Meet Shasha & Arden, from Upstate NY

Shasha was born in China and to moved to New York when she was just nine months old. Arden was born in Texas and moved to New York when she was in middle school. They said, “We literally lived five minutes from each other while growing up. We kind of took it for granted. We were always together. We thought nothing of it until we graduated high school and went off to college.” Shasha just graduated from SUNY Oneonta with a degree in communication and women and gender studies. Arden is currently attending Austin Community College and is receiving her associates degree in manufacturing. They said, “We never understood how valuable our friendship was until we grew up and went our separate ways. Today we realize we both share many similarities and interests. We are both passionate about women in non-traditional gender roles in the workforce. Women are increasingly participating in traditionally male-dominated fields but significant disparities still persist. Women still represent a smaller percentage in fields like manufacturing and face major challenges in leadership roles across various industries; much of that has to do with representation, resources, biases and opportunities. While the gender gaps are making progress in the workplace, there is still a lot of work to be done.” The friends said, “The hardest part of our friendship is that we live so far apart, but it’s also the best part. Because of that, we now have more opportunity to meet each other at fun destinations to visit. Even though we are only in our early twenties, we would much rather be traveling and adventuring than hanging out at a bar. Our next trip is to Las Vegas and we can’t wait!” The one thing they want to tell the world is, “Make sure that you are taking time to slow down and enjoy life. Don’t grow up too fast. You only get to be how old you are right now just once.” Thank you so much for visiting!