Aug 10, 2020
I had originally gone to the December information session under the lure of free food; after all, as a heritage speaker and American-born Chinese student, I wanted to expand my horizons to places I had never been before, like Europe. Yet, hearing testimonials of the program’s alumni seemed to offer a unique perspective of life in China, different from my past experiences. Thus, I applied with an understanding that I wanted to study Art, Film, and Visual Studies and work in a creative position.
Two concentration changes and one (ongoing) global pandemic later, I found out that I would be working with ZillionSource Technologies, a global IoT and supply chain management company, as a marketing intern. At the time, I had no idea what any of that was. Additionally, I was hesitant to even consider the scope of how I’d grow given that the internship would be remote. Now, as we are approaching the end of the program, I’ve realized how much I’ve grown. Walking (or sitting, in this case) in, I had no formal background in some of the projects I worked on, and yet I’ve since undertaken them all under the careful guidance of my mentor and ZillionSource’s CEO, Sean Yu. I’m incredibly grateful to have him along in this process and to show me a whole new side to business—business is inherently creative.
Lastly, HCSIP has encouraged me personally as well. As a heritage speaker, I had grown up spending weekends in my local community Chinese school, doodling in the margins instead of paying attention, so I never developed a strong ability to read or write Mandarin. Landing this internship has actually inspired me to dig up my old textbooks, and since then, I’ve been going through them, starting from second grade. I am now halfway through eighth, and it has been incredibly rewarding to see words from various documents and websites become more and more familiar thanks to my daily efforts.
All in all, I could not be happier with my time with HCSIP and ZillionSource Technologies this summer. I would like to extend a thank you both to the HCSIP staff as well as to Sean Yu for giving me this chance to learn and grow. 2020 will be a year to remember for everybody, but for me, it also marks the beginning of a professional position as well as a reestablished connection to my own heritage.
This blog post was written by Andrea Liu, Harvard College Class of 2023, and participant of the Harvard China Student Internship Program in 2019.