Cindy Chiou-Conlin...
Cindy Chiou-Conlin has a passion for marketing. She is
Vice President and Co-owner with her husband, Michael of her
own company, Conlin & Associates. They are part of the
10% of the entrepreneurial parent population who are a
husband & wife team (National Survey of Entrepreneurial
Parents). She and Michael live work, and play in Reston,
Virginia but they met in Singapore in 1997 on expatriate
assignments and then transferred to the Washington area.
When they were married on 8-8-98 (eight is a lucky number in
Chinese) family and friends traveled from all over the world
to attend.
Like most of the others in top 10% of their graduating
class, Cindy’s first year in the corporate world was at a
blue chip company, Schwarzkopf, as Assistant Product
Manager. She was recruited by a small PC company, to market
their software/hardware. A risky move to leave a comfortable
position, but the move proved beneficial in the long run.
After a similar role at Samsung Electronics (2 years in PC
marketing), Cindy spent 5 years at Telstra (Australia’s
AT&T) in various roles from marketing to operations/call
center manager for a staff of 160, to an account manager for
one of the largest banks in Australia, CommBank. Then
British Telecom lured her away to work in their AsiaPac
Headquarters in Singapore, doing various marketing roles on
regional and global scales. She helped launch the Cable
& Wireless Telesales channel nationally. The theme of
her career over the last 14 years has been challenge,
variety & risk taking. The constant was her passion for
marketing. This naturally translated to her own marketing
consulting business. For several years, Cindy wanted to have
her own business. However, the security of the corporate
world was an irresistible lure for many years. A series of
coincidences led her to her own business, which she enjoys
immensely! The birth of her business came after the birth of
her son, Zachary. Both events had an amazing impact on her
whole life!
One of the most difficult parts of her professional life
is being disciplined enough to practice what she preaches to
her clients, spending time and energy on marketing as well
as business development. Also it can be challenging
co-owning a business and working with your husband. This can
also be the biggest challenge in her personal life. Trying
to strike a balance between business and family time is
tricky. It is so easy to let business take over time playing
with her son or having alone time with her husband.
Cindy offers the professional women in Washington a
global comparison. In Australia, they worked & played
hard. Aussies like to give and get "fair go." In
the DC area, it was harder to have balance and new
challenges without changing departments or employers. Cindy
thinks this is true not just for professional women but also
parents or anyone who is seeking balance in their life.
Self-employment, on the other hand, she says has been great.
"I’ve found synergistic relationships with women on
both a business & personal level. I think there’s
always room for improvement for women to support each other
in business. I’ve responded by providing my clients and
colleagues monthly emails, highlighting various networking
groups in this area. I was thrilled to be the guest speaker
last month at eWomens Network talking about "Advantages
of Partners in Business".
Cindy and her husband, Michael also have artistic
endeavors. Michael makes jewelry and Cindy draws. This year
they volunteered for the Greater Reston Arts Center’s Fine
Arts Festival. Cindy joined eWomen Network a few months ago
and became one of the founding Board of Advisors. She has
received many business and personal benefits. She also
belongs to NAWBO NOVA (National Association of Women
Business Owners of Northern Virginia), and the Reston
Chamber of Commerce. She has been involved in regional
events (Emerging Biz Conference) and global aspects like the
Global Marketing Committee.
You can find Cindy on the Web at www.ConlinAndAssociates.com.
If you want to contact her, her e-mail is chiouconlin@yahoo.com.
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PERSONAL:
Born: 20 May 1967 in Taiwan
Moved to Australia, age 7
Lived in 4 countries so far
FAMILY:
Married to Michael Conlin
Son, Zachary 2
Education:
Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) with Merit,
University of NSW, Australia in 1988
Masters of Management, Macquarie University,
Australia in 1998
HOW DO YOU BLEND CAREER &
FAMILY:
It’s a continuous improvement process |
FAVORITE PARENTING TIP:
Be good to yourself and each other.
FAVORITE BOOK:
"Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
CURRENT BOOK:
Thomas Tank Engine Collection (remember I
have a 2 year old)
FAVORITE RESTAURANT:
Taste of the World, Herndon
FAVORITE FUN ACTIVITY:
Sleeping!
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