Where we come from
In the late 1980s and early 2000s, many Chinese migrants arrived in Italy. Most of our parents left behind their homes and families, betting everything on a crazy, tough journey just to give us a better future.
They made it through pure, relentless hard work. Some worked tirelessly as waiters, cooks and tailors, while others managed to open shops, bars and restaurants after years of sacrifice.
A narrow idea of a career
Because survival was the only focus back then, our community naturally ended up with a pretty narrow view of what a “career” could look like. You still hear it at home all the time: “Why waste time studying when you will eventually work at a bar, a restaurant or a shop?”
Growing up, it really felt like our choices were strictly limited to running a tabacchi, a bar, a restaurant or a clothing shop. We had zero connections in other fields and no real examples of people chasing their actual passions.
The only real exception was the first wave of university students who went into economics or management: fields where, in the worst-case scenario, those skills could always help out with the family accounting! Even today, you hardly see any Italian-Chinese breaking into engineering, math, physics, medicine or research.
Doors that opened
I was very lucky to have a family that supported my education, and my own life completely changed when I joined Lead the Future, an amazing STEM mentorship community. It was such an eye-opener that I now recommend it to every talented Italian student I meet.
Wanting to open more doors for others, I also started FullyFunded, to share fully financed opportunities with students who don’t have the financial means, and Thesis Away, to help students travel abroad and get a taste of intercultural exchange while writing their thesis.
Why Beyond
There’s a great quote that says:
“To have taste, you need to have tasted.”
Growing up, I never had a role model from my own background making it in a scientific field. As I got older, I realized that so many others felt exactly the same way: lost, and a bit invisible.
That’s exactly why we created Beyond, an Italian-Chinese Mentorship Community. We want to show young talents what’s out there, and give them the inspiration to say:
“If they did it, I can do it too.”
— Federico Zhou, Founder of Beyond