SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

The Spare Room
I first shared the story behind my own social legacy, The Spare Room, at Hatch. I’m grateful to Yarrow Kraner for the invitation to speak at his incredible event – it led to my TEDx talk, innumerable conversations with extraordinary people, and where I am with the idea of social legacy today.
NRF Foundation Student Program 2020
“Raise Your Hand”: Define your personal brand equity, purpose and the social legacy you’d like to leave.
Leading with Purpose
At the 2019 Global Retail Marketing Association Growth and Innovation Forum, I was invited to share the stage with Joe Hartsig, Walgreens Chief Merchandising Officer to share on the topic of leading with purpose.
WORKSHOPS
She’s On Top Workshop
My first virtual Spare Room workshop!
Holmes & Marchant Workshop
Holmes & Marchant workshop + book signing for 60 people!
Feedback FROM EVENTS
CLIMB: Five Companies, Five Revelations
“Emily’s keynote speech and sincere sharing reached out to and resonated with more than one thousand BMS colleagues around the globe, and was received with passionate and curious questions about her inspiring career and life. The impact of her speech will certainly echo in each audience’s heart and go on to encourage them to find and leave their own ‘social legacy’. We believe these enthusiastic employees, especially the next-gen will be empowered to proactively continue their career adventure.”
Climb APAC Project Team
Rotary Club of Shanghai
“The Speaker Program team struck gold with an extraordinary speaker, Emily Chang, CEO of McCann Worldgroup, China. She was well worth the wait since her moving keynote speech at this years IPWS awards. Emily inspired us to identify and visit our ‘spare rooms’ through stories of her encounters helping others experiencing difficulties in life. Over the past two decades, her family has helped children and young adults get a second chance at life by opening up their homes, hearts and lives. She shared how these experiences made her a more empathetic and approachable leader and shaped how she approached her industry. Her page-turning book, The Spare room, is nothing short of an exemplar of the best of humanity.“
Rotary Pagoda Magazine
Issue 530 (Oct 26, 2021)
She’s on Top Workshop
“The presentation was great. It was such a valuable and unique workshop. I loved looking at your phone and recognizing what you were spending your time on.
Truthfully I would love to do it again.”
Jessica Wright
Co-Founder, She’s on Top
Holmes & Marchant Workshop
“Emily conducted a Spare Room workshop with sixty of my employees, and their reaction was extremely positive. It was touching yet lighthearted, inspirational yet practical. For anyone whose workforce is seeking more purposeful direction, who seeks to help employees uncover and embrace their purpose, I recommend signing up for a workshop!”
Lingzi Yue
Managing Director, Shanghai, Holmes & Marchant
WeforShe Conference by AmCham Shanghai
“You were amazing Emily! Great inspirational speech. I wish everyone could hear it.”
Ker Gibbs
President at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai)
GRMA Growth & Innovation Forum
“It was our privilege to have Emily present to our audience of senior leadership from fortune 500 corporations at GRMA’s Growth and Innovation Forum. She left a remarkable impact on our group. Her talk was both engaging and inspiring. With elegance and style, Emily delivered a fresh perspective about how purpose driven values can lead to successful business growth. She coins the term “social legacy” and through her authentic conversation with audiences, she inspires passion in leaders and teams to reflect deeply about what kind of social and company legacies they wish to leave and the possibilities of their impact. Whether Emily is speaking to audiences of 25 or 1000, she always inspires and delights!”
Stephanie Fischer
President and CEO, Global Retail Marketing Association
MOJO Conversations
“Emily led a Spare Room interactive and engaging workshop for our monthly MOJO Conversations event. She guided a discussion among more than 90 participants from Asia Pacific and Europe. Her authentic and warm style and inspiring stories kept the room personal despite being virtual. Our attendees shared that this was one of the best MOJO event so far.”
Avi Liran
Chief Delight Officer, Delivering Delight
Advertising Week x Facebook Table Talk Series
“Emily brought a refreshing authenticity and relatability, even via a virtual environment using BlueJeans. She avoids business speak and distills complex ideas into simple, relatable frameworks, like her idea of ‘3D Leadership.’ When Emily speaks, it’s clear she’s not trying to drive an agenda, but approaches the opportunity with a generous spirit to empower and inspire.”
Karen Teo
FounderVice President, Global Business Group, APAC, Facebook
Creative Leadership New Zealand
“Was wonderful to have Emily contribute to the success of the 3rd Creative Leadership NZ conference here in Wellington, NZ at the end of 2019. Her keynote plus workshop was extremely well received and many delegates highlighted the impact on their thinking/future leadership practices. Come back again soon please!”
DK
Founder, justadandak
Leadership Scholars – Ohio
“Each year we take some of the best-of-the-best college leaders through an intensive 1-year journey that includes time with senior executives from the most powerful companies in the world. Each year Emily’s impact on our student leaders is flat-out stunning! She challenges and teaches in a way I’ve rarely seen. You think you’re just listening to an engaging or humorous story from her life and then realize you’ve learned a killer truth for your own. Whether it’s life lessons, work principles, or straight-up challenge, you won’t find a better use of your time than a few hours with Emily Chang.”
Brian Wells
Founder & Executive Director
Leadership Scholars
A selective 1- year leadership program on the campuses of University of Cincinnati,
Miami University, and University of Kentucky
Simon School of Business Keynote
“Emily wowed the audience our alumni, as well as current and prospective students with her insights on leadership. She gave practical yet inspiring advice and creates a framework that everyone can apply to their own situation with examples and anecdotes. Her talk was extremely effective while also warm, personal and accessible. We are so proud to have her amongst our most accomplished alumni.”
Andrew Ainslie
Dean, Simon Business School
Google Leaders Speaking Event
“Emily, I cannot express my gratitude for your honesty, vulnerability, and advice today in the Google fireside chat. You articulated so much in your perspectives of career growth that deeply resonated with me. In fact, I am taking this vocabulary to my manager (& my partner) today. Thank you so much”
Danyel Rios Printz
Senior User Experience Researcher/Applied Medical Anthropologist
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“Emily, you were incredibly inspiring and gave great advice. Thank you for being honest and real – it is quite unusula to find leaders/executives who are!”
Maggie Hohlfeld
Program Manager
OTHER EVENTS
Nourishing Wellbeing: Building Sustainable Brands
Addressed 320 attendees at the Eco-Business event, Nourishing Wellbeing: Building Sustainable Brands.
A few key points:
- It’s time for brands take a stand. The recent McCann Truth about Sustainability report shows that 77% of people globally believe brands have more power to make a positive impact than the government. There’s enormous potential and frankly, responsibility for brands in this space.
- While we put the WHO at the center of product design, we must put the WHY at the center of our brand purpose. I spoke about #thespareroombook, which is all about a leader’s social legacy. After all, how can we lead socially responsible business if we aren’t socially purposeful leaders? This social legacy serves as our North Star, because if we’re trying to appease or appeal to a variety of people groups, our compass will swing wildly.
- Brands should find ways to work with NGO’s. Brands authentically stand behind their purpose and benefit from the affiliation, while NGO’s benefit from the brand partnership. I shared a bit about our award-winning work, helping Tencent partner with an NGO to create the “Composer in the Clouds” campaign.
CLIMB: Five Companies, Five Revelations
Keynote addressing over 1000 Bristol-Myers Squibb employees on career, life lessons and Social Legacy. We discussed the power of “going broad” early in your professional life to learn as much as you can, which can accelerate your career in later phases. Also, touched on #professionalhalftime and when it may be enriching to take a break and pursue a personal passion. Mine was in writing a book!
WNORTH Conference 2022
I spoke at WNORTH Conference and shared my perspective on the future of leadership surrounding this year’s theme of The New Leadership Playbook for an Inclusive Economy. Watch a clip of my keynote at WNORTH Conference here.
I got to share the stage with global leaders of influence and visionary speakers, including: Shannon Platz, Chitra Anand, Hitha Palepu, Mita Mallick, Jane Stoller, Ashley Freeborn, Amy Nelson, Roselle M Gonsalves, Jenn Harper, and Heather Odendaal!
Throughout the three-day program, attendees engaged with visionary speakers, industry experts, and diverse delegates for a powerful agenda surrounding this year’s theme of The New Leadership Playbook for an Inclusive Economy. Learn more on the WNORTH Conference Website.
The She-Suite Summit22
I spoke at The She-Suite Summit22 Reset the Standard: Your Next Bold Move in Work and Well-Being on March 11 alongside speakers from Mastercard, Emerson Global, Logitech, and more!
Thanks to the inimitable Jeanne Sparrow for moderating an incredible discussion!
Sharing thoughts alongside Tivonnia (TJ) Harvey and Francis Hondal, two key themes emerged:
1. How Intentionality lies at the foundation of all good work and life practices
2. Why looking at the long game enables us to plan successful careers with purpose
To read more, click here to read the full interview that was printed in the She-Suite magazine.
For more about these topics, please click here: Reset the Standard.
Junior League of Nashville: Rise! Women’s Summit
Rise! Women’s Summit helps women restore, refocus and refine how you can live a more intentional life and lead with authentic purpose.
In this online conference, I engaged with 200 people about social purpose and The Spare Room. A few key points covered:
– The constantly flipping equation: In focusing on contributing more than we consume, we inevitably gain more than we give. I couldn’t help but share adorable videos of Wayne, our 17th Spare Room kid.
– The definitions of Purpose and Authenticity. If Purpose is the intention that underpins our action, Authenticity is the character that underpins behavior.
– It’s not enough to define WHO we are and WHAT we stand for – we must bring our commitments to life through a clear HOW.
University of Rochester Alumni: Face to Face
Shared my experiences with cross-cultural team engagement, innovative brand building, and authentic leadership. Watch the recording of the University of Rochester event here.
P&G Alumni Network: Our Best Selves
I’m honored to share some thoughts on “The Power of And”, alongside legends like Katie Couric – Award-Winning Journalist, Susan Wojcicki – CEO of YouTube, Marc Pritchard – Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble, Gary Bolles – Chair for the Future of Work for SingularityU and more!
Learn more about the P&G Alumni event here.
Watch the video of “The Power of And” at P&G Alumni Network’s 2021 Global Conference here:
The Marketing Society Global Conference: 2021 Changemakers
The Global Conference gathers marketing leaders from across the globe to speak on driving change within the industry to provide the tools, vision, connections, and thinking space to come back stronger.
I share with 400 senior marketers about leading change. Key points:
– Today, social purpose has become an urgent leadership imperative in the business world. To be successful, we must lead with authenticity and purpose. And in order to embody social purpose and embed its values in the workplace, we must get clear on our own personal purpose. After all, it’s tough to lead a socially responsible business if we aren’t socially purposeful leaders.
– How I defined my own social legacy: Providing good ‘kibun’. The origin of that word and what “comfort for the spirit” looks like in the workplace.
– When work and family come together, our social legacy can provide that consistent thread of who we are, wherever we are. Congruency between our beliefs and our company’s ethos allows us to be even more consistent in who we are as leaders.
G-Media Marketing Transformation
Delivered a master class at the annual G-Media event on Marketing Transformation to 70 marketing executives. The three ingredients we discussed were: Agility, Courage and Partnership.
Live with Intention, Lead with Authenticity
What an enlightening evening! I never realized the Rotary Club was so active, or contributed so meaningfully to society! The service organization brings together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. Awesome!
McCann & McKinsey at Tsinghua University in Beijing
What a privilege to be invited as an adjunct professor to teach the global MBA class with Senior Partner, Daniel Zipser! We talked about Marketing in today’s digitally-driven, purpose-inspired world.
The Global Interview
The Global Interview keeps you up to date with the latest news and information direct from leading creatives, leaders and thinkers.
FBIF 2021
Delivered keynote and led a panel for a 10,000-participant event in Suzhou. We covered hot topics like cross-brand collaborations and the best integration of KOLs in marketing.
Cisco Greater China Partner Conference
What a privilege to share about Next Gen marketing at the annual Cisco Greater China Partner Conference! One topic we discussed was the importance of how online and offline come together in consistent brand experience, whether B2C or B2B.
AmCham Shanghai’s 6th Annual WeForShe Conference
Shared the concept of a social legacy with 250 business executives, and how defining what we stand for can make us more authentic, effective leaders. (RECAP)
15th IPWS Women Leadership Awards
Thank you to the International Professional Women’s Society for inviting me to the deliver the keynote at the 15th IPWS Women Leadership Awards!
AmCham Shanghai F&B Industry Conference
Posing with my esteemed colleagues after concluding our CEO panel at this indusry conference!
SHAPERZ: Shaping the Future of Work for SMEs
Provided a master class to 10,000 attendees on the topic of “Next Generation Marketing” at the SHAPERZ event!
Elevation Barn Conversation with Will Travis
Chatted live about “The Spare Room” with Will Travis, CEO of Elevation Barn.
Consumer Communication in the Post-COVID World
Addressed over 1000 students as part of the HKBU PR Series, talked about helping brands play meaningful roles in consumers’ lives.
MOJO Conversation Session: “Finding Your Spare Room”
Joined Avi Liran on his live MOJO (Moment of Joyous Optimism) series to discuss The Spare Room and how you can discover your own social legacy.
HATCH Impact Labs
Served as a pitch coach and panelist with other innovative, creative and purpose-driven leaders. (More about Hatch here)
Burson Cohn & Wolfe Asian-C
Sat on a panel with Curtis Chin, moderated by Shaila Manyam on “The Asian Consumer in a Post-COVID World.”
National Retail Federation 2020
TEDx Seattle Women 2019: Bold & Brilliant
The Spare Room, update! Reshaped in line with the book’s development and updated with the kids’ latest updates.
Creative Leadership NZ: The Power Of AND
Delivered keynote on “The Power of And” to 200+ humans exploring the intersection of creativity and leadership. Video | Event Insights
Simon School of Business, University of Rochester
Delivered the keynote to 200 at a Simon School of Business Alumni Event On “Leading with Your Strengths”. Also moderated a Women’s Leadership panel with some excellent female leaders!
Leadership Scholars in Ohio
Repeat speaker for Leadership Scholars in Ohio, addressing and engaging 50-60 college leaders. (11/19, 12/18, 11/17)
ACU Distinguished Speaker Series
Delivered keynote on Transformational Leadership addressing 200+ students, faculty and community.
CEO Forum in Washington, D.C.
What a humbling experience, sharing thoughts on Transformational Leadership with a room of highly successful CEO’s.
AWESOME Women’s Leadership Conference in Seattle
Joined a number of esteemed female leaders on a panel, Speaking to 200+ women in supply chain.
UW Business School Guest Lecture
Addressed 100 students on the topic of ”Marketing in the New Digital Age”
Google Women
Joined my friend and ex-colleague to share with ~80 Googlers on the topic of “Building an Authentic Personal Brand at Work”
Converse Board of Directors
Creating OMO digital experiences.
SPARK 2018: Like a Squirrel in the Zoo
Balancing spirituality, work, and my calling. Watch here
P&G Signal 2018 Talk
Joined the 7th Annual Signal P&G conference, addressing 2,200 P&G employees and partners on the subject of Leading Through Mass Disruption with 30 of the industry’s leading digital platform executives, founders & thought leaders.
Disney Asia Marketing Team
Shared with the 30+ person marketing team about “The New Digital Landscape and Persuasive Communication.”
TEDx SHSID
Addressed 120 students at Shanghai’s top school on the topic of killing chickens…
Ford APAC Leadership Team
Searching for Insights to Improve Organizational Performance.
GDMS Summit
Global Digital Marketing Summit: Why O2O is a thing of the past.
USC guest lecturer
Lectured to an undergraduate class of 100+ students on the topic of “How Planning and Measurement Impact the Bottom Line.”
10,000 Women in Tech APAC
Did a one-hour interview with Maureen Frank for this virtual conference. We discussed tips to embrace authenticity & purpose.
Kellogg Marketing Leadership Summit
American Chamber of Commerce WEN
“How a cool head, warm heart, and working hands come together as the winning formula for success”.
Design Your Life: Kellogg School of Management
Designing Your Life for Meaning and Success.
China Advertising and Brand Conference
Sat on a panel addressing 1,500 on the topic of Localized Strategies for International Brands.
Fortune MPW International Summit
Addressed hundreds of female leaders at the esteemed, invitation-only 4th Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit on the topic of “Building a Better Future”. Spoke alongside leaders like Arundhati Bhattachary, chairman of the State Bank of India, Tan Le, a Vietnamese immigrant now leading a major bioinformatics company, and the fabulous Grace Chen, couturier for China’s most high-profile women. My talk was on the subject of “Leading a purpose-driven life”
American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai
Sat on a panel discussing Chinese Outbound Tourism.
British Chamber of Commerce VOW
Delivered a keynote to an audience of 150 On Authentic Female Leadership.
Ogilvy APAC Velocity Brand Forum
Addressed ~80 on the subject of Making Brands Matter in a New Consumer World.
C2 Montreal
Partered with Carla Zakhem-Hassan on stage in front of 2,000 to discuss The Many: How the 4th Industrial Revolution Will Reshape Collaboration.
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