Equipping high-performing women of color—and the organizations they power—to lead through change.
I’m Cynthia Pong, JD—Forbes Contributor, CNBC Career Expert, and award-winning executive coach.
Over the last decade, I’ve equipped more than 14,000 professionals and the institutions that employ them build the clarity, infrastructure, and momentum they need to lead with confidence.
Whether it's building internal capacity, boosting engagement and wellness, or helping teams navigate burnout and transition—our systems-based approach delivers concrete results across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
“I can’t say enough about Cynthia and would work with her and her team again in a heartbeat.”
Jessica Johnson, JD
Cynthia Pong, JD is a nationally recognized executive coach, organizational strategist, and keynote speaker with a proven track record of leading career advancement and systems-level change across sectors. As Founder and CEO of Embrace Change, she and her team have supported thousands of high-performing women of color and other professionals—as well as the institutions that depend on them.
A trusted partner to government agencies, corporations, and nonprofits alike, Cynthia brings a systems-based approach to leadership development and employee engagement. Her team has designed and implemented scalable statewide training initiatives, enterprise-level coaching programs, and targeted workplace interventions across some of the most complex, high-stakes environments in the country.
Her signature program, the Leadership Accelerator, won an Anthem Award for its world-class results accelerating the careers of women of color leaders. Graduates have gone on to secure White House fellowships, C-suite promotions, top-tier graduate program admissions, and national media recognition.
Embrace Change also operates a full-service Speakers Bureau—the first and only dedicated to amplifying the voices of women of color experts—as well as a suite of AI-powered SaaS solutions, career tools, and leadership cohorts serving a fast-growing professional community. Rounding out the portfolio is the Embrace Change Coaching Certification Program, a first-of-its-kind coach training initiative designed to equip BIPOC coaches with the tools to support others through career growth and leadership challenges.
As a Forbes contributor and CNBC Career Expert, Cynthia is frequently called upon for her sharp and timely insights on leadership, career strategy, and workforce sustainability. She’s been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, NBC, CBS, NPR, and more. Her thought leadership regularly reaches over 200,000 professionals across digital platforms.
Cynthia’s evidence-based and culturally attuned methods have been road-tested by over 14,000 individuals and applied inside organizations facing real-world challenges—from mass layoffs and coping with burnout to complex leadership transitions and organizational realignment. Whether supporting a government agency post-crisis or building intergenerational leadership infrastructure for a global tech company, Cynthia and her team bring strategic clarity and actionable, durable tools to the table.
Her book, Don’t Stay in Your Lane: The Career Change Guide for Women of Color, has become a go-to resource for professionals of all backgrounds navigating bold career shifts—or simply trying to stay afloat and grow in today’s rapidly changing work landscape. Her coaching and training frameworks are known for being direct, effective, and deeply grounded in lived experience.
“I highly recommend Cynthia Pong and the Embrace Change team for coaching, speaking gigs, and really any of the services they offer. From their feedback, my colleagues gained much value from their sessions with their coaches. I, too, gained priceless insight from my coach and chose to extend my relationship with her beyond the contract.
Cynthia and her team were communicative, organized, knowledgeable, and easy to work with. I also worked with Cynthia in providing a negotiation and career planning workshop. [She] succeeded in raising participants' spirits, increasing their confidence, and adding important negotiation tools to their toolboxes. I can't say enough about Cynthia and would work with her and her team again in a heartbeat!”
Jessica Johnson, JD, Nonprofit Leader & Facilitator
More About Cynthia:
Before launching Embrace Change, Cynthia spent six years as a public defender in the Bronx, New York, where she carried caseloads of over 100 clients at a time and maintained a 100% felony acquittal record in her trials. That intense, high-stakes work taught her how to listen deeply, ask the right questions, and lead people through major transitions—skills that remain at the core of her methodology today.