Joanne (Xueting) Long

Imperial College Business School

“Curious about everything, especially new technologies.”

Hometown: Shenzhen, China

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have completed three full marathons.

Undergraduate School and Major: Nanjing Normal University, Business and English

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: DragonEx, Co-founder & COO

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Imperial’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school? Why was it so important to you? Imperial’s Full-Time MBA programme is well-designed in both academic and practical aspects, focusing on finance and management. It is located in London, which means there are a tremendous amount of opportunities to explore the latest innovative technologies and business solutions. To me, an MBA is not only one-year of studying but also an entrepreneurial journey. At Imperial, we’re not only equipped with hard skills but also abundant in soft skill resources.

What club or extracurricular activity excites you most at this school? I’m most excited about the Imperial Enterprise Lab, which inspires student innovators and entrepreneurs. There are many great events, providing valuable opportunities for young entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and find potential partners, such as Idea Challenge, Innovation Pitch and We Inspire.

What makes London such a great place to earn an MBA? How have you taken advantage of London to further your business education? London is an amazing city with great business opportunities and contains talented people from all over the world. I have participated in the London Blockchain Lab, which is led by a large community of passionate change-makers from Imperial, UCL, LSE and beyond.  Studying in London is a great opportunity for me to further explore my own business opportunity in the blockchain and crypto technology industries.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I co-founded DragonEx in 2017 and within six months led it to become a top 30 crypto currency trading platform. In the following two years I helped gain 350,000 loyal users as the Chief Operation Officer.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I applied to the Imperial Full-Time MBA for the opportunity to make a career leap. I have been working in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry for the last three-and-a-half years. Now, I would like to use the Full-Time MBA to enrich my financial knowledge and management skills.

What was your defining moment and how did it prepare you for business school? I have experienced great successes and some significant failures in the last three years. I managed over 50 employees across three countries, faced some tough challenges, and reached the extent of my management knowledge. I now want to improve and push myself further. All of my previous experiences prepared me for the fundamentals I needed to join Imperial College Business School. I will take this year as an opportunity to learn, meet great minds, and  reflect my experience of success and failure, as well as to prepare for the future.

DON’T MISS: MEET IMPERIAL COLLEGE’S MBA CLASS OF 2021