Journey to the West
Anita Lai (MLitt 2016) describes her journey via the US and St Andrews to becoming a successful entrepreneur and making the top three of the British Council Study UK Alumni Social Action Awards in 2021.
In the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, a respected Buddhist monk from Tang Dynasty and his three apprentices (a Monkey, a Pig and Friar Sand) travel all the way from China to the west in pursuit of enlightenment. During this epic journey, the members of the group encounter innumerable trials and hardships but eventually reach their destination thanks to their bravery, solidarity and wisdom.
My story is nothing like as dramatic as this traditional folktale, although boarding a plane at the age of 17 and flying to the US on the other side of the world for my bachelor’s degree in Economics certainly felt like a scary adventure to me.
It was thanks to an exchange programme in Hungary during my sophomore year (when I fell deeply in love with the diverse culture of Europe) that I decided to study an MLitt in Management at the University of St Andrews.
I had never stepped foot in Scotland before this. Descriptions such as ‘the oldest University in Scotland’, ‘the home of golf’ and ‘royal and prestigious’ made St Andrews sound fascinating and ever-so-slightly mysterious, so I was very excited about coming to study here. Everything went so smoothly and efficiently on the day I arrived that it made a huge impression on me, and from that moment on I was confident I would love my time here.
Time does fly when you are having fun. Every day in St Andrews went by in a heartbeat. My school life was quickly filled up with heavy course work, assignments, and many sleepless nights at the library. However, in the meanwhile, I found myself busy with Hip Hop Dance Society, gym workouts, golf classes, and all kinds of gala balls. I have always loved events planning. The thriving social life in St Andrews gave me the chance to experience so much more than just academic studies. I am not a dancer, but I completed my first dance performance on stage in front of a full house. I am not a good swimmer, but I jumped into the North Sea for the first time at 4am on May Day when it was freezing cold. All of these are life-time memories which will always warm my heart like the bonfires by the Castle Sands and remind me to stay fearless in the face of any challenges ahead.
When I returned home after graduating from the University of St Andrews, I joined the British Chamber of Commerce Southwest China as an Events Manager to encourage cultural and business exchanges between British and local companies. Two years later, I made my first career transition from working for others to running my own business.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make. I believe all entrepreneurs go through the same thought process as I did: is it worth giving up a stable paycheck to pursue your passion? But I also believe that all entrepreneurs are – like me – risk takers. My favourite course at St Andrews had been Entrepreneurship and Innovation and it inspired me to devote all my spare time and energy to my startup – a food tour business that I ran with my business partner from Canada, where we used food as the vehicle to promote the local culture in Chengdu, China. As the first of its kind in Sichuan, our business was soon mentioned in multiple world-class media including the New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide and the South China Morning Post.
While I was excited about expanding my own business and embracing all the challenges ahead, I was also daunted by the uncertainty of it all. I desperately wanted an experienced leader to be my mentor and guide me through this journey. However, I quickly realised that the concept of mentorship wasn’t common in China, especially in the southwest part of the country.
I therefore talked to a few women whom I admired in my network about the challenges I was experiencing with my business and career growth. They were not only extremely understanding and inspirational but also – more importantly – easy to talk to. As a woman – and a woman in business – that was exactly the type of support I needed, and it occurred to me that many other professional women like me must need it too.
I convinced a close friend who had also just returned to China from studying overseas to collaborate with me to introduce mentorship to the local business community and help connect women with senior female leaders. We persuaded five female leaders to act as mentors and the SheLeads Mentorship Programme was soon born. We launched it by simply publishing a blog post. Within 24 hours, over 70 women had signed up for the kick-off event, and we selected 20 to pair with the five mentors. There was clearly a demand for our service.
Three months later at the ‘graduation’ event, we provided the mentees with an opportunity to describe how the programme had impacted them. Every single woman said it had increased their self-confidence and had helped their professional development. Two got job promotions. One started her own business. One even tripled her salary. Although I don’t think that our programme was the sole reason for their success, I do believe that the support we gave them made all the difference.
As increasing numbers of women asked to join the programme, my partner and I started to think of other ways we could build a more solid network for women. In response, we created different types of community events such as skillset workshops, talks and discussions with industrial experts, networking socials and creative summits in female leadership.
Fast forward four years and our community has grown from 20 people to a network of over 4000 professional women in three major cities in China. We have organised more than 100 events to offer professional resources and connections for women.
In 2019, SheLeads was named by Gabrielle Williams (Minister for Women, Minister for Youth and Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, the Victoria State of Government in Australia) as a great example of empowerment of local women at the Women in Leadership Forum with UN Women in Beijing.
In 2021, I was fortunate to be given the Innovative Young Woman Leader of the Year Award at the Women Empowerment Awards in China.
At the end of 2021 I also made the top three of the British Council Study UK Alumni Social Action Awards.
SheLeads is now no longer just a personal project for me – it has grown to become a sisterhood, where we support and take responsibility for each other.
Thinking back, it feels like only yesterday that I was sitting in the University of St Andrews School of Management library writing my thesis on Events Marketing and Management. Now, I am using what I learned, observed and experienced then to try to make a difference – fearlessly.