekha holds a Masters degree in English Literature, is an ACIPD from CIPD, UK, and has a higher Diploma in Counseling from ICM & Oxford College, London. She is currently pursuing her second Masters degree in Psychology & Counseling. She is looking forward to networking and connecting with other like-minded professionals, and to gaining the recognition and credibility of being a member.

Women’s Networking Association Member, Rekha Utham, can be found on the Association Directory, where she is looking forward to networking with you.
 

Paula Temple has over 30 years of experience in her field. As a retired Professor Emeritus at the University of Mississippi and Artist, she lives in France and specializes in figurative painting. A celebrated artist, she holds an MFA and continues to give dynamic lectures, give workshops and teach.

She has been teaching figure drawing, painting and design for 30 years. She now lives in Marnay sur Seine, France and has an active painting studio. Her work is expressionist, surrealist and figurative in style. She works in traditional media including oil, watercolor and all drawing media. She is a member of the “Salonistas,“ a women’s artists group in Paris, France. She would like to make connections with women from all professions not just in her own area.

She says her advice for success is to never stop, get on, and don’t get discouraged. See her work at paulatempleart.com. She credits her own success to this motto as well as perseverance and commitment, and looks forward to connecting with likeminded professionals.

Women’s Networking Association Member, Paula Temple, can be found on the Association Directory, where she is looking forward to networking with you.
 

Gosha Woody-Zipser-Zareba is the CEO of Safe Serenity LKC where she is known for her passion for changing lives through addiction treatment and rehabilitation. A Life Coach, Recovery Addiction Coach, and Author of the book entitled ‘Unexpected Togetherness’  she is in the process of publishing the book on addiction this year.

Her company aims to change millions of lives affected by addiction.

Women’s Networking Association Member, Gosha Woody-Sipser-Zareba, can be found on the Association Directory, where she is looking forward to networking with you.

Marguerite Mitchell has over a decade of experience in her field. As Director of Education at Red House Arts Center, she handles program design and implementation, development and talent management. She is passionate about her work and is currently growing both her department and the impact of their work within the community.

Marguerite is a Versatile Senior Manager with 10 years of distinguished performance in the non-profit and education sectors. Some of her areas of expertise include program design, implementation, and management, talent acquisition and development, HR/Interpersonal Relations, RFP/portfolio writing, and representing organization(s) in the public arena. She is known to have contributed to a 520% growth in revenue for current organization, bringing in 75-81% of its revenue annually. She was also a TedX Speaker in 2015 and has presented at  over 10 conferences along the east coast on arts education integration and literacy education initiatives.

She would love to continue to grow her network, gain updates, and eventually offer back the community some coaching sessions of her own.

Marguerite holds a bachelor’s degree in English Education and English Literature from Temple University. She credits her success to being able to assert herself and having a collaborative approach to management, and is looking forward to connecting with likeminded professionals.

Women’s Networking Association Member, Marguerite Mitchell, can be found on the Association Directory, where she is looking forward to networking with you.