Yiling discusses why she chose to study MSc Wealth Management at Queen Mary University in 2019 after learning about the field from a college professor.
Could you tell me a bit about your role as Chief Strategist at CytoBorg Inc.? What drew you to the role?
I joined CytoBorg as one of the founders, we started this company in order to build our own skincare product brand while working closely with dermatologist and research labs. Our founding members come from all different educational backgrounds including biochemistry, graphic design, and business. We aim to launch our first product line this year.
My main focus in this company is to develop strategies for the early stage of brand development, including a lot of research work in the customer profile, product positioning, external collaboration and investors relations. A lot of effort to put into as we are just starting up, as we further develop, I will only be focusing on maintaining investor relationships sector.
So far it’s been wanting to become financially independent and self-accomplishment in building up my own career. But I think motivations in life change based on different life stages.
Could you give me an overview of your career and what brought you to this point?
I started my very first entrepreneurship project in 2015 when I was a sophomore in college. It didn’t work out in the long term but I was able to gain a lot of insights into the business world. My first official job was as regional manager at a recruitment company, I was responsible for contacting higher education institutions to build partnerships, that was where I found my interest in the work field and continued to work in roles of external relations and global engagement for higher education.
Why did you choose to study Wealth Management? Why at Queen Mary?
I learned about Wealth Management from one of my college professors, I thought it was an interesting topic, and rather a niche among other majors. And I always wanted to study in London, Queen Mary was able to offer me both so I chose to come here.
Having lived in both China and the USA, was there anything that surprised you about living and studying in the UK?
Everything was refreshing to me, London is a very modern and busy city, I got to know people from all over the world. I didn’t have a hard time settling in, but one thing did take me a while to get used to, which was having classes in big lecture halls with hundreds of students.
What motivates you in life?
Do you have any particular fond memories from your time at Queen Mary you would like to share?
I guess many small things when I stayed there. The stray cat randomly shows up in front of the graduate centre, bar-restaurant in the corner of the street, and many other random things.
What advice would you give a current student or recent graduate considering their career options?
It is totally fine not to have a clear goal in the career you want to do in the future while studying, but I do encourage the students to explore different options with every chance they encounter. It is really helpful to participate in career events to learn and to discover different jobs and career options and build up connections while on campus.