Since 1989, a series of Magnolia Awards have been given as recognition of the contributions foreigners in Shanghai have made to the city, and 42 foreigners recommended by the Huangpu District have won this award.

In order to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Shanghai Magnolia Awards, Huangpu District plans to hold a celebration activity in November.

Eastday has therefore especially launched a series of exclusive interviews to review these award winners’ stories in Huangpu District and Shanghai.

Melissa Lam’s brilliant life from finance to education

(Team EF poses for a photo. Its slogan for the upcoming celebration activity is “Go! Team EF! Explore the world!”)

Many expats work on Shanghai’s Tongren Road, Jing’an District. One of the places they often go in and out of is an office listed by Inc.com as one of the “world’s coolest offices”. The four-storied office was renovated from an abandoned industrial-style gym. Among its designers is Melissa Yin-Yin Lam, General Manager and Chief Representative at EF China.

(Melissa Yin-Yin Lam)

After graduating from Harvard Business School with a degree in Business Administration, Melissa worked for Credit Suisse and telecom systems supplier Aoke. However in 2001, she turned her eyes to the education industry. Since 2005, she has been working for English First (EF) China, responsible for the management of all EF offices and headquarters in terms of government relations, compensation, legal affairs, real estate, and teacher recruitment. Despite all these high-level responsibilities, she thrives under the pressure.

Driven by passion

Melissa joined EF in 2001. “After several years of working in the banking industry, I think it’s much more interesting to be part of a fast-growing company, compared with just being a consultant. That was why I chose EF, a promising company.” In the fifth year, she became one of the founders of EF China.

“Guess what was my first task after I came to the China office?” said Melissa, smiling. “I bought a filing cabinet.” At that time, she was the CFO of EF China. She noticed that there was no place to store the archives, so her first decision was to buy a filing cabinet for the China office (originally located in Huangpu District and later moved to Jing’an). Like other startups, EF went through a difficult time in China at the very beginning. “We were just starting, it was like a baby. Everything needed to be done by the managers themselves,” recalled Melissa.

Over the past years, EF China’s English training center has grown from under ten to 300+, with millions of students. In China, EF also provided language training services for staff of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and other major events, fulfilling the company’s mission: “EF is all about opening doors through education. ”

As a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in China and the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment, Melissa has been promoting Shanghai in English-speaking countries, in order to attract more talent to Shanghai. From 2013 to 2017, EF has attracted more than 1,600 expats to Shanghai. As she said, “Shanghai as an international metropolis attracts more and more international talent to work and live here. According to the EF English Proficiency Index, since 2014, Shanghai’s English level has surpassed Hong Kong and has been ranked No. 1 in China."

Entrepreneurship and the power of education

EF was founded by a Swedish man named Bertil Hult. In the early 1960s, he made his first trip to the UK. Suffering from dyslexia, school had been a huge challenge for him. However, during his stay in the UK, he unexpectedly discovered that he could learn English very easily. Realizing that traditional classroom teaching may not be the most effective mode of education, in 1965 he started up a small company combining language learning and overseas travel and invented the concept of language travel, one of the world’s first experiential learning programs. Today, Bertil Hult’s EF has more than 600 schools and branches across 50 countries around the world, providing language teaching services to millions of students and turning the world into a large English class. With a belief that education makes everything better, he devoted his life to education.

On this point, Melissa Lim agrees with Bertil Hult. While developing EF China’s business, she has been making contributions to China’s English education reform and progress. She also encourages her employees to take part in charity programs.

“CSR (corporate social responsibility) exists in our DNA, while participation in community services is our second nature,” added Melissa. Under her initiation, Shanghai’s first volunteer team composed of professional English teachers was formed in November 2011. Thus far, over 300 EF teachers have taught English at the Shanghai Rehabilitation Center for Deaf Children. Now the program has expanded to Beijing, Shenzhen and Chengdu, helping more hearing-impaired children to enjoy English.

(Melissa Lam and her team at EF China)

Life in Shanghai’s longtang

With her family, Melissa now lives in a longtang (alley) built in 1936. The family spends half of their time in Shanghai each year. They are getting along quite well with the neighborhood. As she said, her daughters often bring home traditional Chinese culture and habits from their school, and there is no cultural barrier in the family. They love Shanghai, for both its fast-paced business climate and its close and friendly neighborhood. “My children often go to their neighbors’ to play after school. You cannot find this kind of human feeling in many big cities.” Speaking of the reason, she said, that is not only because Shanghai is an international metropolis, but also because the people of Shanghai are tolerant of diverse cultures.

(Melissa Lam at the 2018 Shanghai Magnolia Award ceremony)

In 2018, Melissa won the Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award. It was in Shanghai that she found her true self and passion. As a creator of EF China, she said it is an honor to have witnessed and been a part of China’s rapid economic development. Now she is a successful female executive. In EF China, 60% of personnel are females, and the percentage is higher than that of EF global. In her eyes, gender bias should be eliminated to let women be themselves, and she believes that all employees can play their roles regardless of gender.

(Photos provided by EF China)