Chen-Hsin Lee

UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business

“A passionate innovator who aspires to bridge people with life-improving services.”

Hometown: Taipei City, Taiwan

Fun Fact About Yourself: Outside of work, I enjoy fostering connections among diverse groups by employing design thinking, community planning, and even creative mediums such as film and food. For example, in college, my partners and I launched the Tasting Menu Space, a student-run restaurant we created to bridge the gap between individuals through food. This initiative enables participants to share intimate moments and relish encounters with food and its culture over the course of a meal. It was such a success that within 10 minutes, 500 seats for the two following months sold out.

Undergraduate School and Major: National Taiwan Normal University: Dual degree in Humanities and Social Sciences (B.A.E. in Civic Education and Leadership, B.A. in English)

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: KKBOX, Sr. Product Manager

Berkeley Haas is founded on four Defining Leadership Principles: Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself. Which principle resonates most with you and why? Students Always deeply resonates with me because this principle champions curiosity and open-mindedness, emphasizing continuous learning and a growth mindset. In a fast-evolving world, I believe that adopting a student mentality enables me to stay ahead of changes, embrace challenges, and maintain a willingness to explore, ultimately contributing to a more fulfilling and successful life journey. Maintaining a “student always” mindset has also helped me serve as a humble and inclusive leader, navigating the uncertainties of a dynamic world.

What excites you about earning your MBA in the Bay Area? The Bay Area is a dream for a tech-savvy person like me. It’s where everything happens. Haas’ proximity to Silicon Valley offers unparalleled opportunities to engage with successful entrepreneurs and access resources that can accelerate new ventures. As a product innovator aiming to merge business acumen with human insight to deliver life-enhancing products, I can’t think of a better place than Haas. Here, I can join a vibrant community and witness the dawn of groundbreaking technologies such as AI and virtual reality.

What was the key part of Berkeley Haas’ MBA curriculum or programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? First, Berkeley offers not only a great business school but also top-tier programs in other fields, such as engineering. This environment is perfect for cross-pollination, allowing me to learn from talents beyond just business. Moreover, as someone who admires inclusivity and strives to create a sustainable, positive impact, the well-known “woke” culture at Berkeley is very appealing. The school’s commitment to social justice resonates deeply with my core values to empower minority voices and improve diversity. I believe a Haas MBA will uniquely prepare me to build my business from the ground up and make a positive impact on society.

What course, club, or activity excites you the most at Berkeley Haas? I want to make the most of my time at Haas by exploring tech innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities through courses, clubs, and activities.

Courses: I plan to take tech and entrepreneurial classes like Lean Launchpad and The Business of AI to incubate my business idea and refine my strategic approach.

Clubs: Haas offers numerous tech-focused clubs, and I’m particularly interested in those aligned with my experience in the media and entertainment industry and my future aspirations in emerging technology. Clubs like the Haas Technology Club (HTC), Digital Media and Entertainment (DMEC), Haas Innovation Design, and Haas Entrepreneurs Association are particularly appealing to me.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far:  My biggest professional accomplishment was initiating a long overdue app revamp project during my first year at KKBOX, Asia’s equivalent of Spotify, as a product manager. My ambitious goal was to refresh the decade-old app by redesigning its structure and navigation for better usability.

Initially, I faced hesitation from several departments and my supervisor, who warned me about the challenges of stakeholder management and the potential risks to my career. Despite these obstacles, I saw this as an opportunity for innovation. I proactively addressed the issues by hiring a user researcher to strengthen data-driven decisions, conducting internal interviews, aligning meetings to gather different perspectives with more than six teams, and planning phased developments to deliver results gradually.

Ultimately, we successfully launched the new app homepage, significantly enhancing user experience and driving substantial growth. This accomplishment not only shaped my career as a product manager, but also had a profound impact on our company culturally and technically. Revamping the app’s architecture laid a solid foundation for future innovations, and tackling this large-scale project fostered a culture of boldness within our teams, empowering us to embrace change confidently.

At this point, what do you hope to do after graduation? Through my work as a product manager in Asia’s leading music service, I witnessed the power of the human voice and the richness that comes from diverse perspectives. However, with only about 10% of content being regularly listened to, independent artists continue to struggle due to mainstream label dominance. After graduation, I plan to continue to drive innovation in tech startups or companies, using what I’ve learned as a business consultant and product manager, while at the same time refining my skills in areas crucial for entrepreneurial success. Down the road, I see myself starting a business to help the world discover the 90%, giving these artists a chance to shine and succeed in the long run.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Berkeley Haas’ MBA program? Think thoroughly about Haas’ four Defining Leadership Principles and be sure to fully understand them. The leadership principles will guide you throughout your application process and in conversations with current students and alumni. Reflect deeply on which principles resonate with you most or if there are any you disagree with. If you don’t feel a connection with any of them, reconsider your fit for Haas. Without this alignment, you might struggle not only during the application process but also during your studies here.

Explore opportunities to work with people from diverse backgrounds. Haas values diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and your experience in dynamic environments or with people from diverse backgrounds is highly regarded. Reflect on your past experiences. Have you been in such situations before? If so, what was your role, and how did you contribute to improving inclusion?

DON’T MISS: MEET THE BERKELEY HAAS MBA CLASS OF 2026