(梦）- 小女子的追梦奋斗史- life dream of a little woman

English version is at the bottom of the post.

这文章是相应@Jubi “谷歌点名”活动关于“梦” 的作品：

我在福建的一个小城市里长大。80 年代那里还是相当落后的。住在我们家旁边有位姓刘的老夫妻。他们是对让人尊重的中学老师。除了教书育人外，他们在自己子女的教育方面也是非常成功的。我一开始以为他们只有两位儿子，我们在同一个学校，他们在学校里都是学习/体育上的佼佼者和三好学生。让我非常地羡慕。直到有一天，我看到他们家门口坐着一位二十出头的时髦男子，穿着和我们那时侯完全不一样。头上带着随声听的耳机在门口悠闲地听着音乐。随声听在80 年代初可是新鲜事（估计我也就这样暴露我的年龄了：））。父母告诉我这是刘老师的长子，在美国上班。这次回来探亲。也是奇怪，他的穿着和随声听竟然对当时小学生的我有种奇异的吸引力。那天我就直接对我父母说“我长大了也要去美国！”。当时说过了也就忘了，也没想到小时候的随口说居然在那时侯就植入我的心里，虽然我当时也不知道要怎样才可以去。而且对美国也知之不多。

长大后走上工作岗位。大学里学的是英语和教育专业，毕业后分配去当英语老师，在当时这可是“铁饭碗”。可是由于对这个职业没感兴趣，为了不误人子弟，在教了一年的书后，我毅然决定裸职。可以想象这个决定我父母是多么地放对的。他们认为一个女孩子只要有份稳定的职业，何况老师还是份相当受人尊重的职业，在当时还是铁饭碗，为什么要那么折腾，浪费了他们多年的苦心。他们以为终于可以松口气，接下来就是张罗我的相亲，送我出门，这样他们的任务也算完满了。可是他们万万没想到这个女儿竟然这么叛逆，辜负他们的期望。我的父亲甚至在很长的时间内都不和我说话。

辞职后我回到了我的老家，在那里找了份工作，进入加工行业。90 年代的工厂没有现在所谓的人权，几个月都放不了一两天的假。而台湾工厂的管理模式就是骂，是那种赤裸裸的人生攻击式的骂，让人完全没有尊严的感觉。我以为我在这样的环境里一定无法呆下去，结果竟然一呆就是近6 年，而且还在职位上有很大的提升。台湾工厂的管理严，但是它也是训练人的好地方，我的抗压能力在那里得到前所未有的磨练，这让我在后续的职业中都能够非常快地调整自己的心态，释放压力，而能够更加地专注。当时能够在台湾厂存活的原因除了真的能够学到东西外，还有我父亲的身体因素。他得了四级糖尿病加并发症，我们需要钱来为他透析维持他的生命，台湾厂的工资待遇还是相对来说比较好的，所以基于种种原因，我留了下来。而且现在想来，我是很感谢那一段时间的磨练的。这帮助我后面能够跳得更高。

父亲终于还是走了，所以在2000初，我决定辞职离开工厂到珠海去打工，进了一家外企，除了工资待遇上质的飞跃外，我学到了完全不同的技能，学到了站在客户的需求上看问题。而且我工厂的经验让我也更能够了解工厂的难处，这样帮助我能够更好地沟通，做业务上的决策。可是好久不长，一年后公司因为库存太多走上破产保护，把整个亚洲团队都遣散。我当时已经在珠海买了一套房子，因为没经验，我在按揭的时候居然太乐观评估工作情势要了8 年的按揭年限。可以想象每个月的还贷压力。所以失业对我来说是很大的打击。我当时的要求是只要能找到一份工作，可以满足我的房贷，租房和日常基本吃喝，我就可以接受。所以我短时间内接受了另外一家外企的应聘，工资减了不只一半，就像我说的，它正好满足我的基本需求，不至于让我露宿街头。

后面事情的发展证明了我去那家公司是非常正确的决定。我进去后在很短的时间内就受到老板的高度肯定。而且在那时候，不知道为什么我小时候的梦想居然变得非常的强烈。所以在自己的表现受到老板的认可后，我和老板谈了我自己的个人职业发展方向，我告诉他我想去美国总部上班的意愿并希望如果有可能他能够帮我推荐。运气也真好，2 年后美国总部有个机会空出来要从亚洲调了，我的老板想到了我的职业意愿强烈地向总部推荐了。让我得到了一个面试的机会。当时整个亚洲有几十个人竞争这个位置，经过重重面试，我在2006 年春节的当天晚上接到美国付总裁的电话说他们要我去美国上班，而且要我三周内就报到。于是我的春节就在准备各种工作签证的忙碌中渡过了。

2006 年3 月初我到了美国。这里的一切和国内有很大的不同。刚开始经历了很多问题，甚至因为对这里开车和路况不熟（当时没有GPS，都是手工打的地图），还有次差点就车祸危机生命。但一切都克服过来。我在工作上的表现也在短期内得到这里老板的认可，而且职位上也得到了进一步的提升，同时领导两位同事。公司也主动帮我申请了绿卡，并要求我长期呆下来。在美国呆了近4 年后，觉得工作上没有什么前途，每天工作非常轻松，没有动力，而且我完全可以预见如果我继续呆下来的话，我10 年甚至20 年后在公司会是什么样子。当时还年轻，很有干劲，心里还有股火，觉得可以做更多，可是在公司看不到发展前途，于是我在2009 年底自己辞职拖着两个箱子的衣物，把其他的东西能送的就送，能卖地就卖毅然回国。

如今我的事业可以说是比较顺利的，追其原因，就是在几个重要的时候做了正确的选择，而且清楚地知道自己想要什么，并付诸行动往自己的目标努力。

1. 2009 年底辞职回国后加入一家美国驻中国公司任资深经理，公司老板给我的规划是半年后升协理。 结果在进入公司4个月后，另一家外企把我给挖了去担任开发总监。负责他们北方区的所有品牌。在公司四年内，我也没有停止学习，我参加MBA 的学习，用了4 年的时间完满毕业。让自己的知识能力得到进一步的提升。 
2. 2014 年因为绿卡的原因我和公司谈要调回美国总部上班的意愿，而且成功应聘得到 Sourcing 总监的职位回到美国。 可是在2015 年上半年，国内开发出问题，公司和我商量要我回去支持，于是相应号召在6 月回去。在短时间内就对团队建设和流程等做了大幅的提升。回去半年后，突然头脑转变，多年来一直忙着职业的发展，把个人的事都耽误了。看到身边的朋友个个早成家有了可爱的家庭和孩子，突然感慨起来，也觉得要安顿下来。可是因为刚回国半年，美国的职位已经被填没有其他的机会，我决定对外找工作机会能够再次调回美国。 运气也真好，一个机会马上出现在我的面前。 我2015 年底回美国渡圣诞节，有家公司正好要招人，当他们知道我来美国度假马上要求我飞到他们那里和他们面试。 所以在我2016 年1 月1 日打上回国的飞机前，我的手里已经攥着这家新公司的聘请书。可是我这也是有代价的。 因为职位低了一些，工资方面减了至少30% 以上。但因为我当时的目标是回美国，所以我也毅然决定接受并再次又回到了美国。 而且就在我回来后，我也遇到了我生命中的另一半@davidmendel，我们携手步入结婚殿堂，并约好一起周游世界。他也是我们Steemit的成员. 
3. 结果到新公司上班后不到3 个月，原来的旧公司美国总部有个总监职位空出来，他们立马就想到我并把我返聘，管理一个团队，负责这里所有品牌的开发。于是我和爱人在去年9 月份搬到了波士顿并在这里安顿下来。

结合我的追梦奋斗史，不敢说我非常成功，但是我在人生的几个重要的转折点都做了正确的选择。人在不同阶段有不同的优先顺序，金钱不是决定一切的唯一尺度。一定要清楚知道自己想要什么，不断持续学习提升自己，为自己的目标做好规划并采取行动。同时尽自己所能去帮助你身边人一起成功，只有这样你才能得到更多人的支持。除了帮助身边的人外，我还常年支持我们老家贫困学生助学，因为我坚定地相信教育能够带来的改变。我也希望这样对家乡和国家有点回馈。我在这里写我的经历不是想鼓吹什么，只是想分享大家我的奋斗史和一些经验，希望对大家有些帮助和启发。现在我在Steemit 上努力耕耘也是因为坚决相信这个平台，相信这里的朋友，也期待着和谢大家一起成长。谢谢你的阅读。

一下是英文版：

I grew up in a small city in Fujian. Back in 80's, it was not well developed and lagged behind. We had a neighbor, they were teachers, and both were teacher at middle school. They were highly respected, not because they were teachers, but they were very successful at raising up their kids. All of them were amongst the top at school, not just score, but sport as well. I had thought that they only had 2 sons until one day, when I saw a young adult sitting on their patio, wearing very fancy cloth with a headphone on his head. Back in 80's, headphone was completely new for us in that small city, I never saw it before. My parents told me, he was the elder son of the couple, and he lived in US. It was weird, but his cloth and headphone actually intrigued me. I told my parent right away and said "I will go to US when I grew up!" I didn't know how I will be able to make it happen, no solid plan at all, and I didn't know about US, but strangely, the dream had deeply rooted in my heart.

After graduation from college, I was assigned a job as teacher at middle school. Back in mid 90's, teacher's job was "iron bowl", a dream job for most of people. However, I was not interested in the career at all, and I didn't this to affect my students as they can tell that I was not passionate at all. After teaching for about a year, I decided to quit the job. My parent was very furious, they couldn't understand why I made this decision. They had thought that as a girl, the conventional path was for you to find a stable job, and then find a husband, get married and have kids. Their work would be done. My father didn't even talk to me for a very long while.

After resignation, I went back to my home town to look for job. I accepted an offer and worked for a Taiwanese factory. Back in 90's, there was no reinforcement of human right at all, we would be lucky if we could get one or two days off in months! And the management style was pretty military and rude. A lot of cursing and humiliating. I had thought that I could survive in this environment and may quit within weeks, but I ended up staying there for almost 6 years and I also climbed ladder in my career. Even though the management style was not flattered, Taiwanese factory was actually a very nice place to learn things. I was also trained to be able to sustain pretty high pressure without any big problems. It really helped me in my later careers as I can always adjust myself pretty quickly and release pressure, it helps me to be more focused. Another reason for me staying that long was because of my father's health, he was diagnosed of phase 4 diabetes. We needed money to maintain his treatment. The pay at the factory was relatively higher compared to many other industries at that time. From hindsight, I am very thankful for that experience, it paced a very good foundation for me in this industry.

My father passed away, so in early 2000's, I decided to leave the factory and moved to Zhuhai working for an American liaison office. Other than meaningful salary jump, I learned very different skill set from this experience. I learned to think from customer's perspective when issues come up, and the experience at the factory also helped me to better understand why our partnered factories worked that way, I was able to make better communication and decision. However, unfortunately, after slightly over a year, the company went chapter 11, they let go all the staffs in China. I owned an apt back at that time, and as first time home owner, I didn't have experience in loan and thus only asked for very short term loan, it drove my monthly mortgage up to sky height. I couldn't afford to lose the job. My requirement at that time was to accept any job that was able to support my mortgage, rental and daily basic living need, I was willing to take any job. That was how I got into another American company, I lost more than half of the income. But to me, as long as I can still survive and keep my apartment, I was happy as God.

What happened next proved that I made a very good decision. I was highly recognized by my mangers shortly after I joined the business. Not sure why, the dream that was deeply rooted in my heart without my conscious became more clearer, as soon as I realized that was what I wanted, I sit down with my boss and had a very open and honest communication. I told him about my career development plan and wished he will be able to help me when timing was right. 2 years later, there was an open position in US headquarter, there was more than 30 people applied for the same position, my manager was very supportive, he got me the interview opportunity. After several rounds of interviews, right on Chinese Lunar New Year Eve, I received a call from VP at US confirming their willingness to relocate me to US, and they wanted me to report to work within 3 weeks. My CNY was spent in heavily preparation of all documents for work visa application.

I successfully got to US in March of 2006. It was so different from China. At the beginning there was many problems to fit in. There was one time that I almost got killed in a car crash as I was not familiar with driving and road sign here. There was no GPS, only printed map. I was glad that I finally got through that and settled in. My performance was once again recognized by the new boss, I got the chance to be promoted to next level after a year, leading a team of 2. Company also sponsored my green card and invited me to stay permanently. After working in that company for almost 4 years, I was bored, as the job was too easy, and I didn't see further room for me to grow. I was still young, I wanted more. I could predict what I would be after 10, or 20 years if I continued to stay. So I decided to quit and move back to China by myself. I gave away everything and only brought 2 showcases back to China.

I am lucky enough that my career path is pretty smooth(knock on wood), I personally think making right choices are key, and knowing what you want and act on it comes in second.

1. After I moved back to China in late 2009,I joined another US company in China as senior production manager. The plan from the GM back at that time was to promote me to director after 6 months. Another opportunity came up, I was hired by another US company as Product Development director working out of Shanghai office, managing all the business in their Northern part of China. During the 4 years tenure with them, I didn't stop study, I successfully finished MBA class and graduated. 
2. Back in 2014, concerning about potential risk of losing US green card, I talked with my manager about the interest to go back to US. I applied to Sourcing director's role and successfully moved back to the State in early May of 2014. But in early 2015, there was huge problem with development in China, so company negotiated with me and offered me the opportunity to move back to China again. I supported the decision and moved again in late May. Shortly after I started on the new role, I made significant improvement to the team and process. I built up a very strong team within months. My manager was very impressed and happy about his decision. However, after I was back in China for 6 months, so many things happened and made me changed my priority to my personal life. I really wanted to settle down, but as you can tell, it was impossible for my company to relocate me back to the State, there was no open position and relocation was very expensive. So I decided to look around in early December. I was really lucky, there was one US company heard about my interest and knew that I will go back to Boston for Christmas, they offered me to fly me to their office and arranged interview. So when I hopped in the plane on Jan 1st of 2016, I had offer letter from the new company with me. But not everything was perfect, I had to accepted around 30% salary cut to take the role as it was a lower position. I didn't care as my priority was to move back to the State. And I was right, I ran into my dearest husband @Davidmendel in the romantic Seattle, we tied the bow and committed to see the world together. My husband is also one of our Steemitian. 
3. It wasn't too long, less than 3 months after I was on the new job, my old company reached out to me and offered me Product Development Dirctor's role again, leading a team of 6 and in charge of development of all 6 brands. We moved to Boston in Sept of 2016 and have settled in.

I can't say how successful I am in pursuing my dream, but I did make some very good decision at some important crossroads. There is also different priority at different stage of your life. Money is good, but isn't the only tool for decision making. Knowing exactly what you want, continuous to study and improve yourself, lay out solid plans and act on it could help you to get to your goal faster. And always remember to help other to succeed too. Only when people around you are successful, you will be able to get more support and build up your network. Other than helping people around you, also try to give back to the society, I have been supporting education of some students from poor families in my city back in China, I truly believe education can change live, and am happy that I am able to offer some help and give back to the society. I am not trying to bragging here by telling my story, I just want to share my experience and hopefully it could give you some inspiration. I am now on Steemit, working really hard to increase my followers and make more friends, I believe that with help of the community on such a great platform that Steemit offers, we will be able to grow together. Thank you so much for your time and reading. If you like this post, pls upvote and follow me @susanli3769.