How Identity Has Influenced a Digital Media Strategy and Analytics MBA Intern's Career at a Fortune 500 Entertainment Company
As an Asian American woman in a male-dominated manufacturing environment, Guanyu faced unexpected "backlash" for speaking up, a response partly fueled by stereotypes about Asian women being meek. The biggest challenge was realizing the importance of considering "external factors" rather than solely focusing on self-improvement and staying true to who one is and continuing to speak up even when faced with adversity.
Asian American Identity, Workplace Stereotypes, Speaking Up, Overcoming Backlash, Self-Improvement vs. External Factors
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Guanyu Liu
Digital Media Strategy & Analytics, MBA Intern
Fortune 500 Entertainment Company
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles; MBA
Engineering - Biomedical
Arts, Entertainment & Media
Business Strategy
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Immigrant, Worked 20+ Hours in School
Video Highlights
1. Navigating stereotypes: Guanyu faced the stereotype of Asian women being meek and not speaking up in her manufacturing engineering role. She learned to recognize the external factors and environment contributing to the backlash she received for speaking up.
2. Importance of speaking up: Despite facing resistance and being told 'no,' Guanyu emphasized the importance of staying true to herself and continuing to speak up, highlighting the struggle and resilience required to overcome challenges.
3. Focus on external factors: Guanyu initially focused on self-improvement to address challenges but realized the importance of understanding external factors and the environment to level-set her mindset and avoid feeling suppressed.
Transcript
As someone who identifies as Asian American, how has that impacted how you have navigated your career?
As an Asian American, how has that impacted how you've navigated your career?
In my first job as a manufacturing engineer, I worked on a team of all males. Not only was it all men, but I was also the only woman and the only Asian person. There was that stereotype that Asian women are meek and don't speak up.
I spoke up a lot, and I wasn't expecting the backlash I faced. I initially took it upon myself to think that those problems were with me. After one incident, I realized there's only so much I can do; it was actually other people.
The biggest challenge has been looking purely inwards. I'm always trying to improve myself or fix things, finding what I can do better. Understanding the external factors and the environment I was in would have helped level-set my mindset and not feel so squashed down in terms of my opinions.
Staying true to who I was and making sure I still spoke up, despite people telling me no, was the biggest struggle for me.
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