March marks the beginning of Women’s History Month, a time to recognize the women who are shaping industries, building communities, and redefining what leadership looks like today. In celebration of the month, we’re sharing one of our top Fan Favorite guests from 2025, Emily Chang, a global business leader whose career spans some of the world’s most recognizable brands and industries.

Emily currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer of CHAGEE, a leading international tea beverage company guided by the vision of connecting people through a great cup of tea. Founded in 2017 in Yunnan, China—the historic home of tea—CHAGEE has rapidly expanded to more than 6,000 stores globally, redefining the modern tea experience. Emily is also the best-selling author of The Spare Room, a powerful book about purpose, leadership, and the impact we can make when we choose to open our lives to others.

Jayzen starts the show with a deep dive into Step 1 of the Lead With Your Brand! System: Define Your Audience.

Many people think their personal brand is about what they do. In reality, the strongest brands are built around who they serve and the value they create. One of the biggest mistakes professionals make is trying to appeal to everyone. When you try to be everything to everyone, you become generic—something to everyone, but meaningful to no one.

The most successful brands take the opposite approach: they identify their core audience and super serve their super fans. Jayzen shares how networks like Bravo and Telemundo grew by focusing on the audiences that mattered most and delivering exactly what those viewers wanted.

The same principle applies to your career. Understanding your audience helps you show up with intention—and deliver the greatest value where it matters most.

Because your brand isn’t about promoting yourself—it’s about helping others succeed.

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t try to serve everyone. Focus on the audience you serve best.
• Look beyond titles. Understand motivations, needs, and values.
• Identify your super fans. These are the people who champion your work.
• Deliver value intentionally. Tailor how you show up to serve them best.

Jayzen then welcomes Emily Chang to the show. Emily shares her incredible career journey that has spanned senior leadership roles at P&G, the first executive for Apple in China overseeing retail marketing, CMO of Starbucks China and more. Her insights and practical advice on how to be a leader on any level and move your career forward are invaluable.

Guest Bio

Emily Chang

Chief Commercial Officer, CHAGEE and Best Selling Author of The Spare Room

Emily is CCO of CHAGEE, a leading international tea beverage company guided by the vision to connect everyone through a good cup of tea. The brand first started in 2017 in the hometown of tea, Yunnan, China, and has since expanded to over 6,000+ stores globally. Emily has over 25 years of experience spanning QSR, Retail, Hospitality, Creative, Tech, and FMCG industries. She holds an exceptional track record of accelerating global brands which began at P and G. Over 11 years, she worked across all three business units spanning upstream design, retail, and digital marketing, and based in Cincinnati, Fayetteville, and Guangzhou.

She then moved to Apple as the first executive in China overseeing Retail Marketing for APAC, opening new stores and developing the Apple Asia retail operating model. Later, she joined IHG as the Chief Commercial Officer for Greater China where she led a team of 5,400, launching a new brand and crafting new partnerships to become the #1 hotel brand in China.

Drawn to the best of CX and CRM, Emily joined Starbucks in 2017 as CMO of China, where she oversaw all commercial functions and led the teams that brought digital experiences to life like the Shanghai Roastery Augmented Reality, Starbucks Delivery, and Digital Gifting. Five years ago, Emily became CEO of McCann Worldgroup in China, where she transformed a 450-member team across four agencies in three offices to deliver five-year highs in record revenue and OIBI.

Emily believes passionately in living with intention and leading with authenticity. She published a best-selling book called “The Spare Room,” and speaks at industry-leading events like TEDx and Fortune Most Powerful Women. Emily is a member of YPO and has also served on non-profit boards, including most recently with SOS Children’s Villages.

Links

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop, visit Jayzenpatria.com

In this episode of the Lead With Your Brand! podcast, Jayzen Patria continues his five-step framework by diving deeper into Step 3: Refining Who You Want to Be and Building Your Brand Foundation. If the previous episode focused on identifying your brand attributes, this installment challenges listeners to move from descriptive words to bold, declarative statements — clarifying what you believe, what you promise, and why you should be chosen.

Building Your Brand Foundation. Moving beyond adjectives, Jayzen explains that powerful personal brands are rooted in three core elements: your belief, your promise, and your positioning. It’s not enough to say you are “collaborative” or “strategic.” SuperPremium professionals articulate the emotional belief that drives them, the value-driven promise they make to their audience, and the competitive edge that differentiates them from others with similar skills.

Tune in to hear how moving from generic descriptors to clear declarations can sharpen your narrative, attract the right opportunities, and clarify when you are — and are not — the right fit.

Key Takeaways:

• Your brand foundation is built on three pillars: belief, promise, and position
• Declarative statements are more powerful than generic descriptors
• Your core belief should be emotional and enduring — not tied to a job title
• A strong brand promise builds trust with your career audience
• Positioning clarifies your competitive edge and differentiates you from others
• You are not meant to be a corporate clone — you are meant to be distinct

The episode then transitions into an energizing and candid conversation with Kalia Waits-Smith, Vice President of Employee Communications and Engagement at Freshworks, exploring storytelling, authenticity, reinvention, and what it truly means to fill your career toolbox. With more than 15 years of experience across television, nonprofit operations, tech, and executive leadership, Kalia shares how uncovering her identity as a storyteller transformed the way she shows up as a leader.

Guest Bio

Kalia Waits-Smith

VP, Employee Communications and Engagement

Freshworks

With over 15 years of leadership experience in tech, Kalia combines expertise in change management and employee comms/engagement to shape how employees feel at work and drive businesses forward. A writer and storyteller at heart, she blends empathy and operations to build teams, partnerships, and systems to co-create change and bring company strategy and culture to life.

In her most recent role at Zuora, Kalia led a team of communicators that launched their first-ever company values, steered employee comms for multiple M&A transactions, and stood up an Employee Experience cohort of cross-functional leads that scaled engagement globally. Prior to Zuora, she held similar roles at Visa and Cornerstone OnDemand, partnering with leaders to build cultures of communication as they navigated times of change.

Kalia grew up in Southern California, but has lived in the Bay Area since 2018. She's living her best snack-filled life in Oakland with her husband, four-year-old daughter, mom, and mom's dog, Buddy. Whenever she's not writing on LinkedIn, which she does A LOT, she's taking Orange Theory classes and trying new wines, cheeses and champagnes.

Links

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop, visit Jayzenpatria.com

In this episode of the Lead With Your Brand! podcast, Jayzen Patria continues his five-step framework by unpacking Step 3: Refining Who You Want to Be and Supersizing Your Superpowers. Jayzen challenges listeners to move beyond generic descriptors and intentionally elevate their personal brand so it stands out, feels differentiated, and creates real impact.

The episode then transitions into a powerful conversation with Cliff Holtz, President and CEO of the American Red Cross, exploring leadership, trust, authenticity, and what it means to steward one of the most trusted brands in the world.

Supersizing Your Superpowers. Supersizing your brand means turning up the volume on what already makes you strong, unique, and effective.

Using real-world examples from brands like the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Oxygen Network, and Bravo, Jayzen shows how powerful brands clearly define not only what they are, but also what they are not, creating consistency, trust, and memorability.

Tune in to hear how Jayzen SuperSized his own descriptors from being described as a “good presenter” to clearly owning his identity as a storyteller, showman, and super-connector…a combination that is unmistakably his.

Key Takeaways:

• Most people stop at generic traits; SuperPremium brands SuperSize what makes them different
• Clustering similar traits helps uncover your true brand superpowers
• Strong brands define clear boundaries, including how they never want to show up
• SuperSizing isn’t about changing who you are; it’s about calibrating how you show up, like a DJ mixing the right tracks for the moment

Jayzen sits down with Cliff Holtz for his first-ever podcast appearance, offering an intimate look at leadership behind one of America’s most trusted organizations. Cliff reflects on his journey from COO to CEO, the influence of legendary leader Gail McGovern, and the lessons learned about earning trust, choosing words carefully, and leading with humanity. He shares how authenticity doesn’t mean showing up the same way in every moment, but rather understanding when to shift gears while staying true to your values.

Guest Bio

Cliff Holtz

President & Chief Executive Officer

American Red Cross

Cliff Holtz serves as the president and chief executive officer of the American Red Cross, the nation’s largest provider of lifesaving blood products and leading emergency response organization. Holtz joined the Red Cross in 2011 and assumed his role as president and CEO on July 1, 2024, following the retirement of president and CEO Gail McGovern.

Prior to his current role, Holtz held the position of chief operating officer for seven years where he oversaw the execution of all mission delivery and operations comprising Biomedical Services, Disaster Services, International Services, Training Services and Service to the Armed Forces. During his tenure as COO, Holtz worked closely with his predecessor, Gail McGovern, in leading the Red Cross to achieve financial stability while also growing critical investments in mission, people and infrastructure.

As part of his vision for the Red Cross, Holtz is building on the organization’s strong foundation to adapt to the growing frequency and intensity of disasters and develop sustainability efforts with a focus on underserved communities across all mission delivery. His commitment to humanitarian efforts and operational excellence has been instrumental in the organization’s service to millions of people in need.

Before joining the Red Cross in 2011, Holtz held executive leadership positions at for-profit companies including Pelco (a Division of Schneider Electric), Nortel Networks Corp, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Qwest Communications and Gateway Corporation. He also spent 16 years at AT&T working in sales, marketing, new business development, operations and engineering, and human resources. His tenure culminated with his role as the president of Metro Markets, a $4.5 billion unit.

Holtz earned a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Albany and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago. He has served on the boards of LHC Group (recently sold to United Health Care), the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the National Jewish Hospital.

Links

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop, visit Jayzenpatria.com