Featured Profile: Ji Hua

From Wall Street to stay-at-home mom to bona fide artist, from hosting galleries in Shanghai to designing life education curriculums for students in Jiangxi, Ji Hua lets us in on her journey of self-discovery and social advocacy.

1. Tell me a bit about yourself

I was born and raised in Shanghai. At the age of seventeen, I went to Dartmouth college where I studied Economics and math. I worked on Wall Street and completed an MBA. When I was about forty years old, I decided to quit my job to become a full-time mom.

I just turned fifty and recently completed my first solo art show. I am now a full-time artist. When I am not drawing, painting, or sculpting, I devote my time to Spring in Heart (心泉), a charity organization I started seven years ago.

2. What is your proudest achievement?

After quitting my hedge fund job, I was lost for a while. Ups and downs in the stock market no longer appealed to me. A Stanford graduate turned into a stay-at-home mom. What was the purpose of life?

I took the time to get to know myself better. I reminded myself to be fearless.

I decided to learn hip-hop and performed solo on stage several times despite my stage fright.

I picked up painting and fell in love with it instantly. I grabbed every opportunity I could get to learn, from taking classes in Shanghai, New York art schools as well as online, to learning from life painting sessions and plein air painting trips. From Wall Street to bona fide artist, I have rediscovered my passion that I can not live without for the rest of my life.

I also became a Girl Scout leader. I volunteered my time to help educate my girls and their friends. Little did I know that being a Girl Scout leader changed my OWN life. As part of Girl Scout take action projects, we started fundraising to donate books to rural schools in Jiangxi province. We were shocked to discover that more than 70% of the kids were left-behind children. Other than monetary donations, how can we really help left-behind children to become confident, loving, and responsible individuals? That was how Spring in Heart was born in 2015.

3. Through the various projects that you have had in relation to charities and education, what is one important lesson you would like to share?

The usual practice to aid rural schools has always been sending volunteers to teach on a short-term basis. When I first had the idea of designing a life education curriculum, I wanted to train local teachers instead, because they are the ones who can spend the most quality time with left-behind children. Most charity organizations we consulted were skeptical. Rural school teachers already have a full workload so they would be reluctant to take on anything additional.

Our curriculum is now taught in eight schools with over 6000 children. We have trained over 400 local teachers. To lessen teachers’ workload, we provide the whole package which includes teachers’ textbooks, student activity books, lesson plans, online training by lesson, and teaching tools. We reimburse teachers for lesson time and also reward teachers who do great jobs.

We are delighted to hear that our curriculum has become the most favorite class for many kids. We are also pleasantly surprised that many teachers have become true believers of life education themselves. They have become our best teammates to pass on love.

4. Do you think your experience in the investment sector influenced your perspective when it comes to life education and Spring in Heart ？ If so, why? Yes. Never take no for an answer. And attention to detail.

5. What do you think advocacy means to you? How do you practice advocacy and helping those in need? First and foremost, you need to spend time visiting and talking to those in need. Only then can you put yourselves in their shoes to truly understand what they need, instead of what you think they need.

For example, after donating books to Jiangxi province for many years, we finally paid a visit to the schools. We were shocked to discover that more than half of the books were not put into use. It’s true that rural schools are in desperate need of books, but we did not realize that managing library books added extra workload for teachers who were afraid of students damaging or losing books. Since then, we have put open bookshelves into classrooms to make books accessible to students. We emphasize to schools that we accept wear and tear and losses. We have also launched reading log programs and writing contests to reward students who read. All these efforts helped increase book usage.

Attention to detail is key to practicing advocacy, from you to the disadvantaged, covering every link of the chain.

6. Do you have any advice on how students can be more informed on social issues? Are there any helpful actions we can do in particular?

My advice is not to visit kids in rural areas until you are mature enough. Spring in Heart has turned down many parents who want their kids to go to rural areas to be “educated”. When you participate in charity events, please think about how you can truly help the disadvantaged, instead of how you can benefit.

Start small. Start from your neighborhood. There are so many things one can do to make a positive impact on the lives of others.