Years ago, Sheena Yap Chan interviewed me for her podcast. This time, I got to turn the microphone around.
Sheena is the author and host behind The Tao of Self-Confidence, a platform dedicated to helping Asian women become more visible, confident, and recognized as leaders. Our conversation explored identity, representation, leadership, artificial intelligence, and what becomes possible when Asian women accurately name their own accomplishments.
From Wanting to Look Different to Embracing Herself
Sheena moved from the Philippines to Toronto when she was seven. Although she grew up in a multicultural city, the media she watched did not reflect that diversity. She did not see people who looked like her, and that absence shaped how she saw herself.
“I never wanted to be Asian,” she shared. “I wanted to have blonde hair, blue eyes to feel accepted.”
In her twenties, she dyed her hair back to its natural color. She described that period as a turning point: embracing her appearance, her culture, and who she was instead of trying to become someone else.
Her story raises a different question from the usual advice to “be more confident.” Before asking someone to believe in herself, it is worth asking what taught her not to.
For Sheena, representation was not an abstract cause. It was something she had needed as a girl—and something she could help create as an adult.
Creating the Conversations She Needed to Hear
That experience helped inspire The Tao of Self-Confidence, her podcast highlighting Asian women’s stories: the paths they forged, the setbacks they encountered, and how they moved forward.
Sheena wanted more than polished success stories. She wanted women to hear the parts that often remain private.
In our conversation, she described cultural expectations that discourage people from discussing their problems. When everyone stays quiet, it can feel as though you are the only person struggling—even when others are navigating similar doubts and pressures.
Her podcast makes room for those conversations. There is a difference between hearing that someone succeeded and hearing how she worked through the moments when success was uncertain. The second story gives you something you can use.
It also makes the person behind the accomplishment visible.
The Leadership Book She Wasn’t Sure She Could Write
When Wiley approached Sheena about writing a leadership book for Asian women, she initially questioned whether she was qualified.
“I didn’t even know if I considered myself a leader,” she told me.
The opportunity was there, but she was still questioning whether she was the person to take it. Encouragement from people around her helped her move forward. With three months to write the manuscript, she committed to getting it done.
The book came out in May 2023. Its title is The Tao of Self-Confidence: A Guide to Moving Beyond Trauma and Awakening the Leader Within.
That distinction matters: awakening leadership, rather than assuming a woman has none until someone gives it to her.
Sheena later wrote Bridging the Confidence Gap, continuing her work on confidence and women’s advancement.
Her experience offers a useful reminder: uncertainty about a new role is not proof that you are unqualified for it. Sometimes you have already been doing meaningful work long before you feel comfortable naming what it makes you.
“I Am the CEO” Is Not Bragging
One of the most striking parts of our conversation concerned Asian women who were already running substantial businesses.
Sheena described speaking with women who had built eight-figure businesses yet went years without calling themselves CEOs. She also described situations in which people assumed a woman’s husband was the chief executive—or assumed she was the secretary—when she was actually the person running the company.
Her response was direct: take ownership of the role.
“No, I am the CEO.”
That is not arrogance. It is accuracy.
Asian women are frequently encouraged to work hard, remain humble, and allow the quality of their work to speak for itself. But work cannot always correct assumptions that prevent people from recognizing who created it.
Women should not have to minimize their authority to make other people comfortable. A woman should not have to borrow someone else’s appearance, personality, or authority to have her own expertise taken seriously.
Naming your role is not bragging when it is the truth.
Before AI-Ready, Be Human-Ready
Our conversation also moved into the workplace and the growing pressure to prepare for AI.
“We can have all the tech in the world, but if people aren’t ready to adopt it or trust it or have the confidence to use it, then nothing happens,” Sheena said.
She calls this human readiness.
Organizations can purchase sophisticated technology, but adoption still depends on people having the confidence to participate. It also depends on workplaces where employees feel able to ask questions, contribute ideas, experiment, and admit when they do not understand something.
Leadership is not only about choosing the right tools. It is also about creating an environment in which people can contribute what they know.
The same principle applies to entrepreneurship. Many people have valuable ideas, consume enormous amounts of information, and continuously prepare—but never execute. Information alone does not build a business. Progress requires decisions, support, experimentation, and action even when the outcome remains uncertain.
The technology matters. So does the person using it.
A Girl Who Wants to Build Robots
When I asked Sheena what legacy she wanted to leave, her answer returned to possibility.
“I just want to show people what’s possible, especially for women, especially for Asian women.”
She recalled attending a technology conference where a little girl said she wanted to make robots when she grew up. At that age, Sheena remembered wanting to be a princess.
Hearing a child imagine herself building technology was meaningful to her. The contrast was not about judging one childhood dream against another. It was about the range of futures a girl can picture for herself.
Sheena wants women to see writing books, speaking on stages, building companies, and creating ambitious work as possibilities available to them—not lives reserved for somebody else.
She also described helping people access speaking opportunities, with a particular desire to see more women recognized as leaders onstage.
That brings her story full circle: a girl who did not see herself represented becomes a woman creating more opportunities for others to be seen.
For me, the takeaway is not that Asian women need to become different people to lead. It is that we need more space to name our accomplishments, use our voices, and pursue the work we actually want to do.
Sometimes the next step is writing the book. Sometimes it is stepping onto the stage. And sometimes it begins with saying, plainly and accurately:
“I am the CEO.”
Explore Sheena’s books, speaking work, and free VISIBLE Framework Toolkit through her official website.
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