Xinru Li

HEC Paris

“A challenge-seeker, who envisions becoming a global citizen.”

Hometown: Liaoyang China

Fun Fact About Yourself: Have lived 7 years in Shanghai and 3 years in New York, worked for both CHANEL in both the China market and the United States market.

Undergraduate School and Major: Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Major in Business French; Minor in Finance

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: CHANEL, Specialist Merchandise Planning – USA

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of HEC Paris’ MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The amazing global network, especially in the luxury industry! I always envision myself growing into a global citizen, and HEC Paris is definitely THE business school which could provide the best resources and the best platform for me to build up the global network with alumni all over the world, as well as to make connections with those top luxury brands in partnership with HEC Paris.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at HEC Paris? Retail & Luxury Club! With my heart and passion in the luxury industry, I would be thrilled to be exposed to more opportunities from all the top brands in the luxury world, and also happy to share and learn by exchanging insights through events and activities outside of the classroom.

HEC Paris is just 17 kilometers from Paris. What do you see as the best part of earning your MBA so close to Paris? Paris is the dream of every girl who wants to get into the luxury world, and I’m definitely one of them! I can see myself leveraging this perfect location of HEC Paris to touch the heart of the luxury by visiting the companies in Paris or doing internship in the headquarters of top luxury brands.

Historically, over 90% of HEC Paris’ MBA students hail from outside France. Why is exposure to global diversity so critical to business success? Global diversity is always the indispensable factor of business success as international business keeps expanding exponentially among regions and countries. In my experiences working in both Chanel China Market and US Market, I’ve been working with talents with different geographical and cultural backgrounds, and I’m literally learning fresh things every second when I work or even just casually chat with them about the different business models, consumer behaviors, and business mindsets…etc. And I can foresee how much those valuable insights will influence or help me to make business decisions if I were given a global role one day to oversee the business globally.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: The outbreak of the COVID was definitely a huge hit to the planning and supply chain world, so I would say the biggest accomplishment I’ve made in my career so far was the agile action-plans I made in reaction of the pandemic, which could have saved millions of dollars in potential business loss.

In face of the shift on the business trend, as a business planner and product forecaster, I was able to closely monitor the internal and external trends to adjust forecast promptly so as to trigger the global production as soon as possible. In addition, for the ones with production issue, I made it to figure out the contingency plan in partnership with cross-functional teams to shift business across categories or products, and also coordinated with regional supply teams to execute the stock transfer between markets in order to mitigate the business loss in China Market.

Looking ahead two years, what would make your MBA experience successful? Being open-minded to all the possibilities and building as much connections as I could.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into HEC Paris’s MBA program? Be curious, be open-minded and be yourself!

DON’T MISS: MEET THE HEC PARIS MBA CLASS OF 2025