We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cynthia Pong, JD. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cynthia below.

Cynthia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

One of the wildest developments in the history of Embrace Change is the creation of our flagship Leadership Accelerator program. It’s the only leadership training certification specifically designed for women of color and nonbinary people of color leaders across industry. In its first year, we trained 4 cohorts of leaders, including Established Leaders, Emerging Leaders, and Equity Leaders. And I never, in a million years, would’ve thought we’d have something this powerful and impactful. And to think back on how it might never have happened––makes me quite emotional…!

And it all started with an accident. At the tail end of 2020, I was in a phase of applying to everything: every grant, every funding opportunity, every prize or award that came across my desk. One of these was a program run by IFundWomen to teach a select group of women of color entrepreneurs how to crowdfund for their businesses. Cool. The only thing was––I thought I was applying for a $10K grant!

So halfway through the application, it’s asking me what I would crowdfund for, and I thought that was the randomest question. But I cobbled together an answer, hit submit, and moved on. A few weeks later, I was shocked–and I mean shocked–to hear that I got in. And then I was like, But what on earth would I crowdfund for?!

Through the program itself, I got major moments of clarity around what the Embrace Change client community was asking for–and what could meet their needs to help them get to the next level of their careers. And so the idea for the Leadership Accelerator was born! From there, I planned a crowdfunding campaign that nearly took me out in terms of pushing myself to the limit, but was so worth it. I raised over $48K in order to launch the program and ensure funding to run the first few cohorts.

Now, over a year later, and with 40 leaders having gone through the program, and seeing the results––landing prestigious national fellowships, negotiating successfully for promotions and raises, increasing their visibility and thought leadership in their industries, showing up as more empowered leaders than before––I gotta say it feels BEYOND GREAT!

Cynthia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Cynthia Pong, I use she/her pronouns, I’m based in Harlem, New York City, on Munsee Lenape land, and I have a singular mission in more work with Embrace Change: get all women of color––and people of color––the money, power, and respect we deserve in the workplace.

I founded Embrace Change in 2015, after I had burned out of my first career as a public defender. Being a public defender had been my dream job, but after about 3 years doing that work, I started burning out. It took me another 3 years in order to come to terms with that, and then step back and go back to the drawing board, as it were. I ended up completely reinventing my career, starting a business because I got it into my head that I would be good at working for myself. And then proceeded to fail forward from there! The first two iterations of my business were, by any measure, failures. But failure is the best teacher. So I kept iterating and trying different things, including, ultimately, career coaching.

The reason I wanted to try out 1:1 coaching was because, at the time, I was offering mostly mindfulness trainings to companies and groups. But I missed working with clients one-on-one (which I did as a public defender; I just didn’t want to have over 100 clients I was representing at a time!). So I put out a message on one of my accounts saying that I was going to offer individual coaching support, first session was free, and honestly, it all snowballed from there! Trying out the coaching was probably the 50th experiment in my business at that point and I had no idea if it was going to “work.” But work it did, and I niched down early to focus on providing career coaching and strategic support to women of color because that’s who was coming to me. who I enjoyed working with the most, and who got the most impact and transformation from our work together!

At the time, many treated that as a big risk I was taking in my business, and I got asked a lot (a microaggression, if you think about it), “But how will you have enough clients if you only focus on women of color?” But I knew in my core that this was the way to go.

Now, 6, 7 years later, time has shown just how viable this was as a business (and ethical) decision. The career coaching field has blown up, the demand for tailored coaching and professional development services and offerings for women of color, and people of color, continues to grow. Our team has grown, too, in order to meet the need, and we have an all-BIPOC team of coaches and operational staff to support our clients!

As far as services, Embrace Change now has both individual coaching, group coaching, workshops, and DIY coaching (e-learning) resources for clients. We also partner with companies, employers, and organizations that are truly serious about putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to centering, amplifying, and promoting people of color. On the B2B side, we offer coaching for employees, executive coaching for leaders, trainings and workshops, and consulting services.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

A lot of times folks are shocked at the following I’ve been able to build in different arenas. I have over 190K followers on LinkedIn, I was recently asked to speak as an expert on CBS News, I’ve been quoted in the Atlantic, and I’m often approached with unique, high-profile opportunities to speak or connect with different audiences across the country and world. Looking in from the outside, I can see how it would be baffling to people: how did this former lawyer, a hardcore introvert, with no training in PR, marketing, or business, crack the code on this?

The short answer is a lot of sustained, consistent work and showing up over the long run. But underneath that is the fact that I always really believed in democratizing information––especially professional development, career development, leadership development resources, tips, strategies, and knowledge––for everyone, especially women of color and people of color who don’t have this kind of generational knowledge and access to certain networks where this information is passed down.

And so I have always been really open in sharing tips and strategies on LinkedIn, for example, which ended up landing me on the list of 10 LinkedIn Top Voices for Job Search and Career in 2019.

Similarly, I pitched HARO (Help A Reporter Out) pretty steadily in the early years of my business and eventually racked up lots of press features and mentions, plus podcasts and other speaking opportunities, all of which has led to our website having thousands of backlinks and tons of traffic each month.

And the third strategy I employed in tandem with the above 2 was hiring social media managers and support staff early on––before I could really “afford” it, per se. This was a game changer because having that support allowed me to increase my own acumen at using and leveraging social media. It also gave me accountability on top of the actual skills. And I wasn’t alone at having to interact and engage on all the platforms. Now we’re a leading name when it comes to career coaching, professional development, and leadership training for people of color. Both word of mouth *and* SEO are our main drivers of business and this is because of how solid the name and reputation of Embrace Change is in the real and virtual world.

The bottom line I would really encourage entrepreneurs to take away from this (especially if you’re starting out or your business doesn’t have the reach you want it to) is: It’s not enough to have a really good product or service. You HAVE to tell the world about it, unabashedly. Again and again.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Hands down, SEO. Now, have we had *more* clients come to us through word of mouth over time? Yes. However, getting my SEO in order after a few years of being in business has been a complete GAME-CHANGER.

It’s absolutely for the reason that lots of folks think of SEO: the benefit of “set it and forget it.” But being super strategic in analyzing what key words (short and long tail) and what topics I wanted to be writing about on our blog and web pages has been so key.

Small business owners and businesses of our size love to pride themselves on their reach via word of mouth. And that is great––and it makes sense that that would be the biggest driver of business. But the truth is, if you want to scale beyond a certain point, other strategies that don’t rely on organic growth through your happy clients and customers are needed. And that’s where a lot of folks think: paid ads. Sure, a paid ad strategy can also be helpful, but SEO is a win-win-win. You are sharing information about your work and business. That’s helpful in and of itself to folks who read that. Then, you’re laying the groundwork for future clients and customers being able to find you, get to know you, and come to trust you. And it really helps you double down on your reputation in the short-, mid-, and long-term.

I think a lot of women of color business owners and business owners of color, and women business owners, shy away from an SEO strategy, but I honestly think it is to our–and our business missions’– detriment. Making sure we can be found, and have all the digital real estate that we deserve, is critical in this increasingly digital world!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://embracechange.nyc/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/embracechangenyc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmbraceChangeNYC/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/embracechangenyc/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmbraceNYC
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/embracechangenyc
• Other: https://tiktok.com/@embracechangenyc