看美國副市長如何成為勵(lì)志導(dǎo)師？

Joy Chen got a glimpse of the limelight as a Los Angeles deputy mayor two decades ago, but it was nothing like the fame she has found in China urging women to forget what they’ve been taught about matrimony.

二十年前當(dāng)上洛杉磯副市長時(shí)，陳愉(Joy Chen)一度成為眾人矚目的焦點(diǎn);現(xiàn)在她因幫助中國女性擺脫被灌輸?shù)年惻f婚姻觀念而聲名鵲起，風(fēng)頭遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)勝過當(dāng)年。

Her 2012 best-seller, “Do Not Marry Before Age 30,” became a touchstone for young Chinese career women chafing under family pressure and age-old convention to find a husband, and launched Ms. Chen on an improbable journey as an American self-help guru in China.

她2012年出版了暢銷書《30歲前別結(jié)婚》(Do Not Marry Before Age 30) ，中國那些迫于家庭和傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗壓力找對(duì)象的年輕職業(yè)女性將此奉為圭臬，陳愉也因此在中國開啟了一段不可思議旅程，成了一位勵(lì)志自助領(lǐng)域的美國專家。

At a women’s leadership forum in Beijing in March, young women who had sat texting idly during a venture capitalist’s presentation sprang to attention when Ms. Chen strode on stage in a red dress. Smartphones rose in unison above a sea of ponytails, “record” buttons switched on.

今年3月，在北京舉行的一場(chǎng)女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)論壇上，身著紅色禮服的陳愉在臺(tái)上甫一亮相，原本在風(fēng)投資本家們發(fā)表演說時(shí)百無聊賴玩手機(jī)的年輕女性們馬上坐直了身體，全神貫注。她們不約而同地舉起手機(jī)，打開了“錄制”功能。

“She changed my life,” said Lingxiao He, 28. “Usually, women are encouraged to take responsibilities in the family—to be a good mom, a good wife,” Ms. He said. “Seldom do you get the education that you must be a leader.”

“她改變了我的生活，”28歲的何凌霄(Lingxiao He, 音)說。“人們一般都鼓勵(lì)女人承擔(dān)家庭責(zé)任——做個(gè)好媽媽，好妻子。”她說，“很少有人會(huì)教育你去做一個(gè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。”

Ms. Chen, 48 years old, now derives most of her income from paid appearances in China, along with promotion of Procter & Gamble Co. beauty products here. She loves to write, but finds herself at a crossroads. Her latest book, “How to Get Lucky in Your Career,” sold fewer than 10,000 copies. To remain a force in the world’s biggest consumer market, Ms. Chen is changing tactics.

現(xiàn)年48歲的陳愉如今的大部分收入都來自于受邀參加中國的各類活動(dòng)，此外，她還承接了寶潔公司的美妝產(chǎn)品在中國的推廣。她熱愛寫作，同時(shí)也意識(shí)到，自己正處于一個(gè)選擇的十字路口。她的新作《30歲趁勢(shì)而為》(How to Get Lucky in Your Career)銷量還不到1萬冊(cè)。為了保持在中國這個(gè)全球最大的消費(fèi)市場(chǎng)上的影響力，陳愉不得不改變策略。

So a day after her star turn before fans, Ms. Chen showed up in jeans and no makeup at the offices of a paid-content firm in Beijing, looking to turn “Get Lucky” into a 10-episode course to be sold on WeChat , Tencent Holding Ltd.’s ubiquitous smartphone app, which has 1 billion users.

與粉絲們見面的次日，陳愉就素著臉，穿著牛仔褲，前往一家在開展付費(fèi)內(nèi)容業(yè)務(wù)的公司的北京辦公室，她打算把《趁勢(shì)而為》一書的內(nèi)容改編成一套10集的課程，放到微信上銷售。微信是騰訊旗下的一款手機(jī)應(yīng)用，擁有10億用戶，大多數(shù)中國人都在用。

The daylong session at Xiamen Shidian Cultural Communication Co. turned into a bit of digital schooling for Ms. Chen.

陳愉在廈門十點(diǎn)文化傳播有限公司(Xiamen Shidian Cultural Communication Co.)待了一天，接受了一天的數(shù)字化知識(shí)洗禮。

While Ms. Chen charmed her fans with Oprah-like warmth, Liao Shijian, Shidian’s 28-year-old chief operations officer, wasn’t so easily dazzled.

雖然陳愉的粉絲都傾倒于她奧普拉般的溫暖魅力之下，但十點(diǎn)文化28歲的首席運(yùn)營官廖仕健卻清醒得很。

When Ms. Chen said she wanted each video segment to be no more than 10 minutes. Mr. Liao shook his head, insisting on 25 minutes—as well as charts, graphs and practice assignments.

陳愉說，她希望每個(gè)視頻不超過10分鐘，廖仕健搖了搖頭，堅(jiān)持要求每集25分鐘，而且還要配上各種圖表和練習(xí)作業(yè)。

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Ms. Chen said, lapsing into English. “I’d rather make it short and not boring.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” 陳愉一連串英語脫口而出，“我寧愿長話短說，不要無聊。”

Mr. Liao was firm. “Every minute must have value to people,” he said. “It’s different from free video. It’s different if you pay vs. not pay.”

廖仕健則堅(jiān)持己見。“每一分鐘都必須對(duì)觀眾有價(jià)值，”他說，“這和免費(fèi)視頻不一樣。花錢和免費(fèi)是不一樣的。”

Ms. Chen also pushed back eight years ago when a Chinese publisher approached her to write a book for China’s “leftover women”—those who aren’t married by their late 20s. “I hadn’t spent much time in China,” she said. “I didn’t speak Chinese well at the time. I thought, how could somebody like me understand Chinese women’s lives?’”

在八年前，有一家中國出版商曾和陳愉接洽，請(qǐng)她為中國的“剩女”——快三十了還沒結(jié)婚的女性寫一本書，陳愉回絕了。“我在中國沒待過多久，”她說，“當(dāng)時(shí)我中文說得也不好。我在想，像我這樣的人怎么能理解中國女性的生活?”

An executive recruiter at the time, she had gained a following with a career-advice blog for Chinese college students studying abroad. She resisted the publisher’s overtures for a year, but after the birth of her second daughter, she agreed.

當(dāng)時(shí)擔(dān)任招聘主管的她開設(shè)了一個(gè)博客，為海外的中國留學(xué)生提供職場(chǎng)建議，吸引了不少讀者。有一年的時(shí)間里，她拒絕了出版商的各種提議，然而二女兒出生后，她同意了。

The book hit a zeitgeist moment, leading to TV appearances and magazine cover stories (and, for a time, a column by Ms. Chen in the Chinese edition of The Wall Street Journal).

這本書準(zhǔn)確抓住了時(shí)代脈搏，她也因此登上了電視和雜志封面(還一度在《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》中文版上開了專欄)。

“She’s achieved a level of recognition that no other woman as an American Chinese has achieved,” said Virginia Tan, 34, president of Lean In China. “She’s an icon for them. They mob her.”

“她獲得了美籍華人女性從未獲得過的認(rèn)可，”勵(lì)媖中國(Lean In China)34歲的總裁陳玉馨(Virginia Tan)說，“她成了大家的偶像，大家崇拜她。”

Born in the U.S. to Chinese immigrants, Ms. Chen lives with her husband and two daughters in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena. She says her life experience—including marriage at age 38—serves as a role model for many young women in China.

陳愉出生在美國，是中國移民的后代，她和丈夫以及兩個(gè)女兒住在洛杉磯郊區(qū)的阿爾塔德納。她說自己的人生經(jīng)歷——包括38歲才結(jié)婚——為中國許多年輕女性樹立了榜樣。

“They don’t see women my age who have great careers and are in happy marriages,” she said. “They look at their mothers’ lives and they say, that’s not the kind of life that I want.”

“她們沒見過像我這個(gè)年紀(jì)的女性會(huì)事業(yè)有成，婚姻美滿。”她說，“她們目睹了自己母親的人生，然后說，這不是我想要的生活。”

At an informal gathering at a Beijing restaurant, fans talked about how Ms. Chen’s first book showed them a new path.

在北京的一家餐館私下聚會(huì)時(shí)，粉絲們談到陳愉的第一本書讓自己看到了一條全新的道路。

“Joy talks about herself. She shares problems,” Mi Lu, a 27-year-old financial analyst, said later. “I thought, ‘OK, I can think things like this. I can do things like that. Everything can be different.’”

“陳愉會(huì)講自己的經(jīng)歷，她向讀者分享遇到的問題。”27歲的金融分析師盧米(Mi Lu, 音)后來說，“我就想，‘OK，原來我可以這么看問題，我可以這么做事情。一切都可以不一樣。’”