Julie Kim made history this year as Takeda’s first female CEO in the company’s 245-year history, and the first Asian American and Korean American to lead a top-tier global pharmaceutical company. Unlike most East Asian CEOs, she didn’t found her company; she rose through the ranks to get to the top.
In this episode, Julie opens up about growing up as one of the only Asian kids in Northeast Ohio, living a “double life” between her American school friends and her tight-knit Korean community, and the pivotal moment at her mother’s funeral that reshaped how she thought about leadership and relationships. She shares the hard feedback from a mentor that pushed her to “lead from the front,” how she learned to manage being an introvert in the spotlight, and why staying true to herself — not conforming to a stereotype of what a CEO should look like — is what got her to the top.
A conversation about identity, quiet resilience, and redefining what leadership looks like.
