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lynette chiang, aka
Galfromdownunder
was not a model Chinese student. She was far more excited about guerilla marketing the monthly school social than Calculus IV. But since Chinese dads don't take "starving artist" for an answer, she got stuck into
computers After several years dithering with relationship databases she wondered, "who makes ads?" She found the answer at the Australian Writers and Art Directors School, winning the national top student portfolio award, launching her career in
advertising Mentored by Australian ad guru/entrepreneur Siimon Reynolds, she won several advertising awards including a Cannes Lion in one of its toughest judging years. Then she threw it all to the headwinds and started
bicycling On the long and potholed road from Australia to Zancudo she worked as a senior copywriter at Saatchi & Saatchi (Ireland) and Creative Director (Tribu/Saatchi, Costa Rica), declining offers to climb the corporate ladder in favor of immersing herself in the world of the customer. That meant being a waitress, trainee chef, cook and manager of a Costa Rican eco-hotel and spending a freezing winter outside Windsor Castle dressed as an Edwardian Lady.
Bike Friday, the small Oregon company who built her travel bicycle, invited her to 'merica to work in
customer evangelism Starting in phone sales, then moving to the web, she quickly filled the company's formerly static website with prolific multimedia travel writing readers say "makes them late for work". Revenue doubled and site traffic regularly surpassed that of more famous bicycle brands.
Seeking total immersion in the 25,000-strong customer community she hit the road as a card-carrying Customer Evangelist, "taking relationship marketing to the nth degree" by homestaying with customers:
I'll know I've gone far enough someone writes me into their will. (someone has since willed me their bicycle bell).
With her intuitive social networking skills, Lynette brought the relatively obscure Bike Friday brand to the top of the inaugural Saatchi & Saatchi Lovemarks.com poll, and Bike Friday is featured in CEO Kevin Roberts' book, The Lovemarks Effect: Winning in the Consumer Revolution.
CustomerEvangelists.com listed her beside word-of-mouth mavens, adventure journalist Jim Clash named her a Forbes.com Rugged Individualist and FastCompany.com invited her to be an Expert Blogger.
travel writing Lynette's first travel memoir, The Handsomest Man in Cuba was favorably reviewed by the New York Times. Published in four countries, it's an award-winning account of the Lynette's solo biycle expedition across Cuba during the Elian Gonzales case.
moviemaking Shooting single-handedly from the saddle, Lynette's videoblogging and feature length "handlebar" movies produced in collaboration with Race Across America legend Lon Haldeman have been praised by travel, cycling and digital technology audiences around the world.
public speaking Lynette is a popular keynote speaker on customer evangelism, multimedia, travel and "the marketing you do when you're not doing marketing". Her path especially inspires women, seniors and minorities of all ages and stages to "be not afraid of moving too fast, but only of standing still."
Balanced with experience as a Vipassana meditator and certified Vinyasa yoga teacher, her motto is: "Say yes more often than no, and watch your life change".
Thank you for reading my stairwell speech - because you'll be fitter taking the stairs than the elevator. And I did get a distinction for abstract algebra after all: groups and rings. As a dedicated community cheerleader, I've relished applying those theories to the nth degree.
Contact Lynette via email: galfromdownunder at gmail dot com, phone 541-513-7711 (USA), 0420 968 967 (Australia).
selected buzz
Round*Up Fast Fold Showdown (movie) screened at "Greenscreens 2009", Film Society of Lincoln Center, NYC
From Cubicles to Cuba interview by Matador Network, May 2009
Profiled by Dumbo Feather Australia, 2008 | Intro
The Handsomest Man in Cuba New York Times Review, June 2007
Interviewed by Jim Clash, Forbes.com "Rugged Individualists" 2005
Profiled by CustomerEvangelists.com
Pedaling Bikes, interviewed by AdNews
Quoted in MyBusinessMag.com
Other TV/Radio interviews
Made on a Mac
Multimedia presentations at Mac Store Theaters
Copyright 1997-2010, Galfromdownunder.com. All rights reserved.
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