Soon_Yu

Soon Yu

Soon Yu

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Soon Yu (born August 5, 1965) is a Taiwanese-American speaker, writer and former adjunct professor at The New School's Parsons School of Design.[1] Yu is the founder of Gazoontite and the author of the book Iconic Advantage[2][3][4] and Friction[5].

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Early life

Yu was born in Taiwan and moved to Davis, California, at age 3, where his father was an agricultural geneticist.[6] Soon received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 1988[7] and his MBA from Stanford University in 1993.[8]

Career

Soon served as the global VP of innovation and as a corporate officer for VF Corporation from 2010 to 2016.[9][10][11] Prior to working at VF Corporation, he has also worked at The Clorox Company[12] He left his management position at Clorox to pursue a sales associate position at Crate & Barrel, taking an 85% pay cut and earning $5/hour to gain retail experience.[13] He has also held positions as an engineer with Advanced Micro Devices, an associate consultant with Bain & Company,[14] general manager at Chiquita Brands International,[15] and chief marketing officer at SafeWeb.[16]

In 1998, Yu founded Gazoontite, a retailer of allergy and asthma related products.[17][18][19] It was one of the first retail/eCommerce companies to promote and build its business model around the multi-channel shopping environment.[18][20] Two years after its launch, The Wall Street Journal identified Gazoontite as the “poster child of Web-era excess and stupidity”, however, in the process Yu set the tone for what is now referred to as omni-channel retailing.[16]

His book, Friction: Adding Value By Making People Work For It won the 2022 NYC Big Book Award in Sales & Marketing.[21] His book, Iconic Advantage, won the 2019 Axiom Business Book Award in Advertising / Marketing / PR / Event Planning. [22]

Writings

Books

  • Soon Yu, Dave Birss (May 24, 2022). Friction: Adding Value By Making People Work for It. ZenKarma Media. ISBN 979-8985967210
  • Soon Yu, Dave Birss (February 6, 2018). Iconic Advantage: Don't chase the new, innovate the old. Savio Republic. ISBN 978-1682615409

References

  1. [1]
    "Iconic Brands in the Age of Anarchy with Soon Yu". MS Strategic Design & Management. 2018-04-24. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  2. [2]
    Peter Rubin, James (2000-06-12). "Business Acceleration". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  3. [3]
    "Rave Reviews: Soon Yu's best-selling book "Iconic Advantage"". outspoken. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  4. [4]
    Yu, Soon (2018-02-06). Iconic Advantage®. Savio Republic. ISBN 9781682615409.
  5. [5]
    "Adding friction can heighten customer value and build relationships". Justin Brady. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  6. [6]
    "A Nose for Business / Entrepreneur molds his startup dreams into allergy-products specialty store". SFGate. 1999-03-31. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  7. [7]
    "UC Davis Magazine on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  8. [8]
    "The Secrets of Staying Power". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
  9. [9]
    Nishi, Dennis (2014-12-07). "How to Break Your Bad Work Habits". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  10. [10]
    "How removing fear can be your innovation trump card". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  11. [11]
    "Art and Science Leads to Iconic Products". www.vfc.com. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
  12. [12]
    Eu, Geoffrey (2017-08-12). "Soon Yu". The Business Times. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
  13. [13]
    Sinton, Peter (March 31, 1999). "A Nose for Business / Entrepreneur molds his startup dreams into allergy-products specialty store". SFGate.
  14. [14]
    Sinton, Peter (1999-03-31). "A Nose for Business / Entrepreneur molds his startup dreams into allergy-products specialty store". SFGate. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
  15. [15]
    "Chiquita Brands International, Inc in Franklin Park, IL 60131 - ChamberofCommerce.com". www.chamberofcommerce.com. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
  16. [16]
    Rubin, James Peter (May 14, 2001). "No Surrender". The Wall Street Journal.
  17. [17]
    Donovan, Aaron (2000-04-02). "IN BRIEF; Can blessyou.com Be Far Behind?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  18. [18]
    "The Hybrid Company: Reach All Your Customers Through Multi-Channels Anytime, Anywhere - PDF Free Download". epdf.tips. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  19. [19]
    "Gazoontite Seeks Brand Awareness Offline". Los Angeles Times. 1999-11-08. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  20. [20]
    "Gazoontite: Going, Going, Gone". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  21. [21]
    "NYC Big Book Award Winners". nyc-big-book-award. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  22. [22]
    "2019 Medalists". axiomawards.com. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
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