2018 MBAs To Watch: Mo (Charlotte) Li, CEIBS

Mo (Charlotte) Li

CEIBS (Chinese Europe International Business School)

“A girl who are enthusiastic about media and technology hugely.”

Age: 28

Hometown: Beijing, China

Undergraduate School and Degree: Bachelor of Arts, Communication University of China

Where did you work before enrolling in business school? Pebble Media, a start-up that I worked as co-founder and content supervisor.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2017?

China Culture Industrial Investment Fund, Shanghai

YOUZU Interactive (Strategic Investment Department), Shanghai

Where will you be working after graduation? Microsoft, MCE MACH Leadership Development Program, Sales function

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

  1. Full Scholarship (top 1%)
  2. President of Student Ambassadors
  3. Core member of the organizer team of TEDxCEIBS
  4. Media coordinator or CEIBS e-Lab (e represents for entrepreneurs)

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? During my MBA study I volunteered for FLAME Camp, a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to the development of responsible young leaders, rooted in strong moral values and committed to the betterment of local communities in Malaysia. The camp was initiated by CEIBS’s professor Bala Ramasamy and his family. During that one-week camp, we prepared every meal for each child, learned and played with them all day, as well as guided them to prepare their performance in the graduation ceremony for their parents.

All children in the camp were either from multi-children families where they were either highly likely unable to get sufficient resources and attention from parents or from communities where tensions between different cultures surged. The camp was not merely an empowerment program for local children, but also a unique leadership journey developing our empathy, sympathy, and responsibility.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? As a media professional, the proudest thing for me is to build up connection and to enable people through media content. Since 2014, I worked as producer for Big Wave of Tech, an internet show introducing one piece of latest consumer technology product every workday. Before my MBA study, the show had connected more than 300,000 fans and achieved around 100 million clicks in major online streaming websites all together. From my perspective, the purpose of the show is not to merely introduce the fancy gadgets, but to enable people enjoy a better life through technology that matches their demand best.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Honestly, for this question, I can really not able to make the decision between my two favorite professors so the only thing I could do is to nominate both of them: Professor Jinglian Wu and Professor Bala Ramasamy.

Professor Jinglian Wu is one of the most prestigious and respected Chinese economists, who insisted to give credited elective course regularly at the age of almost 90. His rigorous academic attitude, deep insight in Chinese economy, and enthusiasm towards the development of nations inspired me hugely.

Professor Bala Ramasamy is a veteran adept at connecting economic theory to dilemma in the real world and therefore pushes us to dig deeper on the essence and solution of these problems.

What was your favorite MBA Course Chinese Economic Reform given by Professor Jinglian WU. The biggest insight was that accumulation of the knowledge is far not enough for someone who is aimed to become a good business leader. Instead, to conquer the complicated business problems and social difficulties in the fast-changing real world, you must build up your own independent thinking frame to filter the essence of the problem out from noises.

Why did you choose this business school? Exactly the same as CEIBS’s slogan, CHINESE DEPTH, GLOBAL BREADTH. I have made my mind to focus on Chinese market before my application. Therefore, CEIBS became my first choice for its well-mixed faculty and curriculum, which both exposes me to international business world (through classmates, courses and exchange programs) and integrates me with rich domestic alumni network.

What is your best piece advice to an applicant hoping to get into your school’s MBA program? No matter how good you were in your own domain, you will be surprised by how excellent your classmates are and how diversified the world could be when you start your journey in CEIBS. Be prepared to enjoy everything! (And be well, well, well prepared for the learning pressure in Term 1!)

What is the biggest myth about your school? The term one will be a nightmare in term of learning pressure. Unfortunately, it cannot be truer!

What was your biggest regret in business school? 18 months were way too short when you had 192 fabulous classmates.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Sincerely, everyone. You can always find something new and intriguing to learn from each classmate.

Who most influenced your decision to pursue business in college?

Pursuing postgraduate education in an international environment had been my long-lasting dream since my third year in university.

In 2010, I participated a short-term summer exchange program organized by my university (Communication University of China) and University of Westminster in the United Kingdom. During those three weeks, I was deeply impressed by the British media industry, both on creativity side and on business side. Since then, I had been determined to study aboard and managed to get satisfied offers from several Britain universities.

However, three months before the start of my postgraduate education, I reunited with my mentor in University of Westminster during that short exchange. During that time, she was preparing her own start-up in China to bring the latest practice in Britain media industry to China. After careful consideration, I decided to accept her invitation to join that start-up whose business was exactly what I would like to focus after my postgraduate study. And then, after nearly 5-year practice, I felt it was the time for me to go back to campus to improve myself for future career development and to continue my little dream of studying in an international community.

If I hadn’t gone to business school, I would be…producing a travel show and on my way to somewhere incredible.”

If you were a dean for a day, what one thing would you change about the MBA experience? I would like to integrate more culture-related or humanities courses into electives.

What are the top two items on your bucket list?

  1. Initiate my own non-for-profit social responsibility project, similar to the FLAME Camp, to empower local community in China.
  2. Connecting and enabling people through the power of media and technology.

In one sentence, how would you like your peers to remember you? A caring, trustworthy and reliable friend or partner that they would always like to contact when they meet any obstacles or to work with when they have any initiatives.

What is your favorite movie about business? Life of Pi. Well it may not be a movie about“business” in most people’s eyes. However, I would like to appreciate that it indeed is one (After all, what business could be harder than surviving in furious ocean with almost nothing with one of the most ferocious carnivores on the earth?).

Except creativity and surviving skills of the hero in the movie, two things impressed me most:

  1. The power and importance of faith
  2. The courage of the director (Ang Lee) to always innovate break through the current practice of the industry.

What would your theme song be?

Bridge of Light by P!nk.

Favorite vacation spot: Anywhere with friends or family.

Hobbies? Basketball, reading, arts, handcraft, photography, keeping company with friends and family.

What made Charlotte such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2018?

“Charlotte LI was an active and warm-hearted member of the student body. As the leader of Student Ambassadors, she was passionate about connecting candidates of the school with existing alumni network through both offline and online channels actively and creatively. By facilitating better communication between potential candidates and existing students, Charlotte has enabled more new students to be better prepared for their school life and further career development. Meanwhile, Charlotte was also one of core members of the organizer team of TEDxCEIBS. Leveraging the power of social media, which was also the area she has focused before MBA study, Charlotte has devoted to communicating knowledge, value, and information with both student body and the society enthusiastically.”

Shelley Nie
CEIBS Assistant Marketing Manager (MBA)