Joann and I first met at Citibank Taiwan where I used to work. We met at the gym, in fact. She is so full of life, and so full of energy, that just being around her makes you want to smile.

I watched this girl move up the corporate ladder faster than anyone else I know. She went from being a secretary in Consumer Banking to an account officer and within six months was #1 in sales, islandwide. By the seventh month, she moved over to Corporate Banking as the youngest account manager ever hired at the time, and from there built her own client portfolio from scratch, pulling in just behind the #1 sales guy (in revenues) in just over a year. I'll never forget what her old boss said to her when she first resigned as his secretary. "Joann, you don't have what it takes." His management skills were exemplary, and before she left, she told the head of HR as well. ROFL.

Anyway, Joann was the one who convinced Mike H. and myself to go to China with her (October '97) and, till this day we three look back at that trip as one of the most memorable experiences ever had. The next year, when Mike was stationed in Singapore, we went to visit him there (along with Cady and Fred), and we visited Kuala Lumpur and Melacca as well. That was the same year I resigned from the bank to spearhead CAPT, and I naturally recruited Joann to help out.

In sum, Joann and I have worked together, traveled together, partied together, ate together and slept together (slept in the same bed I mean)... and if that ain't a great friendship, I don't know what is.

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