Hey! My name is Jackie Y. HU, born and raised in the city of Shanghai and had my first college dropout experience in Shanghai (ask me more!). At the age of 19, I moved to the U.S. with my parents and started college at UC Berkeley.

I wandered quite a bit in college and explored different aspects of college life before committing to taking Economics and East Asian Studies as my majors. I still remember how my college advisor wanted to dissuade me from doing two majors by saying ‘unless the other major is the first thing you want to do waking up Sunday morning’😅.

I still can’t wake up on Sunday mornings, BUT I am so happy that I wasn’t discouraged! Taking the East Asian Studies major and becoming involved in writing and conscious critical thinking really lifted me up spiritually, and that level of motivation made everything fall into places.

I LOVED social science and humanity so much so I decided to attend Oxford University for a master program that focused on contemporary China. The reason why I picked a UK school instead of a U.S. school (which is supposedly the strongest in the field) is that I just … loved a vegetarian buffet place in London so would want to always go back! Sadly by the time I attended Oxford, the restaurant was permanently closed down due to rising rent and I literally cried for 3 days and lost the sense of purpose going there.

At Oxford, I focused my research on a youth community in mainland China and did an interesting virtual ethnographic study about it (ask me more!).

I now work as a Data Science Manager at a dating company, leveraging data to spread love. I feel so loved by having the privilege to working with a group of super authentic, logical, reasonable, and open-minded people. My company has a very unique culture of bringing everyone close together while working and it exemplifies so many American ideals that attracted me to move to this country at the first place. I feel very proud of my work and fulfilled, and I am ready to invest in my mentees and to give back to the community that cultivated me!

At Twenty, being able to give authentic talk excites me! I love being explorative, real, and grounded with my mentees instead of coming to be prescriptive or pedagogical. Being authentic also helps us to learn from EACH OTHER — this would be a great opportunity for me to grow so I am looking forward to our conversations!! 😃

• Transitioning into Data Science with a humanity/social science degree;
• Leading teams with effectiveness and empathy;
• Preparing a shiny AND authentic resume that stands out;
• Crushing your Data Science technical interviews;
• Writing an appealing grad school personal statement that ties your research with YOU;
• Cultivating (or finding to join) a healthy and collaborative work environment;
• Women leaders in the room.

• How to navigate life with multiple moves: Asia, U.S., and Euro 😅;
• Exploring, practicing, creating visual arts in leisure 🎨;
• Building (or finding) the community that would help you thrive 🍀;
• Cat rescue and how to approach animal welfare 🐈;
• Mental health! Depression, anxiety, or adjustment disorder 😔;
• 1st generation immigrant experience ✈️;
• Gardening and how to build out an edible garden from scratch 👩🏻‍🌾;
• Other hobbies that might resonate with you: singing, DIY projects, stooping, learning Japanese, cooking authentic Shanghainese food 😋.

• Focused on understanding YOU before I speak up;
• Actively listening so I can be in sync with YOU when you navigate your struggles;
• Giving short-term solutions and helping YOU to build out long-term visions;
• Staying curious about how YOU explore, evolve, and develop;
• Learning from YOU so the conversation delivers a sense of equity and fulfillment;
• Embracing ‘GROWTH’ mindset — focusing on long-term instead of band-aiding problems for now.