susan seah

Founder & CEO

Susan has been a believer of living life boldly and is always undertaking new challenges to learn and grow. She grew up in Singapore, was on the Singapore National Junior Team for bowling while in high school, and at the age of 17, came to the United States to attend college. She went on to law school after attaining her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree and was one of the youngest persons to graduate from her law school class at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She was a corporate lawyer at some of the largest law firms in Chicago and Ohio, and then became Associate General Counsel and General Counsel for private and public traded technology companies. In 2009, she started her own law practice with a law partner and now acts as outside General Counsel for various technology firms. 

In 2016, Susan singlehandedly launched the Seattle chapter of LWT (Leading Women in Technology), a non-profit organization focused on advancing leadership skills in women. She grew it into a well-recognized and respected organization in Seattle and helped many women complete LWT’s signature leadership program to become effective movers and shakers in their careers. During the four years of Susan’s tenure as Chair of the Seattle LWT Leadership Team, she was able to successfully develop the presence of LWT in Seattle, and along the way, gained the support of some of the world’s largest companies as sponsors for LWT.  

Susan’s mantra of living life boldly goes beyond her professional life. Despite not knowing how to ride a bicycle and having panic attacks whenever in deep water, she was determined to be a triathlete and completed (with lots of tears from extreme exertion, joy and amazement) the Western Australia Ironman race within a year of picking up the sport. For her last milestone birthday, she successfully completed one marathon each month to challenge herself. She has not let fear stop her from learning and doing things that have been (in her words) “truly quite terrifying” for her – from stepping on stage to compete in a body building competition against women half her age to conquering mountain summits through snow and rock scrambling.  Susan does not consider herself as an extraordinary athlete of any sort – just a very ordinary one but with the deep belief that if one is passionate enough about conquering a new challenge, it is always possible with a positive attitude, perseverance, confidence in one’s own abilities and the willingness and desire to learn something new.   

Susan also truly enjoys meeting new people, cultivating relationships, and connecting people together. She loves to inspire others and understands the importance of having a community to support other women like her who ascribes to the notion that knowledge is empowering and that there is no slowing down in life’s learning and achievements.  

In September 2019, Susan launched The Koa Club as a passion project – combining her love of connecting people, her belief in the need to empower women with knowledge and skills, and her desire to challenge others to be brave in trying new things.  The mission of the club is to provide women achievers everywhere with the opportunity to learn a myriad of professional and practical life skills, while building powerful connections with other women who are similarly unafraid to grow, self-reflect, have fun, take charge, inspire and support others. Through the community, Susan is grateful to have met so many strong, inspiring, and trail-blazing incredible women who have supported, encouraged and rallied around her. 

Susan has been featured in the December 2019 Seattle Business Magazine as a “Daring Woman”. She was also interviewed and included as a feature in the Fall 2020 America’s Women Magazine for their inaugural Seattle Edition. In March 2021, Susan’s story about her passion for empowerment of women was highlighted by the Singapore Global Network on International Women’s Day.  

Last but not least, one of Susan’s greatest joys is being a tiger mommy to her really cute and fearless beagle pup, Koa.  

robin deeslie

Head of Membership & Koa Ambassador

Robin has always been passionate about delivering phenomenal service to customers. She has worked in the service industry all her life, including being a flight attendant and in these service roles, she quickly developed a knack for understanding and caring for customers, who in turn, really enjoyed interacting with Robin because she is naturally empathetic, funny, warm-hearted and she takes the time to appreciate and listen to them. 

As Membership Manager and Koa Ambassador for The Koa Club, Robin works hard to assist the Club’s members with their needs and requests to the club and she is constantly at hand to solicit their feedback and thoughts on programming, features and benefits provided by the Club to help the Club in improving its offerings for members. Robin’s key focus is to engage with the Club’s members to ensure that members are having optimal experience through the club.  

Robin’s interests include travel, studying history, cultures, food, and foreign languages, she is also an artist that dabbles in painting, drawing, and fused glass. Robin received her Bachelor’s Degree (BA) in Theatre and to this day, is grateful for the skills she learned from that degree, as well as the many other careers she has dabbled in. 

Robin says:

“I love that The Koa Club provides the opportunity to enrich skills and broaden peoples’ knowledge while connecting with a group of diverse individuals. Building a community of people that helps enrich each other excites me and I am grateful to the Club’s founder, Susan Seah, for their long-lasting friendship and this new opportunity.” 

gillian white

FollowMyLead Program Manager

Even as a young professional, Gillian is already a strategic problem solver, a team player, an entrepreneurial thinker and an initiative taker. She has worked her way up the ranks in her career from a young age, handling a variety of roles with expanded responsibilities at each stage. Prior to working with The Koa Club, Gillian was the on-site program coordinator for a women only non-profit organization, which ignited her interest in working closely with other women in leadership and continuing her own professional and personal growth. 

As Program Manager of the FollowMyLead Programs, Gillian is responsible for coordinating with participants and speakers for the Program, assisting with Program workshops, gathering and distributing useful resources to participants, and managing participants’ and speakers’ questions, comments and concerns. Gillian also works behind the scenes on The Koa Club TV Channel, ensuring success of the video shoots and maintaining the schedule and video uploads for The Koa Club TV Channel. 

Gillian says:

“The main catalyst for my desire to be involved with The Koa Club is that I have noticed how people were always so reluctant to step outside of their comfort zones to try and/or learn new things – this became blatantly obvious to me after I completed a marathon – I would not consider myself a runner by any means, so this was something I never could have imagined myself doing, putting me the furthest I could get from my comfort zone. Though absolutely terrified of the hurdle, I powered through the mental and physical blocks and completed the marathon, through the encouragement of the Club’s founder, Susan Seah, and my family and friends. As I crossed the finish line, I came to realize that every day we decide to stay within the confines of our comfort zone by not trying new things, the more we miss out on the incredible experiences that stick with us forever and the people with whom we never would have met and created lasting relationships. Completing the 26.2-mile distance made me feel empowered in a way I had never felt before and my hope is that the members of The Koa Club can find the same feeling of empowerment through our programs, workshops and community – whether that be from something as simple as learning how to change a tire, acquiring new leadership and professional skills, or even gaining the courage to accomplish a daring goal of your own!”

brooke morales

Digital Community Engagement Associate

Brooke enjoys working on community-building, content creation and the development of powerful brand messaging for social media platforms, having previously worked in other organizations as a Content Licensing Specialist and as Digital Marketing Specialist. In addition to doing her best to conquer the world with her ideas on building engagement and customer loyalty, Brooke is also busy being the mother of two young children (soon to be three) and a fur baby. In her limited spare time, she enjoys listening to podcasts, crafting, and binge-watching Netflix. Brooke loves meeting new people and welcomes the opportunity to interact and be inspired by the women in The Koa Club community.  Brooke graduated from the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA in Digital Studies and Communications and Business Administration.

As Digital Community Engagement Associate for The Koa Club, Brooke will handle the conversations, development, engagement, and growth of our community within the Koa Network (which is our proprietary online social networking platform exclusively for use by our women members), grow and manage the relationships of our third-party alliances within the Koa Network, help to identify new digital community outreach opportunities to build brand awareness and help in designing the strategy and creating effective posts for The Koa Club’s social media platforms.

Brooke says:

“I am so excited to work for and be a part of an organization that empowers women. As a community engagement specialist, I’m eager to meet all the wonderful ladies associated with The Koa Club and help them engage with our other members and organization.”

melissa kennard

Events Coordinator

Melissa gets excited about planning and sourcing for fun, unique and impactful events. Even when the COVID-19 pandemic created unexpected obstacles to having in-person events in 2020 and 2021, it did not stop Melissa from coming up with various creative events for the restaurant business she was representing at that time, making the most of the digital tools and resources she was able to access and use to create effective online events. Melissa is a woman of many talents, which we are certain you will no doubt agree when you read her note below, and she is even a fantasy football league champion. Melissa graduated from West Virginia University with a Bachelors of Art in Journalism and is currently completing her Master in Business Administration from Belmont University.

As the Event Coordinator for The Koa Club, Melissa will assist with the planning, scheduling and execution of all events for The Koa Club membership, maintaining, attending and tracking the events, and conducting pre- and post- follow ups with the event participants and speakers.   

Melissa says:

“I am so excited to join and meet with all of the incredible women in this group. I am in the second year of my MBA with a focus on music business. My dream has always been to plan music festivals and travel the country attending them and fun fact I am a classically trained singer! I currently work for a marketing firm as a media buyer and now add the title of events assistant for Koa! I am the fur mamma to very large coonhound named Ripken and plan on adding a German Shepard puppy to the family in the next month!”

yessica dupont

Product Manager Engineering, Mobile Webex Teams at Cisco Systems, Inc.

Yessica has over 20 years of experience in a diverse range of roles within the retail industry from developing sales plans to leading teams in support of a billion-dollar website. She thrives in creating structure from chaos and seeing her team and organization succeed. Yessica’s ability to listen and focus on the teams success has gained her awards and recognition as an inspiring leader. She is now focused on creating features that will enable people around the world to realize their dreams through thoughtful collaboration and continuous innovation. Yessica’s favorite quote is “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” (an African proverb).

Proudest achievement

“There many proud moments throughout my career and a lesson learned through each one. The moment that stands out the most was when I was awarded the Inverted Pyramid award at Nordstrom. The award recognizes a leader for many things including empowering others, leading by example, establishing a vision of excellence. This award meant so much to me because my team and their success meant the world to me. The lesson I learned from the comments received was that my focus on their growth and success as individuals helped create purpose in their work which led to our success as a team.”

amanda freeman

Senior Director – SaaS Product Finance at Axon

Amanda Freeman is a senior finance leader, unlocking P&L value by delivering business insights and shaping strategic plans. As a storyteller, she connects business leaders with the information they need to create growth and business resiliency. She currently serves as Senior Director of SaaS Product Finance at Axon. Amanda’s experience includes negotiating resort development deals in Japan, scaling global call center growth, establishing rigorous technology investment processes, and managing online marketing channel ROI. Throughout her career, she’s navigated changing business models and evolving strategic direction for large organizations including Hilton and Expedia. Amanda has a BS in Biology from Wake Forest University and an MBA in Finance from Wharton.

Proudest achievement

“Completing a full-time MBA while working full-time.”

cara ching-senaha

Senior Employment Counsel at Workday

A respected thought leader and experienced employment lawyer, Cara Ching-Senaha is Senior Employment Counsel at Workday, a global software technology company. Cara has donated thousands of hours of her own time on a wide range of passion projects that includes serving on The Koa Club’s Advisory Board since its formation; as a founding member of the California Lawyer Association’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion executive committee; and as former Board member and enthusiastic leader of the Rings mentorship program for LWT’s WILpower program. For more information on Cara, see her Linked-In Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cara-ching-senaha-4218a866/.

Proudest Achievement

After years of working as a partner at one of the largest and well-known national firms, Cara took the leap and silenced the skeptics who said law firm partners can’t make the transition to in-house.  To do this, Cara believed in herself and followed her passion, with great support and encouragement from family and friends.

tanya hannah

Ex-Chief Information Officer, King County Information Technology

From 2017 to 2022, Tanya Hannah was the Chief Information Officer for King County Information Technology (KCIT). She is also the recipient of both the 2020 Seattle CIO and 2021 National CIO of the Year®️ ORBIE®️ Awards for the Nonprofit/Public Sector ORBIE for government, education & nonprofit organizations. The awards honor CIOs for innovation, creating competitive advantage, inspiring others and implementing technologies to accomplish business strategies. As a major advocate for the empowerment of women, Tanya is the key reason The Koa Club developed and brought the GovWFollowMyLead program to King County in 2020, which grew to now include women serving in the public sector outside King County, such as women working for Snohomish County and various agencies of the State of Washington.  She is an incredible visionary leader who inspires us all.

devi sandhu

Career and Culture Division Director, King County

Devi Sandhu, M.Ed, SHRM-SCP is an HR professional with 15+ years of experience who has consistently applied a DEI lens throughout her career. She is currently the Director of the Career and Culture Division with King County’s Dept of HR where she oversees Learning and Development, Career Services, Organizational Development and Engagement. Before that Devi was the HR Operations Manager – People and Development with Snohomish County HR, during which time she managed Compensation, Learning, Wellness and Talent as well as identifying and implementing functional and technological improvements for the Central HR team.  At UW Bothell, Devi held the role of Talent Manager during which time she created and implemented the equitable hiring process in response to the Diversity Action Plan she contributed to as the HR Liaison to the Diversity Council. This work established actions and standards that increased staff diversity inline with the larger UW goals. Devi has also worked in HR in the private and nonprofit sector in both Washington and California. Devi is deeply passionate about creating change and advocating for inclusion and diversity, especially in the public sector.