After graduation this year, Jing Jing Yang ’25 will attend Tsinghua University in Beijing — one of the world’s most prestigious universities — as a 2025 Schwarzman Scholar. The scholarship supports one fully-funded year in the master’s program in global affairs at Tsinghua. Yang, a Beijing-native, was one of 150 students selected out of nearly 5,000 applicants.
Yang’s cohort, announced on Jan. 15, includes scholars from 38 countries. The program is designed to “provide Scholars with the knowledge, skills and firsthand experience needed to navigate the complexities of the evolving global landscape.” In the program’s ten-year history, 20 students from Brown have been Schwarzman scholars.
“I’ve spoken to people from past cohorts, and they’re really fond of the friendships that they’ve made and all the memories that they’ve created,” Yang said.
The program’s curriculum includes three core pillars: leadership, China and global affairs. As a student in the program, Yang will also have access to optional internship opportunities and personalized mentorship.
After the program, Yang, an economics concentrator, said she wants to continue working in product management — whether that be by starting or joining a startup. In 2022, Yang founded her own startup, Linkr, a platform designed to help content creators and brands scale their social media.
Yang did not have the traditional four-year college experience. After her freshman year, she took a gap year after struggling with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. She ended up extending her leave by another year. During her time away, she worked at Creator Workspace in Beijing as a product manager, where she provided Chinese-English translations on various documents.
But Yang wanted to continue to explore “different industries and different roles.” She then began working as an audit and assurance intern for Deloitte China, where she contributed to annual reporting for a new client. Following this experience, she later became a data analyst intern for Apple, where she was one of two members of the company’s China sales team.
“That helped me grow really fast,” Yang said. She then decided she wanted to return to Creator Workspace, a relatively smaller company where she would have more ownership over her work. Because of her proficiency in Mandarin, she was able to take a larger role in the company upon her return.
It was then that she decided to pitch the idea of Linkr to her boss and became the co-founder of the startup, which now has over 15 million registered users, including Uber, Toyota and Kentucky Fried Chicken, more commonly known as KFC.
Yang said that it was initially difficult to navigate the age gap between her and her coworkers. “I went from the junior-most position to being their boss,” she said. Yang ultimately returned to Brown in 2022, but continued working full-time for Linkr across a 13-hour time difference.
While working full-time, she would wake up at around 4 a.m. each morning to overlap with working hours in China.
“I got off the college lifestyle really fast,” Yang said, adding that she was still able to forge social connections throughout her time at Brown.
After a year and a half as the head of North American operations for Linkr, Yang stepped back from her role. But she still wakes up every morning when the sun rises so she can run on Blackstone Boulevard.
Hadley Carr is a university news editor at The Herald, covering academics & advising and student government.
