Last week, IPWS announced the finalists for this year’s Women Leadership Awards. Before we find out who the winners are at the IPWS Leadership Summit next week, we thought you’d like to learn a little more about each of our brilliant finalists. Read their bios below.
The IPWS Leadership Summit will be held on Friday, May 25th at the Bellagio Shanghai, and you’re invited! Sign up here for your tickets!
FINALISTS – BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR
Carrie Law
CEO, Juwai.com
Carrie Law is CEO of Juwai.com, the No. 1 Chinese international property platform and exclusive partner of Tencent. She is leading a business transformation that is improving revenue, consumer engagement, and customer growth. She redefines traditional online property portal business into OMO (online merging offline) and gets closer to transaction by creating the Juwai Chinese Agency Network WeChat platform. Ms Law formerly was GM of iProperty Group, Asia’s No. 1 online property group, when it was acquired by the $10 billion REA Group (ASX:REA). There she achieved strong revenue growth and profitability from her first year. She was a founding or core team member for the launch of i-Cable (HKSE: 004), SINA Hong Kong (NASDAQ: SINA), TOM Group (HKSE: 2383), NBA.com Greater China and Ignite Media Group; for the acquisition and integration of China Entertainment Television from Time Warner (NYSE: TWX); for the acquisition of Vproperty.mo by iProperty Group; and for the sale of Destination Macau Exclusive luxury magazine and its digital offerings to the South China Morning Publishing Group (recently acquired by Alibaba Group, NYSE: BABA). Ms Law has initiated strategic worldwide commercial partnerships with leading companies in numerous territories that include CNN Travel, Groupon, Foursquare, CCTV Moving Media, Tencent, SINA, Youku, China Mobile and China Telecom. She was named Digital Marketer 2016 by the Hong Kong Association of Integrated Marketing.
Heather Smith
General Manager of Shanghai Market, United Family Healthcare
Heather Smith is the General Manager of the Shanghai Market of United Family Healthcare. Heather has over 30 years’ health care experience and leads Shanghai United Family Hospital and Clinics full-service, internationally-accredited facilities with highly qualified medical staff from around the world, to provide comprehensive, integrated healthcare services in a uniquely warm and caring patient and family service-oriented environment 24 hours a day. She has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration and a Master’s Degree in Public Health. Heather is an American College of Healthcare Executives Fellow, a Fellow in The
Australasian College of Health Service Management and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is the Chairperson for the Healthcare Committee of AmCham Shanghai, serves on the leadership committee of the China Healthcare Executives Group, and is a Director on the Board of AustCham Shanghai. She has worked in the US, Australia, Indonesia, Qatar, UAE, and the UK.
FINALISTS – YOUNG BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR
Fukuko Ayama
Senior Director of People, LearningLeaders
Fukuko grew up going to school in mainland China (Guangzhou and Beijing). Riding a unicycle in Guangzhou as a child (which many Japanese children do), she got her fingers stuck in a door of her apartment. Moving to Beijing, she was the self-admitted ‘bully,’ of another girl, something she never wished to repeat again. Moving to Boston, USA and studying Chemical Engineering at Tufts, she not only graduated Cum Laude, but was a hugely influential sister in her sorority, Chi Omega. She then went on to work in Hong Kong, London, and Tokyo for both Bank of America Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase – bulge bracket investment banks. What she has learned from her international experience is that inclusion leads to diversity and diversity leads to equality in the workplace. Ultimately, she left her work in banking to pursue her passion, education. Fukuko joined LearningLeaders nearly three years ago in Shanghai and has since then been the absolute rock of the team – she joined as the third partner and now the company has grown to 30 partners. In her initial role, Fukuko lead the organization’s online learning strategy. As she demonstrated competence, confidence, and leadership in her role, she was promoted twice in three years to become the Senior Director of People. In this role, Fukuko leads all decisions related to personnel at the company: from recruiting and hiring to compensation and benefits; from leadership coaching and personal development to scheduling and incentivation. In a pro-social organization focused on leadership development, Fukuko is without a doubt the most capable and influential member of the entire Partnership. As Fukuko’s direct manager, I can say confidently that without her direct influence on the organization’s development, we would be an organization with half of the size, spirit, and success that we are today.
Ashley Galina Dudarenok
Founder & Managing Director, Alarice & ChoZan, female entrepreneurship spokesperson
I’m a serial entrepreneur, professional speaker, bestselling author, vlogger, podcaster, media contributor and female entrepreneurship spokesperson. I’m the founder of several startups, including social media agency Alarice and resources & training company ChoZan. I’m a member of Alibaba’s Global Influencer Entourage and work directly with a Tencent core founder to conquer Western social media. I run Asia’s #1 entrepreneurship vlog at www.youtube.com/c/AshleyTalksChina. I’m also the world’s #1 China marketing blogger at AshleyTalks.com. My book, “Unlocking the World’s Largest E-Market: A Guide to Selling on Chinese Social Media”, is the #1 book about social media marketing in China and a #1 Amazon bestseller in 2 categories. I’m a professional speaker and workshop facilitator. My topics include Social Media Marketing, Personal Branding, Female Entrepreneurship and Marketing in China. In 2017 alone I spoke at 58 events across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. I frequently give talks at the China Marketing Summit, the WeChat Conference, InvestHK, HKSTP, HKTDC, The Women’s Foundation, GSMA, General Assembly, Metta, TEDx, and others. I’m the host of a 1-min business show on OneTV in Hong Kong. I’m a regular contributor to The Next Web, China Daily, Econsultancy and Jumpstart Magazine. I’m also regularly interviewed by Forbes, CNBC,
Huffington Post, SCMP, Technode, Asia Times, Hong Kong Economic Times, Ming Pao, Jing Daily, Wen Wei Po, The Asian Entrepreneur, HK01, Macau Business Daily, Branding in Asia, etc. I’m the host of the AshleyTalks Podcast, where I interview top thought leaders from across Asia about entrepreneurship, marketing, women in business, China, tech and more. I have given lectures at HKU Space and done talks at the China Business Centre of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the National University of Singapore Business School. I am a mentor for the Jockey Club Incubation Programme for Social Innovation and HKFYG.
FINALISTS – ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
Lindsey Fine
Founder & CEO, Happy Buddha, Serenity Foods Hong Kong
Originally from Colorado, where I grew up with BBQ, ice cream, hot dogs, tacos and burritos, I moved to Hawaii for my first teaching job. There, on the Big Island I met my future husband. Luckily for him, at that time I became obsessed with cooking. The fresh flavors of the farmers’ market, infusion of Asian flavors, and beautiful culture made for the perfect place to spend time in the kitchen. I soon realized that I loved feeding people, but not everyone was vegetarian like me. So, I set my sights on the goal of feeding people plant-based versions of their favorite comfort foods, and I’ve never looked back.
Elizabeth Schieffelin
Founder & CEO, Lizzy’s All Natural
Elizabeth Schieffelin is an American Holistic Health Coach, certified by the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. She is the founder of Lizzy’s All Natural, a healthy smoothie business with three shops open in Shanghai. She is also the founder of zenergy, Shanghai’s newest holistic wellness studio offering online and offline meditation, yoga and health classes.
Based in Shanghai, Elizabeth “Lizzy” believes that we can heal our bodies and transform into our best selves through the foods we eat and areas towards which we focus our energies. She is a Holistic Meditation and Mindfulness Instructor trained by the KaivalyaDhama Institute in Lonavala, India. She is also a Reiki Energy Healer and Crystal worker. Lizzy has practiced yoga for over 10 years and is training YA200 with the KaivalyaDhama Institute. She is also certified in sound therapy with Tibetan Singing Bowls from the Kathmandu Center of Healing.
In 2014 Lizzy founded Lizzy’s All Natural, a healthy food and lifestyle brand best known for making 60+ types of fresh superfood smoothies, power bowls and grab-and-go snacks. The zenergy holistic wellness center project started at the end of 2017 to serve as an outlet for Lizzy’s passion to bring likeminded people in the community together to learn and grow.
From 2013-2015, Lizzy served as the Marketing Director for a farm-to-table online grocery delivery service, Kate & Kimi. Previously, she co-founded SafeSource Trading, a firm focused on importing safe American foods to China. Lizzy graduated from the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in 2013 with a B.S. in East Asian Studies. Lizzy serves on the board of the Aboro Foundation, an organization dedicated to teaching and inspiring local children through the spread of fitness and nutrition. She is also a lululemon ambassador and an R U OK? Ambassador, promoting mental health awareness and suicide Prevention.
Previously, Lizzy worked as Nutrition Counselor at The Midwifery Center. In her practice, she coaches entrepreneurs, executives on nutrition, stress and lifestyle management. She also specializes in pre- and postnatal maternal health.
FINALISTS – SOCIAL CONTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR
Sarah Kochling
Co-founder, Women’s Executive Network
Sarah Köchling is the Managing Principal of Blossom, a strategic insights, innovation and design consultancy that supports clients to get to breakthrough consumer, market and industry insights and collaboratively transform them into impact at all levels of their organizations. With over 25 years of experience in China and Asia, including brand management roles at Procter & Gamble China and J&J International, leading innovation practices at agencies What If and Dragon Rouge and advising several China startups, Sarah is an experienced consultant who offers her clients an optimal balance of best-practice experience and entrepreneurial savvy. Over the years she and her team have applied their considerable skills across a broad range of consumer and business to business categories for both Fortune 100 firms and local companies. A frequent speaker on innovation and market trends, Sarah is a very active community volunteer: she is co-founder and co-chair of the Women’s Executive Network (WEN) for Amcham Shanghai and was elected to the Amcham’s Board of Governors for the 2017-2019 term. Sarah is a board member of Safe Haven Shanghai (an anti domestic abuse project that will be launched later this year) and on the gala board of Chunhui Children’s Foundation, one of China’s oldest and largest NGOs. She serves as a board advisor and mentor for several local SMEs and Chinaccelerator startups, as well as several entrepreneurship programs. Sarah has been a member of the steering committee for TEDxShanghai Women for the past several years, supporting sponsorship, curation and speaker coaching. After co-founding and leading the Wellesley Club of Shanghai, she now serves as a board advisor. Sarah is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wellesley College, with a BA in Political Science and Mandarin and completed additional coursework at MIT. She was a Rotary Fellow in Chinese and Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and holds advanced language certifications from Harbin Institute of Technology and Beijing Foreign Languages Normal College.
Enoch Li
Founder & Play Consultant, Bearapy
Based in Beijing, Enoch is a social entrepreneur and founded BEARAPY (www.bearapy.me). The mission is to reduce burnout and mental health issues in the community and workplace through helping adults access their inner playfulness. Her unique approach blends the power of playfulness – creativity, stress management, and self-awareness – into her transformation and facilitation work. Enoch also has expertise in using psychodynamic techniques for organizational development and improved team performance. Enoch works with multinationals, governments, and start-ups across Asia-Pacific and Europe, advocating emotional and mental health awareness to prevent burnout, depression, suicides, and related issues. She has helped thousands of people through play workshops, talks, and a free ebook on communicating with depressed people, raising awareness in the society on mental wellbeing. With personal experience in burnout and clinical depression herself, Enoch is able to bring a personal touch and to empathize with those in similar plights. She continues to develop her research and theories in the psychology of adult playfulness, and is a frequent speaker and social commentator on topics of mental resilience, burnout, and women leadership. She has been a TEDx presenter and has been featured and published in Forbes, South China Morning Post, Thrive Global, Women of China and CGTN, in addition to her blog, NochNoch.com.
FINALISTS – INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR
R.May Lee
ShanghaiTech University (on sabbatical)
Has led two groundbreaking innovations in higher-education over the last eight years bridging the two largest higher-ed markets, the U.S. and China, at NYU and more recently, at ShanghaiTech University. Has also held a variety of senior positions as an executive on Wall Street, and as an entrepreneur. In all these roles, she has taken initiatives from inception of the vision to execution with particular expertise in the China market. Proven track record of recognizing strategic growth opportunities and realizing them with an intense focus on operational excellence. In her current role, she is focused on innovation, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship within China and globally. May advises a handful of start-ups on strategic growth; and multi-national companies on innovation strategy, digital transformation and leadership. She speaks frequently on innovation, leadership, and women in the workplace.
Catiah Li
Founder & UX Designer of Cafechi, Sensus6 HR Systems, and Moji Ball Systems
Catiah Li is a Chinese American creative director who grew up in Boston, MA, and highly educated in. Chicago, IL. In her early career, she worked with the pharmacy department of Stanford University, California to creatively direct an online platform to efficiently bridge communication between pharmacy directors and the industry. Since then, all of her succeeding work has been in product creation, branding and advertising for various industries. Eventually the progression of her career leads her to become the founder of her own startup called Cafechi, a slow life specialty coffee company. Her passion lies in creating a sustainable bridge between urbanites and nature, reminding everyone the importance of origins for their consumables. For over 4 years in Shanghai China, she has worked hard to champion sustainable organic natural products and services within the 1st tier worldly cities such as Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Chicago, and Dubai. Catiah Li has been known as an entrepreneur, a coffee expert, a tribal explorer, a nature enthusiast, a world scenic hunter, experimental marketer, children’s book writer, designer, music producer, and brain wave game developer.
FINALISTS – HEFORSHE MAN OF THE YEAR
Antoine Massé
Co-Founder & UI/UX Designer, Guimi
As a UX/UI designer, I want to provide desire, joy, hope and, so far, I think that the improvement of the quality of life of human beings is at the center of our discipline. We live in environments such as a country, a city, a neighborhood,… and we have created systems to help us. Many have benefited from the systems we have created but some have been left out and isolated. I believe that the user-centered approach allows us to be aware of issues developed by specifics environments and habits/behaviors, indeed, because our systems have created complex problems, as designer we should commit ourselves to develop tailor-made services which link creativity, culture and social points of view. Social innovation is the result of the intentional work of people who are trying to make positive changes by addressing complex problems at their roots. By understanding the way systems operate, by formulating user-centered problematics and bringing the knowledge of the constant development that occurs around us, we can adapt, improve and change our systems and environment to reduce our vulnerability and weaknesses. I am convinced that as a consequence of a positive social innovation, a system grows more resilient. Thanks to my experiences, especially in China, I can identify emerging crops and trends, I commit myself to develop and support social innovation through services that help individual, networks and organisations to thrive. This approach be part of a transcultural design approach, which refers to the process by which a community borrows certain systems and concepts from a majority culture to shape it for its own use. By merging these concepts, it carries the idea of creating new cultural phenomena and innovations. Following this design thinking, I currently develop a Wechat mini-program which aims to support Chinese women in their daily life, to overcome the gender role pressure environment and to challenge themselves to be successful in the urban environment.
Monte Rosen
Founder & Managing Director, ELG Shanghai (Engage-Learn-Grow)
Monte received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he attended the Public Management Program – the precursor to the renowned Center for Social Innovation. He held a variety of senior management positions in technology companies in the US and Asia, moving to Shanghai with his family in 2003. Before working in business, Monte fostered educational programs around special needs. In the early 1980s, Monte ran an educational program targeted to teenagers and adults with developmental disabilities. He began leading trainings for an innovative program that helped special education professionals and parents collaborate on difficult issues. In 2006, when ELG was founded, Monte was finally able to return to his early career. Upon moving to Shanghai and working with both expats and locals, Monte’s wife, Dr. Shari Rosen, realized how desperate the need for special education services in the city. She inspired Monte to change his career of twenty years to co-found ELG. Monte is proud that his work allows him to make a difference in the lives of international and local families. In keeping with the motto of his alma mater, Stanford Graduate School of Business, he aims to ‘Change Lives. Change Organizations. Change the World’ and tries to incorporate it into ELG on a daily basis.
