Hearing From Betsy

 Hearing From Betsy

A Former Student

SIAS University

Henan Province, China

HER LETTER TO ME:

On Nov 29, 2020, at 12:25 PM, Betsy Huang <betsy_wafw@foxmail.com> wrote:

Hi Bridget，

I have always wanted to write to you. I struggled for a long time. Finally I wrote a letter on Thanksgiving Day.Press the "enter" button to send it.

The reason I struggle to write to you is because I am afraid that I am not good enough and I am afraid to disappoint you, so I dare not write to you. I found that time flies quickly, making me scared, afraid that some things will become regrettable if I don't do it. And you are the person I have always cared about, also the person who is very important to me. Therefore, I want to cherish, don't want to entangle, and don't want to regret.

This time, I want to share with you the stories of my life and work over the past three years, simple and ordinary stories.

In March 2017, I went to Shanghai for an internship with a few WAFW alumni. So far, I have been working in the same company. The company I work for is VisonEvents. It is an international conference company. It mainly organizes events in the marketing industry. There are boutique events for 200 people and large events for 5,000 people. Because it is a start-up company, many positions and systems are not perfect, so I have more opportunities to try.

It took more than three and a half years from intern,to the account manager, to the current Membership&Account Director. The work experience in WAFW and the project team made me quickly adapt to the work of AE when I was an intern, and made up for the shortcomings of my profession. Finally, I stayed as an account manager and took charge of the company's business work with two other colleagues. From 2017 to 2018, it was a difficult year for me. This year my color was "black". Because when I was working in Shanghai, I didn't have a familiar environment and people，I needed to face the unfamiliar environment alone, and solve many problems that I didn't encounter in school independently. Moreover, the industry I am engaged in is not the major I studied in university, so that I have to spend more time studying and understanding the content of this industry. Therefore, during this year, I spent a lot of time adapting to the new environment and looking for my original self-confidence. In this year, I also gained two very good friends. They are my colleagues at work. We solve problems together and share happy things together. We have a big project in December every year, a large-scale summit of 5,000 people, so November is our busiest time, because there are many details to prepare. At that time, we would often work overtime until one or two in the morning and take a taxi back after the overtime. Because we lived close，so after overtime work, they would call a taxi to take me to my home first for protecting me, and then they went back to their home. Especially grateful for their help and protection.

In 2018, our company moved to a villa. We rented this villa together with our boss. The first floor and second floor were used for office and the rest were used for accommodation. My boss, and 3 colleagues and I lived in the villa. I also have my own new room. Although the room is not big, but I can still have my own desk, bookshelf, bed, and enough space for exercise, saving a lot of time on commuting every day. It may be hard for you to imagine that it only takes me less than 1 minute to commute to get off work. I used to take almost 2 hours to commute (48 mins one way). Sometimes I miss the time when I was on the subway, because I spent half an hour on the subway. During this half an hour, I could "get to know" many people, see many stories of strangers, and be alone on the subway. During the study time on the subway, I find that I will be more focused and the learning more efficient sometimes in a noisy environment. Of course, after moving to the new house, also have a lot of convenience. I don’t need to squeeze the subway and I can have more time to study. If I compare the experience of taking the subway or the time in the villa, I can’t tell which way of life I prefer, because every experience is precious. I like who I am now, and I miss the time I just graduated.

This year, due to the impact of the pandemic, our company returned to work collectively in April. Before April, we were all working at home. From February to April, during these two months, because we were all working online, we had voice calls every day. The cohesion of the team was very high and I liked the atmosphere very much. This year, my job has also been transformed and promoted. Affected by the epidemic, especially in the first half of the year, many companies in China are doing live broadcasts and online communities. I have always told my boss that I am interested in online community work. So boss gave me and another colleague a question in February: According to the company’s current business situation, we need to develop a new business line---online community. And you have to do a community planning plan. In the end,boss chose my plan and let me to take full charge of this project. He also gave me a promotion and a salary increase. Then I became a Membership&Account Director. This means more responsibilities and challenges. I have more experience and ideas than my colleagues, but in business, boss said that new projects should be profitable, and more profitability can highlight your value. That gave me a lot of problems, and it also prompted me to continue to learn more and need to solve more business problems.

The above is about my work. In my spare time, I spend a lot of time learning work-related knowledge, reading business-related knowledge, and keeping a diary and exercise habits. 2017 was a difficult year for me, but because of the Internet, I made many good friends. I joined an online community--- IP Training Camp until 2018. The members of the IP Training Camp come from many industries, including lawyers, teachers, self-media professionals, moderators...They are all professionals with more experience than me. And because I joined the training camp operation team, helped the team do some behind-the-scenes work and also had the opportunity to meet many good friends. From online to offline, our relationship is closer. Whenever I have difficulties and need help, they will provide good advice to help me.

In 2018, because of my outstanding performance in the community, I was recommended to work with a teacher in Shanghai. So in addition to my work, I also help a teacher run the community in my spare time. The teacher is Mr.Zhu，a training partner of a big company, with more than 20 years of workplace experience and rich sales experience. He told me that he would do an online learning course to teach more people sales experience, and asked me to help him take charge of the operation of his online community. Although I didn't get any paid, in this year, I learned a lot of useful sales knowledge with Mr.Zhu，and my planning and community operation capabilities were also more fully exercised. Mr.Zhu's students also have a lot of work experience, 3-5 years older than me, or even 10 years old. When I heard that they were satisfied with my work and my work was praised by Mr. Zhu，I was happy, because my efforts are rewarding. Although Mr.Zhu didn't pay me any salary, he let me take his courses for free, so that I could learn sales knowledge that I can't reach (our company does not have comprehensive sales training), which is very helpful to me; and He will spend time and patiently teach me some knowledge other than courses. This makes me very grateful.

Therefore, the  IP Training Camp has a great impact on my career, allowing me to gain so many knowledge and experience. However, no one can replace what WAFW taught me and what you said in my ear at that time, "you ask a good question". Every time I have progress and happy things, I think of you and want to share them with you. How happy, how excited we can  reconnect！！！

This is my ordinary three years, there are many details,need more time to share with you.What about you？Hope to hear your stories，unforgettable, happy.....anything about you :)

Miss and Love，

Betsy

AND MY RESPONSE TO HER:

Betsy,

I am so sorry it has taken so long to get back to you.  Please don’t think that I have not been interested in hearing from you.  I have had some health issues that have taken up much of my time.  But I am back to good health so all is well. And I have received the COVID vaccine so I am so relieved.

I have been great.  Since we last saw each other, I taught in Nepal and Bangladesh for WAFW.  I was supposed to go back to China in April 2020  but the pandemic made that impossible.  I hope to return to China some time in the fall.  So I will keep you posted.

Now, on to the very important reason for writing you:   i am disheartened to read that you described your life as ordinary and “not good enough”.  WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT???????? You are extraordinary.  You have a good job.  You are progressing in your career and you like what you are doing!!!  And you have a good social life.  You are ahead of the game of life, compared to so many other people.  Embrace this success.  In life, if you are content then you are a lucky person. Be content.  That is success.

I am starting a new WAFW project called Connections and Conversations.  I plan to connect two women from China, Nepal and Bangladesh (total of 6 women) to engage in a phone call/zoom or Skype meeting once a month to discuss issues important to women.  I think you would be an excellent person to participate. It would take about an hour a month of your time.  Do you think you might be interested?  Additionally, are you on Facebook?  I started an alumni group there and you may be interested in joining this group.

Now on to my next question:  when are you going to start a Masters program?

And another question:  would you be interested to returning to SIAS for a weekend to help with the WAFW classes/?  Alumni are coming on campus and helping to run the projects.  Facilitators are still running classes through zoom but alumni are helping to organize the projects.  I think you would be perfect for this assignment.  If you are interested, I will put you in contact with Jessie Huang who is the current campus director and one of your former classmates.

And my finally question for the evening: Where do you want to travel once the pandemic is over?  What are your dreams?

Betsy, I am so happy that you contacted me. You were so impressive to me when you were a student so it is no surprise that you would be doing so well now as an adult.  I look forward to the time when we can meet up again.

With love and affection,

Bridget