profile-photo

Marilyn Tam

Add to wishlist

Book Marilyn Tam

Marilyn Tam, Ph.D. is a Speaker, best selling Author, Consultant, Board Certified Executive/Corporate Coach, CEO of Marilyn Tam & Co. and Founder and Executive Director of Us Foundation. She was formerly the CEO of Aveda Corp., President of Reebok Apparel and Retail Group, Vice President of Nike Inc. and a successful entrepreneur who has built four companies. Inc. Magazine ranked her as one of the top 100 Leadership Speakers in the world. She has been selected as one of the Top 10 inspirational business speakers by one of the best professional speakers’ bureaus. Brand Channel lists her as one of the four most prominent names in Ethical Business globally. 

 

Marilyn is a contributing writer on Medium on how to live a successful, happy, healthy and dynamically balanced life. Her life is an inspiring example of what can be achieved if one followed their dreams. She grew up as an abused and neglected child in Hong Kong. She left home as a teen to come to America alone. Following her life mission, she achieved international business and humanitarian success. 

 

Marilyn now speaks, facilitates workshops and consults with corporations, organizations and people to achieve greater success, creativity and happiness. She helps people and organizations find and fulfill their life purpose and provide them with the principles and actions steps to take them their goals. Her NPR (Net Promoter Score) from her clients, the industry standard for measuring customer satisfaction, is among the highest rated of all speakers. Marilyn was recognized as one of the Top 30 Female Entrepreneurs in the USA by Fempreneur magazine. Jack Canfield detailed her work in his book on the strategies for success, The Success Principles. Among her numerous recognition and awards is the Artemis Award from the Greek Government and Euro-American Women's Council, with her image on a Greek postage stamp. Marilyn is featured in many documentary movies including GLOW Project, The Compass, Tapping the Source, and FEMME for her accomplishments and inner wisdom. 

 

Marilyn’s book, The Happiness Choice, was the top 3 most read book by businesses according to the leading business book supplier. The book won the Silver Medal of the Global eBook Awards. The book shows how and why happiness is crucial for business productivity and success, and for your physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial health. Her book, How to Use What You’ve Got to Get What You Want, is in six languages.

 

Speaking Topics

Diversity & Inclusion: How To Reap The Rich Harvest Of Culture, Creativity And Community

The demographics of the world’s population are rapidly changing. In the USA, 2020 is the year nonwhite children becomes the majority of USA children. Between 2041 – 2046 ethnic minority will comprise the majority of the USA population. In 2050, 58% of the world’s population growth will be coming from Africa. Learning how to benefit from diversity and to be a leader in a more diverse and global world is a challenge and an opportunity. The only way to prosper and grow in the 21st century is to embrace and leverage diversity. Learn how to successfully integrate diversity into your organization and network to create an inclusive, productive and thriving culture for ongoing success, employee and customer engagement and retention. Hear stories, learn principles, tools and action steps from Marilyn Tam’s global business, humanitarian, and consulting experience to become a more successful global leader.


A key focus is on helping leaders and employees understand how to adapt and grow their unique leadership styles to foster a multicultural workplace and attract and engage employees from across the cultural and diverse spectrum. Marilyn Tam is a self-made immigrant woman of color, you will learn from someone who has actually “walked the walk”.

The Happiness Choice: 5 Decisions That Take You From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be

Happiness is a choice. Gallup research in 2013 showed that in the USA, $550 billion worth of productivity was lost due to unhappiness and poor wellbeing at work and the cost has increased every year since. People want contentment, love, and happiness derived from meaningful work. They want healthy personal relationships, a healthy mind and body, a spiritual core, and a reason for living. But with only 24 hours in a day and the competing demands of modern life, how can you achieve all of this?

 

The author of The Happiness Choice, speaker Marilyn Tam shares what she learned from being an unwanted, neglected, and abused child in Hong Kong to becoming an international business success and humanitarian who is happy, healthy, and at peace with herself. In this presentation, you will learn the principles, tools, and philosophies Tam and others have used to achieve a productive, healthy, and joyful life. You’ll learn what will help power your organization, employees and yourself to greater creativity, productivity and happiness.

 

Marilyn’s book, The Happiness Choice, was the top 3 most read book by businesses and won the Silver Medal of the Global eBook Awards.

Leadership Excellence, How You Can Achieve It

To be a successful Leader in the 21st Century takes new skills and awareness. Fresh managerial tools and talents are needed to deal with today’s global business and the tighter and more visible connections between all aspects of the development, production and consumption cycle. In addition to standard business and finance, leaders have to include the impact on cultural, social and environmental factors. Learn from Marilyn’s international business and humanitarian experience on how to be the more effective and productive in business and life while creating collaborative and lasting relationships.

 

Marilyn will discuss how to define your mission and the principles and actions steps to ensure a cohesive, productive and energized team. Strategy and outlook into how to plan and lead in today’s tumultuous and interconnected business environment will be covered. She will help you review your personal leadership style and how to enhance it to increase effective communication and maximum sustainable profitable growth and development of your organization.

Women In The Workplace And Marketplace

McKinsey & Company’s survey showed that better financial returns, recruitment, retention, customer relations and business decisions are the benefits of a more gender balanced organization. In today’s highly competitive and interconnected world, women are invaluable to any enterprise. Yet cultural biases and structural obstacles hinder women’s progress. This is a loss for the company as much as it is for women. For a business to succeed and continue to thrive today, it needs to fully utilize all the resources available.

 

Tam will share the key factors that helped her become a successful woman in business and discuss her personal experience as a corporate leader, woman, business consultant, and humanitarian. You will learn the elements needed to attain success and happiness as a woman in business, and how to support and foster the development of women in business. Included in the presentation will be how to deal with “glass walls” as well as glass ceiling.

How To Use What You’ve Got To Get What You Want - Leadership And Personal Excellence: How You Can Achieve It

What seemed to be disadvantages in Marilyn Tam’s life ended up being the keys to her personal and professional success. In this engaging presentation, she will show you how to use what you’ve got to achieve your dreams, just like she did.

 

As someone who has broken the glass ceiling, Tam will share the leadership skills and character traits that really work to get to the top. You will hear motivational real-life stories, learn the four success principles, and how to maintain life balance and personal peace and happiness while achieving professional success.

Living The Life Of Your Dreams - Life Balance: How To Juggle Work, Home, Personal And Spiritual Health

The conflicting expectations and conditioning that people have been bombarded with makes them vulnerable to feeling unsatisfied, second rate and confused. Uncertain economic times, the incessant marketing message of “you can have it all” and the hyper-speed of change is hitting people so hard that they are oftentimes reduced to feeling despair in being able to attain any semblance of a balanced life – and even more critically, economic sustainability.

 

This hunger and fear is driving the collective unconsciousness. “Life Balance: How to Juggle Work, Home, Personal and Spiritual Health” is packed with motivation, encouragement, and practical resources for a happier more satisfying life.

 

Marilyn shares from her own experience as well as from the numerous experts whom she has worked and interviewed in her career and life. You will hear stories and practical examples of both success and failures that lead to the development of Life Balance. Learn practical actionable principles and tools to be able prioritize, allocate resources and balance your life demands to greater success, inner peace and happiness.

The Role Of Business In The 21st Century

The 21st Century is a wired and interconnected world, which has modified the roles and responsibilities of business. Business is no longer, if it ever was, only focused on the sole pursuit of the current Profit & Loss statement. It is now an integral and dynamic part of the global community, economy, environment and culture. For business to thrive in these circumstances, clarification of the mission and principles of the organization is needed.

 

Companies, non-profit organizations, sovereign nations and cultures are converging. How do we ensure a healthy bottom line for everyone? What is our future? Marilyn shares four defining principles for maintaining integrity in business and in life. With real life stories of wins and mistakes told with humor and lessons learned, you will take away key principles and action steps to better navigate in today’s fast changing world.

Global Business Today, The Opportunities And Challenges

Business today is global. The development, production and consumption chain stretch from wherever and however “local” the company is to all points of the globe. To excel in this marketplace means that each person and each company have to understand and be proactive about the opportunities and challenges that come with globalization.

 

Marilyn shares from her global business and humanitarian experience in 120 countries about the benefits, ethics and pitfalls that come with working in a complexity of cultures, traditions, geography and time zones. The increasing interrelationships between developers, suppliers, marketers, buyers and sellers mean that every business and organization need to operate with a much more expanded perspective of their market to be able to thrive today.


Learn from someone who has successfully managed companies and organizations in a wide variety of cultures and environments. Marilyn share insights and principles learned from practical experience. You and your organization will grow and prosper from her wisdom.

Lean In – Is That The Magic? The Choices And Challenges Of Attaining Happiness And Success

Having achieved the fabled professional success the popular concept, “lean in” alludes to, Marilyn Tam shares the insight on what it really means. “Having it all” is a fallacy; we cannot have it all at the same time. The multiple roles and expectations for a woman in the 21st century is impossible for any single person to achieve and maintain. The conflicting and demanding expectations have resulted in a measurable global decrease in women’s happiness over the past 40 years and also in comparison to men’s in all the 35 developed nations.


Marilyn Tam's Experiences

EXPERIENCE DETAILS

*
Virtual In-Person

Experience Details

Virtual In-Person
I'm prepared to move to contract immediately if my offer is accepted.

Payment Terms

+
=
I understand that submitting this firm offer form is a legally binding offer to contract with the talent on the terms above, should the talent accept them within 5 business days of when this form is submitted. I further agree to Engage's standard booking terms & conditions.

Testimonials

“If you’re looking for an engaging, inspiring, and genuine keynote speaker, I cannot recommend Marilyn Tam more highly!  Marilyn was our opening keynote at our annual conference in Long Beach, CA and set the tone for a conference that exceeded all expectations.   Our members are career counselors across the lifespan and across the globe and require a balance between inspiration and information and Marilyn delivered both beautifully.  Our Twitter feed for the conference lit up during and well after her presentation!  On a practical note, she was incredibly easy to work with!  We try not to repeat presenters too often, but I already had attendees ask me when we’d have her back.  The sooner the better!”

“I have heard from many of the participants who have said this was the best conference yet and they could really feel a different energy and excitement level. I attribute it to you who brought such great insight and a wealth of knowledge to the group. I can't thank you enough.”

“Thank you for sending along a copy of your keynote address.  It is powerful, moving and inspirational.  From our perspective we wouldn’t change a thing."

“Diversity is such a key issue currently at 3M. Thanks again for your inspiring and encouraging presentation. All our affinity groups received your presentation with great excitement.”

“The conference attendees LOVED the program, the content: Fabulous, dynamic speaker. Really practical application. She was dynamic and flexible to cater to audience’s needs. She was fabulous, very inspirational & uplifting. A breath of fresh air - great content - personal plus professional value.”

"Marilyn Tam is truly a super star...... Her presentation and her principles are what we believe in and how we need to operate and live to succeed. She expressed so powerfully and eloquently our mission and standards in a way that we can all understand and use to achieve our mission. Her experiences are indicative of her commitment to promoting and enhancing cross-cultural awareness and diversity throughout the world. Her achievements reflect great credit upon her, global leaders, and the United States of America…… My wife and I are going to have our children read her book to further inspire them to attain their dreams."

“Thank you for being our Keynote Speaker at the event. You inspired and informed our audience. We value the diversity in our customer base and thank you for helping us reach them. I will certainly reach out to partner on further initiatives when we see opportunity.”

“You were just fantastic – great story and presentation.  Such a perfect close to our SEER Symposium. I would not change a thing – the authentic real you is about as good as it gets.  Keep doing what you do - we are all better for it. Thank you so much!”

“Thank you for your outstanding participation as moderator and plenary speaker for Minority Enterprise Development Week Conference. Your insight into the strategies, tactics and tools critical to building a successful business through deal making was particularly helpful. Thank you for your excellent contribution.”

“You were amazing! You were so well received, our post event surveys all gave you a 5 – which was the highest score, and in fact we sold every book.”

"Marilyn is a highly engaging, inspiring, and authentic speaker, with a motivating and entertaining story to share. She brings a lifetime of challenges and successes that resonate deeply with her audience. By sharing through her own personal experiences, she imparts a wealth of practical knowledge that encourages participants to evaluate their life purpose and enables them to connect their passions with their careers and life paths. I look forward to the next opportunity to hear Marilyn speak."

“Thank you Marilyn, for delivering the perfect message for Norwich University’s year on Leadership and Innovation leading up to our Bicentennial. You launched our historic anniversary celebration by inspiring and providing us with tools to lead and great ideas on how to innovate. Hearty thanks from everyone at Norwich University and our community.”

“The event was such a success in no small part thanks to your presentation. Based on all the feedback we received, businesspeople and students alike found your presentation very powerful and inspirational.”

“Your talk was phenomenal and provoked many questions and meaningful follow up! We had the largest number of participants ever, thanks to you.”

  • Are there any moments that stand out as having a significant impact on your career? Being turned down in my first job application after graduate school in my very early 20's for not having 10 years of applicable experience! I realized that rigid requirements are obstacles to
  • Outside of your profession do you have any hobbies/interests? My passion is to create a flourishing, happy and regenerative world for everyone and the planet. I am a co-founder of Rotary eClub of World Peace, and have collaborated with several organizat
  • Who do you look up to as a mentor and why? As a child I used to follow my grandmother to give out blankets, food and supplies to the homeless. She was a tiny lady, standing 4' 10" who married her arranged husband when they were 15 and
  • Is there anything else we should know about you? Leadership is learned. Success and happiness are yours when you are living your life purpose, something many people, including highly "successful" people, may not realize. Once you are living
X