I didn’t know what I want to do after
college when you don’t know what you
don’t know you settle for what you do
know in my case I’m a good student so I
chose to be in schools
for as long as I could five years in
elementary school six years in middle
high school four years in college three
years for master’s degree in eight years
for PhD now please help me calculate how
many years was I in school you didn’t
26 years 26 years I was in school that’s
a big portion of my short life over the
course of 26 years I got really good at
one thing
collecting degrees my college major was
Indonesian language and culture I’ve
never been there I can’t even count from
one to ten now a study says that less
than a quarter of college graduates end
up working in jobs have to do with their
college major and we remember less than
5% of what we learned in college I can’t
help but wonder how wonderful would it
be if we know early on what we are good
at and get to learn what we’re
interested and ended up doing something
we’re good at since schools were not
teaching me how to find out who I am and
what I’m capable of doing I decided to
go on a journey of search for mission by
myself so I took on many random projects
when I was a doctoral student at
Columbia University some of them were so
random that I don’t even know how to put
on a resume but when I experienced
didn’t make it to your resume is it
still valuable of course it is because
we do not live for resume we live for
experience so I was asked to sell Hawk
case
for a local company in my hometown you
look quiet and puzzled so let me show
you a picture casings that make sausages
a doctoral student majoring education
selling casing I thought to myself how
hard could it be you know people like
sausages and there is a demand then I
can sell so all I need to do is find the
buyers I make cold calls I attend
international casing conferences I I go
to trade shows I even directed a film
the first film in my entire life
capturing the whole process of making
casing starting from a slaughterhouse
was the most terrifying experience
I brought the film with me showed up at
three shows in Venice in Brazil in India
and I ended up closing a few millions of
dollars sales for the company I was
really excited that I can sell I thought
to myself if I can sell pig intestines
I couldn’t literally sell anything so
what could I do
well I’m interested in education maybe I
could start a company that would help
students get into the right colleges and
through the process they would get to
know themselves better and then they may
eventually find something they enjoy
learning and doing so I decided to move
back to China after living in the US for
ten years
I picked a city that I’ve never lived
before Shanghai it’s close to where my
parents live and I started the business
all alone by myself you can only imagine
the difficulties I would encounter when
I moved back to China I had experienced
a counter culture shock according to
study in 2012 that China China’s new
entrepreneurs tend to be younger they
are average of 31 year-old and 44
percent of them
at the age range of 24 to 35 and I’m
older than that and a master’s degree
and above only accounts for 4.4 percent
of the overall entrepreneurs in China
and female entrepreneurs account for
less than a quarter of the total number
of entrepreneurs in China so I was a
minority in every measure I was single
with advanced degree I was a boss it
seems like the worst combination of all
it’s like a devil who wears a problem as
Prada there’s one study shows that if
you were asked to work to pick an
employer to work whether it’s steep was
definitely majority people would pick
Steve even though these two employers
had exactly the same profile well so I
met art and I don’t realize that in
China if you’re over 27 and unmarried
you’re called a left over woman or 3’s
sing single 70s and stuff woman who are
single there is this lady he went she
went to a matchmaking events she’s 31 I
believe and the parents all the parents
showed up to try to match for their sons
and daughters and they look at her up
and down and checked her age said you
are very you know what you are like an
apartment the layout is very good but
the location is bad you are as if the
suburb of a big city there’s three there
are four levels of left over Mnet’s if
you’re between 25 to 28
you are entry level left over Ness you
still got a chance to win if you are
between 28 to 30
– your chances are slim if you are
between 32 to 35 you’re the queen of
leftovers if you’re over 35 oh boy
you’re doomed you’re hopeless left over
in China there are three different
genders male female female phd’s because
female PhDs are not feminine enough
aside being called a third gender female
PhDs were called me a Jewish should hi
for those of you understand Chinese
knows that it’s a nun of no mercy from a
comfo fighting nun in a popular martial
arts movie and sometimes referred to as
a UFO ugly foolish and owed on Chinese
microblog Weiwei boy
there is one user wrote that female PhDs
are the charity of China’s left over
women so let me summarize for you I am a
hopeless leftover third gender of no
mercy who happens to be in the business
educating children whom I don’t have how
big of a chance I was succeed in China
and whenever I tell people that they
look at me with this sympathetic and
concerned look like I was miserable they
would be like even if I tell them that
you know what I’m fine I actually really
enjoy my life I I like what I do and I
like where I am they’ll be like oh it’s
okay you know don’t be so picky for
women family is the most important thing
you should just settle I heard this way
too many times and I know that I
probably can’t really change what they
think
and who they are so maybe I should
change up my strategy so next time I saw
someone was that look in her on her face
a mile away I approached them I said hi
I know that you must be worried about me
I know you must think that I’m miserable
you know like I probably gonna be old
and not successful and lonely I caught
them off guard I feel like no no not at
all look at you you’re awesome you cool
you have the most freedom and time in
the war you could achieve anything in
the world I’m envious of you oh really
okay thank you
I turned around and walk away so what I
realize is that people most people don’t
really care what you do
Oh what you are they just want you to be
like them because that’s the way life is
supposed to be but they don’t mean bad
either
they just don’t understand you so I
decided you know I need to accept Who I
am and celebrate my uniqueness so that
really the shift of my set and attitude
really helped me to be more empathetic
towards the students that I work with
because in a society when a child’s
success is largely defined by how well
they do in schools and what kind of
name-brand school they go to they become
this faceless characterless study
machine they take exams all the time but
I just need to remind them that every
child is unique in his or her own ways
all they have is hidden talents that we
need to find with patience I tell my
students that no matter what adversities
they face they need to try their best
and really push forward
and I also tell parents that every child
is born with great curiosity and great
capacities to learn they don’t just
returning to someone who’s lazy and lack
of motivation we adults need to take the
responsibilities and see beyond those
numbers and really meet the true essence
of who they are just like you would go
look beyond my age and gender and the
number of degrees I collect so I decided
that move to China I need to accept the
situation so lesson learned is here
embrace your naysayers and celebrate
your uniqueness a few years ain’t for
running my business I started to feel
comfortable at the same time I felt
stuck I know that I needed to push
myself out of the comfortable zone and
try something different
so in 2017 I travel to six different
countries I pushed myself to overcome
fear and also try things that were all
snowboarding bungee jumping and why not
pole dancing Spanish one of the most
exciting and terrifying and liberating
experience was to climb up a 40 feet
pole and jump off to reach a bar in
front of me the pole is as big as a
dinner table like this the worst part is
that it moves from side to side the
higher you go the easier moves so I
climbed all the way up to top of the
pole I was
holding onto it’s like monkey and I got
stuck I didn’t know what to do because
every move I make the posts ways my legs
started to shake my arms were shaking
and my head was going crazy I was like
oh my god I should never put myself in
this situation
everybody’s watching what if I’d fall
you know if I don’t make it to the top
is this ridiculous I’m humiliated on
that while I was racing in my head I had
a voice at the bottom of the pole he
said focus on what’s next stop thinking
about how difficult it is don’t look
down
impossible should be impossible oh that
was a very good reminder alright okay so
let me focus on what’s the next step I
move my right foot inch by inch by inch
and placed a flat on the top of the pole
and I did the same thing with my left
foot when both of my feet are laid flat
on the top of the pole I pushed my upper
body away from my side I straighten my
legs when I stand still I open my arms
my eyes looking at I’m so beautiful
mountains
I felt the breeze sweeping across my
face oh god I need to reach for that
Paul a bar I took a deep breath 1 2 3 I
jump it’s so far I couldn’t reach it
but I leaped anyways being courageous
doesn’t mean you don’t have fear it’s
that even if you have fear you leap
anyways in lysing work we got stuck once
in a while well we are in a stuck mode
we should have a little bit
entrepreneurial spirit that will get you
unstuck
move forward we just need to keep
pushing our gnome zone the more we know
what we don’t know then we’re more
likely to touch the unknown so another
lesson learned keep learning stay humble
I would like to end my speech by reading
a few verses from the paradoxical
commandments by Ken Keith it really
captured the essence of how I would like
to live my life people are illogical
unreasonable and self-centered love them
anyway the good you do today will be
forgotten tomorrow do good anyway the
biggest man and woman with the biggest
ideas can be shot down by the smallest
man and smallest a women with the
smallest mind
think big anyway give the world the best
you have you’ll get kicked in the teeth
give the world the best you have anyway
I would like for you guys to read the
last two verses with me as if you really
mean it okay alright let’s go
what’d you spend years building maybe
destroyed overnight build anyway give
the world the best you have and you’ll
get kicked in the teeth give the world
the best you have anyway thank you so
much [Applause]
college when you don’t know what you
don’t know you settle for what you do
know in my case I’m a good student so I
chose to be in schools
for as long as I could five years in
elementary school six years in middle
high school four years in college three
years for master’s degree in eight years
for PhD now please help me calculate how
many years was I in school you didn’t
26 years 26 years I was in school that’s
a big portion of my short life over the
course of 26 years I got really good at
one thing
collecting degrees my college major was
Indonesian language and culture I’ve
never been there I can’t even count from
one to ten now a study says that less
than a quarter of college graduates end
up working in jobs have to do with their
college major and we remember less than
5% of what we learned in college I can’t
help but wonder how wonderful would it
be if we know early on what we are good
at and get to learn what we’re
interested and ended up doing something
we’re good at since schools were not
teaching me how to find out who I am and
what I’m capable of doing I decided to
go on a journey of search for mission by
myself so I took on many random projects
when I was a doctoral student at
Columbia University some of them were so
random that I don’t even know how to put
on a resume but when I experienced
didn’t make it to your resume is it
still valuable of course it is because
we do not live for resume we live for
experience so I was asked to sell Hawk
case
for a local company in my hometown you
look quiet and puzzled so let me show
you a picture casings that make sausages
a doctoral student majoring education
selling casing I thought to myself how
hard could it be you know people like
sausages and there is a demand then I
can sell so all I need to do is find the
buyers I make cold calls I attend
international casing conferences I I go
to trade shows I even directed a film
the first film in my entire life
capturing the whole process of making
casing starting from a slaughterhouse
was the most terrifying experience
I brought the film with me showed up at
three shows in Venice in Brazil in India
and I ended up closing a few millions of
dollars sales for the company I was
really excited that I can sell I thought
to myself if I can sell pig intestines
I couldn’t literally sell anything so
what could I do
well I’m interested in education maybe I
could start a company that would help
students get into the right colleges and
through the process they would get to
know themselves better and then they may
eventually find something they enjoy
learning and doing so I decided to move
back to China after living in the US for
ten years
I picked a city that I’ve never lived
before Shanghai it’s close to where my
parents live and I started the business
all alone by myself you can only imagine
the difficulties I would encounter when
I moved back to China I had experienced
a counter culture shock according to
study in 2012 that China China’s new
entrepreneurs tend to be younger they
are average of 31 year-old and 44
percent of them
at the age range of 24 to 35 and I’m
older than that and a master’s degree
and above only accounts for 4.4 percent
of the overall entrepreneurs in China
and female entrepreneurs account for
less than a quarter of the total number
of entrepreneurs in China so I was a
minority in every measure I was single
with advanced degree I was a boss it
seems like the worst combination of all
it’s like a devil who wears a problem as
Prada there’s one study shows that if
you were asked to work to pick an
employer to work whether it’s steep was
definitely majority people would pick
Steve even though these two employers
had exactly the same profile well so I
met art and I don’t realize that in
China if you’re over 27 and unmarried
you’re called a left over woman or 3’s
sing single 70s and stuff woman who are
single there is this lady he went she
went to a matchmaking events she’s 31 I
believe and the parents all the parents
showed up to try to match for their sons
and daughters and they look at her up
and down and checked her age said you
are very you know what you are like an
apartment the layout is very good but
the location is bad you are as if the
suburb of a big city there’s three there
are four levels of left over Mnet’s if
you’re between 25 to 28
you are entry level left over Ness you
still got a chance to win if you are
between 28 to 30
– your chances are slim if you are
between 32 to 35 you’re the queen of
leftovers if you’re over 35 oh boy
you’re doomed you’re hopeless left over
in China there are three different
genders male female female phd’s because
female PhDs are not feminine enough
aside being called a third gender female
PhDs were called me a Jewish should hi
for those of you understand Chinese
knows that it’s a nun of no mercy from a
comfo fighting nun in a popular martial
arts movie and sometimes referred to as
a UFO ugly foolish and owed on Chinese
microblog Weiwei boy
there is one user wrote that female PhDs
are the charity of China’s left over
women so let me summarize for you I am a
hopeless leftover third gender of no
mercy who happens to be in the business
educating children whom I don’t have how
big of a chance I was succeed in China
and whenever I tell people that they
look at me with this sympathetic and
concerned look like I was miserable they
would be like even if I tell them that
you know what I’m fine I actually really
enjoy my life I I like what I do and I
like where I am they’ll be like oh it’s
okay you know don’t be so picky for
women family is the most important thing
you should just settle I heard this way
too many times and I know that I
probably can’t really change what they
think
and who they are so maybe I should
change up my strategy so next time I saw
someone was that look in her on her face
a mile away I approached them I said hi
I know that you must be worried about me
I know you must think that I’m miserable
you know like I probably gonna be old
and not successful and lonely I caught
them off guard I feel like no no not at
all look at you you’re awesome you cool
you have the most freedom and time in
the war you could achieve anything in
the world I’m envious of you oh really
okay thank you
I turned around and walk away so what I
realize is that people most people don’t
really care what you do
Oh what you are they just want you to be
like them because that’s the way life is
supposed to be but they don’t mean bad
either
they just don’t understand you so I
decided you know I need to accept Who I
am and celebrate my uniqueness so that
really the shift of my set and attitude
really helped me to be more empathetic
towards the students that I work with
because in a society when a child’s
success is largely defined by how well
they do in schools and what kind of
name-brand school they go to they become
this faceless characterless study
machine they take exams all the time but
I just need to remind them that every
child is unique in his or her own ways
all they have is hidden talents that we
need to find with patience I tell my
students that no matter what adversities
they face they need to try their best
and really push forward
and I also tell parents that every child
is born with great curiosity and great
capacities to learn they don’t just
returning to someone who’s lazy and lack
of motivation we adults need to take the
responsibilities and see beyond those
numbers and really meet the true essence
of who they are just like you would go
look beyond my age and gender and the
number of degrees I collect so I decided
that move to China I need to accept the
situation so lesson learned is here
embrace your naysayers and celebrate
your uniqueness a few years ain’t for
running my business I started to feel
comfortable at the same time I felt
stuck I know that I needed to push
myself out of the comfortable zone and
try something different
so in 2017 I travel to six different
countries I pushed myself to overcome
fear and also try things that were all
snowboarding bungee jumping and why not
pole dancing Spanish one of the most
exciting and terrifying and liberating
experience was to climb up a 40 feet
pole and jump off to reach a bar in
front of me the pole is as big as a
dinner table like this the worst part is
that it moves from side to side the
higher you go the easier moves so I
climbed all the way up to top of the
pole I was
holding onto it’s like monkey and I got
stuck I didn’t know what to do because
every move I make the posts ways my legs
started to shake my arms were shaking
and my head was going crazy I was like
oh my god I should never put myself in
this situation
everybody’s watching what if I’d fall
you know if I don’t make it to the top
is this ridiculous I’m humiliated on
that while I was racing in my head I had
a voice at the bottom of the pole he
said focus on what’s next stop thinking
about how difficult it is don’t look
down
impossible should be impossible oh that
was a very good reminder alright okay so
let me focus on what’s the next step I
move my right foot inch by inch by inch
and placed a flat on the top of the pole
and I did the same thing with my left
foot when both of my feet are laid flat
on the top of the pole I pushed my upper
body away from my side I straighten my
legs when I stand still I open my arms
my eyes looking at I’m so beautiful
mountains
I felt the breeze sweeping across my
face oh god I need to reach for that
Paul a bar I took a deep breath 1 2 3 I
jump it’s so far I couldn’t reach it
but I leaped anyways being courageous
doesn’t mean you don’t have fear it’s
that even if you have fear you leap
anyways in lysing work we got stuck once
in a while well we are in a stuck mode
we should have a little bit
entrepreneurial spirit that will get you
unstuck
move forward we just need to keep
pushing our gnome zone the more we know
what we don’t know then we’re more
likely to touch the unknown so another
lesson learned keep learning stay humble
I would like to end my speech by reading
a few verses from the paradoxical
commandments by Ken Keith it really
captured the essence of how I would like
to live my life people are illogical
unreasonable and self-centered love them
anyway the good you do today will be
forgotten tomorrow do good anyway the
biggest man and woman with the biggest
ideas can be shot down by the smallest
man and smallest a women with the
smallest mind
think big anyway give the world the best
you have you’ll get kicked in the teeth
give the world the best you have anyway
I would like for you guys to read the
last two verses with me as if you really
mean it okay alright let’s go
what’d you spend years building maybe
destroyed overnight build anyway give
the world the best you have and you’ll
get kicked in the teeth give the world
the best you have anyway thank you so
much [Applause]
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