HSBA Alumna Linda Schleining
During our study trip, we had the chance to meet Linda Schleining. Linda is an HSBA alumna and graduated in 2011. The talk with her was very personal and very inspiring at the same time.
Career & Path
After completing two internships, she moved on to study in Austria and Florida. Linda then had the opportunity to move to Singapore to work as the Regional Product Manager for Tesa. This step was, as she told us, a rather scary one since it meant to move into an unknown country with people speaking a different language and living in a completely different culture. However, she decided to take the opportunity.
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Being a relatively tall German woman came with a lot of attention, which allowed her to gain relatively quick access to relationships with the higher management of the company. Furthermore, taking this step did not only have a positive impact on her career. She also met her husband over in Singapore. However, since everything must come to an end, Linda decided to move to Amsterdam together with her Dutch husband, to move into an apartment, which she described as the “Amsterdam Dream”. Due to a job offer her Husband received, both of them moved back to Hongkong relatively short after moving to Amsterdam, which is their current place of residence.
Life in Hongkong
Besides her story of how she and her husband ended up in China, she gave us some insights into the life of a German woman in Hongkong. She spoke about her starts, not knowing anybody, and her ways to gain access to the community and social contacts. She told us about cultural differences, mentality, and first and foremost food.
“It will probably taste good and you might not want to know what it is so: don’t ask, just eat!”
Thank you very much for the very personal insight and inspiring story about life not being scripted but can go in directions you would never expect!
Written by Vincent Koeppler
