2018-10-12 | Shanghai K Charitable Foundation
The role of Goodwill Ambassador has been created in order to support the aims of the Foundation and its philanthropic initiatives in China, providing underprivileged youth with vocational hospitality training to launch careers in the hotel industry and thus build better lives for themselves and their families. Attending events, assisting with fundraising and raising the profile of the Foundation are just a few facets of the role to be undertaken by Ms Kan, China’s most high-profile businesswoman and humanitarian.
Described as "the most famous woman in China” and "the Queen of the Middle Kingdom" by People and Time magazines respectively, Yue-Sai Kan is an Emmy-winning television host and producer, successful entrepreneur, fashion icon, best-selling author and humanitarian. Ms. Kan has been deeply involved in charity and philanthropy in China throughout her life, with UNICEF naming her in 2002 as its first and only Global Chinese “Say Yes for Children” ambassador.
Born in Guilin, China and brought up in Hong Kong, Yue-Sai was studying in Hawaii when she was a finalist in a beauty contest. The prize involved international travel and marked the beginning of her career in fashion, beauty, communication, cultural exchange and philanthropy. Credited as “the most watched woman in the world” with TV broadcasts in China and the USA, she was the first TV journalist to connect the East and the West, successfully introducing Asian culture and customs to a Western audience, and giving many Chinese their first glimpse of the outside world and inspiring millions of young people to learn English and travel abroad.
She successfully transformed herself from a TV personality into an entrepreneur in 1992, creating the Yue-Sai cosmetics company, which became China’s leading make-up brand.
In 2008 she created The House of Yue-Sai, a lifestyle brand offering Chinese consumers stylish home furnishings, accessories, gift and jewelry, together with a line of dolls with distinctive Asian features. A prolific author, she has also written nine best-selling books in China on beauty, etiquette, interior design and life/career development, and for the last 12 years, she has been the International Ambassador for the Shanghai International Film Festival.
However, Ms. Kan’s humanitarian and philanthropic efforts are her proudest achievement, and through the years, she has built hospitals, orphanages, schools and libraries in underprivileged areas of China. Dedicated to the betterment and advancement of women and children through education, health, artistic, creative and cultural programmes, she sits on a number of high-profile boards, organizations and foundations, both in China and internationally.
The recipient of honors from various bodies, including the United Nations, the Shanghai Municipal Government, Xinhua News Agency, Asia Initiatives and the Governor of Hawaii, she is also the first and only living American to be featured on a Chinese government-issue postage stamp.
“I am delighted and deeply honored to be able to support this philanthropic initiative as the Foundation’s first Goodwill Ambassador. Its aim of helping disadvantaged youths, empowering them and giving the opportunity to learn a trade and become independent ties in perfectly with what I’ve been striving to achieve throughout my life with my own charitable actions,” said Ms Kan. “Having worked all my life to build bridges between east and west, tourism is such a leading force for good – not only bringing revenue into the country to improve standards of living, but also spreading understanding of China and our Chinese culture to overseas travellers,” she continued.