Yue-Sai Kan, the cosmetics entrepreneur, best-selling author and TV personality dubbed "the most famous woman in China" by People magazine, has joined a growing number of the world's best-known personalities leading a global pledging campaign called "Say Yes" for Children. "Say Yes", which promotes 10 critical actions to improve children's lives, has so far gathered more than 3 million pledges worldwide.
"This campaign is the start of movement which aims to transform the way the world treats children," said Ms. Kan. "I would like all Chinese people to get behind it and add their voices to millions of others around the world in saying 'Yes' for children." Ms. Kan's pledge PSA was filmed in New York in mid-July and will be aired in the Chinese media.
Ms. Kan was born in Guilin, China and moved to the United States 1972. She established an import/export trading business with China based in New York City, became a US citizen and then began hosting a TV show in English and Chinese on a local Manhattan cable station.
Six years later she started hosting Looking East, a weekly PBS series that introduced Asian culture and customs to Americans. It ran for 12 years. This was followed by One World, a series she produced and hosted on the Chinese national network, CCTV. One World was watched by hundreds of millions of Chinese and made Kan a household name.
Ms. Kan used her widespread popularity to establish Yue-Sai Cosmetics in 1992. Today it is one of the most successful cosmetics and fragrance companies in Asia.
This year, Ms. Kan was voted one of the most influential women in China in the last 20 years, in a poll conducted in mainland China by Global magazine.