Updated: Mar 4, 2022
Cynthia Pong is a disruptor. Working as a NYU-trained lawyer for several years in the public defender space, one day she had an epiphany and embarked on a major career pivot to become a successful, award-winning feminist career strategist, speaker, author, and founder of Embrace Change. She is now on a mission to close the gaps in the professional world in regards to pay, power, and respect for BIWOC.
What is Embrace Change?
Women of color account for 20% of the US population and only 1% are the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 2016 by Cynthia Pong, Embrace Change was created to dismantle the status quo. The company’s intent is to open doors and opportunity for women of color who seem to be shut out regardless of aptitude, experience, education, and potential. Women of color are also empowered through an innovative and one-of-a-kind Embrace Change Leadership Accelerator program, which was developed to break through the walls of systemic inequity.
DiversityZoom was able to sit down with Cynthia and discuss her company’s success, her new book “Don’t Stay In Your Lane” and where the future will take her and her organization, Embrace Change.
What was the defining moment in your life that prompted you to make a career pivot?
Cynthia: Oh wow, I actually write about this in my book, but there was one moment when I was a public defender and I was discussing the outcome of a case with my client. I was reviewing the options for the violation and the number of years it would take to fight the case and I realized as I was providing the details, I was completely detached to the horrible impact the criminal justice system had on actual people. I had an out of body experience and saw my feeling of empathy for and with my clients was lost. It was in that moment I recognized I could no longer do the job in the way I wanted to do. I had become a cog in the system, an apologist for a system I didn’t believe in. I needed to get out and make change in a radical way.
Why are women, specifically women of color, your focus group?
Cynthia: I think women of color deserve an intersectional approach, and it’s very important we do not get the same “cookie cutter” transactions. Women of color are treated in certain ways in these bigger systems, and let’s be honest, these leadership gaps in the workforce are systemic problems created on purpose by denying women of color specific positions of power. Critical information is circulated around straight white men in a particular class and they pack down on this information. They share the information between themselves that usually doesn’t trickle down to the rest of us.
And that is why it was so important for me to focus on working with women of color and amplifying our voices and boosting our careers because there is so much inequity there. Now, that has branched out to working with people of color in general and also with organizations that care about supporting their staff of color because it’s obviously a complicated issue.
Cynthia: To be completely honest, I was really scared going into the crowdfunding because I’d never participated in fundraisers like that before. To be even more honest, I applied to the program by mistake; I thought I was applying for a grant. I was pretty nervous but I felt very strongly about advancing my mission to make sure all women of color receive the money, power, and respect we deserve. So, with the accelerator program I tried to move the needle a little bit more on that progress.
I wanted to create this accelerator for small cohorts of women of color so they could build collective peer support from others like them, people who fully understand what it’s like to be them.
Ultimately, yes, I felt empowered because I accomplished something I never thought was possible and at the same time I really pushed myself to the limit in terms of gathering others to be a part of the campaign, of something that was worthy for them to invest their dollars in. Not only did the accelerator launch, but it really launched me as well as my clients and I’ll be forever grateful for that.
There are several diversity initiatives and organizations operating in the world today, why did you choose to partner with DiversityZoom?
Cynthia: Yes, sure there are many diversity organizations, but I was truly aligned with DiversityZoom; the organization is so unique. It was an immediate connection with the founder, Colin Smith. Our missions, our approach, our vision, our political-type of methodology to the work were so similar and I don’t often find that level of resonance with other companies. There are a lot of people doing great work in the diversity realms and I think it’s amazing, but I like to think there’s something really special about the kind of energy and zeal DiversityZoom is bringing to this space and the unabashedly and completely unapologetic creation of new ways to do things. We both believe in doing things, we are not about the same “cookie-cutter” career advice out there and trying to apply it to people of color. We are creating new pathways and I am about that.
My tagline is, “feminist career coaching for rule-breaking women of color from a rule-breaking woman of color” which shows how serious I am about breaking the predefined molds.
It definitely can feel lonely when you think you’re the only one out here doing things a certain way and we are definitely stronger together. I was so happy to partner with DiversityZoom and I can’t wait to see what we can do!
For more information on Embrace Change and Cynthia Pong, please visit: embracechange.nyc
If you would like to find out more about the Embrace Change Leadership Accelerator for Women of Color, please visit: embracechange.nyc/leadership-accelerator
If you would like to purchase Cynthia Pong’s book “Don’t Stay In Your Lane”, please visit embracechange.nyc/book
For more information on how DiversityZoom can help your recruiting process, please visit us at diversityzoom.com
