| Carolina Connections – July Newsletter |
| This month, we released Episode 2 of Season 1 of the chapter’s podcast series, so give it a listen! Fill out our chapter survey by Aug 17th for a chance to win a FREE registration to next year’s hybrid spring chapter conference in Durham, register for our summer in-person yoga event on Aug 27th at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and mark Sep 18th on your calendar for our annual joint career event with NCRAF. We also have some sad news to share of the passing of one of our chapter leaders. Read below for details. |
| Carolinas Chapter Podcast: Episode 2 Now Available! |
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| In Episode 1 of the podcast series, 2024 chapter president Jenni Pickett, discussed the chapter’s 2024 accomplishments. In Episode 2, 2025 chapter president Jaya Samaranayake, discusses event programming for the remainder of this year and delves into our chapter’s history, member demographics, governance, and operations. Listen to Episodes 1 and 2 here: NEW: AMWA Carolinas Podcast! – AMWA – Carolinas Chapter. Special thanks goes to our podcast volunteers Amy Fulton, Nhu Nguyen, and Amber Carr for getting this initiative up and running! |
| 2025 Chapter Member Survey |
 If you have not already done so, please complete our brief (10-min) chapter survey by Sun, Aug 17 for the chance to win free registration to the hybrid 2026 Chapter Conference in Durham. This survey is open to all AMWA Carolinas chapter members, whether you attended the 2025 conference or not. Your input is critical in helping the Board of Directors plan next year’s events to better serve YOU! A big THANK YOU to the 45 individuals who have completed the survey thus far! Please contact the one of the conference chairs, or the AMWA Carolinas president for the link to complete the survey. Note: A lot of the response options are ranked 1 to 5, so if you are filling the survey out on your phone, remember to either scroll right or fill out the survey in landscape format. |
| August 27th: In-Person Yoga Session in Durham! |
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| Get to know your fellow chapter members in a casual and stress-relieving setting. Join AMWA Carolinas for an in-person gentle yoga session- led by Molly Rodriguez, a certified yoga instructor and AMWA Carolinas Chapter Director. The event is open to AMWA members and non-members but is capped at 20 registrants, so register now! After a full workday sitting and typing at your desk, come network with your colleagues and do some stretching! Registrants should wear comfortable clothes and bring their own water bottles and yoga mats. Registrants who have more than 1 yoga mat are requested to bring it to share with those who don’t have their own mat. If registrants are unable to bring a yoga mat, email the AMWA Carolinas president and we will do our best to get a yoga mat they can use on the day. After yoga, for those interested, let’s go to Urban Turban Indian Grill & Bar (a 10-min drive away) for dinner! Date: Wed, Aug 27, 2025 Time: 6:00 – 7:00 pm Location: North Carolina Biotechnology Center, 15 TW Alexander Dr, Durham, NC 27713 Room: Congressional Room, next to the auditorium on the ground floor Cost: $10 Register here *Note, we are using a new platform, Zeffy, that does not charge us transaction fees but collects donations. A default donation is included, but you can edit this in the dropdown menu by selecting “other” and setting a custom donation amount or $0. AMWA Carolinas is unable to refund donations to Zeffy. |
| September 18th: Joint Career Event with NCRAF |
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| AMWA Carolinas is looking forward to co-hosting our third annual hybrid professional career development event with the North Carolina Regulatory Affairs Forum (NCRAF) on Thu, Sep 18th. The event will start with a networking reception from 5:30 to 6:30 pm (in-person only) followed by a panel discussion from 6:30 to 8:00 pm (hybrid). Details to follow in the August newsletter! |
| Member Updates |
| We are very sad to share that Kathleen Labonge, the chapter’s local networking coordinator (LNC) for the Wilmington NC/Myrtle Beach SC area and an AMWA National Communications Committee member (since 2017), passed away in May. The chapter and those who knew Kathy will miss her very much. Her obituary can be read here. |
| Registration for the 2025 AMWA National Conference is Open! |
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| Registration is now open for the in-person AMWA national conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Nov 5th – 8th. Summer registration for AMWA members is $995 through the end of August and students get a discounted registration of only $695! SAVE THE DATE for our Carolinas chapter dinner on Thu, Nov 6th! Venue and registration details to follow in our upcoming newsletters. Program details Register here |
| Volunteer With Our Chapter! Call for LNCs and Journal Club Presenter |
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| We are in search of a local networking coordinator in the Charlotte, Asheville, and Wilmington NC/Myrtle Beach SC areas. If you live in this area and would like to organize a small dinner/networking event for the members in your area, please volunteer! Being an LNC is as easy as picking a restaurant, date and time, and letting us know. We will advertise the event in the monthly newsletter and set up a registration link for members to sign up. This can be either a short-term or long-term role. We are also looking for a leader for our upcoming journal club in September. The journal club leader will lead a guided discussion on an article of their choice from the Summer issue of the AMWA Journal. If you are interested in filling any of the above roles, please complete our Volunteer Interest Form. If you have filled the form in the past but did not indicate an interest in this role, feel free to submit the form again and state ‘LNC-Charlotte’, ‘LNC-Asheville’, ‘LNC-Wilmington NC/Myrtle Beach SC’, or ‘journal club leader’ under ‘Other’. |
