Jane Chen: Like a Wave We Break

What drives us to achieve—and at what cost? Jane Chen created a global company to save the lives of premature infants. Yet when her company faltered, she fell apart. In her new memoir, Chen grapples with family violence, intergenerational trauma, and the demons that drove her to succeed. She also chronicles her journey to rebuild. Along the way, she discovers that true healing—and meaningful impact—depend not on relentless striving but on learning to lead, love, and live with compassion. 

Jane Chen is the co-founder of Embrace Global, which developed a groundbreaking infant incubator that has provided lifesaving care to more than a million babies worldwide. Trained at Stanford and Harvard, Chen has been recognized as a Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the World Economic Forum and was a recipient of the Economist Innovation Award. She is the author of Like a Wave We Break: A Memoir of Falling Apart and Finding Myself.

This event is made possible through the support of ‘Iolani School. 

The Better Tomorrow Speaker Series is a joint venture of UH Mānoa, The Learning Coalition, and Hawai‘i Community Foundation, with support from the UH Foundation and the College of Arts, Languages and Letters. Series sponsors include the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience and the William S. Richardson School of Law. 

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