We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sheena Yap Chan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sheena, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?

As someone who grew up as an Asian woman in North America, I was ashamed of who I was culturally because I never saw anyone in the media that looked like me. All I ever saw was blonde hair and blue eyes and because of that, I thought I had to look like that in order to succeed. Working in an office, if I didn’t fit a certain standard, I thought I wasn’t good enough to be a woman in high corporate or even go for that promotion.

I still remember when an ex-colleague at work told me that I didn’t need to apply for better jobs because I made more than enough as a woman and sadly I actually believed him. I thought it’s a man’s world and I should be grateful that as a woman, I have a job (which I was grateful for) but as women, we have to know we can do and be more.

This is why it’s important to create a more inclusive workplace. Being able to have a more inclusive workplace means having different ways of providing solutions for your clients, having different perspectives on certain issues and being able to learn from one another. When an employee feels like they belong in the workplace, the confidence increases which means productivity increases and so does the profit margin.

Some great ways to create a more inclusive workplace:

– Set aside time where employees can share their ideas with the team. Most employees are afraid to speak up for fear of rejection but if you create an environment where there is no such thing as a bad idea, they will feel more comfortable to speak up.
– Have a suggestion box where employees can send suggestions that can help companies have different ideas of creating a more inclusive workplace. The employee can share their suggestions anonymously in case they are scared of putting their name down. Simple practices such as this one can make a huge impact in the company.
– Address the issues that employees are dealing with in the workplace. During the Stop Asian Hate movement, anti-Asian hate crimes were at an all-time high and yet there was rarely any coverage in the media because we are often seen by the model minority myth. Our community faced unnecessary trauma, mental health issues and more and yet there were no support systems that allowed us to share what we were going through. When these types of situations arise, it also affects a person’s productivity in the workplace. This is why it’s important to have a safe space where employees can share the issues they are dealing with so they can know that their workplace has their back.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Everything started from my upbringing in Toronto. Although Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, I never saw anyone in the media that looked like me and because of that I was ashamed of my own culture. I thought that to be beautiful and successful, I had to have blonde hair and blue eyes.

In my 20s, I decided to dye my hair back from blonde to my original hair color and for the first time I saw my true self and embraced my culture. I made a decision to do my best to create better representation for Asian women and beyond so that the current and future generations never have to feel what I felt growing up in Toronto.

In 2015, I was dealing with my own confidence issues so I started looking for resources that catered to Asian women’s confidence. As I was searching through the web, I wasn’t able to find any resources that catered to my community. SO I decided to start a podcast that not only serves as a support system for Asian women but also creates a stronger representation of Asian women and beyond. I launched my podcast called The Tao of Self-Confidence in September 2015 and to date the podcast has over 1.2 millions downloads and I have interviewed over 750 Asian women on the topic of confidence.

During the height of the Covid-19 lockdown, I realized that while podcasting is a great platform, it was still a very small media platform compared to others. I realized I had to tap into different media platforms to create better visibility and representation. In Feb 2021, we launched a book called Asian Women Who BossUp which highlights the stories of 18 Asian women who are able to forge their own path, overcome obstacles and thrive. It was also amazing to see 16 Asian women on the front cover of the book which is rare to see in the publishing industry. Being able to share this book led me to writing my first book with one of the top 5 publishers in the world.

In May 2023, I launched my book with Wiley called The Tao of Self-Confidence: A Guide to Moving Beyond Trauma and Awakening the Leader Within. The became a Wall Street Journal Bestseller for Business Hardcover books and this book truly is making the global impact I desired for Asian women and beyond. I will be releasing another book with Wiley in 2025 on the topic of confidence.

Being able to have this book out has allowed me to speak for major corporations such as Live Nation, Meta and more, and be invited to speak on stages across the world while being able to help corporations increase employee confidence and leadership. Sometimes it feels surreal to see this come to fruition and all the struggles I went through in my journey led to this.

One of the things you always see is that I am always in the color red because to me, red signifies courage and confidence while in Chinese culture it represents abundance. Wearing red for me means being bold and fortune favors the bold.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Being on social media can be scary especially as a woman. I had to learn to let that fear go and show up for other women to see that it’s okay to share your products and services on social media. I always encourage women that self-promotion is empowering and not tacky. If you see me on social media, I am always promoting my products and services because for me, when I promote my products and services, I know that I can help create a positive impact for that person.

If you look at the movie Barbie, it was nonstop self-promotion and because of it, the movie became the first movie to hit the $1 billion mark that was directed by a woman. This is always a reminder as to why self-promotion is empowering.

Like anyone new, I started being scared of sharing myself on social media but by committing myself to a 30 day challenge, my fears started to go away and I had more confidence to share myself on social media.

One of the things I share with people is that it is okay to show up as your authentic self on social media. When it comes to being a business owner, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. Life is full of ups and downs and when you can share both the highs and lows of your journey, you can create a true connection with your audience.

When you are new to social media, just take it one step at time. You can create a social media calendar so you know what content you would like to post. The post you have can be educational, inspiring and entertaining. Mixing these up along with promoting yourself will draw more people to you.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sheenayapchan.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sheena.yap.chan
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/sheenayapchan
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheenayapchan/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sheenayapchan
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRgPvIsOY-sMhco4ALvQ8Zg
• Other: quiz – https://www.sheenayapchan.com/quiz book – https://sheenayapchan.com/thetaoofselfconfidence Tiktok – https://www.tiktok.com/@sheenayapchan