ethnoconnect

What ethnoconnect does

EthnoConnect is a sole proprietorship founded and operated by Michael Soon Lee, DBA, CSP, that delivers professional speaking, corporate training, and consulting services focused on multicultural diversity, cross-cultural sales, and minority-market business development. The firm is headquartered in Dublin, California, and the founder has delivered engagements to more than 1,000 organizations across a 30+ year career. Named clients include Coca-Cola, General Motors, Chevron, State Farm, Boeing, and Owens-Corning, alongside industry associations such as the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), plus real estate clients such as Renewal by Andersen.

The core service offering consists of keynote speeches (starting at $7,500), corporate training delivered at $4,000 per day, and shorter consulting engagements, supplemented by a productized catalog of self-published books (including "Cross-Cultural Selling for Dummies"), audio CD programs, and training manuals priced between $20 and $129.95. A sub-brand, Seminars Unlimited, extends the offering specifically into the real estate vertical. The firm is a member of the National Speakers Association, and the founder has received the NAR Top 5 Speaker Award and a 5-Star Speaker Award, with media exposure including a Forbes feature.

EthnoConnect operates without external funding, without a software or technology platform, and without any disclosed AI components; delivery is entirely human-led. The go-to-market is direct-to-enterprise, supported by a website-driven inbound funnel and a free 30-minute consultation offer. The business model is a classic founder-led professional services firm with no recurring revenue mechanics, no hired delivery bench, and limited scalability beyond the founder's personal calendar.

Name

ethnoconnect

Legal name

EthnoConnect

Website

https://ethnoconnect.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

EthnoConnect is a sole proprietorship founded by Michael Soon Lee that provides multicultural diversity, cross-cultural sales, and minority-market training through keynotes, corporate workshops, and consulting to enterprises including Coca-Cola, GM, Chevron, State Farm, Boeing, and real estate industry associations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Multicultural Diversity Consulting

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

DEI, Inclusive Leadership & Cultural Intelligence Coaching (EDABANAJ)

Keywords

• Multicultural diversity training
• Cultural competency consulting
• Cross-cultural sales training
• Diversity awareness seminars
• Multicultural marketing consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Dublin

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Speaking Fees: Revenue from keynote speeches ($7,500 for up to 90-minute keynote), half-day programs, full-day programs, and multi-day programs. Keynote speeches and half-day/full-day programs form the primary revenue stream.
2. Consulting Services: Daily on-site consulting services following paid programs at $4,000 per day.
3. Media and Content Services: Freelance writing (per article), MC services for events, and media spokesperson services (Radio, TV, Infomercials) with 10% of sales compensation structure.
4. Product Sales (Seminars Unlimited): Sale of books, audio CDs, MP3 downloads, e-books, and training manuals for real estate professionals including 'Cross-Cultural Selling for Dummies', 'Black Belt Negotiating', and various real estate training materials. Package deals available.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

EthnoConnect provides seminars, training, consulting and coaching on multicultural marketing, cross-cultural sales, and diversity awareness. The firm delivers keynote speeches, half-day and full-day programs, multi-day workshops, and follow-up on-site consulting, primarily led by founder Michael Soon Lee. It also sells real estate training products (books, audio CDs, MP3s, manuals) under the Seminars Unlimited sub-brand.

Product overview

EthnoConnect is a multicultural diversity and awareness consulting firm offering a portfolio of human-delivered training and speaking services. The core offering is multicultural diversity consulting and training programs, supplemented by Seminars Unlimited, a real estate-focused sub-brand. The product portfolio consists of speaking programs (Selling to Multicultural Customers, Black Belt Negotiating, Marketing to Multicultural Customers, Multicultural Customer Service, Advantages of Diversity), downloadable audio/video programs (Defending Your Commission, How to List Buyers, Black Belt Negotiating CD), and books (Cross-Cultural Selling for Dummies, Black Belt Negotiating book). Programs range from 60-minute keynotes to 3-day workshops and are customized for companies selling to multicultural customers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Multicultural Diversity Speaking Programs

Quantifiable outcome

• Minorities represent one-third of the American population and spend over $2 trillion annually on goods and services
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• National Speaker AssociationminorOthersEthnoConnect is a member of the National Speaker Association, which provides resources and education to advance the skills, integrity and value of its members and the speaking profession. NSA serves as a leading organization for professional speakers.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Berlitz Corporation: Berlitz is a global language and cross-cultural training incumbent with a much larger footprint and brand. While primarily language-focused, its cultural training offerings compete with EthnoConnect's cross-cultural communication programs in the enterprise market.
• FranklinCovey: FranklinCovey delivers enterprise leadership, culture, and inclusion training programs at scale. It competes with EthnoConnect for corporate training budgets focused on inclusive leadership and cultural competence, though its catalog is far broader.
• Korn Ferry: Korn Ferry is a global organizational consulting firm with a sizable DEI practice. It competes for enterprise DEI training and consulting budgets that EthnoConnect targets, though it offers a much broader talent and leadership portfolio.
• Deloitte (DEI Consulting Practice): Deloitte's Human Capital practice offers enterprise-scale DEI consulting, training, and transformation services. It competes with EthnoConnect for large enterprise DEI mandates, though Deloitte delivers a much wider suite of advisory services.

Direct peers

• The Winters Group: The Winters Group is a DEI strategy, consulting, and training firm serving enterprise clients. Directly comparable to EthnoConnect in delivering diversity, equity, and inclusion advisory and learning services, with a similar professional services business model.
• Cook Ross Inc. Cook Ross is a cultural competence and DEI consulting firm offering training, coaching, and advisory services to enterprises on cross-cultural issues. Comparable to EthnoConnect in its focus on intercultural training for corporate clients, though broader in delivery scope.
• Kozai Group: Kozai Group is an intercultural consulting firm providing training, coaching, and assessment for global teams and cross-cultural communication. Overlaps directly with EthnoConnect's cross-cultural communication and global team enablement offerings.

Emerging players

• DiversityInc: DiversityInc is a media, research, and advisory firm focused on DEI benchmarking and corporate diversity performance. It overlaps with EthnoConnect's multicultural marketing and diversity thought leadership content, though its primary monetization is data, media, and benchmarking.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ethnoconnect