Let's play a game of "where's diana?"
I started the largest global youth mental health NGO at 14, but that's not my whole story.
Welcome to the rest of me.
Let's play a game of "where's diana?"
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Diana Chao is a Buyi Chinese-American from an autonomous ethnic minority village in the poorest province of China. She founded Letters to Strangers (L2S) at 14 after bipolar disorder and a blinding eye condition nearly ended her life. By beginning to heal through letters, she discovered that writing is humanity distilled into ink. Today, L2S is the largest global youth mental health NGO — impacting over 660,000+ people in 72 countries. L2S published the world's first youth-for-youth mental health guidebook, taught to 150,000+ students, and operates the first toll-free 24/7 Pan-African mental health hotline out of Liberia, now part of the national budget. In line with her mental health work, she was once a conceptual photographer exhibited to 80,000+ people worldwide through Vogue Italia and Adobe, with her Minority Mental Health Month self-portrait series going viral.
Diana's Buyi heritage and Southern California upbringing taught her to notice the intersection of climate and mental health from an early age. The first in her family to receive higher education, she became the youngest researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab at 17, and at 20 joined the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a science researcher. She graduated from Princeton University with Honors in geophysics on a full scholarship, then computer-modeled extreme weather events — providing real-time data the Philippine government used for evacuations during Super Typhoon Rai. She completed her MBA at the University of Oxford as a Skoll Scholar.
She has been honored by two U.S. Presidents at the White House, named a 2021 Princess Diana Legacy Award Winner by Princes William and Harry, and is a 2020 L'Oréal Paris Women of Worth. She is on Advisory Boards of Kokoro Change and IKEA (INGKA) and a guest lecturer at Duke University, University of Oxford, and more.
I've given these to health workers in Liberian villages who'd never spoken the words "mental health" out loud before; to 30,000-attendee global conferences; to President Biden. Everyone hears the same drums of liberation. (I've also been interviewed by Selena Gomez, Shawn Mendes, and Elle Fanning — which remains one of the stranger sentences I get to say.)
My story — from growing up under the poverty line with parents who didn't speak English, to bipolar disorder, to psychosomatic blindness at 14, to writing letters that found their way around the world. Includes real strategies for mental wellbeing woven through, not stuff you've already been told a million times. Q&A included.
Given at IKEA, TOMS, and every org that's tired of mental health talks that pretend race doesn't exist. Dives into systems, policies, and the intergenerational weight that shapes who gets help — and who doesn't. Includes lots of history in a way that keeps you curious. Q&A included.
For audiences who want frameworks and strategies, not just a moving story (though there's some of that too, inevitably). Built from years of direct mental health work, peer leader training, and interviews with people from everywhere. Q&A included.
The intersection people only recently started to put into a talk — because you need someone who has actually worked in both fields, which I did (woohoo! I did something before it was cool!). Cross-cutting risk factors, data you never knew could be true, how climate change and disasters affect marginalized communities first, and how to help beyond reduce/reuse/recycle (but do do that, please).
The full story, shaped to your theme. Includes original poetry, audience moments, and a Q&A. People do cry. Not me, though. I'm a professional! *sniffles*
Fireside chat, interview, or panel. I've done these at Davos, in film studios, and in boardrooms. I come with notes and you'll leave with some too.
Smaller rooms, hands-on. Mental health education, racial equity + mental health, or writing-as-healing. I love practical stuff. None of that same-old same-old.
Spoken word, conceptual photography exhibitions, live letter readings. For galas, festivals, & events that want something that haunts (in a good way).
When Diana speaks — it actually takes my breath away. Her ability to use poetry, her own authentic narrative, and the passion that fuels her work in every one of her speeches is remarkable. I've never been more enchanted by someone's delivery before — not because Diana is the loudest in the room, but rather because I believe every word Diana says when she speaks. Diana is poetic power, truly.— Ziad Ahmed · Head of Next Gen, United Talent Agency
"Diana Chao is an amazing, powerful human being and a beautiful person and poet. I will listen to this again to remember the power of compassion and feel this painful story with her as my guide. She has broken my heart and opened it up to greater love."— Attendee, NAMI Ask the Expert
"Diana is a true superstar. She hit the stage with flair, passion, and energy. She moved our audience with her inspirational story. Diana's personal struggles have cultivated an undeniable personal strength and wisdom that is unlike any speaker I have ever seen. She pours radical empathy and revolutionary generosity into everything she does. Diana and Letters to Strangers is what the world needs, now and always."— Alexia Hilbertidou, CEO, GirlBoss New Zealand
"The radical candor in addressing the challenges faced by people with Bipolar Disorder was authentic and powerful. Not a thing could've been improved — it was INCREDIBLE! You received the highest score in evaluations."— Strategic Alliances & Development Dept., NAMI National
"Thanks so much for your presentation. It was soooo informative, interesting and impactful. One of the best presentations we've ever had at TOMS in my opinion, if not the best. You radiate authenticity and compassion alongside your expertise, and it's really inspiring."— Employee feedback · TOMS Shoes
"Incredibly informative. Thank you so much for bringing to light the context and history of trauma. This was one of the most educational hours I've ever had. Thank you so much!"— Employee feedback · IKEA
"Phenomenal and interesting. Very insightful and thought-provoking. I really enjoyed how transparent she is and appreciated her sincerity, enthusiasm, and vulnerability. Diana was an amazing presenter and I loved every moment of her workshop. It really resonated with me."— Aggregate attendee feedback, NWVSA Leadership Summit
"Diana was wonderful to work with from the beginning of the process to the end. She had a profound effect on the audience. Her keynote address was very powerful and it will stay with me for a lifetime."— Aggregate feedback, Center for Human Development
"Diana's presentation was extremely organized and easy to follow. Everyone was able to stay engaged because of her very passionate tone and great public speaking skills."— Monica L., Head of Events, Multiplying Good
Writing, speaking, or photography; choose your medium. The story I tell is the same. Click any card to open full screen.
"I suppose grief singes with no grace. But even now, I don’t know what grief is supposed to look like - if tears are a ritual, if anger should be scarce, if each stage is an act in a theatre and I’m the audience and the writer. I know there’s no right answer. I break mid-grin into horror. I stare at his memory unwrapped, petrified between dusting it with glitter and whistling til the ghosts come and take all of it away. I am a coward, and I am brave, and I have nothing to say, and I have so much I crave.
It’s simple, in the end. How do you bear the torch of a flame that still burns you? You let the light it does hold lead the way."
"Perhaps that's a naïve proclamation, but it is an investment in the human spirit. A gamble that I will find reasons to believe we are capable of rekindling joy and compassion for ourselves and each other, even when darkness blinds us into silence—that hope is not a question of if, but a deliberation of when."
"A full body shake under the magic of being alive. I close my eyes and wonder if this is what hugging the moon feels like. Solid ground where I thought I’d only find air; a rocky reassurance that I am not alone in this universe. For a very long time I was afraid of living, because i thought I’d already died, but how time bubbles up like soap! slippery and all-forgiving with a tinge of sage. I tell my shadow: you took your sweet time trying to extinguish the light. But look how the stars came out."
"There is so much shaking and trembling and breathlessness in this world and we are not robots, we do not wrestle mechanically with existence. We leap and crawl and tumble and slam and snap and that is all okay. But this also means that there will be moments when we forget the blood that rushes through our bodies and the voice that is stuck in our throats, and in those moments we need others to remind us of the incredulity of those things. So we exist, so we breathe, so we run onwards, so we forget, so we dream. But most importantly, sometimes we need reminders. And this is my stupid, ridiculous, but truthful reminder to you: what a life. What an existence. What a marvel it is to be here."
Keynote to a global network of next-gen philanthropy and social sector leaders in Asia.
Keynote at the Annual Conference of UNICEF Global Coalition for Youth Mental Health, hosted by Rituals HQ.
Represented L2S at the Congress Center. Panel speaker on inclusive growth and mental health.
When you want to chat, tell me who your audience is, what room you're trying to shape, and what you need them to walk out feeling. I'll be honest if I'm not the right fit.