Who You Are Matters

WHO AM I?

Where Did I Come From? 

Actually, it’s very hard for me to define where I come from. My family moved from town to town and city to city in the first eighteen years in my life. The last move was three years ago that I came to LA for college from Beijing alone. Although I usually say that I come from Beijing, China, I choose “cosmopolitan” as my signature, and I believe I’ll surely move around internationally in the future.

Where Am I Going? 

Career-wise, I want to join Morgan Stanley as an investment banking analyst after my graduation from USC Marshall School of Business and become the Co-CEO of Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific in ten years. Therefore, I’ll move from LA to HK in one or two years. I wish my family will go with me, and I think it will be very satisfactory for me to provide my family with a better life. I’ll probably move internationally to different cities because of the position rotation within the company, but I also want to experience a life in the same place for a longer time period. Regarding how to get there, I think that both the technical skills in finance and the interpersonal skills within the community are important for becoming a qualified investment banking analyst. I’ll enhance my technical skills by constantly practicing financial analyses and valuation models for different transactions, analyzing the finance markets in various industries, and forming prominent forecasts and insights about the future trends of businesses. Quantitatively, I plan to pass the CFA (Charted Financial Analyst) Exam Level I within six months and earn the CFA charter within five years. Moreover, I’ll solidify my interpersonal skills all the time in my career and learn from my colleagues, superiors, and clients. It’s a long-term plan, and I’ll surely try my best to get there. 

Who Are My Parents? 

I am very sensitive to numbers which resembles my mum. She works in finance industry, and she encouraged me a lot when I chose investment banking as my career. I really believe in her philosophy that financial stability is the first thing I should pursue after college. However, my mum is a conservative person, but I would like to take more risks in my life. Although sometimes she doesn’t concur with my opinions like studying abroad because of my art interests, she still supports me and inspires me when I’m in trouble. On the contrary, my dad is a creative person, and he’s very interested in art and entertainment. I inherit his creativity and passion to life and learn about art as well. He values innovation and would like to sacrifice whatever it takes to do new things in life. I resembled my dad when I was young, but when I grow up, I tend to be more rational than he is. In general, I choose to become who I am. I greatly appreciate that although I often hold different opinions from my parents, they are both very supportive. I always see them as my friends rather than parents. 

Who Is My Role Model? 

My role model is the main character Monkey King in the novel Journey to the West. From the story I learned that people should have a great passion and gain strong abilities to do the things they want and achieve high. However, the more important thing in life is to learn to be an ordinary person who loves others and takes more responsibilities in society. 

Who is the Wild Animal I Feel a Connection with? 

It’s interesting that my nick name on one of my social media is “Little Wild Beast,” 失控的小野兽 in Chinese. I didn’t define which wild animal it was, but the wild animal I’m most connected to is the leopard. The female leopard is strong enough to live alone and maternal as well to nurture her babies. I want to be a person with these virtues. Just like my mum. 

What Plant did I Encountered in My Childhood? 

There’s a photo of my mum and me taken by my dad in a zoo when I was five. In the photo, my mum and I were embracing a huge trunk of a tree from two different directions. After ten years when we went to the zoo at the same place again, my dad took a similar photo of my mum and me at the same position. I feel like that the tree is just like “El Aliso” in the article, seeing my growth in those ten years.