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 the Multicultural Leadership Institute and Executive Director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network. She is a former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles and has led at the highest levels of global business, media, and government across three continents. Her work is driven by a constant mission: to make leadership more inclusive, strategic, and effective.
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 led economic and workforce development for one of the world’s most diverse cities, expanding access to opportunity for Angelenos across communities. She later served as a principal at Heidrick & Struggles, where she recruited Fortune 500 CEOs and board directors across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and trained Asia-Pacific teams in global search best practices.
Joy’s leadership voice reached a global audience when a leadership blog she launched went viral in China, propelling her to bestselling author status. 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 conversations and inspired a generation to chart their own path.
Today, as CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Institute and a global keynote speaker, Joy equips leaders to succeed globally. Blending global strategy with social science insight, she helps leaders decode cultural dynamics, expand influence across borders, and lead with impact in rapidly shifting environments.
She also leads the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, a 10,000+ member community and one of the nation’s largest and most innovative survivor-led recovery organizations. There, she directs strategy and is a leading national voice in unlocking the billions in insurance payouts and recovery resources needed to rebuild not only homes, but entire communities.
Joy’s leadership has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, and Vogue China. She 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 Chinese.