Press & Media Kit
Official Short Bio
Ella Samson is the author of The Power of Emergence and founder of Emerge Collaborations. With an MBA from the Wharton School and more than 30 years of cross-functional leadership experience, including 14 years as a VP at Deloitte Consulting, she delivers memoir-based fireside chats that help enterprise leaders and their teams understand gender identity and build genuine cultures of belonging.
Official Full Bio
Ella Samson (she/her), founder and strategic operations leader of Emerge Collaborations, author, and speaker, is transforming how organizations approach gender equity in the workplace. Through memoir-based fireside chats, she creates safe spaces for authentic dialogue about gender identity, helping enterprise leaders deepen their understanding, foster meaningful allyship, and improve belonging.
With an MBA from the Wharton School and more than thirty years of cross-functional leadership experience at organizations including Deloitte Consulting and Peet's Coffee & Tea, Ella has guided companies through complex transformations, operational improvements, and culture shifts. Today, through Emerge Collaborations, she applies this expertise to address structural inequities that impact gender-diverse and transgender employees by examining policies, processes, and culture across the entire enterprise, delivering comprehensive assessments and actionable recommendations.
Ella's memoir, The Power of Emergence, helps readers understand gender identity and inspires meaningful allyship through authentic storytelling. She collaborates with clients across the US and Europe to improve gender equity and belonging. Drawing on decades of operational leadership and lived experience, Ella guides enterprises from dialogue to enterprise-wide impact.
Approved Photos
Book Endorsements
Approved Book Images
Approved Book Description
A deeply personal story that illuminates gender identity, builds compassion, and inspires leaders to demonstrate meaningful enterprise allyship
Ella knew from a young age that her lower anatomy seemed wrong, feeling a disconnect between her assigned gender and her actual gender. Though at the time, she didn't understand why she felt this way nor did she have the language to communicate what was happening inside of her. For years, she resigned herself to living with what felt like an irreparable divide between her inner truth and external reality.
Eventually, with purposeful internal work and corrective lower surgery, Ella fully emerged as herself—a woman, aligned with who she'd always been. Her emergence led to an unexpected and welcome calling as a leader in workplace gender equity. Ella's story combines the personal journey of honoring one's truth with the transformative power of acceptance and love, emphasizing the need for increased allyship and belonging in the workplace.
By exploring the complex concept of gender identity through the lens of her own experiences, Ella highlights the importance of creating supportive and inclusive spaces. Through honest and vulnerable storytelling, The Power of Emergence offers profound insights into the innate nature of gender identity with the goal of increasing understanding, promoting enterprise allyship, and improving belonging for the gender-diverse and transgender workforce.
Approved Emerge Collaborations Description
Emerge Collaborations partners with enterprise organizations to build gender identity literacy and workplace belonging through memoir-based fireside chats and consulting.
Helpful Things to Know
Guidance When Referencing Ella Samson and The Power of Emergence
About Ella:
Ella Samson is a woman, author, and seasoned enterprise leader with 30 years of cross-functional leadership experience who has transgender medical history. Her medical history and lived experience informs her expertise on gender identity and workplace belonging, but does not define her professional identity. Please refer to her approved short and long bios for bio copy.
When referring to Ella, language that respects her identity and expertise includes:
"Author Ella Samson"
"Workplace belonging expert Ella Samson"
"Author and gender identity expert Ella Samson"
"Woman with transgender medical history" (when medical history is relevant to the story)
"Leadership expert Ella Samson"
Terms not aligned with her identity to please avoid:
"Trans woman" / "transgender woman"
"Trans author" / "transgender author"
"Trans speaker" / "transgender speaker"
"Advocate"
The Power of Emergence positioning:
The memoir is written specifically for cisgender enterprise leaders who want to understand gender identity so they can create genuine cultures of workplace belonging. This leadership-first approach distinguishes the book from personal narrative memoirs written primarily for LGBTQ+ audiences.
The book uses personal storytelling to help leaders understand a concept most have never examined - making it a tool for building empathy and leadership capacity, not a political or advocacy text.
While deeply personal, this is fundamentally a workplace belonging and business leadership memoir — a personal story is the vehicle, but the objective is to equip business leaders with the understanding and empathy to create inclusive cultures.
Framing that aligns with the book's positioning:
"A leadership memoir that demystifies gender identity for enterprise executives"
"A workplace belonging book grounded in lived experience and operational expertise"
"A memoir that helps business leaders understand gender identity through storytelling"
Framing to avoid:
"A transgender memoir"
"An LGBTQ+ book"
"A trans rights book"
"Coming out story"
"Advocacy memoir"
An invitation to read The Power of Emergence:
Reading The Power of Emergence before the interview creates a significantly richer conversation for both you and your audience. Interviewers who've read the memoir can go deeper - asking questions that explore the nuances, challenge the assumptions, and uncover the leadership insights that make for compelling content. The memoir is foundational and we've found that the most engaging interviews come from interviewers who've taken the time to read the book before the interview.
Memoir Supporting Resources
The Power of Emergence includes comprehensive supporting materials designed specifically for enterprise application:
Reader's Guide - A companion guide with a dedicated section for enterprise leaders, discussion questions, and pedagogical frameworks for understanding gender identity
Fireside Chat Question Bank - 48 real questions enterprise leaders ask in conversations about gender identity and workplace belonging (available upon request)
Gender Glossary - Clear, accessible definitions of key terms without academic jargon
Gender Visual - A professional framework designed for business audiences
Interview Guidelines
Ella's Areas of Expertise
Ella Samson brings a unique combination of enterprise leadership credibility and lived experience to conversations about gender identity and workplace belonging:
Gender identity as leadership literacy - helping enterprise leaders understand a concept most have never had to examine
Workplace belonging strategy - informed by 30 years of cross-functional leadership including 14 years as a VP at Deloitte Consulting
Memoir-based storytelling - using The Power of Emergence to build understanding and empathy where traditional training falls short
Topics Where Ella Offers Deep Insight
Ella's most compelling interviews explore:
Understanding gender identity - what it is, how it develops, why it's universal (not just something gender-diverse and transgender people have), and why most cisgender leaders have never examined their own
The business case for belonging: why understanding gender identity improves retention, innovation, and culture
Leadership skills required to create genuine belonging (not just compliance)
Why "emergence" vs. "transition" language matters for accurate understanding
Content in the memoir including her personal emergence journey, childhood experiences, family dynamics, emerging in the workplace, and how her life unfolded after her emergence
The strategic decision to write a memoir for cisgender business leaders rather than LGBTQ+ audiences
Topics Outside Ella's Primary Expertise
To ensure interviews remain substantive and focused on Ella's unique expertise, the following topics fall outside her scope and are better addressed by specialists in those fields:
Legislative and policy debates (sports participation, facility access, government regulations) - Ella's expertise is organizational culture and leadership development
Clinical protocols and medical standards - Ella can speak authentically about her own medical journey but defers to healthcare providers on treatment protocols, particularly those involving minors
Educational system policies - Ella can share personal school experiences but is not an education policy analyst
Commentary on public figures or assessment of others' narratives - interviews are strongest when focused on Ella's unique insights and experiences.
Why This Framing Matters
Ella's value to your audience is the rare intersection of enterprise leadership credibility and lived experience. She can help business leaders understand gender identity from the inside out while speaking their operational language. Questions that position her as a policy pundit or clinical expert dilute that unique positioning and create less substantive conversations.
The most impactful interviews keep the focus on personal narrative, leadership insight, and workplace application.