About Ling Ling
I have worked at the intersection of business and social impact for most of my career. Over the last 10 years, I have focused on crafting new business models with social impact at its core. I work with corporate, NGO, and social enterprise teams on early stage social innovation taking an idea to concept, concept to prototype and prototype to pilot. In addition, I work with corporations on their social innovation strategy, helping them leverage their core assets, expertise and resources towards solving a social or environmental challenge that resonates with their culture and mission.
I am a published author in Harvard Business Review and author of a newsletter for social innovators called “Zen & The Art of Social Innovation.” My portfolio of social innovations span from infant malnutrition and safe drinking water to increasing access to digital education and youth employability. These innovations have spanned these markets: US, UK, Australia, Kenya, Senegal, Mali, Eswatini, South Africa, Ghana, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Mexico.
I believe in knowledge sharing and serve as a mentor for several social enterprise accelerators such as MIT’s Global Ideas Competition and Unreasonable Institute’s Project Literacy Lab. I've created webinars for Plus Acumen’s Learning Lab and Grand Challenges Canada Accelerator.
Most mornings I can be found practicing Ashtanga yoga. Every year I head off into the wilderness for a week long silent meditation retreat. It is from these practices that the work is grounded.
Experience & Approach to Social Innovation
Two Lings - Website for Institutional Clients
LinkedIn - CV & Recommendations
Do Lectures: Love overcomes probabilities
HBR: What holds back corporate social innovators
Business Fights Poverty: Defining the Value Proposition
Startups, People, and Equity Podcast: Geographical Pay
Cross-polliNation – a podcast about creativity & innovation
The Intrapreneur's Power: Leveraging an entrepreneurial mindset to spark institutional innovation
Awards
Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar - Global Health Spotlight
Education
MBA MIT Sloan School Of Management
BBA - Finance The College Of William And Mary
"[Ling Ling] has worked with multiple teams in our innovation portfolio, and I've heard over and over again how she truly is an innovation expert + mentor + leadership coach all combined into one."
- Theodora Berkova
“In a word - AWESOME! Ling Ling has an amazing ability to summarize and pull information together whilst inspiring and motivating those that she works with.”
- Carolynne Lengfeld
"I’ve not met anyone who I believe to be better equipped to rapidly develop and scale diverse social enterprise models.”
- Josh Cleveland
She is amazingly talented at keeping focussed on the bigger strategy goals whilst being spookily-sharp on the detailed activities needed to get there. Her calm aura in a tense situation has been my saving grace on many an occasion!
- Andy Narracott