Yang-May Blows Me Away

Yang-May Ooi is beautiful. You can read why here. On top of that, she's articulate, multi-talented, well-read, and intelligent.

She’s also a published author. Her first two books, Flame Tree and Mindgame, are fictional thrillers set in Asia. Her third, New Trends in International Public Relations (co-authored with Silvia Cambie), is currently in the works.

That in itself is pretty cool. But that's not all. Not even close.

Yang-May is also an analytical thinker, a prolific blogger, a sought-after conference speaker, a thoughtful cultural commentator, a social media expert and a successful entrepreneur.

She’s what I would call an amazing and inspiring 21st century “renaissance” woman.

I met Yang-May at an International Association of Business Communicators’ conference in Barcelona in February, where she chaired one of the best conference panels I have ever attended. (Sadly, I’ve had the misfortune of attending many, many, poor ones.)

Yang-May led fellow social marketing experts and equally accomplished panelists Mark Wright (Simply Communicate) and Giles Colborne (CX Partners) in a lively, provocative, interactive session on what works, and what doesn’t, on the web. It was truly outstanding.

(Being a public speaking coach and trainer, I recognize great speakers, presenters and panel session moderators when I see and hear them, and I give accolades such as this one sparingly.)

Over the course of the conference I had the pleasure of dining with Yang-May and three of her family members – also dynamic, interesting and successful women. (Maybe “amazingness” is a matter of genes as well as gender…).

At the time, Yang-May shared some useful social marketing tips and encouraged me to start blogging. It only took me four months to make it happen (see Like a Virgin?).

Obviously I don’t hold a candle to Yang-May, whose absolutely brilliant blog gets more than 10,000 unique hits a month and has been featured on the BBC. It’s an exemplar for novices like me – something to aspire to, as it were.

I’m not nearly as proficient, professional or prolific as her, at least not when it comes to blogging. But I’m working on it.

Who knows? Maybe one day this site will be as successful as Yang-May’s blog. Anything is possible when you’re inspired by amazing women such as her.