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Welcome to the fifth installment of The Decades Edition for AXO Omega Alumnae. The Decades Edition is an ongoing series in which Sigma Psi Sigma, the virtual AXO Omega Alumnae Chapter, profiles alumnae from different decades. Check out these other AXO Omega Decades Editions: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s. Each profile celebrates an inspirational and energizing sister. We hope these profiles inspire you to connect with an AXO Omega sister or two.
Introducing Lena Seino Askari - MC2007
Lena Seino Askari is our first Omega profile for this century and she is looking forward.
I met Lena on a beautiful Seattle day in NE Seattle. We arranged to meet outside Met Market at an entry point to the Burke Gilman trail. As I approached, she was cooing to her baby daughter, Nora, and I thought, “We get to walk with a BABY!”
Of course, Nora was adorable, snug in her stroller, looking up to see who took Mom’s attention away from her. Lena was all smiles, and we were on our way for a great 3-mile walk.
Like many of our profiled Omega alumnae, Lena made lifelong friends when she became an Alpha Chi Omega at WSU. On our walk, she told me she is part of a group of 10 sisters who, for nearly 20 years, have met some of life’s most consequential milestones at roughly the same cadence. They all got married around the same time. They all had their first child around the same time. They all had their second child around the same time. And they all just had a blast this winter spending the weekend together in Cle Elum. Sisterhood is truly for a lifetime!
Life at the Omega House
Lena pledged Alpha Chi Omega as a freshman and lived in the Streit dorm, along with several other girls who were AXOs.
They quickly became some of her best friends because we would walk to and from the house together so much. Also, they spent weekends at the house. They would sleep on day beds or sofas, and on Sunday night, they would go back to our dorms. Awww.
Homecoming was a great time not only for the festivities leading up to the game or the game itself but also for the Fraternity serenades that started at 4:00 AM on Sunday.
The men would come over and sing their hearts out, trying to convince Alpha Chi Omega to be their HoCo partners for the next year. The flip side was that the AXOs had to be in pin attire. Lena said it was always funny seeing everyone so tired from Homecoming week at 4 in the morning dressed in pin attire.
Senior Year
When she got older, a few events stood out. Her class did "Senior Traveling Dinners." Every few weeks, a different senior or group of seniors would host the dinner at their apartment or live-out. They would have food and drinks, often watch Jersey Shore, and just spend some time bonding as a group of seniors. After dinner, they would go to the exchange or meet up with other girls from the house.
The other event that stood out during her senior year was holiday decorating. After all the girls were asleep, the seniors decorated the whole house for the holidays. Lena said it was fun because our colors are scarlet and olive so it felt like they were just decking out the house in AXO colors! They stuck around to watch the girls wake up for classes the next morning and loved their reactions.
Also during Lena's senior year, she realized that the Public Relations degree she was about to earn was not what she wanted to do as a profession. Ooops. A little panicked, she reached out to her advisor who pointed her towards graduate school. As a result, she graduated from WSU with a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and later graduated from that other Washington school with a master’s degree in Public Health.
Translating Doctor Speak
Born in Japan, Lena is bilingual in English and Japanese and has a high proficiency in Hiragana and Katakana. She’s been able to blend her life experience with higher education and become an expert at combating health disparities through culturally adapted material and messaging.
Working with a team, Lena’s Master’s capstone project delivered a culturally adapted graphic novella about how to call 911 and perform bystander CPR for limited English-speaking Chinese immigrant communities. Yep. A graphic novella. (Go Lena!)
She’s worked at the Washington State Department of Health, Group Health, and Kaiser Permanente.
She spent several years working at Rescue where she led behavior change campaign development across several topics including youth and adult marijuana education, opioid misuse, youth cross-substance prevention, young adult alcohol misuse, and tobacco and vaping prevention. Currently, she works at Seattle Children’s as a Senior Health Educator.
Kids and Part-time Work
Melinda French Gates wrote that her mother told her to set her own agenda. “If you don’t set your own agenda, someone else will." That quote crossed my mind when I was walking with Lena and Nora because that’s exactly what Lena did - she set her own agenda.
If you don’t know Lena, I hope you get to meet her one day because she is a delight. She’s warm, energetic, and engaging. She exudes confidence and intelligence without arrogance. Lena told me how she is very happy with her job at Children’s because it’s 3 days a week and it keeps her engaged with thought-provoking work with doctors, pharmacists, and marketers. She could do more but she doesn’t want to work full-time. She is brave enough to set her own agenda.
Lena is currently on maternity leave (thanks Nora!) and recently returned from a trip to Japan where she visited her father and extended family. She gave me a pro tip that has been on my mind for days…Tokyo Disneyland tickets are only $60! And the Mickey Mouse waffles are only $5! Is it me, or do we need to investigate a Sigma Psi Sigma group trip to Tokyo Disneyland?
Lena Askari – We are proud to call you Sister!
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