Dec 8, 2023

Meet Lien-Fang Chen: The bicultural creative producer making her mark Early in her career, Chen embraced her competitive nature to combat the known struggles for women and minorities in the workplace, often finding herself as a lone voice in proposing less conventional strategies. By Photo courtesy of Lien-Fang Chen Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own. It’s no secret that those who find success within their industries are often not afraid to carve their paths. While it takes courage and an innovative spirit to thrive, it is when such traits are combined with a broad scope of knowledge that sets people apart. With a diverse background in tech startups, entertainment, and consumer products, bilingual and bicultural creative producer Lien-Fang Chen understands the significance of these qualities and has been a trendsetter since her teenage years. However, her overall work ethic, creativity, adaptability, and perseverance in the face of adversity have genuinely set her apart. Born and raised in Taipei City, Taiwan, Chen first lived in the U.S. from age eight to 13 while her father earned his PhD in Technology Management. Moving back to Taiwan as a young teen, Chen struggled to fit in with her peers as she carried over some American fashion customs and needed help speaking Mandarin Chinese. She recalls the knee-high socks she needed to wear as part of her school uniform and how they were “scrunched,” unlike those worn by the other students. This made Chen a target for ridicule until, ironically, her style became fashionable, and all her peers caught up to her. This gave Chen an idea of what it feels like to be ahead of the trends and sculpt her journey following her personal preferences — the power of being yourself. While such an incident can seem small, the outcome brought a light of victory into an otherwise miserable adolescence for Chen. It ultimately led to her passion for creative producing and strategy setting. Chen returned to the States in 2006, earned her graduate degree, and has since crafted a successful career in tech startups, entertainment, and lifestyle products. While entering the industry, Chen brought her diverse education and experiences with her, alongside a deep ambition to affect a cultural shift for the values she believes in, products with the power to bring people forward and engage with consumers and audiences in a way that builds them up rather than appealing to the status quo. As a result of her experience growing up, Chen focused her career on building community and communicating joy. Early in her career, she embraced her competitive nature to combat the known struggles for women and minorities in the workplace, often finding herself as a lone voice in proposing less conventional strategies. Understanding her remarkable value, skills, insights, experiences, and self-worth was a substantial difficulty, but her unparalleled perseverance and adaptability soon led to multiple successes. One of these successes was with Segway, where Chen developed her concept and completely revamped the Segway Across America program to bring an in-person test riding experience to consumers across four East Coast cities. Coming from a successful grassroots community platform, Chen led the revamping of the annual Segway Across America campaign, taking it from an online-only project to a multifaceted experiential event. This program, along with the Transformers x Segway partnership, won 1.2 billion organic impressions for Segway in 2022, over a 100% increase year on year for Segway. Chen co-founded the Taiwanese American Film Festival (TAFF), championing underrepresented filmmakers and their stories through workshops, mentorship programs, and cash prizes. The first film festival in 2017 sold out, and in 2018, the audience favorite award winner went on to be nominated for Best Animated Short at the Academy Awards. The festival was also recognized by the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, via a panel talk that Chen gave in Los Angeles. Chen also pitched and ultimately produced a Nike co-branded product launch video for the oldest running shoe specialty store in southern California , A Snail’s Pace, applying further credibility to her diverse skill set. Chen helped Nike highlight the Hispanic community in a Hispanic Heritage Month video spot, and the video proved to be immensely successful, prompting Nike to sponsor a Dia de los Muertos community run in partnership with A Snail’s Pace. As a top performer in her industry with extraordinary abilities, Lien-Fang Chen looks forward to continuing her work and additional opportunities to bring sustainable products to the forefront of public consciousness as she continues focusing her career on building community and communicating joy.