Charles Liao

Charles Liao visited our Business Practice in China class and shared with us his story about his career developing over time and the many ventures he has managed. His story peaked in 2008 when he was 24 years old, and he moved to China. From what he discussed of his heritage background, he was born in the United States, but his family is originally from China. He was familiar with the language, thus he faced other barriers with his transition. He visualized China as a place with more potential to grow. At this point of his life, Charles had already had a career of being a securities analyst and was about to take the GMAT. In his mind, he needed to embark on a new challenge and dive into a different area of opportunities than he was used to. He took the money he had in his savings and started a crepes café because of his interest in France. Contextually, Charles told us that he had always been a fan of The Food Network and cooking in general; therefore, it only made sense for one of his first ventures to be starting his own café, Le Crème Milano. After his first business launched, Charles’ inclination for start-ups grew exponentially. During his time in China, he has managed 7 separate businesses. Given his years of experience, he gave insightful lessons he has learned along the way. In terms of China specifically, his perspective was that one has “access to meeting people in China.” China being as grand as it is allows for people to encounter others from other industries or interests. As a foreigner/student being overseas for the first time, I appreciate choosing China even more. Everyday, I encounter many individuals from varying backgrounds and my knowledge of business or China grows. My biggest takeaway from Charles Liao is his ability to adapt. He went from corporate to start-up, the United States to China, and the food to the air purifier industry. From his experience, he has a strong skill in versatility. When asked about it, he stated, “Don’t be afraid to learn a different industry.” Afterwards, he emphasized the work he puts in to learn about different industries from reading scholarly papers to researching online. I appreciate Charles Liao coming to share his unique story with our class about Business Practice in China.