How Yating Zhuang, MS in Project Management ’24, Found Home in the U.S.
Change is never easy, but for Yating Zhuang, a student in the Master of Science in Project Management program at Northeastern in Silicon Valley, moving from China to the United States in 2022 was disorienting.
Before the move, Zhuang was thriving as a product manager at ByteDance Shanghai. She collaborated with top clients, led cross-functional teams, and helped launch products that reached millions of users worldwide. “I worked with some of the most talented people in China. The company had more than 200 offices, so we had frequent opportunities to travel. It was my dream job, and I was very happy,” she said.
Yating (third from left) posing with fellow students in front of a mural by San Jose artist Alyssa Wigant
Then her husband got a job in Silicon Valley, and she and their young daughter moved to join him in the U.S. But the shift from her dynamic life in Shanghai to staying at home in a new country was overwhelming. Soon, she found herself bored and lonely, to the point of going to the supermarket just for a chance to talk to someone – though these attempts often ended in frustration. “I couldn’t ask people questions because when they answered, I didn’t understand, and it was embarrassing,” she admitted.
The decision to move to the U.S. hadn’t been easy, but the opportunity for Zhuang’s husband to work in the epicenter of technology – and the salary boost that came with it – was too good to pass up. They also wanted their daughter to have an upbringing without the intense academic pressures they had faced growing up in China. “In Shanghai, competition to get into top universities is intense. We wanted her to grow up in a different environment,” she explained.
Zhuang decided to view the move as an opportunity to reinvent herself. “I told myself that being able to transition to a new role and lifestyle was a superpower. And that spending more time with my daughter was valuable, too.”
But she wasn’t prepared for how difficult the adjustment would be. “I had all these American fantasies in my head, but when I arrived, reality hit hard,” she admitted.
Her biggest challenge was not speaking the language. There was also the isolation of spending her days at home waiting for her husband to finish work, after a lifetime of being an achiever at school and work. “I knew I needed to make a change.”
Yating and her daughter (center) at the Silicon Valley campus Friendsgiving celebration, 2023
Mastering the language
Zhuang’s first priority was to become fluent in English, a language she hadn’t used since earning her first Master’s degree a decade earlier. She began studying on her own with TOEFL materials, YouTube, and podcasts. Later, she enrolled in ESL classes at her local library and online, while also practicing conversation with seniors in her neighborhood, who, more so than others, were patient and supportive with her unsteady English. Within a year, she made remarkable progress.
Forging a new path
What is Global Learner Support (GLS)?
GLS is a department that provides services available to all Northeastern students and alumni, before, during, and after their programs. Huayra Hnatko, the full-time GLS Specialist at the Silicon Valley campus, is part of a team that works across all of the university’s campuses.
“GLS’s mission is to provide language, cultural and academic support to learners in our community,” Huayra explains, “While also promoting the development of intercultural empathy and global understanding. “Some of the services that we provide are workshops, non-credit courses, and one-on-one tutoring sessions; we also organize cultural outings around the local community so that students could get to know San Jose.”
Learn more and register for a class, event, or tutoring session on the GLS website.
Still, she wanted a purpose beyond caring for her family. Determined to resume her professional life, she explored Master’s programs and found the Master of Science in Project Management – Silicon Valley a perfect fit for her experience and goals.
While waiting to begin, she used Global Learner Support (GLS) tutoring sessions to improve her cultural competency and communication skills. She met with tutors three times a week to practice expressing herself more naturally in English. “They helped me sound more authentic and correct,” she said.
With their help, she successfully applied for an academic scholarship from the Project Management Institute (PMI). The process required her to write three letters explaining why she should be considered. “I regularly checked in with the specialists for feedback on my letters,” she said. By the end, she noted, “I could tell my writing had improved.”
GLS support extended beyond vocabulary and grammar. “They provided insights on political readiness,” she said, explaining that they helped her understand her multiple identities within the cultural context of the U.S. – first-generation immigrant, woman in tech, Master’s student, mother, and single-income family member – and articulate their relevance to her eligibility. “I appreciated their insights because the importance of political and cultural references varies across societies,” she said. (She recently learned that she was one of the eighteen future project management leaders awarded a scholarship.)
By the time she started her classes at Northeastern, English was no longer an obstacle. The program set her on a path to becoming a global leader, reigniting her passion for learning and allowing her to connect with people from diverse backgrounds. “These experiences reduced my daily frustrations and gave me a new purpose,” she said.
Finding community
Even with new friends at Northeastern, she felt something was still missing. She yearned for deeper connections beyond campus.
One day, while walking around their neighborhood, she and her husband spotted people playing what looked like oversized ping-pong. Intrigued (they were both avid ping-pong players back in China), they went home and researched. It was pickleball, and there was a club nearby.
Joining the club changed Zhuang’s life. “2024 has been amazing because I found this new hobby.”
Yating (right) poses with a friend on the pickleball court: “My favorite courts,” she says, “Mitchell Park, Palo Alto.”
Playing pickleball has allowed her to connect with people from all walks of life, opening space for conversations on a wide range of topics. “I finally feel like I’ve found a home,” Zhuang said. “Playing pickleball gives me the chance to share more of who I am with others, and sharing a hobby makes building relationships easier.”
Beyond the social aspect, pickleball gave her a unique window into American culture. “At first, I worried that playing competitively might affect my friendships with club members,” she said. “But I realized people were playing for fun. My concerns stemmed from my competitive mindset.”
Now an intermediate-level pickleball player and proficient English speaker, Zhuang will soon have a Master’s degree in Project Management and start her career in the US.
“After a long period of job searching and connecting with as many professionals as I could, my perseverance has finally paid off – I’ve secured an offer as an AI Product Manager,” she said. “I’m thrilled to embark on this new chapter.”
“My best memory of 2023, with my family in Hawaii,” says Yating.