“Stay true to yourself because there are very few people who will always be true to you.” In this next episode of AAPI Leaders Unmuted, I talk with Colonel Trish Csank and Lt Col Bryan Wong on “The Disparate Path of AAPI Men and Women.” We talk about our varied experiences in being a solo AAPI or being surrounded by them and how that shaped our perspective, making sure any opportunities earned in our careers came through merit and not because we were the “token” AAPI male or AAPI female, and how neither label will ever be enough to cover the depth and breadth of our individual strengths as leaders who happen to be AAPI.
Biographies
Colonel Patricia A. Csànk is currently assigned as the Military Deputy Director the Director of Logistics, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Arlington, Virginia. In her role, Colonel Csànk supports the Director in organizing, training and equipping more than 180,000 logisticians who maintain and support mission generation and the aerospace weapons system inventory. She is responsible for leading the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection’s Sustainment Strategy to materially improve sustainment of Air Force weapon systems. Colonel Csànk also serves as the senior mentor to Tesseract, the Air Force’s Logistics Office of Innovation. Prior to her assignment to the Pentagon, Colonel Csànk served as the Joint Base Commander at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, and the 673d Air Base Wing, JBER, Alaska. Colonel Csànk was commissioned in 1997 from Boston University’s ROTC program and began her Air Force career as a logistician at Cannon AFB, New Mexico. Her past assignments include deployments supporting Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom, and various operational and staff positions from squadron to Headquarters Air Force and Joint Staff.
Bryan Wong is passionate about people, team building, and serving others. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force with 20 years of public service and served in multiple capacities around the world as an aircraft maintenance officer. Bryan entered the Air Force in September 2001 after commissioning from the Reserve Officer Training Corps Program at the University of Minnesota. He currently lives in Virginia with his wife of 18 years and three children. Bryan is currently working on his doctorate in Organizational Leadership with a focus on positive leadership.