[Music]
well there was a little girl I used to
love to sit for hours and play beneath
the table something like this typically
I play dolls or stuffed animals but one
day I decided that I needed to decorate
this table
as children do
luckily my father happened to be walking
through and he said Ellen no no please
don’t do that table is very special to
our family now I bet you’re wondering
why that table was special to my family
one of the reasons why I came to Sujal
to China and to Suzhou in particular
five years ago is because 100 years ago
in 1917 my grandfather carry touchstone
came from the u.s. state of Texas to
work as an administrator at damu – web
which became Suja University while he
was here he met a lovely young American
woman my grandmother
Mabel Ellen Thomas who was the fiery
nurse from Pennsylvania she was here
working as the superintendent of
sis or as you would call it the nurse
leader at the studio University
affiliated hospital which has now become
student Hospital de Ken of course two
young Americans in the romantic city of
Stu Joe living out their passions what’s
going to happen will they fell in love
and they got married in 1919 they had
two children my Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe
and you know what they got they want
that table that table that I was
referring to they bought that table and
when they went back to the United States
in 1922 they took that table with them
and it’s been passed down in the family
to my father
their youngest child and then taught to
me besides my grandmother my grandfather
my aunt and my uncle there is another
really important person in our household
in that there soo-jung household that
was the woman who helped them to take
care of my aunt and uncle now in fact
she was so significant that my aunt and
uncle little American children growing
up in China they ended up speaking Sioux
Joanie’s before they spoke English
the woman was that significant in their
lives unfortunately my family members
passed away before I could ask them for
the name of the Olly so I’ve spent the
past five years doing research about my
family
and about trying to find out who this is
because I would really like to meet her
descendants I’d like to meet her
grandchildren they would be like my
pseudo family you know this project
looking into my heritage has become
almost like a second career for me so
I’m going to I’m going to start calling
myself a splash of right back in 2007
Marcy a lava hair released this book in
which she defines slashers as people who
can’t define themselves with just one
word they have maybe a made career and
then / another career during the nights
or possibly on weekends an example might
be a writer / photographer / artist I
have always I think been a splasher even
before it was cool before it had a name
when I was in undergraduate getting my
bachelor’s degree at the University of
Nebraska
I had three majors French / psychology /
linguistics and also later when I was
getting my graduate degrees I was
pursuing my PhD in applied linguistics
at the same time that I was getting my
MBA in international business during the
summers so yeah I think I’m a slasher in
fact what do you think do you think I
should change my business card do you
think I should say it should say
marketing professor / historian or maybe
a filmmaker
my family heritage baby I’ll think I’ll
think about it okay
so I promised you that I would talk to
you about what passion can do for you
and there are three main benefits to
passion
the first one is you’ll find your people
looking for example my grandparents are
great are an excellent example of this
right they came over from the u.s. to
China when it was very difficult to do
that when I came five years ago I just
got on the plane right they had to get
on a boat and spend the money to come
here it was very different at that time
but they came here they were passionate
about helping people
my grandfather is Tito University my
grandmother and a hospital passionate
passionate people and they found with
each other here is too generous so
they’re a great example of people
finding their tribe as I call it were
their people I’m another example of that
with this project with this project I’ve
been working on it for five years I have
talked to hundreds of people I have told
this story hundreds thousands of times
and as I move through those five years
[Music]
what do you find out more information
about my grandparents and hopefully to
find out who the audio was I found my
tribe the second benefit that passion
can bring into your life is giving you
innovative ideas so I told you earlier
that I have a PhD in applied linguistics
and an MBA in international business
well last March I had a really amazing
career success finally finally finally
after many years of trying to get a
particular article on the linguistic
service scape published I found a home
for it I found a home in a very
prestigious Journal and so I feel like
I’m back baby I’m back as a thought
leader in services marketing but you
know I told you I’ve been a slasher for
a long time right it hasn’t been easy it
hasn’t been easy being an applied
linguist in a business school or a
marketer in a linguistics department
right but I am so glad that I didn’t
give up either of my passions in figure
of the other because with this
particular publication
I was bringing those together and it’s
really important as the world becomes
more complicated complicated problems
deserve complicated answers from people
who have passions maybe in multiple
fields are working with people who have
passions in multiple fields so I’m
really a
believer in collaborating and using your
passion to to solve the world’s problems
okay so I have another ring I have a
story related to this a few weeks ago I
was in Shanghai catching up with one of
my American friends who happened to be
there for business she was with some
colleagues from singularity University
singularity University is a think-tank
in Silicon Valley so she introduced me
to Aaron Frank the famous journalist
expert power user influencer in virtual
reality and augmented reality so we go
to lunch she introduced me to him as her
friend Ellen who has an MBA in
international business and he was a
marketing professor that’s what he knew
about me Frank said we’re sitting there
at lunch
he’s pretty jet-lagged so he’s not
really participating much in the
conversation he’s living his ketchup uh
and I mentioned that I also have a PhD
in applied linguistics and then I’m a
language planner and at that point he
almost jumped up over the table at me
and said thanks thanks Nene and I looked
around because there must be someone
else here right I never had such a
positive reaction to telling someone
that I’m an applied linguist typically I
get the reaction so what does one do
with a PhD in applied linguistics or
what is an applied linguist but he was
so energized by the fact that I had
applied linguistics to marketing in my
research on the link
escaped that we spent the rest of the
afternoon talking about possible
collaborations in terms of language
planning and virtual reality or
augmented reality so what do you think
Ellen touched on marketing professor /
historian / virtual reality augmented
reality consultant what do you think
many people we will see ok um now I have
been passionate about languages
linguistics business for over 30 years
now I’m not telling you that all of your
passions have to be long term maybe you
should try out some passions try them on
see how they fit ok this is this is an
example from my life back when I was 13
years old I announced to my parents that
I wanted to be an archaeologist now my
friends are in the audience I see a few
of them they’re probably thinking ooh
that doesn’t sound like something that L
would really like l does not like
getting dirty or sleeping in tents or
hiking and you’re right ok but my
parents didn’t tell me that they let me
discover it on my own so the first thing
they were very supportive of my passion
the first thing they did is they took me
to Chicago to the King Tut exhibit at
the Field Museum and I’m like that was
very interesting
ok and they continue to support and
maybe later on a few years later we were
going on a family vacation to the
American Southwest and my father is also
a universe
professor he had a contact who was an
archaeologist in New Mexico so my father
arranged for me to have a little mini
internship of three days as an
archaeologist okay so the first day we
the first day I went out with two
archeologists walking in the Hot Desert
Sun in the summer of New Mexico and I
don’t know if you know what
archaeologists typically do but they
they walk around and they look at the
ground to see if there’s a particular
type of plant life that indicates a
civilization have been there at one time
okay kind of boring in my opinion right
loved hiking in the hot New Mexico Sun
the second day we went to a famous
National Park or national monument in
the United States Chaco Canyon and this
is where the the Anasazi civilization
lived until they mysteriously
disappeared many years ago so we went
there and yes it’s ruins okay the
civilization is no more and I did not
find it particularly inspiring the third
day of my internship right I’m not
giving it a good a good try the third
day of my internship I was working at
the local museum at the County Museum
and they had me in the back room sorting
artifacts from an archaeological dig and
everything was okay until I pulled out a
dog’s paw my dog’s paw and I screamed
and I said no archaeology is not for me
okay so so I hope I did not become an
irk
just but my parents let me make that
decision myself
okay so the third thing that that
passion will give you is energy right I
think you can see I’m pretty energetic
passionate person right so last year I
ended up breaking my foot don’t worry it
was not anything traumatic or anything
like that just me walking I broke my
foot but because I’m so passionate about
teaching and dedicated to helping my
students learn about international
business I didn’t miss a single day of
teaching there I am on my Walker when
finally Walker okay so in conclusion I’m
a man I’m a marketer slash applied
linguists slash historian slash
filmmaker I’m a proud Suja Rena I hope
you’re okay with me calling myself that
since my family started here at that
time no kidding I’m a proud splasher
also and who knows what my next passion
is going to be thank you
[Applause]
well there was a little girl I used to
love to sit for hours and play beneath
the table something like this typically
I play dolls or stuffed animals but one
day I decided that I needed to decorate
this table
as children do
luckily my father happened to be walking
through and he said Ellen no no please
don’t do that table is very special to
our family now I bet you’re wondering
why that table was special to my family
one of the reasons why I came to Sujal
to China and to Suzhou in particular
five years ago is because 100 years ago
in 1917 my grandfather carry touchstone
came from the u.s. state of Texas to
work as an administrator at damu – web
which became Suja University while he
was here he met a lovely young American
woman my grandmother
Mabel Ellen Thomas who was the fiery
nurse from Pennsylvania she was here
working as the superintendent of
sis or as you would call it the nurse
leader at the studio University
affiliated hospital which has now become
student Hospital de Ken of course two
young Americans in the romantic city of
Stu Joe living out their passions what’s
going to happen will they fell in love
and they got married in 1919 they had
two children my Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe
and you know what they got they want
that table that table that I was
referring to they bought that table and
when they went back to the United States
in 1922 they took that table with them
and it’s been passed down in the family
to my father
their youngest child and then taught to
me besides my grandmother my grandfather
my aunt and my uncle there is another
really important person in our household
in that there soo-jung household that
was the woman who helped them to take
care of my aunt and uncle now in fact
she was so significant that my aunt and
uncle little American children growing
up in China they ended up speaking Sioux
Joanie’s before they spoke English
the woman was that significant in their
lives unfortunately my family members
passed away before I could ask them for
the name of the Olly so I’ve spent the
past five years doing research about my
family
and about trying to find out who this is
because I would really like to meet her
descendants I’d like to meet her
grandchildren they would be like my
pseudo family you know this project
looking into my heritage has become
almost like a second career for me so
I’m going to I’m going to start calling
myself a splash of right back in 2007
Marcy a lava hair released this book in
which she defines slashers as people who
can’t define themselves with just one
word they have maybe a made career and
then / another career during the nights
or possibly on weekends an example might
be a writer / photographer / artist I
have always I think been a splasher even
before it was cool before it had a name
when I was in undergraduate getting my
bachelor’s degree at the University of
Nebraska
I had three majors French / psychology /
linguistics and also later when I was
getting my graduate degrees I was
pursuing my PhD in applied linguistics
at the same time that I was getting my
MBA in international business during the
summers so yeah I think I’m a slasher in
fact what do you think do you think I
should change my business card do you
think I should say it should say
marketing professor / historian or maybe
a filmmaker
my family heritage baby I’ll think I’ll
think about it okay
so I promised you that I would talk to
you about what passion can do for you
and there are three main benefits to
passion
the first one is you’ll find your people
looking for example my grandparents are
great are an excellent example of this
right they came over from the u.s. to
China when it was very difficult to do
that when I came five years ago I just
got on the plane right they had to get
on a boat and spend the money to come
here it was very different at that time
but they came here they were passionate
about helping people
my grandfather is Tito University my
grandmother and a hospital passionate
passionate people and they found with
each other here is too generous so
they’re a great example of people
finding their tribe as I call it were
their people I’m another example of that
with this project with this project I’ve
been working on it for five years I have
talked to hundreds of people I have told
this story hundreds thousands of times
and as I move through those five years
[Music]
what do you find out more information
about my grandparents and hopefully to
find out who the audio was I found my
tribe the second benefit that passion
can bring into your life is giving you
innovative ideas so I told you earlier
that I have a PhD in applied linguistics
and an MBA in international business
well last March I had a really amazing
career success finally finally finally
after many years of trying to get a
particular article on the linguistic
service scape published I found a home
for it I found a home in a very
prestigious Journal and so I feel like
I’m back baby I’m back as a thought
leader in services marketing but you
know I told you I’ve been a slasher for
a long time right it hasn’t been easy it
hasn’t been easy being an applied
linguist in a business school or a
marketer in a linguistics department
right but I am so glad that I didn’t
give up either of my passions in figure
of the other because with this
particular publication
I was bringing those together and it’s
really important as the world becomes
more complicated complicated problems
deserve complicated answers from people
who have passions maybe in multiple
fields are working with people who have
passions in multiple fields so I’m
really a
believer in collaborating and using your
passion to to solve the world’s problems
okay so I have another ring I have a
story related to this a few weeks ago I
was in Shanghai catching up with one of
my American friends who happened to be
there for business she was with some
colleagues from singularity University
singularity University is a think-tank
in Silicon Valley so she introduced me
to Aaron Frank the famous journalist
expert power user influencer in virtual
reality and augmented reality so we go
to lunch she introduced me to him as her
friend Ellen who has an MBA in
international business and he was a
marketing professor that’s what he knew
about me Frank said we’re sitting there
at lunch
he’s pretty jet-lagged so he’s not
really participating much in the
conversation he’s living his ketchup uh
and I mentioned that I also have a PhD
in applied linguistics and then I’m a
language planner and at that point he
almost jumped up over the table at me
and said thanks thanks Nene and I looked
around because there must be someone
else here right I never had such a
positive reaction to telling someone
that I’m an applied linguist typically I
get the reaction so what does one do
with a PhD in applied linguistics or
what is an applied linguist but he was
so energized by the fact that I had
applied linguistics to marketing in my
research on the link
escaped that we spent the rest of the
afternoon talking about possible
collaborations in terms of language
planning and virtual reality or
augmented reality so what do you think
Ellen touched on marketing professor /
historian / virtual reality augmented
reality consultant what do you think
many people we will see ok um now I have
been passionate about languages
linguistics business for over 30 years
now I’m not telling you that all of your
passions have to be long term maybe you
should try out some passions try them on
see how they fit ok this is this is an
example from my life back when I was 13
years old I announced to my parents that
I wanted to be an archaeologist now my
friends are in the audience I see a few
of them they’re probably thinking ooh
that doesn’t sound like something that L
would really like l does not like
getting dirty or sleeping in tents or
hiking and you’re right ok but my
parents didn’t tell me that they let me
discover it on my own so the first thing
they were very supportive of my passion
the first thing they did is they took me
to Chicago to the King Tut exhibit at
the Field Museum and I’m like that was
very interesting
ok and they continue to support and
maybe later on a few years later we were
going on a family vacation to the
American Southwest and my father is also
a universe
professor he had a contact who was an
archaeologist in New Mexico so my father
arranged for me to have a little mini
internship of three days as an
archaeologist okay so the first day we
the first day I went out with two
archeologists walking in the Hot Desert
Sun in the summer of New Mexico and I
don’t know if you know what
archaeologists typically do but they
they walk around and they look at the
ground to see if there’s a particular
type of plant life that indicates a
civilization have been there at one time
okay kind of boring in my opinion right
loved hiking in the hot New Mexico Sun
the second day we went to a famous
National Park or national monument in
the United States Chaco Canyon and this
is where the the Anasazi civilization
lived until they mysteriously
disappeared many years ago so we went
there and yes it’s ruins okay the
civilization is no more and I did not
find it particularly inspiring the third
day of my internship right I’m not
giving it a good a good try the third
day of my internship I was working at
the local museum at the County Museum
and they had me in the back room sorting
artifacts from an archaeological dig and
everything was okay until I pulled out a
dog’s paw my dog’s paw and I screamed
and I said no archaeology is not for me
okay so so I hope I did not become an
irk
just but my parents let me make that
decision myself
okay so the third thing that that
passion will give you is energy right I
think you can see I’m pretty energetic
passionate person right so last year I
ended up breaking my foot don’t worry it
was not anything traumatic or anything
like that just me walking I broke my
foot but because I’m so passionate about
teaching and dedicated to helping my
students learn about international
business I didn’t miss a single day of
teaching there I am on my Walker when
finally Walker okay so in conclusion I’m
a man I’m a marketer slash applied
linguists slash historian slash
filmmaker I’m a proud Suja Rena I hope
you’re okay with me calling myself that
since my family started here at that
time no kidding I’m a proud splasher
also and who knows what my next passion
is going to be thank you
[Applause]
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