Moore School senior, Wei Ying Zhang, has already seen a lot of the world, but she’d never seen New York City — until she was invited to speak at the Zonta International Conference on July 5, 2004
As a 2003 Jane M. Klausman Women in Business International Scholarship recipient, Zhang spoke to an audience of 2,000 at the 57th annual conference of Zonta International, a worldwide organization of business professionals working to advance the status of women. Zhang’s presentation focused on her journey that led eventually to the Moore School: Born in Shanghai, China, Zhang split her childhood between China and Japan, where her mother lived with her second husband.
Zhang is the first in her family to attend college. She embraced her life in two cultures and decided to embark on a quest for a global education. Zhang studied in Japan as well as for one year at Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland. While living in Europe she traveled to London, Paris, and Italy. To round out her education, she applied to the Moore School because of its excellent reputation in international business. She is majoring in management science, finance, and international business, and minoring in Japanese.
Zhang interned in Summer 2004 with a company that produces oil-absorbing pads for industry and recycles the pads without harming the environment. The environmental consciousness of the organization appealed to Zhang: "In my opinion, this company is not only about profit but also about responsibility… the business one does is just as important as the money one makes." In her role with the company, Zhang has worked with the World Trade Center and South Carolina economic developers to expand markets to Asia and Europe. That experience fits in well with her long-term goal to become a global consultant facilitating business ventures between Asian and Western countries.
Speaking of recent outcries over business moving to China, Zhang predicted that experience will prove that "globalization is not a zero-sum game and instead, it is a trend that brings benefits to all countries in the long run."