We are excited to welcome Colleen Chon to the Dysphonia International Board of Directors! Colleen has been engaged with the organization, especially with our Support Network. We asked Colleen to share a little more about herself.
Work Experience
Colleen is a seasoned veteran in the Bay Area tech industry, having held leadership roles in analytics and product management at Electronic Arts and Adobe. Prior to locating to the Bay Area, Colleen worked in New York as a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting. She graduated from the University of Chicago and the University of Texas-Austin with degrees in Public Policy and Public Affairs.
Colleen began undergoing voice changes in 2019 and then received an official diagnosis for SD in 2021. As a leader in the tech industry, Colleen learned to manage her career while living with a voice condition that compromises an important leadership trait, the ability to communicate. As she adjusted to her voice changes in between Botox® treatments, she leaned heavily on written communications and technology such as text-to-speech apps. This adjustment helped her be more open about her condition and request support during rough patches.
Ironically, Colleen’s SD ended up improving her communication skills by turning her into an effective listener. And because each spoken word can be an effort, she learned to speak with precision and convey her point quickly, which is a valuable asset in a busy work environment.
While Colleen’s voice isn’t what it used to be, she continues to express herself through piano, creative writing, and martial arts. She is also an avid cycler on the Bay Area trails.
Dysphonia International Role
Colleen has been involved in SD support, research, and education since she joined Dysphonia International in 2022. A year later, she co-led the Silicon Valley support group and then took on the full leadership role in 2024. She partnered with medical experts to educate the broader SLPC community as a panelist for the CSHA Convergence conference in 2023. Colleen also hosted a Walk for Talk event in Redwood, CA, in 2024. She has also attended the Leadership Workshop and Symposium in Detroit (2023) and Tampa (2024).
Last year, she volunteered for a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) study with UCSF to understand the role of TMS in the development of a personalized approach to treating focal dystonia.