With an anthropological lens and accumulated global know-how (mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, UK), I love deciphering how humans relate to each other, the offline & the digital world. My larger hope: facilitating cross-cultural empathy.
Driven by work that allows me to apply social science perspectives creatively, I always hope to holistically decode individuals' experiences and discover how to genuinely be authentic to consumers. I am experienced in cultural analysis and qualitative research in brand strategy and consumer insights, with proven adaptability to work in global contexts.
Strong believer in working together to achieve equity for marginalised minorities, I've been involved in initiatives related to migrant workers' experiences, education access, and DEI in corporate cultures.
Interested in Digital Anthropology, I'm always curious to dive deeper into how digital platforms and tools affect human behaviour. Some past projects include: how people connect with home(s) through grocery shopping, and how Hong Kong immigrants use social media to settle down in the UK.
Projects
- Podcast Series: Digital x Dynamic 0A series for my passion side-project: my podcast 'Cloud Civilisations', which aims to explore human experiences of the digital by chatting to individuals about their personal experiences with digital phenomena, subcultures/communities and technology. In the 'Digital x Dynamic 0' series, I chat with guests about Shanghai's city-wide lockdown in 2022, with a focus on how digital technologies shaped people's experiences in China under the world's strictest lockdown.
- 'Home Grocers': how e-commerce shapes the way diasporic people buy groceriesThis mini project was done as an individual assessment for the UCL Digital Anthropology master's programme. TASK: to produce a publicly accessible website presenting the results of a mini research project about an instance of digital technology use THEME (2022-23): 'Food in London' WHO: members of Chinese community living abroad in London who have used PandaFresh e-commerce platform, customers of Pan-Asian supermarket in a multi-cultural South London neighbourhood HOW: one-month ethnograph
Work history
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Researcher - Consumer Insights, Cultural Trends & StrategyRhizome Cultural Consultancy
- Shanghai, ChinaFull Time
Designed & executed ethnographic fieldwork, distilling findings into reports in a bilingual environment to equip clients with local consumer insights that drive brand & marketing strategy.
Clients & projects included:
• CHANEL | Lux Skincare Study (ahead of N°1 DE CHANEL collection launch)
• adidas | Culture Decoding Contemporary Chinese Women
• Shiseido | Japanese Brand Identity in China (in collab with Nielsen)
• AB inBev | Modern Chinese Women & Alcohol Consumption
• REHAU | Furniture Space Maximisation
• Unilever | Culture Decoding 'Clean' for Product Innovation
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Pipeline InternThe Women's Foundation Hong Kong
- Hong KongInternship
Uniting Hong Kong’s top corporations in the mission of workplace Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, specifically supporting TWF’s ‘Male Allies’ (MA) programme which seeks to engage male leadership in advancing gender DEI culture, policies and practices.
• Organised innovative workshop content and exercises on intersectional privilege (which continue to be used in programmes today), presented to 100+ corporate leaders attending ‘Influencer Circles’ - inter-company groups who share best practices and facilitate discussions on DEI in the workplace and beyond.
• Executed independent research to create educational resources on ‘Stakeholder Mapping’ and ‘Storytelling’ that were distributed to 200+ participants of the MA initiative.
• Gathered key insights from online market research sources to conduct four DEI focus groups: targeting SMEs, Large Operators, Legal and Financial Sectors. ~30 representatives attended each group, including those from Allen & Overy, Cathay Pacific, Edelman, Goldman Sachs, Linklaters & Manulife.
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Skills
- Qualitative Research
- Ethnography
- Consumer Insights
- Workshop Design
- Proposal Writing
- Project Co-ordination
- Market Research
- Brand Communications
- Analytical Skills
- Interpersonal Communication
Education
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MSc Digital AnthropologyUniversity College London (UCL)
London, United Kingdom
BA (hons) Human, Social and Political SciencesUniversity of Cambridge
- Cambridge, United Kingdom
Having gained interdisciplinary exposure to Politics and International Relations, Sociology and Psychology, I went onto specialise in Social Anthropology. Some of my favourite topics from the course were: City Life & Urban Spaces, Gender & Sexuality, Anthropology of South Asia, Globalised Kinship & Intimate Care (which includes care work and nonmaterial labour).
My dissertation explored the themes of migration, precarity, transnational labour and gender relations, focusing on the stories of Filipina domestic and/or factory migrant workers based in Taipei, Taiwan. I conducted ethnographic fieldwork in an NGO-run shelter run for displaced Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), where my research focused on how these women's experiences of uncertainty are uniquely shaped by the nature of their jobs, the labour laws affecting migrant workers, as well as their gender roles and ethnicities. I went on to analyse the strategies which they used to resiliently cope with such uncertainty while contributing to the academic arguments that sought to challenge the traditional frameworks with which we perceive and categorise different types of work.
Awards
Cambridge University Language Programme (CULP) award in FrenchUniversity of Cambridge
Advanced Assessment French course taken part-time during 2017-18, acquired overall passing markA
A
Grade 8 PianoABRSM