Catalyst, Founder & Managing Partner

So-Young Kang is Catalyst, Founder & Managing Partner of The Awaken Group, a global leadership development consulting firm with expertise in aligning people to strategy specializing in taking leaders and managers through a transformational journey from assessments, executive coaching, leadership training, change management, and intercultural integration to drive innovation and creativity by unleashing the maximum potential of organizations.

So-Young has been leading cultural transformations, coaching, training and maximizing performance of organizations for over ten years starting from her experience at Citibank where she was a cultural change agent to her most recent experiences at McKinsey where she led efforts as the Finance Transformation Technology, Media and Telecom Sector Lead around designing and implementing value-based performance management systems through cultural transformation and executive coaching.

So-Young’s international experience began almost 15 years ago when she worked for the Chiba Convention Bureau in Japan. Her expertise in East-Asian relations and fluency in Korean and Japanese have enabled her to serve in numerous leadership positions including the former Chair of the Japan Exchange & Teaching Alumni Association International (JETAA-I) with over 21,000 members across 15 countries and as the Co-President and Co-Founder of Harvard Business School’s Asian-American Business Association (AABA), now one of the most active and well recognized clubs on campus.

Since then, she has traveled to over 30 countries and has served clients including Khazanah, where she designed the Malaysian National Directors’ Academy (MINDA), dedicated to creating high-performing boards in Malaysia. She has advised over fifty client situations across the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East as an expert on topics such as performance management, cultural transformation, top team engagement, KPI development, and strategic planning.

In line with her strong passion for community, So-Young founded The Young Professionals’ Group in 2000, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students achieve their professional dreams. This non-profit, which rewards character over grades, focuses on providing financial support and advice from a highly successful, global network of advisors. She also serves as an advisor to YangDang.com, a donor engagement platform that connects causes to people and resources.

So-Young holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA dual degree with honors in International Relations and East Asian studies from University of Pennsylvania with a minor in Music Theory. Prior to founding The Awaken Group, she has worked at McKinsey & Company, Citigroup, and Chiba Convention Bureau in Japan.

So-Young loves to snowboard, scuba dive, travel around the world, play piano and meet different people. skang@theawakengroup.com