Yujia Zhu

Social Entrepreneur, Author, Executive Coach

Yujia Zhu 朱羽佳 is a visionary changemaker and the trailblazing founder of For A Safer Space (FASS)(forasaferspace.org)—the world’s first fully AI-driven nonprofit organization—and the creator of FASSLING (fassling.ai), the world’s first comprehensive skills coaching platform offering unlimited, free, holistic human care support globally. A proud Chinese Canadian originally from the historic city of Nanjing, Mainland China, Yujia’s journey fuses technical innovation with compassionate activism, offering a bold blueprint for the future of socially responsible leadership.
 
With over twelve years of experience in the humanitarian sector, Yujia is widely recognized as a bold social innovator, ethical systems thinker, and fearless advocate for restorative justice and inclusive service design. Her work has impacted millions through anti-oppressive storytelling, transformative holistic education, and visionary platforms that reimagine human care in the digital age.
By the age of 22, she introduced a groundbreaking policy proposal at Toronto City Hall and was selected for the city’s extremely competitive elite Toronto Protégé Program: Future Female Politicians Leadership Program. By 23, she was lobbying for the rights of incarcerated individuals and tenants in New York. A graduate of Columbia University and New York University’s ECOC program, Yujia expanded her advocacy globally through her work at the United Nations. She later established the Yu Jia Zhu Scholarship at her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Toronto, to uplift international students from China. At just 26, she launched FASS, challenging the nonprofit industrial complex with a radical, mission-first model of public service delivery. Through her founding leadership at FASS, she personally initiated a petition advocating for the inclusion of mental health services in Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Thanks to her dedicated political lobbying efforts across Canada, the petition garnered nearly 10,000 signatures and was successfully presented at the Ontario Legislative Assembly. She also served as the co-organizer and master of ceremonies for Canada’s largest Stop Asian Hate solidarity rally in history. Later, Yujia continues to lead in the development of AI-powered humanitarian solutions. She pioneered the SFADNM management model and created FASSLING.AI, a revolutionary platform that integrates emotional intelligence and artificial intelligence to offer accessible, culturally sensitive care with compassion and integrity. Recently, she established the Yu Jia Zhu Scholarship at her coaching and consulting graduate program alma mater, New York University, to support other bold, innovative problem solvers like her.
 
With a multidisciplinary background spanning religious philosophy, psychology, computer science, and business administration, Yujia has studied and worked across four continents and contributed to over 40 nonprofit initiatives worldwide. A multidisciplinary scholar with over 20 publications, she is the author of Boundless Compassion in the Digital Age: The Intersection of Solo-Founder AI-Driven Nonprofit Mode (SFADNM) and Buddhist Dāna and Founder Mode: Breaking Free from the Nonprofit Industrial Complex, both of which are freely available on Apple Books. Founder Mode recently ranked among the Top 50 Free Books in the Leadership & Management category.
 
Yujia’s work has earned her recognition as a thought leader in the nonprofit and philanthropy sector, including her appointment to the Forbes Nonprofit Council and her service on the board of Community Boards, the longest-running mediation, conflict resolution, and restorative justice center in the United States. She has also earned herself recognition as an established science-based thought leader in the coaching sector when she was invited to join the most prestigious professional fellow membership at the Institute of Coaching (IOC), based at McLean Hospital, a member of Mass General Brigham and the largest psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
 
A rare blend of heart, intellect, and courage, Yujia Zhu exemplifies what it means to lead with both purpose and precision. Her life’s work is dedicated to building a more compassionate, equitable, and sustainable world—one bold, effective innovation at a time.