International Book Launch
The Global Launch of Culturally Intelligent Storytelling
Ned Legaspi introduced Culturally Intelligent Storytelling for Southeast Asian Creators internationally during the CQ Fellows Book Launch at the Shore Hotel in Santa Monica, California.
The event marked his debut as an international author and brought a distinctly Southeast Asian perspective into a global conversation on cultural intelligence.
Why the Launch Mattered
A Southeast Asian Voice in a Global Cultural Intelligence Community
The Santa Monica launch was part of a wider CQ Fellows gathering featuring new books that applied cultural intelligence to real-world fields such as leadership, education, organizational practice, culture, and storytelling.
Ned's contribution focused on the creative world. The book asked how creators can build stories that connect with audiences across cultures without flattening the identities, values, and lived realities from which those stories emerge.
Launching the book in this setting placed Southeast Asian creative practice within a global community of cultural intelligence practitioners and thought leaders.
“This book is a way of reclaiming our place in global storytelling.” Ned Legaspi
The CQ Fellows Context
From Fellowship Inquiry to Published Framework
CQ Fellows is a one-year advanced certification program in cultural intelligence led by Dr. David Livermore. Fellows apply cultural intelligence to a specific professional field and continue as members of the Society of CQ Fellows after completing the program.
For Ned, the professional domain was storytelling. The fellowship provided a disciplined environment for examining a question shaped by years in international media: How can stories cross cultures while remaining accountable to the people and communities from which they come?
The book launch represented the public expression of that inquiry. It turned lived experience, professional practice, and cultural intelligence scholarship into a practical framework for creators, educators, and communicators.
The Book
Culturally Intelligent Storytelling for Southeast Asian Creators
The book introduces the CIS Bamboo Framework, a four-stage approach for creating narratives that stay culturally grounded while resonating across audiences and contexts.
StoryRoot
Understanding the cultural identity, values, history, and lived realities beneath a story.
StoryCraft
Building the narrative through structure, character, perspective, language, and responsible creative choices.
StoryPulse
Listening for how different audiences may interpret, feel, and respond to the story.
StoryLeaf
Translating insight into an audience encounter that makes connection, reflection, or action possible.
The Larger Journey
From International Media Executive to Author, Educator, and Speaker
The launch connected three chapters of Ned's professional life: international media practice, continuing scholarship, and the development of original frameworks.
Three Decades in International Media
Work with global Filipino audiences created the questions that would later shape his cultural and storytelling inquiry.
Cultural Intelligence and Scholarship
CQ Fellows, Philippine Studies, communication research, and cross-cultural practice gave the questions deeper structure.
An Original Southeast Asian Framework
The CIS Bamboo Framework transformed experience and inquiry into a practical model for creators and communicators.
Media Coverage
The Launch in the News
“Culturally Intelligent Storytelling” Launch Marks Breakthrough for Author Ned Legaspi
Coverage of the international launch and the book's contribution to culturally grounded storytelling for Southeast Asian creators.
Read the ArticleFilipino Author Ned Legaspi Launches Book on Cultural Intelligence
A preview of the Santa Monica launch, the CQ Fellows gathering, and the international release of the book.
Read the ArticleEvent Archive
The Beginning of the Book's Public Journey
The Santa Monica launch was the first public milestone in the life of Culturally Intelligent Storytelling for Southeast Asian Creators. It introduced the book within an international community and affirmed that Southeast Asian creative perspectives belong in global conversations about culture and communication.
The book would later return to the Philippines for its formal Philippine launch at Ateneo de Manila University, extending the conversation from an international fellowship community to creators, educators, media practitioners, and institutional leaders at home.