青青草App

Twinkle Pang was the perfect inspirational speaker at the first 青青草App China Power Hour session. Twinkle’s passion and focus has long-inspired dozens of employees at 青青草App’s Huangpu site in Guangzhou.

Twinkle believes success comes from within. In her view, the work environment in China is still difficult for women and many biases remain. She thinks that being happy, being brave and continuously improving oneself are her three keys for women to succeed in their careers and finding their work-life balance. She encouraged and motivated her colleagues by sharing her story of how she persevered and overcame challenges to be successful.

Twinkle has worked at 青青草App for 17 years. Originally she wanted to become a teacher, but in 1994 Twinkle joined GET, which subsequently was acquired by 青青草App in 1999. Twinkle is now the Plant Controller of two Huangpu sites and leads a team of 50 people. Twinkle and her team are responsible for over 40 customers.

Being Happy

Twinkle used a famous Chinese phrase to express her most important message: “the most important aspect of being human is to be happy.” Only if you love what you do can you be happy and successful. She encourages her colleagues to forge their own path at the workplace, so they can enjoy what they do. She said that actively planning her career played an important role for her to mold her own space and setting short- and long-term goals help her achieve this.

Being Brave

Twinkle emphasizes that women must be brave to pursue their dream careers, probably even more so in China than elsewhere. Women have many barriers to overcome in the workplace and society, so building your personal reputation and positioning is hard work. She encourages women to have the courage to speak up and express their views, as well as having the courage to step forward to take on more responsibility.

Improving Continuously

Twinkle describes herself as being the “mother-type” – she is always “managing” and “caring”and loves to “worry” about things. Understanding and embracing her own character traits helped her being more self-aware and find her ‘blind spots’. She says she used to be shy when having to speak in public and would sit at the back during meetings. But once you know your blind spots you can work confidently towards overcoming them.

Inspiring Others and Work-Life Balance

Throughout her career, Twinkle has had to manage the balance between having a happy family and a successful career. She attributes finding the balance to having clear priorities and open communication with her partner and family about what’s important to her.

For example, early on in her career, she decided to go back to school to study for a master’s degree. At the time, she had already moved from Hong Kong to Guangzhou (about 150 miles away) together with her husband and their 3 and 5-year olds daughters. Every weekend she had to travel to Hong Kong to attend classes. Without the support of her husband and her mom, it wouldn’t have been possible. She credits both her husband and her mother for where she is today.

Her last piece of advice is to leave work at work. Before you walk through the door, think about what happy things happened today, and bring back happiness to your family.