Chih-Chin Sun has extensive branding, marketing, and communications experience, having worked with a large roster of global brands. She has focused her career on positioning and promoting products and services for companies that are expanding internationally. Ms. Sun founded EMMA Worldwide in 1998 as a marketing and promotions house in New York City. She expanded the company based on client demand and is now at the helm of a full-service agency that offers an array of services including public relations and media buying.

Born in Taiwan and raised in the Netherlands, Chih-Chin brings a unique marketing perspective and insight to the companies she works with. Having spent significant amounts of time in major cities she brings to the table a cultural understanding necessary to successfully enter and thrive in any world market. Her career began in public relations at the Office of Government Information in Taiwan and continued in marketing and business development in the Netherlands.

Her knowledge of the North American market has proven an asset for Asian companies such as China Southern Airlines, whom Ms. Sun helped position in the United States.

What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to Chih-Chin?

She is an advocate for Asian businesses crossing borders, improving international relations, and growing economies. Chih-Chin honors Asian Americans and Pacific Islander history that dates back to the 1850s. She knows the contributions the AAPI community has made since and continues to make in this country. But, she also knows how much work still needs to be done to halt racial violence and irradicate hate.

Ms. Sun lends her expertise to organizations in her community. Wherever there’s a need, she contributes. She’s a known friend of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The Hope Gala and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, among others. During the pandemic, Chih-Chin tapped into personal resources in China to help import almost one million pieces of PPE, bringing in needed supplies while helping lift the stigma related to China and Covid.

Ms. Sun holds Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, Communications, and Public Relations from the International College of Tunon in the Netherlands and studied International and Global Affairs at NYU.

As the Procurement Outreach Partner at  the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY) for over four years Navin Persaud has been responsible for procurement, supplier diversity and facilities management in the Corporate Real Estate department.

Navin’s primary role is to support the procurement function, which includes supplier diversity initiatives under the pillars of governance, internal and external outreach, and education. In this role, Navin serves as a trusted adviser to the various business areas to ensure that policy requirements are met and procurement opportunities are provided to diverse suppliers whenever possible. Navin also partners with external organizations to promote the FHLBNY Supplier Diversity Program. 

In addition to Navin’s role at FHLBNY, he has served as the President of the Institute for Supply Management in New York and as the Director of Supplier Diversity. Navin was awarded the “Champion for Industry” award by Thomas Net in 2020 for his work in Supplier Diversity.

Previously, Navin worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, also in the procurement department,  where he developed his passion for promoting Supplier Diversity. 

What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to Navin?

It is commendable to be able to celebrate AAPI Heritage month as part of the larger Supplier Diversity initiative. It is also equally important to be able to recognize the contributions of AAPI businesses and the positive impact on organizations and the American economy as a whole. 

AAPI businesses have been making great strides in bringing diverse perspectives, different cultures and business practices to organizations to enhance efficiency, promote cultural tolerance and acceptance, and to drive overall progress in advancing Supplier Diversity.

It is in this spirit that I would like to encourage AAPI businesses to continue to deliver on commitments, be innovative and to prove to organizations that Supplier Diversity is a true success, as Lamar Alexander puts it: “We are the only country in the world that has taken people from so many different backgrounds, which is a great achievement by itself, but an even greater achievement is that we have turned all of that variety and diversity into unity.”