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SASE Pro provides a steady stream of year-round programming for professionals through monthly webinars with great thanks to our network of sponsors, partners and trainers. Below are our current or upcoming webinars.
Know, Grow and Own Your Career
Dates: Wednesdays – June 10, June 17, June 24
Time: 9 AM – 10:00 AM PT (11 AM - 12 PM ET)
A Three-Part Series on Building the Leadership Competencies You Need to Work Smarter, Grow Faster, and Lead with Greater Impact
A Three-Part Series on Building the Leadership Competencies You Need to Work Smarter, Grow Faster, and Lead with Greater Impact
Series Description
Series Description
Many professionals say they are too busy for leadership development. But often, the reason they are so busy is because they are stuck in a cycle of working harder instead of working smarter.
When a leadership competency is underdeveloped, the symptoms often show up as overworking, unclear communication, lack of influence, difficulty managing up, team friction, missed visibility, or frustration with career growth. The natural response is to do more of the same: work longer hours, take on more tasks, prove value through effort, and hope that results will eventually speak for themselves.
But doing the same things rarely creates a different lifestyle.
Know, Grow, and Own Your Career is a three-part webinar series designed to help professionals understand how leadership development actually works. Using SASE’s STEM Connect leadership framework, participants will learn how to identify the leadership competencies they need next, understand the stages required to grow those competencies, and communicate their development goals in a way that supports career advancement, stronger performance, and a more intentional life.
This series is especially for professionals who feel too busy to invest in development. Often, busyness is not just a time management issue; it is a signal that an underdeveloped leadership competency is causing them to work harder instead of smarter. By learning how to diagnose their growth needs and engage the right development opportunities, participants can begin breaking the cycle of doing more without getting different results.
Know what competency you need.
Grow it through the right development stage.
Own it by applying it to your work, career, and life.
Sponsored by
PRESENTED BY:
Jim Lee
Director of Organizational Strategy & Leadership Development
What Participants Will Gain
What Participants Will Gain
Participants will learn how to:
Know what leadership competencies they need next.
Connect workplace frustrations to real growth opportunities.
Break the cycle of working harder without getting different results.
Understand the stages of development required to build real competency.
Choose the right programs, coaching, and practice opportunities for their growth.
Communicate their goals in a way that supports career advancement, stronger performance, and a more intentional life.
Session 1: Know the Leadership Competencies Your Career Needs
Session 1: Know the Leadership Competencies Your Career Needs
June 10, 2026
9am - 10am PT (11am - 12pm ET)
Session Description
Session Description
Many professionals experience workplace challenges such as unclear communication, lack of influence, low visibility, difficulty managing up, team friction, overworking, or uncertainty about career growth. Often, these challenges are treated as isolated frustrations. But many of them can be connected to underdeveloped leadership competencies.
This session introduces SASE’s STEM Connect leadership framework in a simple and practical way. Participants will learn that leadership development can be understood through competencies that help them lead themselves, contribute to teams, and create broader organizational impact. They will also explore how these competencies show up differently across career bands, including early career professionals, individual contributors, people leaders, senior managers, and executives.
The goal of this session is to help participants begin seeing leadership development as a map. Instead of attending programs only because a topic sounds interesting, participants will learn how to identify the symptoms they are experiencing at work and connect those symptoms to the leadership competencies they may need to develop.
As Peter Drucker is often credited with saying, “Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.” This session helps participants move beyond simply doing more work efficiently and begin identifying the right leadership competencies that will help them become more effective.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Describe the purpose of SASE’s STEM Connect leadership framework and how it supports intentional leadership growth.
Identify three levels of leadership impact: self, team, and organization.
Recognize how leadership competencies may look different depending on career band or level of responsibility.
Connect common workplace challenges to possible underdeveloped leadership competencies.
Begin using the framework as a self-assessment tool to identify relevant growth opportunities and programming.
Expected Participant Outcome
Expected Participant Outcome
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding that their workplace frustrations, career plateaus, or leadership challenges may not be personal failures. Instead, they may be signals pointing toward a leadership competency that can be intentionally developed.
Session 2: Grow Your Career Competencies with Confidence: Understanding the Four Stages of Leadership Development
Session 2: Grow Your Career Competencies with Confidence: Understanding the Four Stages of Leadership Development
June 17, 2026
9am - 10am PT (11am - 12pm ET)
Session Description
Session Description
Once participants identify a leadership competency they want to grow, the next challenge is understanding what development actually looks like. Many people attend a webinar, workshop, or conference session and expect immediate transformation. But leadership growth happens through stages.
This session introduces a four-stage development pathway that helps participants understand how people move from not knowing what they do not know, to becoming aware of a leadership competency gap, to practicing with guidance, and eventually to applying the competency with confidence and maturity. Participants will explore how informational learning, interactive training, coaching, mentoring, and real-world application each serve different purposes in the growth process.
This session will also help participants understand why discomfort, inconsistency, and imperfect practice are normal parts of leadership development. Growth often requires letting go of familiar habits that produce limited results and practicing new behaviors that may feel awkward before they become effective.
Research supports this need for active engagement. Freeman et al.’s 2014 meta-analysis of 228 STEM education studies found that active learning increased student performance compared with traditional lecture-based learning. Their findings reinforce that people learn more effectively when they move beyond passive listening and engage through application, feedback, and practice.
The Four Development Stages
The Four Development Stages
Informative Stage — Unconscious Incompetence / Not Present
Participants are introduced to a concept and begin realizing there may be leadership competencies or behaviors they did not know they were missing. This may happen through a webinar, video, keynote, conference session, or presentation.Interactive Training Stage — Conscious Incompetence / Emergent
Participants begin testing their understanding through questions, discussion, exercises, quizzes, or guided application. They become more aware of what they do not yet know how to do consistently.Coaching Stage — Conscious Competence / Proficient
Participants begin applying the leadership competency in real situations. They may still need guidance, encouragement, accountability, and reflection. Group coaching and cohorts are especially valuable because participants can practice together and learn from shared challenges.Mentorship and Mastery Stage — Unconscious Competence / Exemplary
Participants begin integrating the competency more naturally. With continued practice, mentorship, and real-world application, they can use the competency with greater maturity and eventually help others grow in the same area.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Explain the four stages of leadership development from awareness to mastery.
Distinguish between informational learning, interactive training, coaching, mentoring, and applied practice.
Recognize why early discomfort and inconsistent application are normal signs of growth.
Identify what type of development support they may need based on their current proficiency level.
Set realistic expectations for how leadership competencies are built over time.
Expected Participant Outcome
Expected Participant Outcome
Participants will leave with a healthier and more accurate understanding of leadership development. They will be able to engage programs with better expectations, knowing that a webinar may create awareness, training may create understanding, coaching may build application, and mentorship may deepen mastery over time.
Session 3: Own Your Work, Career, and Life
Session 3: Own Your Work, Career, and Life
June 24, 2026
9am - 10am PT (11am - 12pm ET)
Session Description
Session Description
Leadership development becomes most powerful when participants can connect what they are learning to their actual work, stakeholder expectations, career goals, and personal vision. This session helps participants move from passive participation to active ownership.
Participants will learn how to manage expectations by communicating their growth goals to stakeholders, and seek feedback that helps them improve. They will explore how to use programming, manager conversations, job responsibilities, team dynamics, and performance expectations as opportunities for development towards owning their outcomes.
Rather than seeing work only as a place to perform, participants will learn to see work as a place to practice, grow, contribute, and become. This session also helps participants understand how intentional leadership development can improve year-end reviews, stakeholder perception, career readiness, and personal fulfillment.
When employees can connect company goals with personal growth goals, work becomes a symbiotic relationship: the employee helps the organization succeed, and the organization becomes a place where the employee develops into the person and leader they want to become.
Stephen Covey’s Habit 7, “Sharpen the Saw,” is about preserving and enhancing the greatest asset we have: ourselves. This session helps participants see that investing in their own growth is not separate from doing meaningful work. It is what allows them to continue contributing with greater clarity, energy, influence, and purpose.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Identify leadership competencies they want to develop based on their role, goals, and stakeholder feedback.
Communicate their growth goals more clearly to managers, mentors, sponsors, and peers.
Connect leadership development activities to workplace outcomes, performance conversations, and year-end reviews.
Use feedback, reflection, and real work responsibilities as tools for leadership growth.
Create a practical next-step plan for engaging future programming with greater ownership and intentionality.
Expected Participant Outcome
Expected Participant Outcome
Participants will leave with a clearer way to talk about their growth, ask for support, select development opportunities, and connect leadership programming to both company outcomes and personal purpose.
The Fully Authentic Leader
Dates: Wednesdays – May 6, May 13, May 20
Time: 1:00–2:00 PM PT (4:00 - 5:00 PM ET)
3-Part Series Overview
3-Part Series Overview
What does it really mean to lead authentically?
Many leaders are taught to double down on their strengths, but true leadership isn’t just about what you’re naturally good at. It’s about the willingness to be seen in both your strengths and your weaknesses, and to intentionally grow in the areas that feel uncomfortable.
In this 3-part interactive webinar series, Jim Lee shares his personal journey - from relying solely on strengths to embracing a growth mindset shaped by challenge, vulnerability, and perspective shifts. Drawing from his experience as a Korean American leader in STEM environments, Jim introduces the 70/30 Principle as a practical framework to help you recalibrate how you show up in your work and life.
This is not a passive learning experience. Each session is designed to help you reflect, engage, and take action toward becoming a more fully authentic leader, no matter your background or goals.
What You’ll Learn
What You’ll Learn
By participating in this series, you will:
Understand the 70/30 Principle and how over-reliance on strengths can limit your leadership growth
Identify your personal leadership patterns, including where you may be avoiding discomfort or growth
Develop a growth mindset in action, with practical ways to lean into your “30” (areas of weakness)
Reframe internal narratives that hold you back from showing up fully and authentically
Apply authenticity to real life, including relationships at work, at home, and in your broader community
Leverage your time, energy, and relationships to align with a deeper sense of mission and purpose
See your workplace as a platform for growth, not just performance
Session Breakdown
Session Breakdown
Session 1: Awareness – Where Are You Really Showing Up?
Session 1: Awareness – Where Are You Really Showing Up?
Jim’s personal story and leadership journey
Introduction to the 70/30 Principle
Identifying where you overuse strengths and avoid growth
Guided reflection + take-home self-awareness exercise
Session 2: Practice – Becoming Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Session 2: Practice – Becoming Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Daily practices to strengthen areas of weakness
Rewriting internal narratives and limiting beliefs
How authenticity shows up in relationships, time, and priorities
Real-life examples from leadership, family, and personal growth
Session 3: Application – Building a Life and Leadership That Matters
Session 3: Application – Building a Life and Leadership That Matters
Aligning your time, energy, and relationships to your vision
Leading with authenticity in your workplace and beyond
Seeing your organization as a partner in your growth
Becoming a resource and multiplier for others
How to Get the Most Out of This Experience
How to Get the Most Out of This Experience
This series is designed to be interactive and transformational, not just informational.
To fully benefit, we ask that you:
Join with your camera on to create a more connected and engaging environment
Come prepared to reflect and participate, not just listen
Ask the questions you’ve been holding back - this is your space to grow
Complete the suggested exercises between sessions to deepen your learning
Final Charge
Final Charge
If you’ve ever felt stuck, overlooked, or unsure of how to grow into your next level of leadership, this is your opportunity.
Don’t just attend.
Engage. Reflect. Practice. Ask. Grow.
Your journey toward becoming a Fully Authentic Leader starts here.
Sponsored by
PRESENTED BY:
Jim Lee
Director of Organizational Strategy & Leadership Development
The HOPEFUL Leader: Navigating Corporate America in STEM with Authenticity and Ambition
Join us for The HOPEFUL Leader: Navigating Corporate America in STEM with Authenticity and Ambition, an insightful session designed to bridge the gap between technical excellence and executive influence. While rooted in the unique journey of an Asian woman navigating the "bamboo ceiling," this discussion addresses universal leadership hurdles that resonate with any professional striving for growth. We will explore the critical "Submission to Success" shift, moving from a passive "do the work and be noticed" mindset to a model of active self-advocacy and strategic brand building. By breaking down the HOPEFUL framework, listeners will learn how to balance humility with uplifting leadership, avoid the trap of over-credentialing, and build a personal "Board of Directors" to navigate the complexities of modern corporate life. Whether you are managing personal transformations or seeking to turn unique outsider perspectives into futuristic strengths, you will walk away with actionable strategies to lead with authenticity and thrive in high-stakes environments.
Key Themes We’ll Cover:
1) The Cultural Pivot: Transitioning from technical execution to visible, vocal leadership.
2) The HOPEFUL Framework: A strategic blueprint for building authority and influence.
3) Resilience in "The Middle": Navigating scarcity mindsets and personal transformations while climbing the ladder.
4) Executive Presence: Moving beyond degrees to focus on strategic thinking and inclusive modernization.
Date: April 15, 2026
Time: 2:30pm ET (11:30am PT, 1:30pm CT)
Sponsored by
PRESENTED BY:
Hope Yin
CEO, Blueprint Coaching
Your Work Isn’t Speaking for You: Let's Talk About What It's Actually Saying.
Many high performers were told to “let their work speak for itself.” But in reality it's giving the wrong message.
Join me and Nozomi Morgan, CEO of Michiki Morgan Worldwide, as we unpack the skills that truly drive career advancement in STEM - how to influence without authority, communicate with clarity, and build credibility beyond your technical expertise.
This conversation is designed to help you see what might be holding you back, and what to do next. You will be a part of a live audience that can ask questions during the show.
Date: March 30, 2026
Time: 2:30pm ET (11:30am PT, 1:30pm CT)
Sponsored by
PRESENTED BY:
Nozomi Morgan
CEO, Michiki Morgan Worldwide
Oct - Nov, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT (unless otherwise noted)
PRO WEBINAR
STEM Connect Pro Conference Highlights
STEM Connect Pro Conference Highlights
Join us as we provide you highlights and a recap of different trainers' sessions at STEM Connect. If you weren’t able to attend, wanted to review the session, or ask questions, this is the webinar you’ve been looking for to level up your professional career.
For more details about their talks, click below on the trainer's name.
PREVIOUS
PREVIOUS
SEPT 4, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
A Sneak Peak into STEM Connect 2025
A Sneak Peak into STEM Connect 2025
Join us on September 4th for an exclusive behind-the-scenes webinar featuring key leaders shaping this year’s STEM Connect convention. Moderated by Clarence Low, the session will bring together SASE Board Chair Tom Fernandez, CEO Gigi Elbert, and Organizational Strategist Jim Lee for a dynamic conversation on what makes this year’s event transformational.
Get an insider’s look at the big ideas, timely trends, and bold innovations driving the 2025 convention theme "Fuel Your Future" and why now is the moment for our community to come together. From curated sessions and top-tier speakers to first-ever experiences and game-changing announcements, our panelists will share what attendees can expect to gain, both professionally and personally.
Whether you're a seasoned attendee or considering joining us for the first time, this webinar will help you discover the purpose, passion, and power behind STEM Connect 2025, and why it’s the can’t-miss event of the year.
AUG 12, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
What Most People Get Wrong About Promotion?
What Most People Get Wrong About Promotion?
Are you working harder than ever but still feeling overlooked for that next promotion? You're not alone! Many ambitious professionals find themselves stuck. I have been there myself!
Let’s expose the common misconceptions holding talented individuals back. You'll discover the surprising blend of intelligences and the strategic framework that can fast-track your promotions.
You will be able to:
- Identify the critical, often overlooked intelligences that drive accelerated career advancement beyond traditional performance metrics.
- Recognize how the introduced framework serves as a strategic blueprint for proactively positioning you for promotion.
- Discover immediate, actionable insights to begin applying a more holistic and strategic approach to your promotion journey.
Hope Yin is a seasoned tech executive and ICF-certified leadership coach. Besides a proven track record in enterprise technology modernization and transformation, Hope has also coached hundreds of women leaders to elevate their careers. Her expertise in technical leadership and strategic career planning has enabled her to break through both the bamboo and the glass ceilings and advance to executive positions two Fortune 200 companies. She is now dedicated to empowering women in STEM around the world.
JUL 15, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
5 Hidden Barriers to Career Success
5 Hidden Barriers to Career Success
In today’s fast-paced corporate world, talent and hard work are essential—but they’re not always enough for career recognition and advancement. Many high-performing professionals find themselves stalled in their careers, wondering why their contributions go unnoticed or unrewarded. This webinar explores five hidden pitfalls that can quietly undermine growth—from over-relying on performance to avoiding self-promotion and lacking strategic relationships.
We’ll unpack how each pitfall undermines your impact and influence and provide practical action to help you move forward with confidence, clarity, and purpose.
Lawrence is a Certified Executive Coach, Leadership Consultant and Trainer with 16 years of organizational leadership experience as a startup founder, non-profit Executive Director, and Executive Coach.
Lawrence has created remarkable results for teams and leaders from Northrop Grumman, RTX, NASA JPL, the US Department of Defense, and many more.
JUN 17, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
Strategic Leadership Roadmap: The Mindset Shift to Elevate Your Career
Strategic Leadership Roadmap: The Mindset Shift to Elevate Your Career
As technical professionals advance in their careers, many realize that execution alone is not enough to lead at the highest levels. True leadership requires a strategic shift in mindset—one that moves beyond day-to-day tasks and into long-term impact.
In this thought-provoking session, Lei Wang, a former tech leader whose career has spanned Fortune 500 companies to startups, and the first Asian woman to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam (climbing the highest peak on each continent and skiing to both the North and South Poles), will guide participants through the starting point of strategic leadership—a roadmap built on deep self-awareness, purpose-driven decision-making, and long-term visioning.
Sponsorship generously provided by Dow
PRESENTED BY:
Lei Wang
Former Tech Leader (Fortune 500 to Startups) Turned Leadership & Performance Strategist
MAY 28, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
The Ambition Trap—How to Stop Chasing and Start Living
The Ambition Trap—How to Stop Chasing and Start Living
Most of us think ambition means doing everything in our power to get what we want. But this approach costs us our health and wellbeing and ultimately upholds oppressive systems. In The Ambition Trap, I show you how to break the cycle of overwork once and for all—and finally create the greatest, most joy-filled work of your life.
In the book, I help you uncover the roots of your painful ambition that’s holding you back—whether a childhood wound of abandonment, cultural biases about who’s allowed to be ambitious, or structural scripts that incentivize us to equate our identities with our jobs. I offer strategies for aligning your work with your deepest “why” and most natural gifts, honoring the natural rhythms of production, rest, and recovery, and stop instrumentalizing your body and those of others to get ahead. It turns out, ambition isn’t a dirty word. It’s an invitation to design a life with even greater purpose, meaning, and joy.
Sponsorship generously provided by Dow
MAY 6, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
Paradoxical Leadership: the Key to Thriving as a Technical Leader
Paradoxical Leadership: the Key to Thriving as a Technical Leader
As technical leaders, it is especially important for us to be able to lead from both the head and the heart. This may sound paradoxical, but it is in fact complimentary. It’s as old as the principle of yin and yang. Learn how to prevent overusing your strengths so they don’t become a weakness as well as what true strengths look like through the lens of paradoxical leadership.
Gloriana Teh, MBA, PMP is the founder of Claritas Consulting & Coaching, where she combines her 20+ years of engineering and process development experience with expertise in leadership development. As a certified coach, she now equips leaders to build healthy, high-performing teams.
Prior to consulting, she was part of Lonza’s specialty chemicals R&D group and led manufacturing process optimization, overseeing their Water Treatment and Wood Protection divisions. Gloriana has led complex cross-functional teams and major change initiatives throughout her career.
Her background as both a people leader and chemical engineer allows her to bridge the gap between people development and technical excellence. She has helped leaders at various size companies, including Fortune 500, build stronger teams and improve collaboration through data-driven approaches and practical leadership frameworks.
Sponsorship generously provided by Dow
APR 15, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
Understanding Intergenerational Cultural Scripts to Promote Mental Health
Understanding Intergenerational Cultural Scripts to Promote Mental Health
Intergenerational cultural scripts are passed down in ways that impact Asian American mental health, workplace behaviors, and relationships. What happens when these cultural scripts no longer serve us?
Join Dr. Stacey Diane Arañez Litam as she explored the origin of intergenerational cultural scripts and outline culturally responsive strategies to improve our well-being.
Stacey Diane Arañez Litam PhD., LPCCs, NCC, CCMHC is an Associate Professor of counselor education at Cleveland State University, racial equity strategist, licensed professional clinical counselor and supervisor, as well as a diplomate and clinical sexologist with the American Board of Sexology. Dr. Litam is a member of the Forbes Health Advisory Board, the Advisory Council Chair for the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Minority Fellowship Program and was named one of Crain’s Cleveland 40 Under 40 in 2023. Her book, "Patterns That Remain: A Guide to Healing for Asian Children of Immigrants" combines research, storytelling, and history to provide a practical framework to heal diasporic wounds, break intergenerational trauma patterns, and strengthen relationships.
Sponsorship generously provided by Dow
PRESENTED BY:
Dr. Stacey Diane Arañez Litam
Founder, CEO
SDAL Consultation & Educational Services, LLC
MAR 11, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
Masking: Integrating Professionalism & Authenticity
Masking: Integrating Professionalism & Authenticity
A webinar exploring the various personas professionals tend to adopt in the workplace. We will discuss the impact of masking on communication, collaboration and personal identity.
Krystal Than is an accomplished HR executive with over 24 years of experience across numerous industries from startup to Fortune 500. She specializes in developing and executing HR initiatives that support high-paced and complex environments. Known for her skills in executive coaching and developing teams, Krystal has a proven track record for fostering relationships that produce a culture of authenticity and collaboration. She is a passionate community leader and serves on the Board of Directors for Firefly Autism.
Sponsorship generously provided by Dow
FEB 11, 2025, 4pm ET/1pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
What's Powering Your Engine?
What's Powering Your Engine?
We all are living in an environment with an overwhelming number of commitments and goals. There are times that we are successful and times that we fail, and we often wonder why. Why do we fail? Is it that we have too many goals, not the right goals, or that we are not up to the task? Why do we succeed, and how do we replicate that success? And what does our cultural upbringing have to do with all of it?
Join this webinar on what’s powering your engine to discover the journey that you have been on when it comes to goal setting and learn the mystery of what can help make you most successful.
Sarita Vasa is a talented bay area-based coach and facilitator who has coached thousands of leaders on presentation skills, executive leadership, women’s leadership and team development.
Sarita comes with 25 years of business experience. She spent half of her career founding and running a social enterprise, and the other half of that as a coach, trainer, and facilitator. She is also a parent to two teenage kids and enjoys bringing all of herself into her work.
Sponsorship generously provided by Dow
JAN 14, 2025, 3pm ET/12pm PT
PRO WEBINAR
Advocating for Yourself and Your Ideas
Advocating for Yourself and Your Ideas
Ever received feedback about needing more executive presence? Unsure of what it entails or how to develop it?
Join Yue Zhao, a seasoned Chief Product Officer turned Career Coach, in a discussion about how to improve your formal and informal authority within an organization and get practice tips to improve your communication style.
Yue Zhao is a Chief Product Officer turned Career Coach who helps women and minority leaders break through to the C-suite. She has coached hundreds of aspiring executives since 2016, is an instructor at Reforge and Maven, and is the author of "The Uncommon Executive: Breakthrough to the C-suite as a Minority."
Sponsorship generously provided by Dow
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