Hi, I’m Jane.
I grew up bilingually all over the U.S. and Taiwan, moving between worlds and not quite fitting in. Trying to find a place to belong among these many worlds would carry me to Tokyo, Paris, Taipei, Boston, NYC, and San Francisco as a young professional.
I thought my deliverance would be out in the world — the right city, the right career, the right love life = success! — and that I had to make it all happen for myself, because who else could, right? So I was constantly hustling, on the go, inside and out… doing doing doing.
It took crises, pain, and healing, as part of a decade-plus roots journey back in my birthland of Taiwan, to shed the false selves that had grown from the cultural expectations and social conditioning of many worlds. Only then did I learn to relax and just be.
Turns out all I ever wanted in life would come from being at home with myself and living from a place of awareness and groundedness within. Being, rather than doing.
Turns out that’s all any of us need to live the lives we desire.
Professional Snapshot
I started my career working in pioneering roles in global business development; then served as an intercultural coach, trainer, and teacher for managers and their families & teams, international school teachers, university students, and diplomats; and built socially innovative communities around lifelong learning and globally-minded talent. Along the way I began facilitating DEI work while also deeply reckoning with the climate crisis and recognizing that inner transformational work is integrally connected with awareness of our connection with nature. Now, I’m leveraging my experience holistically to develop the consciousness of leaders in a complex world in crisis.
Citizenship:
U.S. & Taiwan
Languages:
Native: English, Mandarin
Advanced Proficiency: Japanese
Conversational: French
Education:
M.A., Int’l Business / Int’l Political Economy / Pacific Asia
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
B.A. in Sociology
University of California, Berkeley
Certifications:
Professional Certified Coach (PCC), certified by the International Coach Federation (ICF)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC)
Other Training:Volunteer counseling, Teacher Chang Foundation
Facilitation, Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA)
A Transformative Journey
In December 2019, I shared my journey to finding home among the many worlds I grew up in. Since then, I’ve been on another deeper journey to an inner quiet, wholeness, and awareness that I have never known before. My energy and desires have shifted. I’ve shed my busy extraversion, my restless moving of geographies, my need to depend on any other counsel besides my own, and more. I now love plants whereas I used to find them boring! I share about this latest leg of my journey here.
Writings, Talks & Interviews
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Third Culture Kid (TCK)
I spoke about my TCK experience with Radio Taiwan International (RTI)’s Shirley Lin in 2018, and on a panel with TCKs of Asia during a podcast interview in 2021 entitled “How Do We Learn To Belong? Third Culture Stories From Asia”.
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Asian American Identity
I contributed to a 2021 New York Times piece titled “How It Feels To Be Asian in Today’s America”, based on a FB post I penned after the 2021 Atlanta shootings. I also spoke with Between Here & There about “Navigating a Cross-Cultural Identity”.
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Depression
In 2016 I penned a FB note And Yet, The Sun Always Rises just after emerging from a dark depression. In 2021 I spoke about what depression taught me about self-love: in a lightning talk at a FIGT conference, and in an interview with Talking Taiwan.
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As A Cross-Cultural Consultant
While serving at The Community Center in Taipei, I wrote on topics like what cross-cultural training is, developing cross-cultural sensitivity, making friends in different cultural contexts, culture shock, what’s personal, and my own journey home.
As a Community Builder
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Becoming
Becoming was a cross-cultural creative learning community in Taipei that held workshops from 2013-2014 (before Michelle Obama’s book!). ICRT interviewed my co-founders and I (search “Jane Wang” on the page to find it) on our vision, and how we thought community learning could be transformational.
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Build Great Bridges Around Taiwan (BGBAT)
In Can We Pull Taiwan Out of Its Identity Crisis? published in 2017, I share thoughts on Taiwan’s place in the world from my experience founding the social innovation community Build Great Bridges Around Taiwan (BGBAT) that facilitated conversations on how Taiwan can attract and retain globally-minded talent.
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Degrowth & Wellbeing Economies
I’m co-organizing a degrowth and wellbeing economies movement in Taiwan that connects globally. Pursuing infinite economic growth on a finite planet is destroying us. How can we create economies that actually serve the wellbeing of life on earth, including our own? Find out more and join me here.