IPWS started over 20 years ago and we continue to be a strong community in Shanghai because of our membership each year. Our community is diverse and full of insight, so each month we’d like to recognise a member either for their contribution to the IPWS community or for their work & career acheivements. This month, let’s have a glance of Shirley Ping Lei’s entrepreneur life!
Shirley Ping Lei (pictured left at the IPWS Leadership Summit in May 2016) has been in Shanghai for over 30 years and has started her own consulting business ‘Zenith Associations’ which has been successfully operating and running since 2013. IPWS invited Shirley to be our first Member of the Month, as she has made a great impact in the local business industry, made great contributions & time in supporting IPWS and is a great role model for professional women who eager to be entrepreneurs or as our young professionals might say ‘Boss Lady!’, which is exciting that a term is widespread in the vernacular nowadays.
Shirley has been a member with IPWS for over a year and by joining our friendly family of fierce women, she wanted to “gain more international exposure and learn diversity from different perspectives”. We can be sure that she had made the right choice! Not to mention the loyalty she has proceeded through the year. Shirley had also mentioned that the best thing about connecting with professional women is learning from different perspectives and women in the diverse industries. Knowledge is power!
Since Shanghai is the heart of business exposure and the most extravagant city to be a part of, we questioned Shirley on what the biggest career challenge was for her working in Shanghai. The speed of learning is what had really made Shirley think a little deeper and work a little harder, since Shanghai is “always changing so fast!”
Following our discussions on what to know with kickstarting your career, we asked Shirley; what advice would you give to newcomers to Shanghai? And her answer? “To be open minded! And respect local/Chinese culture through learning from history and today. Be a role model to your local team and nurture their growth”. It will definitely help our professional careers in China to lead by example and ensure we indulge in our surroundings in a positive manner!
In the future, Shirley hopes to help Shanghai’s society by encouraging Chinese professionals to become more internationally exposed through their mindsets and actions. This year, Shirley has connected with the World Academy for the Future of Women directly and aims to support younger professionals through her business and through mentoring opportunities.
IPWS would like to thank Shirley for her time and contribution to our questions and being a member of our powerful women society! If you’re interested in joining IPWS as a dynamic member like Shirley Ping Lei, complete our membership form online today.
