Imagine leadership not as a reserved seat at the table, but as a spark that ignites the childlike wonder, a heartfelt flame to explore and transcend perception, skill, and culture. Paired with evidence-based research, MAGICademy podcast co-explores how advancements in neuroarts, learning science, and technology are converging to empower creative, adaptable, and wonder-making leaders who transcend the limitations of the past toward collective flourishing. Note: We are forgetful human beings. MAGICademy is a space where we come here to remember. 💜This startup is still in repositioning phase with a current focus on building an audience through a long-term podcast-as-research initiative. It has been incubated by Boston University Innovation Lab (BUild) and The Lighthouse Mentorship Program founded by Tsinghua Entrepreneur and Executive Club (TEEC) and the Tsinghua Entrepreneur Network (TEN). Deep gratitude to our mentors Ian Mashiter, Sharyn Outtrim, Bowen Yang.

I really appreciate the childlike wonder in founder Ioanna, who is an incredible human being leading and growing a team to work diligently, strategically, and speedily to build a coaching network while integrating advanced technologies such as AI. Currently the company is strategically focusing on skill development for sales leaders. As economic situation improves, she hopes to make coaching accessible for a wider collection of skills development.My responsibility involves: * Guide AI+Coach product design and development leveraging evidence-based research.* Refine storytelling and conduct MAGIC product/program evaluation to power go-to-market strategy.Dextego is the Autonomous Sales Coach that helps sales teams build relationships selling skills based on their playbook, best rep's performance and external coaches' expertise. On average, clients experience shorter sales cycles by 30%. Current clients include Aptivio, Deloitte, Meta, CITCO.

Lead an agile team with a high-level MAGIC framework to fuse learning science with business acumen into the design, development, and implementation of impactful and scalable leadership development programs to prepare future talents for the new world. FieldXperience's mission is to create a future workforce of prepared, engaged, and inclusive professionals who master human and professional skills through collaborations with teams of learning scientists, experiential marketers, and industry leaders at the intersection of education and sports & entertainment culture. It offers a learner-centric subscription-based Learning Experiential Platform integrating self-directed and self-paced lessons, social learning with real-world learning challenges, mentorship, and micro-internships connecting opportunities between emerging talents and organizations.

*Program Leadership (Inclusion & Diversity)Design, develop, and execute inclusive evidence-based global talent development programs and workshops for faculty (online/hybrid/in-person) across inclusive leadership & learning/instructional science. Partner with senior stakeholders to support strategic initiatives with scalable and customized programs to consistently align the organizational culture with changing demands and circumstances (pandemic & beyond) with a focus on the underrepresented.*Evidence-based Program Design & EvaluationLead data-driven design and facilitation of faculty talent development programs using diverse research methods (180+ interviews, surveys, performance analysis) to inform learner roadmaps and evaluate effectiveness. Leverage LMS analytics to optimize content and consumption. Synthesize findings to drive a learner-centered approach, continuously improving design and facilitation to meet evolving organizational needs and growth.*Thought Leadership in Complex Decision SystemsServe on strategic committees to spearhead the research & evaluation of inclusive policies and instructional technologie (artificial intelligence, stable diffusion, and VR/XR, etc.). Build credibility and establish thought leadership to effectively influence decision making within a complex, multi-stakeholder organizational environment.

Led an agile team with vision, learning & development initiatives with cross-functional teams to develop the state-of-art product enablement (PE) customer education certification program. Area 9 is an adaptive learner experience uses learning analytics and artificial intelligence to simulate the personalized feedback of an expert coach or private tutor. Adaptive learning enables deliberate practice at scale, guiding individual learners on the optimum sequence of learning tasks to dramatically improve outcomes, reducing the time to achieve expert performance and increasing retention. Area9 Lyceum is the global leader of adaptive learning and is building expertise and expert performance in both education and corporate contexts.

* Learning Experience-as-Product InnovationLed an agile team through a design thinking process in partnership with Harvard Medical School to develop and pilot the nation’s first research-based just-in-time micro-adaptive medical leadership training product portfolio, building strong narratives to advocate for critical customer leadership challenges, and engaging, managing, and leading a team of learning designers, product managers, product designers, and engineers.* Product DevelopmentImplemented comprehensive yet effective micro-adaptive content product roadmap and strategies based on customer insights, consumer feedback, user interviews, as well as learner activity/performance data to continuously test, learn, and optimize content/experience development, and make informed decisions on product positioning and features for business success.* Science-Empowered Content Research LabCo-led with senior leaders a digital learning product lab researching and exploring emerging instructional technologies, cost-benefit analysis of product choices, pedagogies/methodologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and innovative learning management platforms to continuously envision the future of digital content design in collaboration with consumers, learners, subject matter experts, product managers, and organizational stakeholders.

THE PROBLEMMentoring matching seems easy, but to measure its efficacy in order to make smart decisions is very challenging for many mentor/program managers at startup education centers. In order to solve this challenge, I conducted research and created a metric (Entrepreneur Mentor Metric 1.0) hoping to empower global managers to visualize the quality of diverse mentor-entrepreneur relationships in four dimensions. (Please refer to the attachment to see detailed research and results)THE WORK* Identified and addressed mentoring experience gap of entrepreneurs through original research * Designed and executed a mixed method research project (through in-depth interviews and online Qualtrics surveys) studying 100+ entrepreneurs and mentors * Delivered original research product “Entrepreneur Mentoring Metrics” (1.0) through data analysis to empower mentor management operation and optimize entrepreneur learning experience

THE MISSION - Customer EducationWith the development of educational technology, learning has taken place in an online environment which enables more accessibility to educational instructions and resources. Our work is to bring the science and art of educational technology to private and public organizations and businesses and help them create effective yet affordable e-learning programs and solutions for their customers. THE WORK* Learning Program DesignLed an agile team to translate learner experience research, business priorities, and learning best practices into highly engaging learning programs and experiences for target adult learners. Collaborated with cross-functional teams of content, product, design (UX/UI), engineering, researchers, data scientists, and business stakeholders to strategically develop research-based learner-focused learning solutions through multiple milestones. * Learner-centered Need Analysis Conducted thorough learner-centered need analysis with consumers, learners, subject matter experts, product managers, and organizational stakeholders to understand, capture, and prioritize emerging content product demands in product memos, demos, and executive presentations. Collected and synthesized learner research data to drive continuous improvement of learning portfolio toward business success.* Data-driven Learning Experience DesignCo-led qualitative and quantitative research (exploratory interviews, concept testing, usability, and impression testing, basic survey design and analysis, etc.) based on formative and summative assessments to discover and evaluate learner activities, content effectiveness, engagement strategies, instructional materials, and technology integrations toward desired learner and business outcomes.It has been a privilege to lead the team and our clients to succeed.

THE WORK*Performed one of the best and raised up to $5,000 over one summer through phone calls*Created a “value exchange” method to ensure consistent favorable fundraising performance & results. THE LEARNINGSConsultative Sales: I remember the times when I raised most fund or felt most happy was when I provided valuable information to the donors with an intention to help them live a better and more informed life. The info ranged from traditional alum benefits to industry-related information such as online learning technology and platforms.

Lead an agile team of programmers, instructional designers, and media designers to create Project Sam, a global digital mentoring project. This project got selected into Summer Venture Accelerator at Boston University Innovation Lab (BuildLab). Project Sam Global Mentor Club empowers entrepreneurs to transform ideas into businesses through easy & trackable access to a global resource of high quality and dedicated mentors.

THE WORK*Conducted qualitative customer interviews to build interpersonal connections and understand pain points. *Actively matched customer pain points with product and service strength to help them solve problems. *Developed “curiosity-driven-communication” methodology to facilitate sales & build personal leadership.*Grew into leadership position within first 6 weeks*Trained and coached first-year sales agents to develop pitch capability and self-leadership in the field.THE LEARNINGSI have always been fascinated by great business people who started their careers as door-to-door salespeople. Having personally experienced the process, I would agree that it is one of the most transcendent experiences I have ever had. This experience has also inspired me toward a path combing business arguments with academic rigor. For this job, I would go to the office and practice the pitch with coworkers from 9 am to 1 pm. Then from 2-8 pm, I would get to the field and start pitching. Initially, for 4 weeks, I would go pitch to 30 customers and no one would want to buy it. I would find myself crying a bit at someone's doorstep for a while, then wipe off the tears and continue. I still remember my first customer who was a rabbi. He had some troubles with his internet and phone services and was delighted to hear that I have a service that would help out. Since then, I gradually built my confidence in sales and was able to nail 1-2 deals per day. Being a high sales performer, I started to take on leadership roles and training freshman sales folks in the field. It has been a privilege to lead myself and others to succeed.

THE MISSION PSU International Air TV Program produces international news, local news, round table discussions, personal interviews to engage and inspire international students with local cultures.THE WORK*Led an agile team to design and execute television programs to engage international students with local cultures. *Led an agile team to develop strategic alliances with small businesses and institutional organizations to develop mega-events to promote diversity and inclusion on campus and in neighborhoods. *Led an agile team to cevelop Oprah-style "Tell Your Story" programs to feature accomplished international students and staff to share aspirational stories and serve as a beacon of of inspiration.THE LEARNINGSI really enjoyed leading others and making connections with people, doing interviews, facilitating round table discussions, and editing shows. I would work on the editing with team from 5pm to 5am back then to produce a 5-minute video. I would hunt down interesting people on campus to seek interview opportunities and get to know them through engaging questions. You would find me carrying media equipment walking or running all over the campus. That was fun.

*Designed curriculums and facilitated active classroom learning activities with a focus to draw the curiosities from within the learners*Created interactive learning programs to engage student learning such as personal TV shows.