Events - Event View

Opening Day for WSA

Optional Dress: Blue Blazers or dresses
Hawaiian Food from Rutt's

Social Hour (No Host bar) - 6 p.m.
Dinner and Meeting - 7 p.m.

The educational portion of the meeting starts at 7 p.m. with Arzo Yusef on Heal the Bay

ARZO YUSEF 

Arzo Yusef will give a talk on Heal the Bay, the leading organization devoted to improving  the environmental health of Santa Monica Bay. Yusef has extensive experience in process development, operations management, business development and leadership. She’s used her skills to advise and consult companies in the energy sector, tobacco, mortgage & real estate, legal, consumer product goods, manufacturing, non-profit and other industries. She has strong execution abilities and can turn ideas into plans and real-life functionality.

She’s the former Board President & current Executive Director of Angels Nest, a non-profit helping homeless foster youth. In 2022 she launched the Resource Navigator program to bridge the gap between foster youth and available resources. In 2024 she also opened “Wings of Empowerment,” a housing program for young women that aged out of foster care. Through her vision & leadership, Angels Nest is creating the “foster care to success pipeline.” Arzo filmed the documentary, “Breaking The Cycle” to create awareness about issues in the foster care system and a call to action. She also gave the TEDx Talk “End Sex Trafficking By Helping Foster Youth.”

As a result of lived experience, she’s a public speaker for the National Coalition For Domestic Violence and speaks on women empowerment. She also launched an indie beauty brand, Sexy Boss Babe. A portion of proceeds are donated to causes helping foster youth & sex trafficking survivors. The brand identity focuses on women empowerment. Arzo also hosts & produces the Sexy Boss Babe podcast on female centric topics.

She is the former Co-Chair of the Business, Entertainment & Law Council and current Co-Chair of the Women’s Business Council at the Century City Chamber of Commerce. She’s the 2023 recipient of the Woman of Achievement Award in Century City and the 2023 Century City Community Champion Award Recipient. In 2025 President Biden honored her with the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the most prestigious award for service in the United States.

In 2024 Arzo was elected as a Board of Director for the Century City Chamber of Commerce. In 2024 she was also appointed to the Board of Directors of the League of Women Voters by the co-Presidents and serves on five committees including the Homelessness Action Committee. She is a member of the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Women Business Owners and Cosmetic Executive Women.

Arzo is a political asylum refugee from Afghanistan. She grew up in San Diego, enjoys jazz music, sailing and volunteering as a speaker to kids for Heal the Bay on how to keep the oceans clean and is a lover of all animals.