Olivia, what is the story behind your move to China?

I started studying Chinese at St. Mary’s High School. It was the first high school in Oregon to offer a Chinese program. The summer after my first year of studies we had the opportunity to come to China and I was one of the seven students selected. We traveled all over China during the holidays, it was my first trip outside of the United States. It was the summer of 2007 and we went to Beijing, Henan and the southern part of China, Kunming in Yunnan province. It was so different from anything he had ever known or been exposed to before. After that experience, I began to think that this was the path I wanted to follow. I studied Chinese and business throughout university and completed my last six months of university in Beijing at Beijing Language and Culture University. I moved there alone and enrolled in an intensive language program. Classes were only taught in Chinese and I was the only American in my class, with no other native English speakers. I think I cried a lot (laughs) and was kind of miserable for about five months, but by the sixth month I was loving it: I have this distinctive memory of riding in a taxi and passing all these amazing buildings in Beijing. The energy of the city was electrifying. I returned to Oregon, graduated, and found a job at an international adoption agency. I was helping prospective parents for the first 1-2 years of the adoption process. I was also helping to update the organization’s website to generate more traffic and maintain the link to our Beijing office. While this role was a great learning opportunity for me, I knew it was not my career path. I really wanted to go back to China and pursue a career in international business.

How did you do it?

The easiest way to quickly return to China was through a teaching job. To the surprise of my friends and family, it only took me a couple of weeks to get one. The entire process of obtaining a visa took about four months. My parents knew that I wanted to return to China. Although it was probably difficult for them, they never questioned it. They knew I could do it and I knew I was determined to make it work. I ended up in a city near Shanghai. The first time I visited Shanghai in March 2015 I completely fell in love with the city. I said to myself: I must move here. And to think that I didn’t even know what I now know about the city!

How did you find your current job?

I was using LinkedIn, Smart Shanghai, E-China cities. I had quite a few interviews, but nothing seemed like the right role for me. I knew I was passionate about telling stories and how brands design and market products. At the time, I didn’t know marketing and branding was the answer until I interviewed for a marketing position with a solar company. Although it wasn’t a good fit, I enjoyed working on various interview projects. It helped me narrow my search.

The position I am currently in was posted on LinkedIn and I applied. I had fifty connections and an outdated profile photo, but they called me for the interview. I now have over 1,100 followers and have published several popular posts and articles, several of which received over 12,000 views. I was featured on Forbes because of a connection I made on LinkedIn. We started a conversation about how to get qualified leads through HubSpot and ended up writing an article that was published on Forbes, in just over a week it surpassed 5,000 views.

I know people in my industry are using LinkedIn, but I don’t see people, especially my peers, using it to its full potential. Nowadays building your personal brand is extremely important, it is the most important thing that you will take with you from one job to another. The reality is that my generation will change jobs at least a few times throughout their careers. LinkedIn is the platform to build your professional online presence. Twitter and Instagram are also important, but LinkedIn is the ultimate professional space where people will be looking for not only talent but also thought leadership. How have you contributed, what do you have to say about your industry? Building and interacting with your network is important, and now is the time to use LinkedIn to do this.

Can you tell us about your typical day at work?

I work for Brandigo, a global branding and marketing agency, with offices in Shanghai, Boston and Manchester. I am based in Shanghai as our internal marketing manager. I develop and carry out our inbound marketing strategy, this means that I am working with our marketing automation software, HubSpot, which helps attract and track qualified leads. Every day I review how people are interacting with our website, what content is being read and shared the most, what problems people are looking for that we can help solve, and what channels they are using. I develop our content strategy, keep our marketing collateral updated and fresh.

What are the skills needed to be successful in marketing and branding in China?

You have to realize that the market here is unlike anything you have seen and experienced before. I can’t tell you how many conversations I have with professionals in this industry who will tell you that no matter what, you have to be prepared to throw most of what you know out the window. China is changing incredibly fast, much faster than the West. I see a lot of international brands coming to China who have no idea what WeChat is, but they want it. The fact is, marketers need to take a step back and look at the big picture. China is huge, each city is like an individual country, and all these cities are very different from each other. A great WeChat will only get you so far, it’s all about finding the right way to locate everything. If you can take the punches, see 10 steps ahead, listen to what’s going on, and be flexible, you can survive in China.

What is your advice for someone who has just moved to China?

At first, it seems like a massive life change. And it will be! But you have to be proactive and look for groups and events that interest you. The unique aspect of being an expat is that you will almost always be able to mingle with other expats on some level. You will share this common affinity for adventure and independence. There will be hard days, days when everything seems to be against you and nothing makes sense. These difficult days are amplified by the fact that you are another side of the world from all that you have known to be comforting. However, compared to other parts of China, living in Shanghai is easy because most people speak English and it is a modern and multicultural city. Find your community, find people who share the same values, interests, passions, and surround yourself with people and projects that can expand your horizons and keep you grounded.

How did you find your community?

I moved here in August 2016 and didn’t know anyone in town. I searched Meetup.com and found Girl Gone International. This was the first community I got involved in and it opened the door for me to many other relevant friendships and communities. The amazing thing about China is that we have WeChat and WeChat groups. These groups can be as large as 500 people and when run well, like the ones at GGI (Girl Gone International), they can be incredibly helpful. After GGI, I attended various networking events and since then have been active in other groups such as IPWS (International Society of Professional Women), TedxPuxi and FitFam. The community with which I have grown the most has been FItFam. I got involved with FitFam, a free fitness community in Shanghai, which started about two years ago. Currently, FitFam has 14 locations across Shanghai with over 2,000 active members and over 5,500 WeChat followers. I manage the FitFam WeChat account and the communication strategies. The FitFam community is very special to me, everyone, foreigners and Chinese, is very supportive and always welcoming. This community has given me a lot, especially since I have been able to combine my passion for fitness and healthy living with my passion for marketing and content creation. I truly believe that if I had returned home I would not have pushed myself to get involved in so many different organizations, meet so many diverse people, or challenge myself to explore my passions. In Shanghai, you can meet so many amazing people from backgrounds you never imagined, try new things you didn’t even know existed, and just get out of your comfort zone. I think Shanghai gives you the opportunity to become a much stronger and more empowered person.

What is the one question that no one asked you and you feel like they should?

“What can you do differently?” I made the big and difficult decision to leave my family and home to come to another country to work. There are some hard days; It can be lonely and sometimes nothing makes sense, but the hard work and sacrifice must be for something much bigger. My initial decision 10 years ago to start learning Chinese was because I wanted to do something out of the ordinary. During this last year, I have tried to take advantage of every experience, every opportunity that I could. The more people I meet, the more I learn, not only about myself but also about the industry I work in. Today the world we live in is increasingly competitive, and I believe that to have an impact, not only in my own life but also in the lives of others in a positive way, requires that we look for opportunities and challenges that are outside. from the norm This is what I’m looking to do.

Thanks Olivia, we look forward to our next interview: Everything About Branding.