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lynette chiang, aka
Galfromdownunder
was not a model Chinese student. She was better at marketing the monthly school disco than Calculus IV. But Chinese fathers don't take "starving artist" for an answer so she got stuck into
computers After several years dithering with databases she wondered, "who makes ads?" She found the answer at the Australian Writers and Art Directors School, winning the national top student award, whic launched a career in
advertising Mentored by Australian ad guru/entrepreneur Siimon Reynolds, she won numerous advertising accolades 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 Zarcero (Costa Rica) she worked as a senior copywriter at Saatchi & Saatchi (Ireland) and Creative Director (Tribu, Costa Rica); she declined the corporate ladder to work out on a windy ledge, learning about the customer: 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, who made her travel bicycle, invited her to 'merica to work in
customer evangelism Starting in phone sales, then stepping over 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 to draw the 25,000-strong community even further under the Bike Friday spell, she hit the road as a card-carrying Customer Evangelist, "taking relationship marketing to the nth degree" by homestaying with boomers:
I'll know I've gone too far when someone writes me into their will.
With intuitive social networking she brought the obscure Bike Friday brand to the top of the inaugural Saatchi & Saatchi Lovemarks.com poll, where 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, Jim Clash interviewed her for Forbes.com Rugged Individualist and FastCompany.com invited her to be an Expert Blogger.
Along the way she wrote a book called
the handsomest man in cuba Her first travel memoir, published in 4 countries and favorably reviewed by the New York Times, is an award-winning account of the Lynette's solo biycle expedition across Cuba in 2000.
After fiddling with the video button on her digital camera she started
handelbar moviemaking Shooting single-handedly from the saddle, her feature length movies in collaboration with Race Across America legend Lon Haldeman have been praised by travel, cycling and digital technology audiences who engage her for
public speaking A popular keynote speaker on customer evangelism, multimedia, travel and "the marketing you do when you're not doing marketing", Lynette's
path inspires women, seniors and minorities of all ages and stages. Balanced with experience as a Vipassana meditator and certified Vinyasa yoga teacher, her motto is: "Be not afraid of moving too fast, but only of standing still."
Contact Lynette via email: galfromdownunder at gmail dot com, phone 541-513-7711 (USA), 0420 968 967 (Australia).
selected buzz
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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