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WASHINGTON DC — The Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL) is a dynamic 23-year old organization.

A charitable and educational organization—501(c) (3) — CAPAL is dedicated to building leadership and public policy knowledge within the Asian Pacific American community.

CAPAL has served as the leading organization promoting (APA) participation and representation in public service. It has promoted the interests and success of the APA community at large.

Committed to building the next generation of leadership from within the APA community, CAPAL has, since its beginning, each summer, organized a seven-session leadership training program for interns and professionals in the nation’s capital called the Washington Leadership Program (WLP). The format of WLP sessions ranged from panel discussions to policy debates among experts.

Some of the topics covered were How to be Successful in Public Policy, Campaign 101: How and Why APA Should Get Involved, Empowering Communities: Coalition Building for Change, and Inspiring the Next Generation of APA Leaders in Public Service.

Distinguished speakers included: Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation policy in the US Department of Transportation, Joel Szaba, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Todd Park, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Joseph Yun, and Representative Judy Chu – California 32nd District.

This year, a record 200 Asian Pacific Americans graduated from the seven- week long WLP.

Amrita Sehgal, one of the 200 CAPAL scholars, remarked: “I learned the importance of networking.” Another participant, Vincent Fang, recalled that, “I learned that there will be times when an opportunity presents itself solely due to luck but I have to work hard enough to position myself to take this opportunity.” Fellow participant, Anirudh (Raja) Krishna said: “the biggest lesson I learned is to never turn down an invitation. It seems to me that DC operates on serendipity. An example is the day I attended a CAPAL event, then a Guam Independence day event in Cannon, and because of that, ended up making new friends, and ran into one of my role models on the street on my walk back home around 10pm!”

In the concluding remarks given by the Cabinet Secretary in the white House and co-chair of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Christopher Lu, Lu gave two advices to the WLP graduates: “Whatever task is given to you, do it well. This town is full of people who have started in mail rooms. This town is full of people who have started as answering the phones, are now chiefs of staff in their offices. I often say that ‘if you can’t do the little things well, you can‘t do the big things well. So do the little thing well and the big things will come to you. Lu’s second advice: “The most important thing you have in this town is your reputation. This is an exceeding small place —Washington— particularly, if you are involved in politics. If you do a good job, people will hear about. Conversely, if you do a bad job, that reputation will carry on, and on… Be very, very careful about social media. The stuff that you put on your Facebook page, the stuff that you post on your twitter page lasts forever. It really lasts forever. These are the things your potential employers will start looking at.”