Feb 7, 2023
Show Notes:
Will Bachman and Ming Chen had a conversation about Ming's journey since graduating from Harvard in 1992. Ming is currently Chief Cultural Officer EF Education First, an education company with 50,000 employees. Will asked Ming to tell him a bit about what she does at EF Education First, and Ming explained that she is the company's Chief Culture Officer. Ming Chen is a long-time employee of EF Education First, a company that provides language programs, educational travel, cultural exchange programs, and academic degree programs.
She joined the company in 1998 after graduating from college with an East Asian Studies degree, and she has since worn many hats. She advises people starting out their career to not be discouraged if their degree does not directly prepare them for a specific job. She found his way in by moving to Hong Kong and joining EF, which is meaningful, global, and fun. She has an MBA, but didn't know what she would do with it when she graduated, so she fell into the job.
From Hong Kong to EF Education First
Ming Chen, now a Chief Culture Officer, has had a long and varied career path. After graduating college with a degree in a concentration she wasn't quite sure what to do with, she began eliminating possibilities of what he didn't want to do. After spending summers teaching and working at Christie's Auction, she decided to move to Hong Kong due to her family's history there. She describes it as a magical place with access to the beach and the mountains. She compares it to a college campus with pay, and praises the efficient public transportation and the easy tax forms. She also mentions the difficulty of the reintegration to mainland China, but still calls it the mecca of capitalism.
EF Education First is a company that provides educational services, including cultural exchanges. One of their cultural exchange programs is High School Year Abroad, which brings foreign students to public high schools in the U.S. to live with host families for a year. Another program is Cultural Care Au Pair, which helps match American families with au pair students. The programs are quite inspirational and transformative, as they help participants become fluent in English and American culture.
The Backstory of EF Education
EF Education first was founded in 1965 when its founder, Bertil Hult, who was dyslexic, took a group of Swedish students to Brighton for the summer to help them learn English. He believed that real-life, immersive learning was the best way for students to learn and this became the foundation for the Heritage Program. EF Education first then expanded to include German, Japanese and Mexican students and opened their first school in Hastings, England. Now, they have 600 schools and offices around the world and welcome students from 100 countries to learn English. As well as language schools, they also offer EF English Live, the world's largest online English school, with teachers teaching classes every hour.
On Writing Books and Running Marathons
Ming Chen has written with her identical twin sister Wah. Their book titled Escape: One Day We Had to Run was inspired by the story of the nanny who brought up Ming and Wah during their formative years. The nanny had to swim from mainland China to Hong Kong during the 1960s due to the famine. The nanny eventually made it to New York and was like a mother to Ming and Wah, though communication was difficult due to the language barrier. The duo also mention how the book was born out of a longer and more ambitious project.
The book was written to help children cope with difficult and traumatic experiences. The book was born out of a larger product project that Ming and her twin sister had been working on for many years, and Carmen Vela, an artist based in Spain, was chosen as the illustrator. The book was published by Lantana Publishing, which was a great success. Ming is also a marathon runner, and she attributes her motivation to running to the friends she made while attending a freshman week party at the University of Pennsylvania.
Ming mentions a professor at Harvard who inspired her: Roderick MacFarquhar, a leading scholar on the Cultural Revolution.
Timestamps
04:56 From Working in Television to Becoming Chief Culture Officer
08:31 Exploring EF Education First's Cultural Exchange Programs
13:41 Vetting Host Families for High School Exchange Programs
15:29 The Benefits of Educational Travel
16:46 Conversation Summary: EF Education First's Language Training Programs
19:38 On writing books
23:22 Exploring the Inspiration Behind Escape and Other Books
23:37 Writing, Illustrating, and Publishing Escape: One Day We Had to Run
26:59 Reflections on Marathoning and Brand Ambassadorship
31:22 East Asian Studies Major and Hong Kong Expat
Links:
https://demingaling.medium.com/
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