BOOK THE DIRECTOR
Cross-Cultural Keynote Speaker On Gender Equity & Marketing Strategy
An award-winning filmmaker and respected advertising executive who has lived around the world, Izzy inspires your audience to look at the world with fresh eyes and to dream of possibilities they didn’t see before. How? Through moving personal stories, compelling data, and dynamic public speaking.
Director Izzy Chan with Ernarida, our Minangkabau grandmother from West Sumatra, Indonesia
KEYNOTES & SPEAKING TOPICS
A talk on female-led societies, including exclusive footage from her latest documentary-in-progress, Matriarch.
Women At The Center: Imagine A World Led By Women
All Mixed Up: Life As A Foulmouthed Chinese Immigrant Woman Who Grew Up In A French Catholic Convent School in the Last British Colony
Post-Screening Q&A with the director
We’re thrilled you want to book Izzy for a talk. Tell us more about yourself and the event, and we’ll be in touch shortly.
MORE ABOUT IZZY
With a Mosuo matriarch in Yunnan, China
FROM STRONG WOMEN
I come from a long line of strong women, but always with a keen awareness that we live in a man’s world. My paternal grandmother fled the Communists on foot, walking 600 miles from northern China to Hong Kong—pregnant and on bound feet. One of my sharpest childhood memories was this constant hunt for children’s shoes for my grandmother—shoes that looked respectable, that wouldn’t look comical and childish on my grandmother’s “lotus” feet. From the time my grandmother was a small child, her feet were cut, broken, and tightly bound, again and again, until they stopped growing. Such was the man’s world she lived in—his definition of beauty is her everlasting misery. But my grandmother never let her bound feet stop her from walking, however slowly and painfully, towards her goals and dreams, towards a better life. On my mother’s side, my grandmother was a fearless smuggler. She kept her family alive in WWII by smuggling rice, soy sauce, and contraband between China and Hong Kong. She evaded enemy soldiers, fed resistance fighters, and outwitted rival smugglers. Because of my grandmothers, I have the life I have—and a fierce belief that I can do anything.
You can find out more about Izzy's professional background at linkedin.com/in/izzychan
WHERE IZZY HAS SPOKEN
WHY CHOOSE IZZY FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT?
With her cross-cultural background and long career as a creative strategist whose job is to fuel people to do their best work, Izzy will light up the room and inspire your audience to look at the world with fresh eyes and dream of possibilities they didn’t see before.
“Izzy has been a dynamic speaker and a thoughtful mentor to the many students and emerging filmmakers she encountered around the world. In addition to screenings, Izzy led many masterclasses and weeklong workshops. Izzy is a true professional, with excellent communication skills, incredible drive, and a passion for telling stories that matter to her, and to the world.”
~ Rachel Gandin Mark, Director of International Programs, Program Director, American Film Showcase, U.S.C. School of Cinematic Arts