Sandy Li, Class of 2002
Concentrations: OIDD, English minor
Hometown: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
On her time at Penn
Sandy had many wonderful experiences during her time at Penn (JWS, BFS, being a MGMT100 TA, Delta Sigma Pi, studying Shakespearean poetry, and meeting her future husband). Beyond the many opportunities Penn offered on-campus, one of her favorite experiences was studying abroad in Rome and Florence. After taking one semester of Italian for fun during the fall of her junior year, she decided that she wanted to study abroad in Italy. Without higher Italian language proficiency, the Penn in Italy programs she qualified for would require being grouped with other American students in predominantly English-speaking environments. So, she structured her own study abroad program - enrolling directly in an Italian language school, apprenticing under an art master, and living with an Italian host mother. In addition to already speaking Mandarin and French, she became nearly fluent in Italian within one semester of living abroad, such that when people asked her where she was from while traveling around in Italy, she would say she was from Rome. It was exciting to be credibly perceived as an Italian native in just a few months. Sandy encourages every Penn student to study abroad before graduating. She emphasizes the importance of creating your own path, especially if you cannot find exactly what you want neatly laid out before you. “Go make your own,” she tells me on the phone. She recalls the herd mentality that sometimes prevails within Penn’s culture, and reminds me that there is no one single path for everyone. Spend time outside of your comfort zone and really get to know others who live and think completely differently, and life will be fuller and more colorful.
On her JWS Experience
Sandy started off with Dr. Bill Whitney as her JWS advisor, and then had Dr. Martin Asher while serving on the JWS Board during her junior and senior years. With Bill Whitney, she mentions that she attended office hours as often as possible just to get to know him. She recalls, “he had insights about me as a freshman, which I only realize now 20 years later, that he was spot on about me from the get go. He offered wisdom and observations that were very relevant to me specifically, and I really appreciated that.” She also remembers him telling her that she had a certain sparkle, and he encouraged her to follow that sparkle throughout her Penn career and beyond. While Sandy felt pressure at times to do certain things that aligned with the more societal norms of success, she stresses the importance of going against the grain and pursuing one’s own passions. Sandy also mentions how much she valued the mentors she had through JWS as well as the tight knit community through which she met so many of her friends.
On her Career Trajectory
Sandy says, “a majority of recruiting we see as undergrads is focused on banking or consulting, but once we discover that there isn’t only one right path, then it’s about steering your career based on what you want to do. As a student, it’s very easy to be graded based on xyz stats, but 20 years into your career, it’s not just about whether you made the grade, it matters more how happy you are.” Sandy considers herself to have had an unconventional career path, but in hindsight, it actually makes a lot of sense to her. She states that in college she was “all over the place and wanted to do so many things,” but when she looks back, it ended up working out really well because all of those diverse interests became woven into her own journey. Her career began in investment banking with Morgan Stanley first in London Capital Marketts covering financial institutions, then in Hong Kong in Corporate Finance covering industrials, and lastly in Houston in Energy M&A. In 2005, she was recruited into executive search, working with Fortune 500 companies to hire C-suite talent for banking, private equity and hedge funds. Later, she moved to LA to build and lead the West Coast business of her New York based recruiting firm which expanded her practice beyond broader finance into strategy, consulting, corporates, technology, and social impact. After having twins, Sandy launched her own executive coaching practice and now spends time helping individuals and companies achieve targeted professional success. She has coached over 40,000 executives globally and loves her job. She mentions that she could never have guessed that this would be the career she would have ended up in because this profession did not really exist 20 years ago. She states, “preparing for professional success, it is very likely that what you’ll be really successful doing in 20 years is nowhere on your radar screen right now. At each turn in my career, I took what I enjoyed and what I was good at to offer value in a creative, differentiated way, helping my clients and those around me. I constantly work very hard to have a healthy balance of meaningful professional and personal pursuits, but my job is only one of the many facets of my life that makes me truly happy; and I am very grateful for this.”
Advice for Current JWS Students
“Do what makes you sparkle, because if you do what everyone else does to sparkle then none of you sparkle. Having been an investment banker, a recruiter, and an executive coach, my advice is to approach your professional life like you’re building a diversified portfolio of skills and growing what you have to offer to impact those around you. If you add value wherever you go and feel personally fulfilled by how you’re spending your time, your career will take care of itself.”
“In response to those who may be struggling to answer ‘what do I want to do with my career?’ – I’d like to pass on some advice I received from one of my favorite mentors - In 5 years, I’d like to know what I really want to do. In 10 years, I want to be one of the best at doing it. In 20 years, I want to be teaching others to do it better.”
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