What does the future of work actually look like — and more importantly, who is shaping it?
Industries are evolving under the pressure of AI, globalization, and changing workforce expectations. As a result, the definition of “work” is changing. Careers are no longer linear, talent is becoming increasingly borderless, and leaders now prioritize inclusion, adaptability, and purpose. Against this backdrop, Asian leaders across the United States are playing a critical role in designing what comes next.
This year’s list of Asian voices in the US shaping the future of work highlights individuals who are actively driving change, not just responding to it. Some are building platforms that expand career access. Others are rethinking organizational culture or scaling global teams. Each voice offers a unique perspective on how work is evolving.
Together, they reflect a powerful shift. The future of work is no longer shaped by systems alone. It is driven by people who understand the connection between talent, technology, and opportunity.
Highlights
Jerry Lee
Co-Founder, Wonsulting
Jerry Lee has become one of the most influential voices in reshaping how candidates navigate the job market. As co-founder of Wonsulting, he built a platform that helps students and professionals overcome opportunity gaps in traditional hiring systems.
Recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Lee has scaled his impact far beyond career coaching. His content has generated more than 1 billion views worldwide. At the same time, Wonsulting’s tools and programs have helped over 12,500 people land jobs and attracted more than 1.6 million users. This combination of reach and measurable impact places him at the forefront of a new hiring paradigm. In this model, access, strategy, and transparency matter as much as credentials.
Jean Kang
Founder & CEO, Advice With Jean
Jean Kang represents the rise of creator-led career ecosystems in the modern workforce. After building her career at companies like LinkedIn, Meta, and Figma, she transitioned into entrepreneurship to help professionals navigate careers in a rapidly evolving, AI-driven landscape.
Through Advice With Jean, she has built a global audience across multiple platforms. Her content has generated more than 100 million impressions. She has also partnered with major brands, including Google, NVIDIA, Adobe, and HubSpot. As a LinkedIn Learning instructor reaching over 200,000 learners, Kang reflects a shift from traditional career advice to scalable, community-driven guidance that meets professionals where they are.
Mita Mallick
Workplace Consultant & Executive Coach
Mita Mallick has built her reputation by challenging organizations to rethink what leadership and inclusion truly mean in practice. As a workplace consultant and executive coach, she works closely with companies to transform culture, accountability, and representation at every level.
Her influence is reinforced through her work as a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. In her highly acclaimed recent book, The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn from Bad Bosses, she shares that bad bosses aren’t born; they are made. Drawing from leadership roles at organizations such as Unilever and Carta, Mallick brings both operational depth and thought leadership to the conversation — positioning her as a key voice in building workplaces that are not only more inclusive, but more effective.
Gagan Biyani
CEO & Co-Founder, Maven
Gagan Biyani is redefining how professionals learn and stay relevant in a rapidly changing economy. As co-founder and CEO of Maven, he has built a platform centered on cohort-based learning — enabling experts to teach live, interactive courses to a global audience.
Previously, Biyani co-founded Udemy, one of the world’s largest online learning platforms, giving him a front-row seat to the evolution of digital education. With Maven, he is pushing that model further, emphasizing community, accountability, and real-time engagement. His work underscores a fundamental shift: in the future of work, continuous, high-quality learning is not optional — it is essential.
Shuo Wang
Co-Founder & CRO, Deel
Shuo Wang is operating at the infrastructure layer of the future of work. As co-founder and CRO of Deel, she is helping companies hire, pay, and manage talent across borders — enabling a truly global workforce.
Today, Deel supports over 35,000 companies worldwide, ranging from startups to publicly listed enterprises. Wang’s work highlights a critical transformation: geography is no longer a constraint on talent. Instead, the challenge lies in building systems that make global collaboration seamless — and she is helping define how that infrastructure operates at scale.
Anne Chow
Founder & CEO, The Rewired CEO
Anne Chow brings a rare combination of global enterprise leadership and a forward-looking perspective on talent, culture, and performance. As a former Fortune 20 operating unit CEO who led a $35 billion business recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business twice, she now advises organizations on transformation as the founder of The Rewired CEO.
Her influence extends through board roles at major companies, including 3M and CSX, where she contributes to growth, talent, governance, and organizational strategy, her role as Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Executive Education at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and as a USA Today bestselling author of LEAD BIGGER: The Transformative Power of Inclusion, which explores how inclusive leadership drives innovation and long-term organizational success.
Chow’s work reflects a critical reality: leadership in the future of work is not just about performance metrics — it is about building environments where people, innovation, and purpose align for greatest impact.
Simi Shah
Founder & CEO, South Asian Trailblazers
Simi Shah is building platforms that elevate identity, representation, and leadership in today’s professional landscape. Through South Asian Trailblazers, she has created a growing community that connects and amplifies voices across industries.
Her work focuses on more than visibility — it is about creating space for professionals to see themselves reflected in leadership and success. As workplaces continue to evolve, Shah’s approach highlights an often overlooked dimension of the future of work: belonging and representation are not just cultural ideals, but strategic drivers of engagement and growth.
Serena H. Huang, Ph.D.
Founder & Principal, Data With Serena
Serena H. Huang brings data and AI into the core of workforce strategy. As the former Global Head of People Analytics at PayPal, she led efforts to embed analytics into talent decisions and organizational planning at scale.
Today, she advises Fortune 500 leaders on AI transformation and organizational readiness, while also reaching tens of thousands of learners through LinkedIn Learning. As the author of The Inclusion Equation, Huang explores how data can drive better outcomes in diversity, well-being, and performance. Her work signals a key shift: the future of work will be increasingly data-driven — but must remain grounded in human impact.
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie
Co-Founder, Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie operates at the intersection of research, leadership, and organizational change. As co-founder of the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab, she translates academic insights into practical strategies that improve workplace performance and inclusion.
Her work has been recognized globally, including being named among the BBC’s 100 Women, and spans experience across Fortune 10 companies, global NGOs, and academic institutions. Mackenzie’s approach brings a systems-level perspective to leadership — one that emphasizes both measurable outcomes and a deep sense of belonging within organizations.
Kevin Ha
Founder & Executive Director, Asian American Dream
Kevin Ha represents the next generation of leaders focused on access and opportunity in the workforce. As the founder of Asian American Dream, he has built a nonprofit that provides mentorship, professional development, and career pathways for underserved AAPI students.
Since its founding, the organization has grown to support hundreds of mentees and mentors annually, while earning recognition such as the Obama USA Leader distinction. Ha’s work highlights a crucial dimension of the future of work: ensuring that as systems evolve, access to opportunity expands alongside them.
Beyond Jobs — Designing What Work Becomes
The future of work is often discussed in terms of technology — AI, automation, and digital platforms. However, this list of Asian voices in the US shaping the future of work shows that the real transformation lies in how people experience work itself.
These leaders are not just adapting to change. They are actively designing new systems that shape how talent is discovered, developed, and empowered. Their work spans global hiring infrastructure, inclusive leadership frameworks, creator-led career guidance, and data-driven HR strategies. Together, these efforts reflect a more dynamic and human-centered vision of work.
As organizations continue to evolve, one thing is clear: the future of work will not be defined by tools alone. It will be shaped by people who know how to connect purpose, opportunity, and talent at scale. They are also willing to rethink the systems that shaped the workplace today.
In that future, these voices are not just participants. They are builders of what comes next.
Highlights
Read the English article here.
