Winners of the 2018 The China Project Female Rising Stars Award
Two The China Project Female Rising Stars winners, one China-based and one U.S.-based, were announced on Monday in front of hundreds of attendees gathered in New York for the second annual The China Project Women’s Conference.
This year’s China recipient of the Female Rising Stars Award was Cindy Mi, founder and CEO of VIPKID, an education technology company that connects K-8 students in China with teachers in North America for online English immersion. Under her leadership, VIPKID has become one of China’s leading education startups, growing 40 percent month over month.
“My dream has always been and continues to be about inspiring and empowering every child and teacher around the world,” Mi said in her acceptance speech. “I encourage all of you to pursue your dreams. Always follow your heart and you will always be successful in your career and lives.”
Prior to founding VIPKID, Mi was a classroom teacher and a co-founder of ABC English, a tutoring company, where she led business development and campus expansion across China. A lifelong entrepreneur, Mi is passionate about transforming and empowering students, parents, and teachers.
Wenchi Yu, global policy director at VIPKID, with The China Project founder Anla Cheng and Female Rising Stars judge Wei Christianson
The U.S. recipient of the Female Rising Stars Award was Ingrid Yin, co-founder and portfolio manager of MayTech Global Investments, which is an SEC-registered asset management company that aims to provide its clients with excellent investment returns, outstanding customer service, and a transparent fee structure. Yin has extensive global investing experience and specific expertise in identifying investment opportunities in Asia and healthcare.
“There is still a lot for us to achieve together,” Yin said. “I learned that women represent less than 7 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. Can you believe it? Shouldn’t that number be at least 50 percent, to be fair? Trust me: it’s mission possible, if we are brave, push ourselves and work together.”
The winners were selected by four distinguished judges: Wei Sun Christianson, managing director and co-CEO of Asia-Pacific and CEO of China for Morgan Stanley; Zhang Xin, SOHO Group real estate mogul; Yang Lan, popular talk show host and entrepreneur; and Merit Janow, dean of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
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