Joy Chen
陈愉
As a child of immigrants, *I know* how it feels to be an outsider. After many awkward encounters, and with the help of key mentors, I now have worked at the top of 3 industries on 3 continents.
At age 31, I was appointed Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, where I led the upskilling and integration of a workforce which spoke 90+ languages.
Then, I became an executive search leader at Heidrick & Struggles, and for 7 years found CEOs and Board members of Fortune 500 companies.
To teach others the unwritten rules of the game, I started a careers blog, which went viral –in China, launching me there as an author (《30岁前别结婚》and《30岁趁势而为》), leadership guru and founder of a global leadership training company.
Then, the pandemic, and the recent surge of anti-Asian hate. I returned to the States and founded the Multicultural Leadership Institute.
I am so blessed to be doing my life's work, and to be partnering with many incredible people just like you.
When I’m not working, you can often find me playing pickleball with friends, or hanging out with my husband and our two teen girls. We live in the Pasadena area of Los Angeles, where we keep a backyard farm with 9 hens we call The Ladies.
Joy's bio
As CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Institute, Joy Chen is a luminary in the realm of leadership development. Across a career spanning public service, executive search and leadership training on three continents, Joy has been on a mission to enable all people to realize their full power and potential.
As Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, Joy led economic and workforce development for one of the world's most diverse cities—where residents speak over 90 languages. She spearheaded initiatives that set new standards for inclusive prosperity, creating programs that continue to serve as public policy benchmarks.
Following public service, Joy joined the renowned executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles and over the next seven years, found CEOs and Board Members for Fortune 500 companies across North America, Europe, and Asia.
To teach others the unwritten rules of the corporate game, Joy wrote a careers blog, which went viral –in China, launching her there as an author, leadership guru and founder of a global leadership training company which served millions.
Now back in the United States, Joy is a sought-after keynote speaker focused on helping audiences become more effective global leaders. She is also the creator of the Asian American Leadership Accelerator, which equips Asian Americans with the knowledge and skills to break through and lead in Corporate America.
For her worldwide leadership in unleashing human potential, Joy has been profiled by media including The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, CNN, CBS News, ABC News and Vogue China.
Joy holds MBA and M.A. in Urban Planning degrees from UCLA, a BA from Duke University, and a Diversity & Inclusion certificate from Cornell University. She is a 2004 American Marshall Memorial Fellow.
Joy in the news
In a print and 3-minute video package, The Wall Street Journal shows how Joy has helped millions of Chinese women to fulfill their potential.
The Economist features Joy as a child of immigrants who as Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles is creating access to opportunities for Latinos and other immigrants.
Excerpts:
Still more alarming is the performance of the immigrants' grandchildren. Of foreign-born Latinos, 35% have no more than a sixth-grade education, and another 27% do not finish high school. The comparable percentages for second-generation Latinos born in America are 1% and 17%. But for the third generation, they are still 1% and 19%. 'By this time, says Ms Chen, incongruously, 'they're us.'"
The Financial Times features Joy's cutting-edge work to help global companies solve their most pressing talent challenges in China.
Excerpts:
“Companies want to localise but the majority of people who are local mainland Chinese don’t have experience with global business principles,” says Joy Chen, principal at Heidrick & Struggles.
Executive search firms are using unconventional means to identify qualified Chinese, who are not well documented in formal company rosters. Heidrick & Struggles 18 months ago began a big initiative to build a database of potential candidates by tapping networks used by Chinese émigrés, such as alumni associations of Chinese universities, civic associations, churches and recreational clubs.
Even when qualified candidates are located, it is not certain that they would be willing to return to China. But in the past five years there has been more interest from overseas Chinese as big potential for career development in China beckons.
This is especially true if in America someone has hit the “glass ceiling”, the invisible barrier said to keep women and minorities from reaching upper-level management. “Maybe they speak English with an accent or weren’t in a fraternity in college. Those kinds of things can lock them out of management jobs in the US,” says Ms. Chen. “But it’s those bicultural attributes that can be a big advantage going back.”
The Los Angeles Times profiles Joy in an article simply headlined "The Networker"
ABC News profiles Joy as "a superstar in China" and the champion of young women there
Excerpts:
Women have been flocking by the thousands to her speaking engagements. "It's more of a guide on how to be happy and confident in your own life -- how to love yourself," she said of the book. But it also includes techniques she learned while working as a global headhunter after her stint in city government.
'One of the things we keep hearing all over again in pop culture is there are very few role models with success in their career and a happy family life,' she said. 'My intention is to start the conversation these women need to have amongst themselves."
Excerpts:
Today, a hushed audience of tens of thousands of white-collar women — all young, educated, urban and all in black pumps — are eagerly eating up every word of her feminista rallying cry. “We don’t want to survive in society,” she says. “We want to lead society.”
It’s a brazen decree with a lot of lofty ideals behind it. But with doe-eyed looks and a certain gal pal appeal, Chen is a modern-day Joan of Arc."
OZY Media profiles Joy as "a modern-day Joan of Arc" among her "much vaunted sisterhood," the "Alpha Females of China"
Media in China
