Roles

Being Project Manager in IT at Li and Fung is one of the biggest roles that I’ve played every day and it has truly helped me grow and involve in the IT and project management fields.

For starters, Li and Fung is the leading consumer design, development, and logistics company for major retailers and brands around the world. I originally started working at Li and Fung as an project management intern in June 2014 and then was hired and transitioned to the role of IT Project Manager.

During my years at Li and Fung, I obtained my ITIL and Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications and I’ve worked on a variety of IT projects from simple infrastructure projects to complex ERP implementations. The management of these projects has required traveling to work with teams in the New York, Hong Kong, North Carolina, California, and Georgia offices.

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My experience as IT Project Manager has allowed me to apply my PMP knowledge, gain global experience, and to continue to grow as a project manager and a well rounded IT professional.

As roles go, I think being a college student taught me the most about life and the foundations of what it takes to be successful.

I graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro as a Computer Science major in 2015. As a student there I spent the majority of my time in class or in the lab diligently coding and studying for hours with those who started as just Comp Sci counter parts but quickly became my family. We stuck together and supported each other as we watched the program eliminate a huge chunk of our class leaving only a hand full of us standing. 

In my spare time I was a member of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) chapter on campus and attended bi- weekly meetings and participated in ACM programs and on-campus activities.

I also was a part of the Student and Technology in Academia, Research & Service (STARS) organization and I collaborated with other members to develop on-campus training programs and activities to introduce technology to middle school students from the community. Also as a STARS member, I produced and delivered an “Introduction to HTML and Web Design” workshop at the STARS Computing Day event and represented UNCG at the 2013 Annual STARS conference in Atlanta, GA.

During my college career I learned so many new things and met a plethora of new people that prepared me for the workforce. Even though my college days were years ago, I continue to remember and apply the things I’ve learned as I actively work to continue my education and hone my skills.

As an instructor I learned more than I could’ve imagined when I started my journey. At the age of 10 I became an instructor at a non-profit company called NC Connected. The mission of NC Connected was to reach kids in rural areas and teach them web design.

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I started at NC Connected as a Junior Instructor. As Junior Instructor my responsibilities consisted of the following:

• Support the senior instructor teaching Web Design, HTML and CSS.
• Together we trained at-risk students at technology camps held in collaboration with schools, businesses, and other community partners.
• Assisting with setting up and breaking down temporary computer labs.
• Producing student registration forms, course evaluations, and student certificates.
• Assisting students and helping them understand concepts, complete projects and deliver a limited number of training modules under the supervision of the senior instructor.

After working as a Junior Instructor for 2 years, I became a Senior Instructor. As a Senior Instructor my responsibilities included:

• Delivering instructor-led training to 15 to 30 students in week-long camps held in rural areas of NC.
• Collaborating with site coordinators, registering students, communicating with parents, recruiting and training junior instructors, producing curriculum, tracking student performance, managing classroom dynamics, and arranging the set up and breakdown of the mobile computer lab.

I taught at NC Connected for a total of 7 years. While there, I delivered a 3-hour HTML workshop to girls attending IBM’s summer E.X.I.T.E camp for 2 consecutive years and I taught web design at several nonprofit partner sites and business locations including Cisco and NC State University.

Even though I no longer do web design training and these days I have very little time for web design work due to working full time, I still try to keep up with my web design skills. I will always value my season being a teacher because it taught me how to teach people things. Back then I didn’t know how valuable this knowledge would be but now, I’ve started to realize that teaching is a valuable skill that is needed in pretty much every field. For example, I’ve utilized my training skills at work to offer training to management on our capital request system to ensure that they are able to submit capital requests as needed. Who knew I’d end up providing training later down the line!? Through this experience and others I see that many times your experiences are preparing you for later opportunities where those skills may be needed.

Being a volunteer in the community is another role of mine. I have always had a heart for people and I think that it is extremely important to give back to the community.

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The following are just a few ways I have been involved in the community:

• Tiny Houses Greensboro – Helped build tiny houses in Greensboro to support those experiencing homelessness.
• Triangle United Way Teaming for Technology – Refurbished computers for donation to local nonprofits.
• Chavis Heights Fall Tech Festival – Offered technology support for participants at the Fall Tech Festival.
• NC Connected at the T4T La Familia Tech Event – Demonstrated for families how to used their new computers.
• Avalon Community Development Center – Provided academic tutoring to students from immigrant and refugee communities.
• Meals on Wheels of Wake County – Delivered weekly meals and provided human interaction to elderly and home-bound clients.
• American Red Cross – Volunteered at the shelter set up to temporarily house hurricane Katrina victims. Worked in the computer lab helping those victims search for displaced family members.

Also, I got the chance to meet some very influential people while representing NC Connected at SNCC’s 50th Anniversary conference and running the cyber cafe that we provided at the conference.

Being an avid learner is a role that I intend to hold forever. As I continue to gain more knowledge, I strive to always be teachable and I am eager to learn from the experiences of others. I’ve learned that knowledge is power and there’s always more to learn, especially in IT as it is an ever changing field.

Through my job at Li and Fung I have learned a great deal about IT and project management.  My work at Li and Fung initially sparked my interest in project management as an intern and since then I’ve worked vigorously to further my project management knowledge. All of my dedication and hard work paid off as I’ve obtained my PMP and ITIL certifications.

Most recently I acquired my Professional Scrum Master (PSM I) certification. Moving forward, I plan to obtain many more certifications so that I may continue to be a valuable asset in the Project Management and IT fields. I have found that I enjoy working in IT because it is constantly changing and improving.  There’s always something new to learn but, that being the case, it’s very easy to get left behind. My goal is to keep up in this fast-paced field, continue to learn, and to enjoy it along the way.

Family is extremely important to me and so I consider being a daughter to be one of my most important roles. Since I was little, my mother has always made me feel like I could do anything. Even as the 27 year old that I am today she still does this. I also do my best to gift her the same support that she’s given me over the years. This outlook on life that she instilled in me hasn’t made me fearless but instead has made me determined to push through any fear that I might have concerning a situation or a decision.

As far as our journey together is concerned, it has been a happy, fun-filled, and at times a stressful & tear-filled one. But I can honestly say I wouldn’t have wanted to go through it with anyone else. Even though we didn’t have a choice in this mother-daughter thing, if we did have a choice I think we would still pick each other because we genuinely like each other. Now, don’t get me wrong my mother has worked my nerves over the years as well — like most mothers do to their daughters. However, I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed being her daughter and I have learned so much just by having her as my mother. She’s the reason that I am who I am today and for that I am forever grateful.