Meet Jane Chen, Former CEO and Founder of Embrace and Author of the Upcoming Book Like a Wave We Break

Jane Chen is the co-founder of Embrace, a company that pioneered a low-cost infant incubator now credited with saving over one million babies worldwide. Backed by Vinod Khosla’s Impact Fund and Capricorn Investment Group, Embrace earned the Economist Innovation Award, brought Jane to the White House to present to President Obama, and even won the support of Beyoncé to expand into Africa. Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and raised in California, Jane’s path took her from management consulting to nonprofit work in rural China before Stanford’s design school set her on a course to tackle global health challenges head-on.

Now, after nearly two decades of social entrepreneurship, Jane is stepping into a new chapter as author and coach. Her forthcoming memoir, Like a Wave We Break (October 14), published by Penguin Random House, is both a founder’s journey and a deeply personal story of trauma, healing, and resilience. In it, she reflects on the lessons of leadership and identity, sharing how she learned to separate worth from achievement and embrace vulnerability as a source of strength. You can pre-order the book here.

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Sam: Before we dive into your new memoir, I’d love to start with your personal journey. You co-founded Embrace, which created low-cost portable incubators that have now saved over a million babies worldwide. But before that, where did your story begin, and what were some of the early influences that shaped your path?

Jane: I was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. My parents immigrated to California when I was four, so I grew up mostly in California with occasional trips back to Taiwan. I went to Pomona College in Southern California, then moved to Hong Kong for five years after. 

I started my career in management consulting, but found it unfulfilling. One day I read a New York Times article about the AIDS epidemic in China. Millions had died because of unsafe blood collection practices. That shook me, and I quit my job to join a nonprofit supporting children orphaned by the epidemic. We helped thousands of kids in rural China get access to education. That experience convinced me a small group of committed people could make a meaningful difference.

After that, I went to Stanford. In my first year at the design school, I took a course on low-cost technologies for people living on less than $1 a day. My team was challenged to design an incubator at 1% the cost of a traditional one, which was about $20,000 in the U.S. We learned that 15 million preterm or underweight babies are born every year worldwide, and many don’t survive simply because they can’t regulate their body temperature. Existing incubators require reliable electricity, which many clinics lacked (so they were not usable, even when they were donated).

Our solution was a portable incubator called Embrace, powered by a phase-change material that maintains a constant temperature for six hours without electricity. The four of us on the team decided to turn this idea into reality. We moved to India, home to 40% of the world’s premature babies, and did everything from clinical studies to manufacturing to distribution. I lived there for four years. Seventeen years later, Embrace has now helped save over one million babies.

Sam: You’re launching a new memoir, Like a Wave We Break, on October 14. It tracks your journey as a founder but is also a very personal story of struggle, healing, and resilience. Could you share more about what readers can expect?

Jane: The book begins at a breaking point. Ten years into Embrace, we thought we would have to shut down. We had run out of money, a potential acquisition fell through, and I felt completely broken. I had given everything to the mission, and I didn’t know who I was without it.

So I bought a one-way ticket to Indonesia, and went on a healing journey. I tried every modality I could find, and in the process I had to confront the physical violence I had experienced growing up.

I realized that my drive to help the most powerless people came from my own childhood powerlessness. That had fueled me for years, but it also pushed me to extreme burnout. For years, I worked 100-hour weeks, rarely took weekends off, and eventually hit a breaking point.

Writing the book was about sharing that journey. I learned resilience is not about pushing harder. It is about slowing down, feeling our feelings, and developing self-compassion. If we as leaders do not do the inner work, our impact is not sustainable.

Sam: What inspired you to write the book?

Jane: Two things. First, I wanted to share a personal story because I saw so many founders struggling in the same ways. For many of us, achievement becomes a survival response, a way to prove our worth even at the cost of our own well-being.

Second, about five years ago, a childhood acquaintance, also first-generation Asian American, took his own life. He had also grown up with violence at home. I realized if I stayed silent, I was complicit. We don’t talk enough in our community about trauma and its ripple effects. I wanted to help break that silence.

Sam: Let’s talk about the Asian American founder experience. What do you think is unique about it?

Jane: Many of us aren’t taught to acknowledge or process our emotions. Growing up, I learned to push feelings aside, especially the painful ones.

As a first-time CEO, I thought I had to always appear composed and strong. But one day in a team meeting, the stress caught up to me and I cried. I was mortified. The next day my head of operations thanked me for being vulnerable, because it gave others permission to admit their own exhaustion.

That moment showed me vulnerability is essential for leadership. Yet in our community, we are rarely taught to embrace it.

Sam: You’ve probably heard of “swimming duck syndrome.” A lot of Asian Americans look calm above water but are paddling furiously underneath. Do you think that’s a trauma response?

Jane: Absolutely. In our culture, achievement is equated with worthiness. That creates fear of failure and of showing weakness.

I had deep imposter syndrome. At Stanford, and as a CEO, I constantly felt I wasn’t enough. Even when I reached milestones, my inner critic pushed me to do more.

What I’ve learned is that our worth isn’t tied to titles or achievements. Recognizing that gives us a healthier perspective on work, and it allows us to take risks without fear of losing our identity.

Sam: You’ve talked about how our worth isn’t tied to achievements and how separating identity from success or failure allows us to take risks. Sometimes that can be easier said than done. How do you actually put that into practice?

Jane: For me, the first step was tuning into my feelings instead of ignoring them. I began asking: what am I feeling right now? If I was tired, I allowed myself to rest. If I felt anger or sadness, I gave those emotions space.

Another practice that helped is “parts work,” based on Internal Family Systems. The idea is we all contain different parts: the overachiever, the inner critic, the abandoned child. When we are triggered, certain parts surface to protect us.

By recognizing and meeting those parts with compassion instead of judgment, we create a kinder inner dialogue. That’s how we build resilience from the inside out. You can go to my website to download free exercises on the practices that helped me the most. 

Sam: Risk-taking is core to entrepreneurship, but culturally many Asian Americans fear failure because of shame and saving face. How do you square that?

Jane: That fear definitely holds us back. For years I was terrified of public speaking after blacking out during a talk at Stanford.  I had to take beta blockers for years to stand in front of an audience. 

What helped me overcome it was flipping the script. Before a big talk a few years ago, I visualized not success but failure. I imagined blacking out again, and told my younger self: “Even if that happens, you will still be loved. You will still be okay.”

That freed me. I gave the best talk of my life without medication. When we decouple our self-worth from success or failure, we can take risks. That is the mindset shift our community needs.

Sam: You’ve been open about mental health. How do you see that conversation fitting into leadership circles, especially in Asian American communities?

Jane: It’s critical. The relationship we have with ourselves shapes how we lead and how we build companies.

Trauma is far more common than we admit. Two-thirds of Americans report significant childhood adversity, and the numbers are likely higher in Asian American communities. Trauma rewires the brain. It doesn’t stay in the past. It influences how we see ourselves, how we lead, and how we treat others.

If leaders don’t do the inner work, unresolved wounds may drive short-term success but ultimately lead to burnout. The healthiest, most innovative teams thrive on psychological safety, and we can’t create that for others if we don’t have it within ourselves.

Sam: If you could give advice to your younger self as a CEO, what would it be?

Jane: Take care of yourself first. You are worth more than your company, your mission, or your achievements. Leadership and well-being are intertwined. Ignoring that only hurts both you and the organization.

Sam: So with this new book, what’s next?

Jane: Professionally, I want to dedicate this next chapter to helping leaders and entrepreneurs build healthier lives and healthier organizations. I’ve already been coaching, and I want to expand that work by doing both 1:1 and  corporate leadership training. Those who might be interested can visit my website. Now that I’ve overcome my public speaking fear, I also hope to do more keynote speaking to share these messages that I believe in so deeply. Long-term, I hope to work directly with children who’ve experienced trauma.

But more than specific milestones, I want to approach this chapter with joy and flow. I’m a surfer, and the metaphor I hold close is riding an endless wave. Being present, balanced, in rhythm with the ocean. That’s how I want to approach my work and life moving forward.

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Watch the Trailer for Like a Wave We Break by Jane Chen

Jane will be doing live and virtual events throughout October and November. You can register for her events here.