July 16, 2025 • 32 mins
In this inspiring episode, Emily Chang—author, executive, and global keynote speaker—joins us to unpack a question that every leader should ask: What is your social legacy? Drawing from her book The Spare Room and her years of brand leadership at companies like Apple, Starbucks, and Procter & Gamble, Emily shares real stories of impact that go far beyond business metrics.
You’ll hear how she defines “social legacy,” why companies must embrace a higher purpose, and how personal hospitality became her family’s most powerful form of service. If you’ve ever wondered how to lead with meaning or measure your life beyond profit and productivity, this conversation will stay with you long after the final minute.
Takeaways:
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Why a “social legacy” matters for individuals and brands
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How Emily’s personal experiences shaped her global leadership perspective
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The surprising origin story of The Spare Room
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How corporate influence can (and should) serve human needs
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A framework for building your own lasting impact
Connect with Emily Chang: Website: https://social-legacy.com Book: The Spare Room LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilychang8621/
Want more episodes like this? Subscribe, share, and leave a review. Your voice helps us build a community of leaders committed to purpose, growth, and meaningful change.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Okay, hold on.
I did not expect that.
Welcome once again to the Visionary Show.
My partner's not with me today, but he'll be able to join us next time.
My name is Jen Crow.
I'm the branding lead of Authority Fusion, and my partner is Mohan Ananda, who will bejoining us next time.
He's a serial entrepreneur and he's done a lot of things.
(00:25):
Great individual.
But he can't join us today.
But we are very lucky because we have...
today in our studio, a formidable woman, actually human being, because I cannot containher into just a woman because I've met her and I'm not just impressed.
was like, I met a role model.
(00:46):
Here with us today is Emily Chang.
Hi, Emily, how are you today?
Good, thanks for having me Jen.
Yes, so for our audience, I know a little bit about you.
I've read up about you.
I've read your book.
For our audience, can you tell us more a little bit about you?
I'm somebody who wants to live with a lot of intention and leave the world better than Ifound it.
(01:12):
The world is a very big place.
So I wrote a book called The Spare Room.
My core idea is that of leaving a social legacy.
So legacy is leaving something impactful and positive, but social defines the space inwhich we want to have that impact.
For our family, that was our spare room and we were able to take care of to date 17babies, youngsters,
(01:35):
people who have been orphaned, abused, or marginalized.
And in fact, one of those kids who lived with us for a year is now grown up and he and hiswife have moved back into my home and now I'm sharing a whole house, not just a room.
When did it come about?
How did it start for you?
I when I was still an undergraduate in upstate New York.
(01:57):
I pulled up to a red light on a sleety evening and I saw a little girl sitting on the sideof the street.
And you know, I didn't introduce my work career.
I would say over the last 26 years I've had some incredible jobs with big companies likeStarbucks, Procter & Gamble, Intercontinental Hotels, and Apple.
They've taken me to different places like Guangzhou, China, Shanghai, China, Arkansas,Cincinnati,
(02:24):
Cupertino and wherever we have ended up we have found children in need.
So in some ways you know I think what's more important in my own identity is the legacythat I get to leave with the people that I come in contact with.
In many ways I think my job which I've been very grateful for has enabled me bothfinancially but also in putting me in all these different places around the world to have
(02:50):
that impact.
So it's double entendre, huh?
During your undergrad, it was a stoplight.
You pulled up to a stoplight.
It's red.
we associate, in life, associate red as like something negative or like it's hindering ourprogress or something.
But in your case, you figured out something what you call social legacy.
(03:14):
so but it wasn't right away.
think that's something important to know that it's not like people have it all together.
Somebody reached out to me just on LinkedIn and said, Hey, can I have time with you?
And I've had to become a lot more intentional about who I reach out to.
I am one of the people who responds to everybody who writes to me because I think ifsomebody younger is interested, I'm not going to ignore them.
(03:36):
However, I don't have time to meet with everybody.
So I've had to think about how do I have as much impact as I can and address the
and the interests of people who are up and coming in their career professionals andparents in a way that honors their curiosity and the fact that they chose to reach out to
me but at the same time recognize that you know one person only has so much time.
(03:58):
When I first met Leah I didn't know I didn't immediately have this moment of oh this mustbe my social legacy no of course not in fact it took many more kids before I started to
have this reflection with my husband that said it seems like this keeps happening over andover again so maybe
there's something here.
That's where intention jumped in and we said this seems to be something that continues tointersect with our lives so we are going to make the decision as a couple and then later
(04:25):
as a family with my daughter to always say yes.
And in the same way I've had different intersections with my career where opportunitieshave opened up and I've said yes.
So please don't take away anybody who's listening that you immediately know or you'reimmediately on this trajectory or on a glide path to success.
I think the only thing you have
to have are two things.
(04:45):
One is curiosity to learn more about opportunities and then courage to take that firststep.
I'm curious about the practical aspects of it.
So there's a spare room.
invite, you let some people into your home.
How's the dynamics with your kid, with your husband, and with your busy life?
You're a CEO right now and you've worked with PNG, IHG.
(05:11):
So these jobs took up a lot of your time, but how do you manage, how do you balance that?
that's a nice e-cup.
is my husband has stayed home for many years and been the primary caregiver for thosekids.
We would absolutely not have been able to take care of all those kids without him being inthe primary role.
Many of the kids had special needs and so he was driving, for instance, Teo.
(05:32):
He had a medical appointment every single day of the week.
And so he was really the heart of this caretaking.
I think for my daughter, how was it?
She has grown up with elder, younger, male, female siblings.
And I think it's given her a different view of life one Even though she is an only childby birth She's lived with a lot of siblings and that's given her a different worldview and
(05:59):
two it's Instilled in her this isn't why we did it, but I'm very grateful it happenedinstilled in her a deep sense of gratitude Because she has seen how other children have
grown up and she understands and doesn't take for granted All the things that she has andit's not something we've ever had to tell her in fact if anything she
veers too much to the other end.
Sometimes I've seen that Lainey will struggle with something and she'll almost kickherself and say, I shouldn't be struggling with this.
(06:25):
Other kids have it so much harder.
And I have to remind her, everybody's going through their own experience and tough momentsdon't have to be dramatically overwhelming for them to be tough.
We can acknowledge that they're difficult and we can give ourselves a little bit of graceto recognize that we have to get through this moment.
if we don't recognize that, we don't ask for help.
And then we can actually start to spiral downward.
(06:48):
You know, the filmmaker and me, I'm just starting to do filmmaking, you know, recordingvideos and editing them.
The filmmaker and me wanted to just go in your house and become invisible and just watchhow you guys do it.
Because it's just so inspiring.
And Doug and I, we live with a dog.
(07:09):
And sometimes I can't imagine having another attempt.
for let's say three months that I need to take to the hospital, who pays for the medicalexpenses?
We have, we have.
We have also worked with some nonprofits in the past and we come alongside and partnerwith them where we give the care and sometimes they cover the medical.
(07:30):
It just depends.
I think money is something that we hold so esteemed in our lives and certainly it'simportant and it's a lot easier to say this when you have it.
It's a very expensive lifestyle to be poor in this world, but it is also not the onlything.
You know, something we've learned is living with a village, with a community.
(07:51):
who will help us take care of somebody, who will pick up my daughter if we're at a medicalappointment with one of our kids.
You know, I think that community and the love and the care, that is equally, if not moreimportant for us to be able to successfully take care of these kids.
Have any of you become attached with anyone?
(08:13):
every single one of them, absolutely.
How do you do it?
How do you just...
How long do they stay in your house and where do they go after they leave your house?
Excuse me, I just caught a cold yesterday.
Okay, back in.
I think it's always difficult when we get attached to somebody, but I think the biggestperspective that we need to keep in mind is we're only here for a little while.
(08:40):
There's this beautiful Balinese saying, 100 years, all new people.
Even with our spare room kids, we're only here for a small part of their journey.
And our job is to equip them as much as we can for the next leg.
And it's informed the way that I parent my own birth daughter, which is she's only herewith me for 17 years and then she's going to college.
(09:01):
I think there's a statistic that says your children are with you for the first 17 yearsbefore university.
It's something like 90 percent of their entire lifetime that they spend with you.
That's why it's so important to
take every single moment that we have with them because when they move on to universityour lives change and our interactions are going to change dramatically.
(09:22):
Do you have any future plans on how to make this bigger?
I know the book should help with that, but something you haven't shared to us.
Well, we're on a podcast now.
There are a lot of ideas on how to amplify the idea and it is not for me to become betterknown or to sell more books.
It is really to have a bigger impact and that goes back to your very first question.
(09:45):
I'm open to any way, even when they're uncomfortable for me, to try and share the ideabecause when I have, I have seen such great response and sort of life-changing response.
I'm going to pull up kind of spontaneously.
So give me a second.
I received this
the other day and I did get permission to share it, it really changed and motivated me.
(10:08):
This person who I didn't know very well wrote me and said, I read your book.
It took me a minute because of deadlines but once I opened it I couldn't put it down.
I read it in one sitting and completely abandoned everything else I had planned to finish.
I can't tell you how perfect it was for me to read at this time.
My biggest takeaway was how scarce I have been with my mindset.
(10:30):
My biggest takeaway was how scarce I have been with my mindset and what resources I haveat hand.
I've even talked to my therapist about the book to help me process it, lol.
I can talk on and on, but truly thank you for giving me this book.
It is a gift.
These are the reasons why I want to amplify.
And so I'm looking at a podcast that I've started that I will be starting.
(10:51):
I've already picked up and started a TikTok, which I'll tell you is very uncomfortable.
You know, when I look at TikTok, I see like a lot of great humor.
I know.
And young people showing you how to contour their face.
Right.
But then actually, that's exactly the point, Jen.
I started searching female leaders talking about purpose and professionalism, femaleexecutives talking about parenting and professionalism, and I didn't find a lot of people.
(11:15):
And then you add in AAPI or women of color, and there are very, very few senior levelexecutives.
So that actually motivated me.
And I said, okay, I am going to go on TikTok, and I am going to use this platform that isreally engaging and see if I can start talking about things that matter and maybe answer
some people's questions.
think there's something noble about doing it for somebody who's not blood related to youat all.
(11:42):
That's why people are drawn to the...
It's not just a concept, you know.
It's supposed to be a movement.
Yes, exactly.
And you know, this doesn't say you should open your spare room to somebody in need.
It's a construct that says, you know, I talked about social legacy.
It's the intersection of two things.
It's your offer, that unique combination of who you are, your personality, your lifeexperiences, what you're good at.
(12:06):
And then it's the intersection of that with what I called your offense, because there areso many things in the world that you can focus on, that you can try to address.
But for everybody, there's that one thing that really speaks to you, that keeps you awakeat night, that you wake up thinking about sometimes.
that you think that should be better.
It's like when I drove by Leah, I couldn't keep driving even though I was tired and it wascold and I was hungry.
(12:27):
There are something that will stop you in your tracks when you identify what that thingis, that's your offense.
So if you find your offer and your offense, you're going to find your own social legacy.
That's that's one of the biggest motivations to write the book, to start a podcast, tostart the TikTok because I know that people are hungering to live lives that are richer
and deeper and more meaningful.
(12:47):
They either know their offer
they know who they are but they're not sure where to point it or they know the thing theywant to address but they think what can I do I'm just one person so I think you know
hopefully when you read the book it touches you like the person who I read their text thatthey think oh I've realized something and I'm going to do something about it
(13:08):
I wonder how much of a risk-gay person you are.
Currently, you're a CEO of VML, right?
And I wonder, would you rather just focus on your social legacy and leave your job or keepdoing it at the same time until maybe retirement?
(13:29):
Because something like this is, it would need your full attention, I guess, in the futureonce it's
speaker.
Well, you know, I was pre-med when I was younger because I was so called to taking care ofchildren, especially those who were vulnerable.
I had an incident in a children's hospital where I was volunteering and I just saw a youngchild not treated very well by a doctor who probably didn't have bad intentions but was
(13:55):
just too busy.
And that really made me think I want to be exactly that.
I want to be a pediatric oncologist and I'm going to do it better.
And it turns out I don't have the emotional distance.
Obviously, I'm bringing all these kids home.
I started.
I'm working in pediatric intensive care.
I was doing a lot of things that made me realize I don't have that emotional distance.
And actually, perhaps that doctor had a distance that was necessary for him to do his jobwell.
(14:20):
So my key learn is your passion doesn't have to only be your career.
Do I love my career?
Absolutely.
But do I also love taking care of children?
Absolutely.
And for some people whose stories I've included in the book, their job and their sociallegacy are the same.
For me, they have been separate.
So my spare room was something I didn't even talk about until really I worked atIntercontinental Hotels Group.
(14:44):
And then it started to come together in a little bit more of a fluid way.
Okay, so, wow.
Following your career fulfills, you know, your, of course, our desire forself-fulfillment, but following a social legacy at the same time is a wonderful thing
(15:05):
because it nourishes your soul.
Now, can you tell us a story that, I know there's a lot, but if you can pick just one thatreally ripped through your heart, that just...
Just that situation alone, you can't imagine how a young person goes through that.
If you could share that story to our audience, to me and to our audience.
(15:27):
Maybe I'll tell you about the most recent kid and he's not even in the book.
His name is Wayne and like Teo who I wrote a lot about because he lived with us for thelongest on and off for five years Wayne also had hydrocephalus and this is where your
cerebral spinal fluid can go up into your head, but it can't come back down and so thesoft baby's skull stretches.
Now while Teo came to us at about 18 months old Wayne was already four years old.
(15:52):
He was extremely emaciated and this is not because anybody was intentionally trying toharm the child.
People don't know how to care for a baby with hydrocephalus.
He'd never developed neurologically so he didn't know how to articulate what he needed.
He couldn't even move his limbs.
You know that moment when a baby sort of magically flips their arm up and they kind of go,oh, I'm making that happen.
(16:14):
He was four years old and didn't understand how to have even gross motor control.
He couldn't verbalize anything and so he laid on his head because he had a very big headall the time.
He was already four years old so the back of his head was completely
flat.
This baby they were trying to feed but have you tried to eat lying flat on your back?
You're choking constantly You can't eat you can't drink so this baby came to us reallyundernourished and I say baby but he was already four he was like a newborn and over that
(16:44):
period he had the sweetest little face and he had the cutest little giggle and he couldonly grunt but I'll tell you something amazing I've shared a couple of video clips when I
do talks about Wayne because the first video is in November
I think we brought him home late summer in November I had a video I taking of my husbandtrying to teach him how to hold a chip and You would put the chip in his hand and it would
(17:08):
just fall and you would put the chip in his hand He didn't know how to pinch his fingerstogether in December We would put a little piece of bread in his hand and he could kind of
hold it So that was working but he couldn't get the hand to his mouth and you would seehis little tongue going Like he was hungry and he knew the point of this
(17:28):
was to get the food into his mouth and he couldn't do it.
But by January, I caught it on video because it happened my husband was, I think he was atchurch with my daughter, and so I was home alone with Wayne and I made his favorite, which
is a very greasy, very delicious rosemary focaccia.
And I cut it in little pieces and I put it on his lap and
I just left him and then I stepped back with a video and you saw him reach down.
(17:52):
He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth and he was so proud.
Like the whole body was wiggling.
Do you know it is hard to bring kids into your house?
It takes a lot of extra time, a lot of extra care.
Does some of that attention divert from my daughter?
For sure.
Does it make our lives more stressed?
Absolutely.
But the richness and the fulfillment you get from watching Wayne put that piece offocaccia in his mouth is worth tenfold.
(18:18):
Your life is so much richer and there is this magic when you open your life to sociallegacy, the time expands, your capabilities expand, you find you're able to and in fact
you want to do things you never would have thought you would want to do.
If you asked me as a college kid, would you bring a teenage prostitute into your home?
I'd be like, are you crazy?
(18:39):
I'm pre-med.
That was the first girl, Leah.
She was essentially selling her body to stay alive on the streets.
when I met her and I brought her into my home, my apartment, and you know, was really alittle aggressive, understandably.
I remember she came into my apartment very suspicious and rightfully so, she didn't knowme, and it was a one bedroom, it wasn't even a one bedroom, it was a one room studio.
(19:04):
And she looked around, she said, spare room, what's spare room?
I had a mattress on the floor, I was just a poor college kid.
But you can do things that you can't possibly imagine are possible if you try.
I want to go back to that.
When's that point?
Because I myself would want to do something like that, but every time I think of thepractical aspects of it, not financial.
(19:28):
I'm good with financial.
I don't have a lot of money, but I'm willing to, of course, do what it takes.
But the practical aspects of it, like can my heart take it?
Can I really devote this much time?
So I want to know what's the thought process, what's the heart process for that?
How did it come to you?
When did it come to you?
(19:48):
When you can say, my gosh, I can do more.
I can do more.
Yes, the first time I just didn't know I couldn't leave that girl sitting on the streetbeaten up.
The second time when she moved to a foster family and suggested this other girl she met onthe street move in with me, I just said yes, because of course I've just done this once.
And over the years, we just said yes.
(20:09):
I think it was the time when Teo moved out.
Teo, first boy with hydrocephalus.
I was so attached to him.
He called me mama.
He was part of our family.
We had already made the decision and had gone through the process and spent the money, bythe way, to adopt him.
And then he ended up, long story, read the book, with a different family.
And I was just, it was almost like waterworks.
(20:30):
I could not stop crying.
I could not stop.
I would go to work and cry.
And I remember my boss was wonderful.
He asked me, do you want to go home?
And I said, no, I don't.
can't.
I have to work.
He said, okay, what do we do when you start crying in the meeting?
I said, just ignore me.
And he was this very empathetic man.
So I remember something happened in a meeting and I just started to tear up and everybodylooked at me.
(20:50):
He goes, just ignore her.
Keep working.
And people looked at him like he was heartless, but he understood me and he,
understood what I needed.
It was that night I went home and I was like, I can't stop crying.
I don't know.
Do I need to take a leave?
And my daughter, Lainey, looked at me and she said, Mom, why is this so hard for you?
I said, it's like there's a hole in our family.
(21:12):
How is this not hard for you?
And she said, well, you know, her favorite article of clothing was a pair of jeggings,these stretchy leggings that look like jeans.
She said, our family's like jeggings.
It's like we stretch and fill kids.
And then when they leave, we just go back to being checkings.
And somehow that phrase changed it for me.
(21:33):
Suddenly I thought, you're right, we're stretching to fill these kids.
And actually when they go on to somewhere better, we're back to our family and we arestretchy.
We're adaptable.
Not every family can do that.
Yeah.
So you had a desire to adopt that child.
Was there ever a child, a teenager who said, can you adopt me?
(21:58):
No, but there was one kid who's also not in the book who wanted to stay with usindefinitely.
And it wasn't the right thing for him.
think...
with focaccia, you bake, are you the one baking the focaccia?
If that's the case, I'd like to be adopted,
ha ha ha ha ha
I do like to cook.
I didn't cook as much in China.
I had a very busy job.
In China, you have the luxury of having a housekeeper who can do a lot of things and thatwas very lovely.
(22:23):
And that was also why this other kid didn't want to leave.
He thought this is a very good life.
But our job isn't to make people comfortable, right?
Our job is to make their lives better as much as we can.
And that is withholding judgment.
I don't know what's better, but I know what I can do to arm you to be more successful andthrive in your own life.
not to make them comfortable, I'd quote you on this, but to make their lives better.
(22:51):
Can you expound on that?
Well, it's easy to, for instance with Teo in the beginning, it's easy to let him sit.
It's easy to feed him.
that's comfortable for him.
can sit and he was reclined with his big head and he would open his mouth and I would feedhim.
But that's not better for him.
(23:11):
It's better if he can learn to feed himself because you you don't know if you can take himforever.
You don't know if you can adopt him.
So what you have to do is help them help themselves.
You have to set them up to thrive no matter where they end up in the world.
Being able to feed yourself is better than not being able to feed yourself.
So it was constantly putting
(23:32):
the spoon in his mouth in his hand and he would drop it.
Putting the spoon in his hand and he would drop it.
And in fact there was a family, I don't get credit for this, Elizabeth gets credit.
She was a woman who was considering adopting him so we moved him into her house.
And one day she sent me a photo of
Teo holding a plastic IKEA spoon.
was taped to his hand.
(23:54):
And I was like, my gosh, is that cruel?
And then I thought about it.
It's not hurting him.
She texted back.
She said, I said, is he okay?
She texted back, he can feed himself.
He just doesn't want to.
And she was right.
She taped the spoon to his hand and then he started feeding himself.
And he learned the joy of that feeling of accomplishment.
(24:17):
I'm learning so much from you, but I can't share it in public because it's so personal.
I'll tell you offline.
So you help them at their most vulnerable time, but you don't enable them to not helpthemselves.
You teach them to help themselves eventually.
I'll tell you a vulnerable story.
This one really impacted me.
(24:39):
You know, in the story, I write a story about Devon, who is a child bride.
We had another child bride stay with us, and I had reached out to her and said, how do youfeel about me sharing your story?
I could either do it anonymously or I can do it with your name, and there's a combinationof that in the book.
And she said, how could you?
I don't want you to tell my story.
(25:00):
In fact, I don't have good memories living with you.
I was stunned.
I was stunned because she...
left a bad situation.
We paid for her to go to a place to get education.
I don't want to share too much about who she is or where she is.
We helped her move into a new career.
When I reached out to her, she was remarried with multiple children and looked like shewas thriving.
(25:25):
But her impression of me was negative.
I really struggled with it for weeks.
I remember talking to my husband and being like, did we did we do something?
What happened?
And I think, you know, sometimes you're pushing people.
into uncomfortable places.
Sometimes they just have terrible memories of a certain chapter in their life.
Maybe they ascribe it to you.
And maybe there is something that I did that really upset her.
(25:48):
didn't know.
But I still think that's our job as humans is to help other people.
And if they don't thank you for it, that's not the point of why you help them to beginwith.
Not to instigate, but have you figured out, has she ever shared exactly what made her feelthat way?
Not entirely, not entirely.
I, I, you know, it didn't seem like a conversation she wanted to have.
(26:10):
So that, that goes back to how do you help people?
I will live with not knowing.
4.8.
Hang on, I need to catch my breath.
was, it's a very timely interview.
If you knew what Doug and I have been discussing this past weekend.
(26:33):
Well, we need to talk a separate time.
Okay, so in line with the...
with the title of the show, the visionary show, can tell, of course, social legacy.
I've never heard anyone really advocate for something.
Like you said, you go to TikTok, there's nothing like that, right?
So you're a true visionary.
(26:54):
How does your role as a global leader help in you doing this kind of legacy?
Well, I think the job has put me in different places around the world and that is a realblessing because that's where I get to meet these kids who need a place and everyone has
found us through a different means.
I also get to bring a voice to the workplace that you don't normally hear.
(27:18):
I remember being at IHG and I had mentioned earlier in this recording that that was when Ireally claimed this is an intention and this is a way that our family will choose to live.
I'll tell you one day my husband and daughter were coming by the office to pick me upbecause we were going to one of my daughter's
favorite restaurants, Morton's, and it's right on the bund and my office is right on thebund.
(27:39):
It's a steak place.
It's not by far.
It's not that the best best place is Shanghai, but that was her favorite, right?
And he, Tao loved steak and my husband is an absolute carnivore.
So they were really happy.
They came by the office.
I wasn't quite ready.
So I said, why don't you come upstairs?
My husband pushed a stroller that was reclined because Tao couldn't put his head up forlong periods.
(27:59):
He had already had the shunt installed and had multiple surgeries, but he was, you helooked different than most people look with the size of his head and his eyes were still
unable to blink.
My daughter came up and
it was like a hush fell over the floor.
sat in the corner office and my team was sort of across the floor.
And on both sides of those hallways, people started turning their head because even indeveloped countries, you don't see children with hydrocephalus very often, and especially
(28:26):
not in China.
People started to come out of their office and they were saying, can we see him?
Is this your son?
And so we put him on the ground because he could kind of do this little army crawl at thatpoint.
And he crawled into my lap and turned his head up on his back.
looked up at me and grabbed my hair and just giggled and I
I looked up from the floor and I saw these expressions that I'd never seen on any of myteam's faces.
(28:53):
It's like the CEO, I was CCO at the time, it's like the title washed away.
It's like the corner office washed away and they just saw a mom who cares about her child.
And it made me realize this is really important to integrate your work and your life.
What you're doing for social legacy, you should bring in the workplace.
And that has stayed with people.
Somebody texted me on International Women's Day just recently and said,
(29:15):
I still remember that day and you showed me that leaders can be real.
So I think my job has been really important because it's enabled me to connect with peopleand show them a different brand of leadership that is perhaps vulnerable and authentic and
sometimes fails.
Why are you not crying telling all these stories?
(29:39):
Wow.
I cried for a long time about Teo until the jeggings.
Sometimes, sometimes there's still moments.
Well, so I won't keep you that long anymore.
That was a great, great conversation.
I just want you to share more about The Spare Room, your book, and promote this nobleeffort.
(30:08):
I don't know.
I can't say it's a concept because it is not.
It is.
I'm going to give you credit, you said earlier, Jen, you want it to be a movement.
That's what I would love.
is a move.
It should be.
it.
Like that idea, you know, you go to a Starbucks, pay it forward.
Everybody knows what pay it forward means.
Do you know who coined the phrase?
Probably not.
That's what I would love one day.
People just start talking about what's your spare room.
(30:30):
They don't have to know me or remember me.
But if the idea of a spare room becomes a movement, that is a success and something that Iwould die feeling so happy about.
So you can find me on social-legacy.com, a website.
You can find me on socials at spareroom.emilychang.
And I'm on LinkedIn.
Emily Chang, 8621.
(30:50):
And you can buy the book anywhere, Amazon.
Hang out, you're on TikTok too.
Don't forget.
That's, oh yeah, same thing, socials.
SpareRoom.EmilyChang.
Same handle.
All right, well, thank you very much, Emily, for the time you spared for me and for us,our audience.
It's been just lovely.
It can tug in your heart, know, that feeling that, what am I doing with my life?
(31:18):
You know, can feel it.
There's a hole that you need to sort of heal or something.
I just wish you could...
We could talk again another time offline.
Guys, we're not involving you, but I had a great time.
I have been heavily touched, and I really want to get to know you more as a person, Emily.
(31:42):
There's so much there I want to know more about.
So.
I love the idea of visionaries, right?
We should have a bigger vision for our lives.
And here's the thing, if you can't articulate what your vision is for your life, then whatare you doing today?
Are you only existing?
It really is binary.
So go create your vision and live the biggest life you can.
(32:02):
Yeah, create your vision.
Create that spare room in your life to make other people's lives better.
And that's, there you have it for today's episode.
We'll see you again next time with Mohon Ananda.
Have a great day, everyone.
Okay, hold on.
I did not expect that.
Welcome once again to the Visionary Show.
My partner's not with me today, but he'll be able to join us next time.
My name is Jen Crow.
I'm the branding lead of Authority Fusion, and my partner is Mohan Ananda, who will bejoining us next time.
He's a serial entrepreneur and he's done a lot of things.
(00:25):
Great individual.
But he can't join us today.
But we are very lucky because we have...
today in our studio, a formidable woman, actually human being, because I cannot containher into just a woman because I've met her and I'm not just impressed.
was like, I met a role model.
(00:46):
Here with us today is Emily Chang.
Hi, Emily, how are you today?
Good, thanks for having me Jen.
Yes, so for our audience, I know a little bit about you.
I've read up about you.
I've read your book.
For our audience, can you tell us more a little bit about you?
I'm somebody who wants to live with a lot of intention and leave the world better than Ifound it.
(01:12):
The world is a very big place.
So I wrote a book called The Spare Room.
My core idea is that of leaving a social legacy.
So legacy is leaving something impactful and positive, but social defines the space inwhich we want to have that impact.
For our family, that was our spare room and we were able to take care of to date 17babies, youngsters,
(01:35):
people who have been orphaned, abused, or marginalized.
And in fact, one of those kids who lived with us for a year is now grown up and he and hiswife have moved back into my home and now I'm sharing a whole house, not just a room.
When did it come about?
How did it start for you?
I when I was still an undergraduate in upstate New York.
(01:57):
I pulled up to a red light on a sleety evening and I saw a little girl sitting on the sideof the street.
And you know, I didn't introduce my work career.
I would say over the last 26 years I've had some incredible jobs with big companies likeStarbucks, Procter & Gamble, Intercontinental Hotels, and Apple.
They've taken me to different places like Guangzhou, China, Shanghai, China, Arkansas,Cincinnati,
(02:24):
Cupertino and wherever we have ended up we have found children in need.
So in some ways you know I think what's more important in my own identity is the legacythat I get to leave with the people that I come in contact with.
In many ways I think my job which I've been very grateful for has enabled me bothfinancially but also in putting me in all these different places around the world to have
(02:50):
that impact.
So it's double entendre, huh?
During your undergrad, it was a stoplight.
You pulled up to a stoplight.
It's red.
we associate, in life, associate red as like something negative or like it's hindering ourprogress or something.
But in your case, you figured out something what you call social legacy.
(03:14):
so but it wasn't right away.
think that's something important to know that it's not like people have it all together.
Somebody reached out to me just on LinkedIn and said, Hey, can I have time with you?
And I've had to become a lot more intentional about who I reach out to.
I am one of the people who responds to everybody who writes to me because I think ifsomebody younger is interested, I'm not going to ignore them.
(03:36):
However, I don't have time to meet with everybody.
So I've had to think about how do I have as much impact as I can and address the
and the interests of people who are up and coming in their career professionals andparents in a way that honors their curiosity and the fact that they chose to reach out to
me but at the same time recognize that you know one person only has so much time.
(03:58):
When I first met Leah I didn't know I didn't immediately have this moment of oh this mustbe my social legacy no of course not in fact it took many more kids before I started to
have this reflection with my husband that said it seems like this keeps happening over andover again so maybe
there's something here.
That's where intention jumped in and we said this seems to be something that continues tointersect with our lives so we are going to make the decision as a couple and then later
(04:25):
as a family with my daughter to always say yes.
And in the same way I've had different intersections with my career where opportunitieshave opened up and I've said yes.
So please don't take away anybody who's listening that you immediately know or you'reimmediately on this trajectory or on a glide path to success.
I think the only thing you have
to have are two things.
(04:45):
One is curiosity to learn more about opportunities and then courage to take that firststep.
I'm curious about the practical aspects of it.
So there's a spare room.
invite, you let some people into your home.
How's the dynamics with your kid, with your husband, and with your busy life?
You're a CEO right now and you've worked with PNG, IHG.
(05:11):
So these jobs took up a lot of your time, but how do you manage, how do you balance that?
that's a nice e-cup.
is my husband has stayed home for many years and been the primary caregiver for thosekids.
We would absolutely not have been able to take care of all those kids without him being inthe primary role.
Many of the kids had special needs and so he was driving, for instance, Teo.
(05:32):
He had a medical appointment every single day of the week.
And so he was really the heart of this caretaking.
I think for my daughter, how was it?
She has grown up with elder, younger, male, female siblings.
And I think it's given her a different view of life one Even though she is an only childby birth She's lived with a lot of siblings and that's given her a different worldview and
(05:59):
two it's Instilled in her this isn't why we did it, but I'm very grateful it happenedinstilled in her a deep sense of gratitude Because she has seen how other children have
grown up and she understands and doesn't take for granted All the things that she has andit's not something we've ever had to tell her in fact if anything she
veers too much to the other end.
Sometimes I've seen that Lainey will struggle with something and she'll almost kickherself and say, I shouldn't be struggling with this.
(06:25):
Other kids have it so much harder.
And I have to remind her, everybody's going through their own experience and tough momentsdon't have to be dramatically overwhelming for them to be tough.
We can acknowledge that they're difficult and we can give ourselves a little bit of graceto recognize that we have to get through this moment.
if we don't recognize that, we don't ask for help.
And then we can actually start to spiral downward.
(06:48):
You know, the filmmaker and me, I'm just starting to do filmmaking, you know, recordingvideos and editing them.
The filmmaker and me wanted to just go in your house and become invisible and just watchhow you guys do it.
Because it's just so inspiring.
And Doug and I, we live with a dog.
(07:09):
And sometimes I can't imagine having another attempt.
for let's say three months that I need to take to the hospital, who pays for the medicalexpenses?
We have, we have.
We have also worked with some nonprofits in the past and we come alongside and partnerwith them where we give the care and sometimes they cover the medical.
(07:30):
It just depends.
I think money is something that we hold so esteemed in our lives and certainly it'simportant and it's a lot easier to say this when you have it.
It's a very expensive lifestyle to be poor in this world, but it is also not the onlything.
You know, something we've learned is living with a village, with a community.
(07:51):
who will help us take care of somebody, who will pick up my daughter if we're at a medicalappointment with one of our kids.
You know, I think that community and the love and the care, that is equally, if not moreimportant for us to be able to successfully take care of these kids.
Have any of you become attached with anyone?
(08:13):
every single one of them, absolutely.
How do you do it?
How do you just...
How long do they stay in your house and where do they go after they leave your house?
Excuse me, I just caught a cold yesterday.
Okay, back in.
I think it's always difficult when we get attached to somebody, but I think the biggestperspective that we need to keep in mind is we're only here for a little while.
(08:40):
There's this beautiful Balinese saying, 100 years, all new people.
Even with our spare room kids, we're only here for a small part of their journey.
And our job is to equip them as much as we can for the next leg.
And it's informed the way that I parent my own birth daughter, which is she's only herewith me for 17 years and then she's going to college.
(09:01):
I think there's a statistic that says your children are with you for the first 17 yearsbefore university.
It's something like 90 percent of their entire lifetime that they spend with you.
That's why it's so important to
take every single moment that we have with them because when they move on to universityour lives change and our interactions are going to change dramatically.
(09:22):
Do you have any future plans on how to make this bigger?
I know the book should help with that, but something you haven't shared to us.
Well, we're on a podcast now.
There are a lot of ideas on how to amplify the idea and it is not for me to become betterknown or to sell more books.
It is really to have a bigger impact and that goes back to your very first question.
(09:45):
I'm open to any way, even when they're uncomfortable for me, to try and share the ideabecause when I have, I have seen such great response and sort of life-changing response.
I'm going to pull up kind of spontaneously.
So give me a second.
I received this
the other day and I did get permission to share it, it really changed and motivated me.
(10:08):
This person who I didn't know very well wrote me and said, I read your book.
It took me a minute because of deadlines but once I opened it I couldn't put it down.
I read it in one sitting and completely abandoned everything else I had planned to finish.
I can't tell you how perfect it was for me to read at this time.
My biggest takeaway was how scarce I have been with my mindset.
(10:30):
My biggest takeaway was how scarce I have been with my mindset and what resources I haveat hand.
I've even talked to my therapist about the book to help me process it, lol.
I can talk on and on, but truly thank you for giving me this book.
It is a gift.
These are the reasons why I want to amplify.
And so I'm looking at a podcast that I've started that I will be starting.
(10:51):
I've already picked up and started a TikTok, which I'll tell you is very uncomfortable.
You know, when I look at TikTok, I see like a lot of great humor.
I know.
And young people showing you how to contour their face.
Right.
But then actually, that's exactly the point, Jen.
I started searching female leaders talking about purpose and professionalism, femaleexecutives talking about parenting and professionalism, and I didn't find a lot of people.
(11:15):
And then you add in AAPI or women of color, and there are very, very few senior levelexecutives.
So that actually motivated me.
And I said, okay, I am going to go on TikTok, and I am going to use this platform that isreally engaging and see if I can start talking about things that matter and maybe answer
some people's questions.
think there's something noble about doing it for somebody who's not blood related to youat all.
(11:42):
That's why people are drawn to the...
It's not just a concept, you know.
It's supposed to be a movement.
Yes, exactly.
And you know, this doesn't say you should open your spare room to somebody in need.
It's a construct that says, you know, I talked about social legacy.
It's the intersection of two things.
It's your offer, that unique combination of who you are, your personality, your lifeexperiences, what you're good at.
(12:06):
And then it's the intersection of that with what I called your offense, because there areso many things in the world that you can focus on, that you can try to address.
But for everybody, there's that one thing that really speaks to you, that keeps you awakeat night, that you wake up thinking about sometimes.
that you think that should be better.
It's like when I drove by Leah, I couldn't keep driving even though I was tired and it wascold and I was hungry.
(12:27):
There are something that will stop you in your tracks when you identify what that thingis, that's your offense.
So if you find your offer and your offense, you're going to find your own social legacy.
That's that's one of the biggest motivations to write the book, to start a podcast, tostart the TikTok because I know that people are hungering to live lives that are richer
and deeper and more meaningful.
(12:47):
They either know their offer
they know who they are but they're not sure where to point it or they know the thing theywant to address but they think what can I do I'm just one person so I think you know
hopefully when you read the book it touches you like the person who I read their text thatthey think oh I've realized something and I'm going to do something about it
(13:08):
I wonder how much of a risk-gay person you are.
Currently, you're a CEO of VML, right?
And I wonder, would you rather just focus on your social legacy and leave your job or keepdoing it at the same time until maybe retirement?
(13:29):
Because something like this is, it would need your full attention, I guess, in the futureonce it's
speaker.
Well, you know, I was pre-med when I was younger because I was so called to taking care ofchildren, especially those who were vulnerable.
I had an incident in a children's hospital where I was volunteering and I just saw a youngchild not treated very well by a doctor who probably didn't have bad intentions but was
(13:55):
just too busy.
And that really made me think I want to be exactly that.
I want to be a pediatric oncologist and I'm going to do it better.
And it turns out I don't have the emotional distance.
Obviously, I'm bringing all these kids home.
I started.
I'm working in pediatric intensive care.
I was doing a lot of things that made me realize I don't have that emotional distance.
And actually, perhaps that doctor had a distance that was necessary for him to do his jobwell.
(14:20):
So my key learn is your passion doesn't have to only be your career.
Do I love my career?
Absolutely.
But do I also love taking care of children?
Absolutely.
And for some people whose stories I've included in the book, their job and their sociallegacy are the same.
For me, they have been separate.
So my spare room was something I didn't even talk about until really I worked atIntercontinental Hotels Group.
(14:44):
And then it started to come together in a little bit more of a fluid way.
Okay, so, wow.
Following your career fulfills, you know, your, of course, our desire forself-fulfillment, but following a social legacy at the same time is a wonderful thing
(15:05):
because it nourishes your soul.
Now, can you tell us a story that, I know there's a lot, but if you can pick just one thatreally ripped through your heart, that just...
Just that situation alone, you can't imagine how a young person goes through that.
If you could share that story to our audience, to me and to our audience.
(15:27):
Maybe I'll tell you about the most recent kid and he's not even in the book.
His name is Wayne and like Teo who I wrote a lot about because he lived with us for thelongest on and off for five years Wayne also had hydrocephalus and this is where your
cerebral spinal fluid can go up into your head, but it can't come back down and so thesoft baby's skull stretches.
Now while Teo came to us at about 18 months old Wayne was already four years old.
(15:52):
He was extremely emaciated and this is not because anybody was intentionally trying toharm the child.
People don't know how to care for a baby with hydrocephalus.
He'd never developed neurologically so he didn't know how to articulate what he needed.
He couldn't even move his limbs.
You know that moment when a baby sort of magically flips their arm up and they kind of go,oh, I'm making that happen.
(16:14):
He was four years old and didn't understand how to have even gross motor control.
He couldn't verbalize anything and so he laid on his head because he had a very big headall the time.
He was already four years old so the back of his head was completely
flat.
This baby they were trying to feed but have you tried to eat lying flat on your back?
You're choking constantly You can't eat you can't drink so this baby came to us reallyundernourished and I say baby but he was already four he was like a newborn and over that
(16:44):
period he had the sweetest little face and he had the cutest little giggle and he couldonly grunt but I'll tell you something amazing I've shared a couple of video clips when I
do talks about Wayne because the first video is in November
I think we brought him home late summer in November I had a video I taking of my husbandtrying to teach him how to hold a chip and You would put the chip in his hand and it would
(17:08):
just fall and you would put the chip in his hand He didn't know how to pinch his fingerstogether in December We would put a little piece of bread in his hand and he could kind of
hold it So that was working but he couldn't get the hand to his mouth and you would seehis little tongue going Like he was hungry and he knew the point of this
(17:28):
was to get the food into his mouth and he couldn't do it.
But by January, I caught it on video because it happened my husband was, I think he was atchurch with my daughter, and so I was home alone with Wayne and I made his favorite, which
is a very greasy, very delicious rosemary focaccia.
And I cut it in little pieces and I put it on his lap and
I just left him and then I stepped back with a video and you saw him reach down.
(17:52):
He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth and he was so proud.
Like the whole body was wiggling.
Do you know it is hard to bring kids into your house?
It takes a lot of extra time, a lot of extra care.
Does some of that attention divert from my daughter?
For sure.
Does it make our lives more stressed?
Absolutely.
But the richness and the fulfillment you get from watching Wayne put that piece offocaccia in his mouth is worth tenfold.
(18:18):
Your life is so much richer and there is this magic when you open your life to sociallegacy, the time expands, your capabilities expand, you find you're able to and in fact
you want to do things you never would have thought you would want to do.
If you asked me as a college kid, would you bring a teenage prostitute into your home?
I'd be like, are you crazy?
(18:39):
I'm pre-med.
That was the first girl, Leah.
She was essentially selling her body to stay alive on the streets.
when I met her and I brought her into my home, my apartment, and you know, was really alittle aggressive, understandably.
I remember she came into my apartment very suspicious and rightfully so, she didn't knowme, and it was a one bedroom, it wasn't even a one bedroom, it was a one room studio.
(19:04):
And she looked around, she said, spare room, what's spare room?
I had a mattress on the floor, I was just a poor college kid.
But you can do things that you can't possibly imagine are possible if you try.
I want to go back to that.
When's that point?
Because I myself would want to do something like that, but every time I think of thepractical aspects of it, not financial.
(19:28):
I'm good with financial.
I don't have a lot of money, but I'm willing to, of course, do what it takes.
But the practical aspects of it, like can my heart take it?
Can I really devote this much time?
So I want to know what's the thought process, what's the heart process for that?
How did it come to you?
When did it come to you?
(19:48):
When you can say, my gosh, I can do more.
I can do more.
Yes, the first time I just didn't know I couldn't leave that girl sitting on the streetbeaten up.
The second time when she moved to a foster family and suggested this other girl she met onthe street move in with me, I just said yes, because of course I've just done this once.
And over the years, we just said yes.
(20:09):
I think it was the time when Teo moved out.
Teo, first boy with hydrocephalus.
I was so attached to him.
He called me mama.
He was part of our family.
We had already made the decision and had gone through the process and spent the money, bythe way, to adopt him.
And then he ended up, long story, read the book, with a different family.
And I was just, it was almost like waterworks.
(20:30):
I could not stop crying.
I could not stop.
I would go to work and cry.
And I remember my boss was wonderful.
He asked me, do you want to go home?
And I said, no, I don't.
can't.
I have to work.
He said, okay, what do we do when you start crying in the meeting?
I said, just ignore me.
And he was this very empathetic man.
So I remember something happened in a meeting and I just started to tear up and everybodylooked at me.
(20:50):
He goes, just ignore her.
Keep working.
And people looked at him like he was heartless, but he understood me and he,
understood what I needed.
It was that night I went home and I was like, I can't stop crying.
I don't know.
Do I need to take a leave?
And my daughter, Lainey, looked at me and she said, Mom, why is this so hard for you?
I said, it's like there's a hole in our family.
(21:12):
How is this not hard for you?
And she said, well, you know, her favorite article of clothing was a pair of jeggings,these stretchy leggings that look like jeans.
She said, our family's like jeggings.
It's like we stretch and fill kids.
And then when they leave, we just go back to being checkings.
And somehow that phrase changed it for me.
(21:33):
Suddenly I thought, you're right, we're stretching to fill these kids.
And actually when they go on to somewhere better, we're back to our family and we arestretchy.
We're adaptable.
Not every family can do that.
Yeah.
So you had a desire to adopt that child.
Was there ever a child, a teenager who said, can you adopt me?
(21:58):
No, but there was one kid who's also not in the book who wanted to stay with usindefinitely.
And it wasn't the right thing for him.
think...
with focaccia, you bake, are you the one baking the focaccia?
If that's the case, I'd like to be adopted,
ha ha ha ha ha
I do like to cook.
I didn't cook as much in China.
I had a very busy job.
In China, you have the luxury of having a housekeeper who can do a lot of things and thatwas very lovely.
(22:23):
And that was also why this other kid didn't want to leave.
He thought this is a very good life.
But our job isn't to make people comfortable, right?
Our job is to make their lives better as much as we can.
And that is withholding judgment.
I don't know what's better, but I know what I can do to arm you to be more successful andthrive in your own life.
not to make them comfortable, I'd quote you on this, but to make their lives better.
(22:51):
Can you expound on that?
Well, it's easy to, for instance with Teo in the beginning, it's easy to let him sit.
It's easy to feed him.
that's comfortable for him.
can sit and he was reclined with his big head and he would open his mouth and I would feedhim.
But that's not better for him.
(23:11):
It's better if he can learn to feed himself because you you don't know if you can take himforever.
You don't know if you can adopt him.
So what you have to do is help them help themselves.
You have to set them up to thrive no matter where they end up in the world.
Being able to feed yourself is better than not being able to feed yourself.
So it was constantly putting
(23:32):
the spoon in his mouth in his hand and he would drop it.
Putting the spoon in his hand and he would drop it.
And in fact there was a family, I don't get credit for this, Elizabeth gets credit.
She was a woman who was considering adopting him so we moved him into her house.
And one day she sent me a photo of
Teo holding a plastic IKEA spoon.
was taped to his hand.
(23:54):
And I was like, my gosh, is that cruel?
And then I thought about it.
It's not hurting him.
She texted back.
She said, I said, is he okay?
She texted back, he can feed himself.
He just doesn't want to.
And she was right.
She taped the spoon to his hand and then he started feeding himself.
And he learned the joy of that feeling of accomplishment.
(24:17):
I'm learning so much from you, but I can't share it in public because it's so personal.
I'll tell you offline.
So you help them at their most vulnerable time, but you don't enable them to not helpthemselves.
You teach them to help themselves eventually.
I'll tell you a vulnerable story.
This one really impacted me.
(24:39):
You know, in the story, I write a story about Devon, who is a child bride.
We had another child bride stay with us, and I had reached out to her and said, how do youfeel about me sharing your story?
I could either do it anonymously or I can do it with your name, and there's a combinationof that in the book.
And she said, how could you?
I don't want you to tell my story.
(25:00):
In fact, I don't have good memories living with you.
I was stunned.
I was stunned because she...
left a bad situation.
We paid for her to go to a place to get education.
I don't want to share too much about who she is or where she is.
We helped her move into a new career.
When I reached out to her, she was remarried with multiple children and looked like shewas thriving.
(25:25):
But her impression of me was negative.
I really struggled with it for weeks.
I remember talking to my husband and being like, did we did we do something?
What happened?
And I think, you know, sometimes you're pushing people.
into uncomfortable places.
Sometimes they just have terrible memories of a certain chapter in their life.
Maybe they ascribe it to you.
And maybe there is something that I did that really upset her.
(25:48):
didn't know.
But I still think that's our job as humans is to help other people.
And if they don't thank you for it, that's not the point of why you help them to beginwith.
Not to instigate, but have you figured out, has she ever shared exactly what made her feelthat way?
Not entirely, not entirely.
I, I, you know, it didn't seem like a conversation she wanted to have.
(26:10):
So that, that goes back to how do you help people?
I will live with not knowing.
4.8.
Hang on, I need to catch my breath.
was, it's a very timely interview.
If you knew what Doug and I have been discussing this past weekend.
(26:33):
Well, we need to talk a separate time.
Okay, so in line with the...
with the title of the show, the visionary show, can tell, of course, social legacy.
I've never heard anyone really advocate for something.
Like you said, you go to TikTok, there's nothing like that, right?
So you're a true visionary.
(26:54):
How does your role as a global leader help in you doing this kind of legacy?
Well, I think the job has put me in different places around the world and that is a realblessing because that's where I get to meet these kids who need a place and everyone has
found us through a different means.
I also get to bring a voice to the workplace that you don't normally hear.
(27:18):
I remember being at IHG and I had mentioned earlier in this recording that that was when Ireally claimed this is an intention and this is a way that our family will choose to live.
I'll tell you one day my husband and daughter were coming by the office to pick me upbecause we were going to one of my daughter's
favorite restaurants, Morton's, and it's right on the bund and my office is right on thebund.
(27:39):
It's a steak place.
It's not by far.
It's not that the best best place is Shanghai, but that was her favorite, right?
And he, Tao loved steak and my husband is an absolute carnivore.
So they were really happy.
They came by the office.
I wasn't quite ready.
So I said, why don't you come upstairs?
My husband pushed a stroller that was reclined because Tao couldn't put his head up forlong periods.
(27:59):
He had already had the shunt installed and had multiple surgeries, but he was, you helooked different than most people look with the size of his head and his eyes were still
unable to blink.
My daughter came up and
it was like a hush fell over the floor.
sat in the corner office and my team was sort of across the floor.
And on both sides of those hallways, people started turning their head because even indeveloped countries, you don't see children with hydrocephalus very often, and especially
(28:26):
not in China.
People started to come out of their office and they were saying, can we see him?
Is this your son?
And so we put him on the ground because he could kind of do this little army crawl at thatpoint.
And he crawled into my lap and turned his head up on his back.
looked up at me and grabbed my hair and just giggled and I
I looked up from the floor and I saw these expressions that I'd never seen on any of myteam's faces.
(28:53):
It's like the CEO, I was CCO at the time, it's like the title washed away.
It's like the corner office washed away and they just saw a mom who cares about her child.
And it made me realize this is really important to integrate your work and your life.
What you're doing for social legacy, you should bring in the workplace.
And that has stayed with people.
Somebody texted me on International Women's Day just recently and said,
(29:15):
I still remember that day and you showed me that leaders can be real.
So I think my job has been really important because it's enabled me to connect with peopleand show them a different brand of leadership that is perhaps vulnerable and authentic and
sometimes fails.
Why are you not crying telling all these stories?
(29:39):
Wow.
I cried for a long time about Teo until the jeggings.
Sometimes, sometimes there's still moments.
Well, so I won't keep you that long anymore.
That was a great, great conversation.
I just want you to share more about The Spare Room, your book, and promote this nobleeffort.
(30:08):
I don't know.
I can't say it's a concept because it is not.
It is.
I'm going to give you credit, you said earlier, Jen, you want it to be a movement.
That's what I would love.
is a move.
It should be.
it.
Like that idea, you know, you go to a Starbucks, pay it forward.
Everybody knows what pay it forward means.
Do you know who coined the phrase?
Probably not.
That's what I would love one day.
People just start talking about what's your spare room.
(30:30):
They don't have to know me or remember me.
But if the idea of a spare room becomes a movement, that is a success and something that Iwould die feeling so happy about.
So you can find me on social-legacy.com, a website.
You can find me on socials at spareroom.emilychang.
And I'm on LinkedIn.
Emily Chang, 8621.
(30:50):
And you can buy the book anywhere, Amazon.
Hang out, you're on TikTok too.
Don't forget.
That's, oh yeah, same thing, socials.
SpareRoom.EmilyChang.
Same handle.
All right, well, thank you very much, Emily, for the time you spared for me and for us,our audience.
It's been just lovely.
It can tug in your heart, know, that feeling that, what am I doing with my life?
(31:18):
You know, can feel it.
There's a hole that you need to sort of heal or something.
I just wish you could...
We could talk again another time offline.
Guys, we're not involving you, but I had a great time.
I have been heavily touched, and I really want to get to know you more as a person, Emily.
(31:42):
There's so much there I want to know more about.
So.
I love the idea of visionaries, right?
We should have a bigger vision for our lives.
And here's the thing, if you can't articulate what your vision is for your life, then whatare you doing today?
Are you only existing?
It really is binary.
So go create your vision and live the biggest life you can.
(32:02):
Yeah, create your vision.
Create that spare room in your life to make other people's lives better.
And that's, there you have it for today's episode.
We'll see you again next time with Mohon Ananda.
Have a great day, everyone.
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