Madelyn Chung is IABC/Toronto’s 2025 Communicator of the Year
Celebrating excellence
IABC/Toronto is proud to announce Madelyn Chung, founder of RepresentASIAN Project and a registered therapist, as the recipient of the 2025 Communicator of the Year (COTY) Award.
Madelyn Chung: An advocate for representation and mental wellbeing
Madelyn Chung is an impact-driven entrepreneur and registered psychotherapist working at the intersection of media, mental health and identity-affirming storytelling. She is the founder of RepresentASIAN Project™, a digital media platform elevating voices of the Asian North American diaspora, and the founder and Executive Director of Blossom Mental Health Fund, a registered non-profit dedicated to supporting the mental health of Asian Canadians through culturally responsive resources, programming and funding.
Madelyn has previously worked at HuffPost Canada, FASHION and Netflix Editorial, where she was part of the core team that launched @netflixgolden, a social channel created for the Asian diaspora. She is also a sought-after speaker and moderator, known for bringing nuance, warmth and insight into conversations around mental health, representation and equity.
Through her work across media, mental health and advocacy, Madelyn is committed to creating space for healing, representation and meaningful social and cultural change.
About the Communicator of the Year (COTY) award
Since 1997, IABC/Toronto’s Communicator of the Year award has recognized a Greater Toronto Area executive whose demonstrated leadership and communication skills drive business results or have had a substantially positive influence on the community. Only one person is recognized as the Communicator of the Year each year.
The Communicator of the Year is not necessarily in a communication role; however, the recipient of the award is someone who uses the power of communication to deepen understanding, inspire action and transform their community.
Past COTY recipients:
- Rebecca Shields, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association (York Region South Simcoe) (2024)
- Fennella Bruce, veteran television producer, writer and founder of FKB Media Solutions (2023)
- Jesse Wente, Ojibwe writer, broadcaster, curator, public speaker and best-selling author (2022)
- Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health (2021)
- Wes Hall, Founder and Chairman of the BlackNorth Initiative and Founder and Executive Chairman of Kingsdale Advisors (2020)
- Jodi Kovitz, CEO and Founder of #movethedial (2019)
- Maayan Ziv, Founder and CEO of AccessNow (2018)
- Masai Ujiri, President, Toronto Raptors (2017)
- Andy Byford, CEO, Toronto Transit Commission (2016)
- Stefan Sjöstrand, President, IKEA Canada (2015)
- Alan Middleton, Executive Director, Schulich Executive Education Centre (SEEC) and Assistant Professor of Marketing, Schulich Business School at York University (2014)
- Ted Garrard, President and CEO, SickKids Foundation (2013)
- Jim Grieve, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Education (2012)
- Catherine Zahn, President and CEO of CAMH (2011)
- Peter Aceto, President and Chief Executive Officer of ING Direct (2010)
- Rob Devitt, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto East General Hospital (2009)
- Philip Blake, President and CEO of Bayer Inc. (2008)
- Annette Verschuren, President of Home Depot Canada (2007)
- Mayor Hazel McCallion, City of Mississauga (2006)
- Malcolm Heins of Law Society of Upper Canada (2005)
- Wayne Fyffe of Credit Valley Hospital (2004)
- Edward Marra of Nestlé Canada (2003)
- David Booth of Compaq Canada Corp. (2002)
- Paul Tsaparis of Hewlett-Packard Canada (2001)
- Marguerite Jackson of the Toronto District School Board (2000)
- Rudy Riedl of Enbridge Consumers Gas (1999)
- Jeff Lozon of St. Michael’s Hospital (1998)
- Paul Lucas of Glaxo Wellcome Inc. (1997)