Joy Chen, CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Institute (MLI), is a trailblazer in global cross-cultural leadership development. Her career path from Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles to executive recruiter for Fortune 500 CEOs and Board members, and ultimately a prime mover in leadership training, underscores her unique ability to elevate leaders and sales teams worldwide.

As Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, Joy led economic and workforce development for a culturally diverse city whose workforce speaks 90+ languages. Her initiatives to equip Angelenos with the skills they need to excel in the global economy endure as policy benchmarks. Transitioning to the corporate sphere, Joy joined the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles and over seven years recruited global leaders across North America, Europe, and Asia.‍

The pivot to leadership development was serendipitously sparked by the success of her leadership blog in China, launching her there as a keynote speaker, author, and training organization founder serving millions in Asia and the Americas.

Joy's contributions to global cross-cultural leadership have garnered features in media including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Economist, CNN and Vogue China.

At the MLI, Joy and her exceptional team deliver state-of-the-art training that merges global leadership expertise with fresh findings in cultural anthropology and organizational psychology, equipping audiences with the cultural insights they need to boost productivity and achieve ambitious growth targets more easily and efficiently.