Meet the HEC Paris MBA Class Of 2019

Yanji Wang 

HEC Paris 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less:  A girl with infinite curiosity, self-motivation and the ability to become stronger in the face of adversity

Hometown: Shanghai, China

Fun Fact About Yourself:  I have infinite curiosity about the world, so I have tried many different roles in life other than merely a student and an employee.

In college: 

I was a volunteer teacher for mentally challenged children in Turkey.

I was an interpreter for the renowned F1 racer Mark Webber.

I was a student financial journalist and interviewed Nobel Prize Winners for Economics.

In the workplace: 

I was the leading actress in the recruitment videos for Adidas China.

I was the host for the department outing gala dinner in Japan.

I was the leading dancer and performer at the company’s New Year gala dinner.

All these roles and experiences has made me a better and more complete person.

Undergraduate School and Major:  Undergraduate School: Shanghai University of International Business and Economics

Undergraduate Major: Bachelor of Management

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Adidas Group China

Job Titles:

Retail Merchandising Manager (2017)

Retail Merchandising Assistant Manager (2015-2017)

Marketing Management Trainee (2013-2015)

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The biggest accomplishment in my career so far was to play the leading role in establishing the merchandising structure for Adidas China’s Retail Factory Outlet.

When I joined Adidas China’s retail department three years ago, the factory outlet team was brand new. And I, being one of the founders of the team, started to establish the factory outlet merchandising structure from scratch.

With three years of constant testing, learning and exploring, I had established a sophisticated merchandising structure dedicated to the Factory Outlet business. The merchandising structure is a complete working process from the product planning in the beginning to the product allocation in the end, combining the expertise of different functions such as merchandising, retail expansion, retail operation, and supply chain.

Following the merchandising structure I established, the Factory Outlet business achieved great results. We achieved a remarkable 80 percent sell through rate every year (sell through is an important retail KPI which defines the amount of products sold versus the amount of products ordered.) and a significant 80 percent of yearly scale growth. Moreover, the Retail Vice President had highly praised the merchandising structure I established as more sophisticated and ingenious than that of any other teams.

Looking back on your experience, what one piece of advice would you give to future business school applicants? If there’s one piece of advice I would like to give to future business school applicants, I would advise them to do their best on the GMAT test.

As we all know, most business schools evaluate applicants’ profiles in fields of academic accomplishment, professional experience, leadership potential, etc. And one of the important evaluation criteria for academic accomplishment is the GMAT score.

Unlike professional experience and leadership potential, which need to be developed by the applicants over a long period of time, the GMAT score can be improved by learning and practicing for several months or even several weeks.

Take myself as an example, I scored 770 in the GMAT test. And the high score played a large part in me receiving the HEC Paris MBA Scholarship for Excellence, as well as merit-based scholarships from other top business schools.

As a result, I would highly suggest that future business school applicants do their best to do well on the GMAT. A good GMAT test result will bring you better chances of getting business school offers and scholarships.

What was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I chose the HEC Paris MBA because of its entrepreneurial environment.

I plan to start my own business after I complete my MBA in the field of fashion and e-commerce. And the HEC Paris MBA is the right place for me to realize my career objective.

Firstly, HEC Paris has a thriving entrepreneurial spirit and abundant entrepreneurial resources. Around 25 percent of students start their own businesses, and 400 entrepreneurial projects are supported by HEC Paris each year. Moreover, students can get exposed to all kinds of entrepreneurial resources such as creativity talks and mentoring sessions with experienced entrepreneurs.

Secondly, as it’s located in the fashion center of the world, HEC Paris has exceptional resources in fashion industry. For example, HEC Paris has alumni that were CEOs in the fashion industry, such as the former CEO of Louis Vuitton. Also, HEC Paris help students to get in touch with plenty of job opportunities in fashion industry. Furthermore, HEC Paris provides specialization courses in luxury management. All of these resources can contribute to my future career goal in the fashion field.

To sum up, HEC Paris is the ideal place for my MBA study and will be starting point of achieving my future career goal.

What would success look like to you after your first year of business school?  Success for me would be if my entrepreneurial idea can begin to take shape  after the first year of business school.

I would like to start an e-commerce website focusing on customization. In order to achieve this career goal, plenty of work will be required to be accomplished and numerous aspects needs to be considered. Product, marketing, capital, production and logistics are the main areas of consideration.

As I can imagine, all these aspects mentioned above would occupy a lot of my time and energy during the first year of my business school life. And it would be a great success for me if I can bring my entrepreneurial idea to life.