Sidebar is built on stories like yours.
Ready to share your story & wisdom? We’ll help you get started
Hi everyone,
This week, I sat in the audience as my middle son graduated from high school—a milestone that stirred up more emotion than I expected. As I watched him and his classmates step into the next chapter of their lives, one of the speakers offered a beautiful reminder: “No matter how far you’ve come, you still have so much left to learn. And as you gain wisdom, don’t forget to pass it on.”
That line has stayed with me. Because honestly, it made me think of Sidebar.
At Sidebar, we’re not just here to grow, we’re also here to help each other grow. We learn by sharing our hard-won lessons, our stumbles, our breakthroughs. And in doing so, we make this community not just a place of learning, but a place of transformation.
Look around this community and you’ll find people who have launched companies, reinvented their careers, overcome doubt, taken leaps, and started over sometimes more than once. That kind of experience is gold. And when we share it, we turn wisdom into impact.
We’ve seen that in our recent member-led sessions:
🎯 Cara-Lyn Giovanello showed how emotional, relational, and strategic intelligence can deepen our leadership.
🔄 Eleanor Tweddell helped us navigate change with clarity and compassion.
🧠 Caroline Brewin shared how to rewire your brain for presence and power, offering practical tools to build authentic confidence and show up with boldness and clarity.
And coming up:
📈 On June 11, Bhaskar Krishnan will walk us through how to break into PM roles at top tech companies.
🌍 On June 30, Marie-Ange Eyoum Tagne will share her inspiring journey from Cameroon to Silicon Valley, and how purpose, faith, and resilience helped her lead with heart—and impact.
What’s powerful is that none of these sessions came from outside experts. They came from you.
From Sidebar members who raised their hand and said, “I have something to share.” Whether it was their first time leading or one of many, they stepped up with courage—and we all walked away wiser, more inspired, and more connected.
And it made me wonder: What untold wisdom is quietly sitting in the rest of us, just waiting to be shared?
💡 Maybe it’s a story you’ve never told out loud.
💡 Maybe it’s advice you wish you’d heard earlier.
💡 Maybe it’s a lesson that changed everything for you.
You don’t need to be a professional speaker—just someone who cares. Someone who’s willing to offer their story in service of others.
So here’s my invitation to you: If something is tugging at you, reply to this email. Let’s talk. I’d be honored to help you shape your story into a member-led Sidebar session—something real, something powerful, something that could light the way for someone else in this room.
Because here at Sidebar, we’re not just building careers. We’re building each other up.
Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
Warmly,
Ha Nguyen
Head of Community, Sidebar
Sidebar San Mateo gathered for a Supper Club this week.
Interested in hosting one of your own? Just reply to this email!