Former DDB Execs Form Leadership Consultancy for Women

Karen See, former Chief Communications Officer, DDB Group Asia Pacific and Sharn Bedi, former Managing Director, DDB Remedy Asia Pacific, have launched an executive leadership consultancy. Called {embrace} worldwide, the consultancy was formed to champion gender diversity and economic empowerment of women in Asia Pacific. 

Focused on organisation and behaviour change via corporate workshops and executive coaching, {embrace} is a proprietary leadership and diversity management philosophy based on neuroscience and positive psychology. Inspired by Harvard Business School’s ‘service profit chain’ and the notion - happy, successful, diverse, employees generate greater value, growth and profits for corporations - Bedi and See also draw on their own experience in corporate leadership, marketing communications and branding. 

Bedi, co-founder, {embrace} worldwide, said, “Gender equality and empowering women is a critical issue for our global economy and is an important KPI which should be top of the list for any organisation. {embrace} worldwide was established to assist individuals and companies with achieving gender parity by addressing the visible and invisible barriers women face in leadership.” 

“Our aim is to build a community of happier, confident and successful people. In our professional lives it means providing women with the tools and inner belief to ‘lean-in’, step up and have the confidence to complement their high competence. In our personal lives, this may mean balancing motherhood, relationships and the multiple roles we play each day,” added See. 

See worked for DDB, one of the world’s leading communications companies, for more than eight years managing the communications for Asia Pacific region. An Australian of Chinese descent, Karen has lived in Sydney, London, New York and is now based in Hong Kong. Having worked in four continents, Karen has a great understanding of people, how to motivate them, and how to inspire them to be their very best. With more than 23 years experience in marketing communications specialising in public relations, advertising and media strategy, Karen has lead regional teams in Europe and Asia working with multinational companies across industries including consumer electronics, IT, banking and finance. As a professional coach, she has honed her corporate branding skills to help clients build their personal brand story to succeed in life and business. 

Prior to co-founding {embrace} worldwide, Bedi headed up Asia Pacific’s operations for WebMD, the world’s leading healthcare platform. At DDB for seven years from 2007 to 2014, Sharn was the regional lead for the agency’s healthcare business. Born in India, raised in Australia, now living in Singapore, Sharn has more than 22 years experience, across global markets and has succeeded within a broad range of professional roles across diverse industries including automotive, healthcare, advertising, publishing and portals. Sharn is a strategic and practical player able to gain support across various cultures and organisation structures. Sharn’s passion to develop people, her intrigue in health, neuroscience and positive psychology is combined into her leadership style, coaching and consulting. 

Established in July 2015, {embrace} worldwide is located in Hong Kong and Singapore, servicing clients across the globe including Australia, China, India, United Kingdom, and United States