Pierre-Antoine is from France! 

MSc Environmental Engineering, Science and management, Tsinghua University

Double MSc Science and Executive Engineering, Ecole des Mines de Nancy, one of the leading French graduate engineering school .  

Data scientist Intern at Danone

Intern at Lakaa, a French startup at Station F

We covered French social entrepreneurship landscape, data science and finance in sustainability, and people's behaviour in environmental awareness. This conversation highlights the importance and upcoming trends in sustainability. 

This was recorded back in December 2020 and some facts and opinions might have changed since.

Book mentioned: Weapons of Mass Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy Hardcover

Giedrius Sapoka is a Lithuanian studying Master of Public Administration. We recorded this back in September, and he tuned in from Bangkok, Thailand then. He lived in 9 countries, and speaks 4 languages.  He shares about how his life adventures revolves around his passion for tea, and his affinity  His relationship with China and the tea culture started when he was just 10 years old, when he experienced the tea culture in China for the first time. It was such an interesting and inspiring story, and I had loads of fun learning about his journey of getting into Chinese culture.

His classmates are government officials from Africa and Asia, and he is the only European amongst his classmates.

Experience:

Master of Public Administration, Tsinghua Unviersity

Masters in Contemporary Asian Studies, Vilnius University

Bachelors in Chinese Language and Literature (Exchange) Xiamen University

Bachelor's in Chinese Studies, Vilnius University

He is also a language teacher, Tour Manager, Tea trader, Research Assistant, Translator and Interpreter

Next part: We talk about the story of how Sapoka got stranded in Thailand during the pandemic and started working as a Chinese primary school teacher in a small town in Thailand. I spoke to Sapoka about how far a passion can bring you. A pleasure speaking to one who builds his life around his passion. 

Albert is currently studying Masters in Chinese Politics Foreign Policy and International Relations in the School of Social Sciences at Tsinghua University. Albert has a background in Philosophy, Criminal Justice and Pan-Africanism. He shared about how the social structure is one of the most pressing challenges, the born-free generation, the future of Africa, and a practical set of ways of how I, as a global citizen, can grapple with it. Definitely an important dialogue to have, amidst all the noise and the hype regarding racial issues. We are all faced with the task of balancing a polarity of:

Being (too) politically sensitive and being comfortable with what we know, BUT, risk choosing ignorance over education that could be dangerous. 

Recommendations from Albert mentioned: 

If you are a reader:

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

If you enjoy videos/ conversations:

Centre of Pan African Thought - seminars and youtube collection

https://www.panafricanthought.com/

Wikipedia search for:

Patrice Lumumba

Mali empire - Mansa Musa

On how to deal with people who are dangerously ignorant:

Show them Rapper Akala for purposeful dialogues about race and identities

About Albert:

Master's degree, Tsinghua University

Chinese Politics Foreign Policy and International Relations

Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Maastricht University in Netherlands

European Law

Minor in Human and Legal Decision Making

Minor in Business and Law

Bachelor's in Philosophy, Hanover College, in the US

Shout out to the beautiful Christelle Zhang, who introduced me to Albert Mhangami to helped make this episode come to life. Please feel free to reach out. [email protected], or on Instagram: @tsinghuaconversations

This is yet another special episode! I have Ryan Morris with me, whom I met at Startup Institute, an incubator initiated by Ryan and a few other scholars. We were co-founders of one of the startup projects. In this episode we dive deep into Ryan's affinity with China (his first country outside of the US!), expectations vs reality, the Schwarzman Program, and how an important pivot in his life where he departed from his 10 year long racing career and pursued the education path changed his life forever. We also talked about his future plans with his startup and his faith. Truly a curious & inspiring soul! 

"My calling used to be winning races on a race track. Now I feel like I'm called to something bigger than that. And that is tackling issues around the world that people are in dire need of, using what I have to better the world a little bit."

ABOUT RYAN:

- Global Affairs Master's @ The Schwarzman Scholar Program

- Bachelor's of Science in Business marketing and Management @ Pennsylvania State University

- Former racecar driver 

- Entrepreneur 

Back in Ukraine, Kate fell in love with the Chinese language, and decided to study in China as she believed that the Chinese education system could fully untap her potential, and the passion and hospitality of Chinese people also appealed to her. Six years ago, she came to China for her undergraduate study. Later, she did not hesitate to stay at Tsinghua when choosing her master education. Kate is studying Master’s in Management in School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University. Fluent in 4 languages——English, Chinese Mandarin, Russian, and Ukrainian. She is also a recipient of the Chinese Government Scholarship in 2019, Recipient of the Chinese Government Outstanding International Student Scholarship in 2017, CEO of 2 companies in Beijing, Former president and current vice president of THU Russian Speakers Association. 

Courtesy of Tsinghua Xiaoyan Online. 

Writers | Kate Zinovska, Alicia Tien, Genqi XIAO 

Editors| Cecilia PENG, Chen CHEN, Qihang ZHAO 

Reviewers | Jiabei LI, Chen LIN, Zhongyuan ZENG