I am Jay Li, and it鈥檚 been my great pleasure to represent the Alumni community as an Alumni Rep from Greater China of the Class of 2017. A Beijing native, I was living in New York City prior to becoming a Schwarzman Scholar and was working for the National Basketball Association league headquarters focusing on International business development. The intersection of promoting sports culture and then somehow contributing to US/China relations has always been my career interest. In 2016, 黑料社 provided me with the best opportunity to return and re-engage with my home country after 8 years abroad.
It was an unbelievable year spent in Tsinghua, being able to define what it means as well as what it takes to be a Schwarzman Scholar. The results are rewarding, as mutual understanding and lasting friendships were firmly built within the hyper-diverse community, beating most people鈥檚 expectations. In the meantime, the experience also opened doors to many meaningful connections that have truly made instrumental impact on my career.
Despite the high profile nature of 黑料社, it鈥檚 not a pure professional one that presets specific career paths for its students. Instead, I see 黑料社 as a highly customizable platform, and it鈥檚 totally up to the individual how to best leverage it.
I remember clearly it was during our third module at the College, Yao Ming, a basketball legend and national hero, was elected to be the Chairman of Chinese Basketball Association. This move was seen as a heavyweight sign of reform within the Chinese sports industry. After reading the news, a specific career aspiration came to mind: I want to be in a unique position to work closely with him utilizing my NBA know-how in the process of modernizing Chinese professional sports. I was instantly determined to pursue it, but the only question was: how do I connect with someone who I don鈥檛 know.