Ukraine_Day2 - 2.jpg

speaking

Cross-Cultural Keynote Speaker on gender equality and 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.

“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

keynotes & speaking topics

  • Gender Equality At Home

    Filmmaker and researcher Izzy Chan draws on the research and lessons learned in making her documentary on breadwinner wives and stay-at-home dads, to shed light on issues of gender equality when it comes to parenting and household responsibilities.

  • Women At The Center

    As more women enter leadership roles, there is growing discussion about the potential benefits of female-led organizations and societies. Izzy will share clips and lessons learned while researching and making her current documentary-in-progress, Matriarch.

  • How A Documentary Saved My Marriage

    Izzy made The Big Flip to save her marriage. In this talk, Izzy shares the research behind her documentary and how the lessons learned in making the film saved her marriage.

Izzy’s Stories

Personal Stories

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.

Public Speaking Youth Champion

My love for public speaking started when I was a teen in Hong Kong. In my last year of high school, I won the public speaking championship and was the representative of Hong Kong in the Pacific Rim International Public Speaking Contest in Australia. I was also in the Model United Nations—another youth event centered on public speaking.

A Borrowed Place, Borrowed Time

Having grown up in Hong Kong in its final days as a British colony, I often feel like an exile from a borrowed place, borrowed time. With constant news about the eventual handover, I was aware that the Hong Kong of my childhood has an expiration date, a particular piece of a fading empire. And what a place it was, with its inimitable mélange of misfits and cultures! As a girl, my classmates came from India, England, Australia, and the Philippines; our teachers were French Catholic nuns who taught us to sing French hymns and speak their version of the Queen’s English. I went to church on Sundays, visited Buddhist temples on holidays, and prayed to my ancestors at home. As a teenager, my best friends were a Scottish barmaid, an Aussie runaway, a loudmouthed Shanghainese waitress, and a rotation of American navy men (Hong Kong was a popular port-of-call for the Navy). That’s why I document places and moments in time—the sounds, the characters, the rituals, the textures of day and night. And most of all, I cherish the stories—of secret dreams, broken hearts, and enduring hope. Stories are all that remain when a place is no longer, and the people are gone.

Braden Leadership Speaker Series

Golden Gate University

 

PAST ENGAGEMENTS

 
IzzyChan_Homepage_R5-08.png
 
 

Media: Katie Couric Show, CBS Austin, Inflection Point (syndicated radio)

Corporations: Google, Facebook, Disney, Salesforce, EY, Bare Escentuals, Goldman Sachs, Team One

Conferences: The 3% Conference, HomeDadCon, Virginia Women’s Conference, Sharm El-Sheikh Film Festival (Egypt)

Education: University College London, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Golden Gate University, The Kyiv Academy for Media Arts, Kyiv University of Culture

International: U.S. Embassy Cairo, U.S. Embassy Kyiv, U.S. Embassy Beijing

 

O O O

 

“Our post-screening discussion was the high point of the evening, with Izzy sharing her own stories and the insights she’s gleaned. Her words were honest, thoughtful, vulnerable, and inspiring to us all, and opened up a dialogue around how we can support each other.”


- Elizabeth Spaulding, Senior Partner of Bain & Co.

 
 

American Film Showcase Opening Event

U.S. Embassy Jakarta—July 4th