LEAP Connect
LEAP Connect aims to bring both needed and inspirational leadership dialogues to the community. Through a series of accessible monthly leadership conversations, trainings, networking opportunities and more, participants will build the tools and resources needed to inspire change within their personal and professional communities.
Upcoming Session
Resilience Through Emotional Awareness
In this interactive workshop, participants will explore the inner skills that support resilient, emotionally intelligent leadership. Drawing on research in psychology and neuroscience, the session offers practical tools for navigating emotions and making aligned decisions—especially in moments of uncertainty.
Participants will learn:
The science of emotional intelligence
How to move through emotions instead of bypassing them
The importance of vulnerability in leadership
How to make aligned decisions based on a “whole-body yes”—a somatic tool
LEAP Connect leadership workshops are free, accessible to the public, and are intended to bring a safe space to the community. Participants can walk away from the sessions with the tools and resources necessary to increase their leadership skills and inspire change.
About Jane Chen
Jane Chen is a best-selling author, leadership coach, speaker and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and former CEO of Embrace Global, a social enterprise which has helped to save over 1 million babies with its groundbreaking portable incubator. She’s been recognized by President Obama, funded by Beyoncé, and featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek, and other global media.
In her best-selling memoir, Like a Wave We Break, Jane shares the rise of Embrace and the defining moment when its near-collapse after a decade forced her to confront the personal cost of her own relentless drive. Through this reckoning, she uncovered how self-compassion can transform the way we lead, connect, and create meaning in our lives. Her story offers a powerful message for leaders navigating uncertainty, burnout, and high-stakes environments. You can watch a short video trailer of her book here.
Adam Grant (#1 NYT Best-Selling Author, Think Again) calls it “a powerful memoir about facing fears and bouncing forward" and Bessel van der Kolk (#1 NYT Best-Selling Author, Body Keeps the Score) describes it as a "brilliant and gripping book about how resilience...can transform adversity into hope and inspiration around the world.”
Jane is a TED speaker and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. She has been selected for Forbes' Impact 30, and is a recipient of the Economist Innovation Award and Fast Company Innovation Award. Jane has also been recognized as Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the World Economic Forum. She received her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and her Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
When she’s not working with leaders around the world, Jane can often be found surfing—her favorite metaphor for resilience, flow, and riding the waves of change.
2026 LEAP Connect Season
2026 LEAP Connect Season
April 15th
Beyond Silence | Disability, Neurodiversity, and Expanding Care in AANHPI Communities
In many Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities, disability and neurodivergence are not absent; they are simply unnamed. Shaped by cultural silence, survival, and stigma, many of us learned to adapt quietly, mask our needs, and equate worth with endurance.
This session explores how disability and neurodiversity already live within AANHPI families, workplaces, and communities, and what becomes possible when we shift from silence to shared understanding. Through lived experience, storytelling, and culturally grounded reframes, participants will examine how stigma is formed, why visibility can feel unsafe, and how care, access, and belonging can be expanded without abandoning cultural values.
Rather than positioning disability inclusion as something “new,” this conversation invites us to recognize it as a return to community care, one that honors interdependence, dignity, and the many ways our bodies and minds move through the world.
Participants will leave with language, tools, and perspectives to foster more affirming, accessible, and psychologically safe spaces across generations.
May 20th
Meeting the Moment: Data, Narrative, Action for Bolder Futures
This workshop will help bridge the gap between information and advocacy. Led by Karthick Ramakrishnan, this session will dive into the “Action” pillar of AAPI Data’s core DNA—Data, Narrative, Action—framework. Ramakrishnan will also expand on the Bolder Futures initiative, which brings together intergenerational changemakers and leaders to enact meaningful action.
While having accurate data about our communities is important, data alone is not enough to develop effective strategies and produce meaningful results for our communities. This session is specifically designed for leaders and professionals who want to learn effective strategies for implementing data-driven change and raising community visibility.
Participants will leave with a clear roadmap for translating data insights into tangible results in their own professional spheres, and how to use data to inspire action and lasting change.
Thank you to our LEAP Connect sponsors
