Joy Chen
陈愉
From Shy Outsider to Global Leader: Joy Chen’s Journey
I know what it’s like to feel like an outsider. As a child of immigrants, I learned early how to read the room, build trust, and connect deeply across differences. Those skills shaped everything that came next—from leading economic and workforce development as Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, to recruiting global CEOs, to helping others harness what makes them different and turn it into real leadership impact.
Joy's bio
Joy Chen is CEO of both the Multicultural Leadership Institute and the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, and a former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles. For more than two decades, she has led at the highest levels of global business, media, and government across three continents. Her mission has remained constant: to make leadership more inclusive, strategic, and effective. Her leadership has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, and Vogue China.
Born the shy daughter of immigrants, Joy grew up navigating culture as an outsider. That experience shaped her life’s work. As Deputy Mayor, she spearheaded economic and workforce development for one of the world’s most diverse cities, helping Angelenos from all backgrounds access opportunity. Later, as a principal at Heidrick & Struggles, she recruited Fortune 500 CEOs and board directors across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and trained the firm’s Asia-Pacific teams in global search best practices.
Then came a moment of serendipity. A leadership blog she started went viral in China, launching her as a bestselling author. Her books—Do Not Marry Before Age 30 (30岁前别结婚) and How to Get Lucky in Your Career (30岁趁势而为)—sparked national conversation and inspired a generation to chart their own course.
Today, as CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Institute and a global keynote speaker, Joy equips leaders to navigate complex markets with clarity, agility, and results. Blending global strategy with social science insight, she helps leaders decode cultural dynamics, expand their influence across boundaries, and lead with greater impact in a rapidly shifting world.
She also serves as CEO of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, one of the nation’s largest and most innovative survivor communities. There, she leads strategy and operations to help fire survivors secure the insurance payouts and recovery resources they need to rebuild—not just homes, but entire communities.
Joy holds an MBA and an M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA and a B.A. from Duke University. A 2004 American Marshall Memorial Fellow, she is fluent in English and Mandarin, and brings a deeply global perspective to everything she does.