Thanks to the women of Southern California for actively contributing to the success of our chapter. If you want to get more involved, please contact one of the Co-Chairs.
WIPN in-person local chapter events are available as State conditions warrant. Webinars will be continuing.
Recent Events
First SoCal Regional WIPN Event is a Hit!!
A Re-cap by Past-President Amy Glynn, GRPAA
HATS OFF TO REGIONAL CHAIRS Brooke Austin of GRPAA; Michele Giangrande of T. Rowe Price; and Tina Schackman of Prudential for putting together a great venue; and a special shout out to our sponsors who made it happen – Oppenheimer, Mutual of Omaha, T. Rowe Price and GRP Advisor Alliance.
The venue was hosted at the Argyle Steakhouse – essentially the 19th hole of the famous Aviara golf course and host of this week’s Women’s LPGA tourney!
A lot of great people posted to get this So Cal region going and we sure did.
So Cal welcomes new comers Lia Lundgren of Oppenheimer who just relocated from San Francisco and Bonnie Treichel of CCO of the Multnomah Group from Portland – welcome back to the sun!
Jaqui Hendricks of Strategic Retirement Partners and April Frieda of AQR are relative newcomers to the area and seem to be adjusting to the warmth and sun just fine from the East coast!
Brenda Rynski, American Funds, happened to be in town on vacation (and so missed the 3rd northeaster to hit Boston this year) and brought a friend!
Local LPL brass Christina Marschinke posted and put in a plug for the NAPA WIRC Conference (for which she is Co-Chair), scheduled for June in Burlington, VT.
A very special shout out to the only male in attendance and gracious sponsor, Ashley Avaregan with Mutual of Omaha. Ashley shared some very poignant words with the group and explained that he has always been aware of and bothered by the lack of women’s representation and equality – so much so, that that he was a Women’s Studies major in college and is committed to and interested in helping. His words were very powerful and meaningful because without men like Ashley true change can’t occur. Thank you, Ashley.
Finally, me – author – WIPN Past President – led a speed mentoring exercise where we break down the group into 4 smaller groups of 4-5. We circulate a list of the most common mentoring issues and the table picks one or two issues that resonate with them; talk about them for 20 minutes; then we do a “round the horn” and recap the best ideas. Key topics of discussion included: work life balance, negotiating skills and managing 4 generations of people in the workplace – Y size your business. One of the best tips in managing multiple generations in the work place is that success is all in your “approach” – listening and giving each other respect – AMEN! Great issues and tips were shared. Friendships were made, future business meetings were set, and it looks like we’ve got SO CAL off to a great start as we continue to make Connections that Count through WIPN nationwide. Thanks to all who came to make such a special event!
SoCal Inaugural Regional Chapter Meeting
We had 12 attendees at our First Regional Chapter meeting. Four attendees were guests and not members of WIPN so it was nice to have a variety of perspectives for the discussion. We had an open and candid discussion where Rebecca and Laraine shared their career experience and why they decided to leave the corporate world and start their own companies. The both provided insights into what they needed to have in place to take the leap. Rebecca said she needed the support of her friends and family because it’s a big adjustment. Laraine said she needed to have diversified product lines so she knew she had a variety of solutions to offer her clients.
The group also discussed how women tend to take the first offer when taking a position and some HR professionals know that women don’t typically negotiate like men, so they can give them a lower offer. This discussion got personal with anecdotes from everyone on their own experiences.
Everyone really enjoyed the open discussion so we plan to hold similar events based on their feedback.

Chapter Chairs
Michele Giangrande
Regional Sales Consultant DCIO
T. Rowe Price Investments
Email Michelle
Kim Vu
Regional Account Executive, Fidelity Investments
Email Kim
Members
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