From Stanford PhD and Microsoft Engineer Job to Owning Pole Dance Studio | Ctrl + Alt + Career Ep 20

Описание: In this episode, hear how Renee Wu quit her job to pursue passion in pole dancing. Renee is the owner of a pole dance studio Inspiration Studios and the national champion of many pole dancing competitions. Before all this, Renee studied physics at Caltech, pursued a PhD at Stanford with plans to become a professor, and had a stint as a Microsoft engineer.

In this episode she shares - 
How she shifted from pursuing the sciences and left a stable job in tech to follow her passion in pole dance
How she coped with the pandemic and her plans for the studio moving forward
Her approach to taking risks and making life-changing decisions
And many more…

For more about Renee’s pole dance studio - https://www.inspirationstudios.com/

If you are someone who is also planning to quit a stable job to pursue your passion in Southeast Asia, and are struggling to find answers to questions such as
How do I cope with a gap in my resume when I take a gap year?
How do I start my own business?
How should I approach a career change?

Then this video is a must-watch as we cover:

0:00 Introduction to the podcast and Renee Wu
1:29 Her passion for sciences and dance growing up and studying at Caltech
3:34 Why she wanted to become a professor, and her PhD at Stanford
5:24 Discovering pole dance
6:26 Leaving her PhD program at Stanford
9:35 Family’s reaction to her quitting the PhD program
11:54 Her next steps as a hardware engineer in Microsoft while teaching pole dance
14:59 Quitting a stable job in Microsoft
17:34 Her thoughts and advice on having a gap in her resume
20:16 Working in event planning for a pole dancing competition company
21:39 Attitudes towards pole dancing, and her pole dancing style
24:19 Pole dancing as a career and giving up science
29:49 Financial perspective on starting a business
30:49 Coping with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
33:41 The business model of the pole dance studio
34:24 Future plans for the business
36:10 Finding a mentor while starting a business
37:25 Financial stability versus pursuing passions
40:29 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, or those looking for a career change
44:19 Ending notes & key takeaways

ABOUT THE PODCAST
Ctrl + Alt + Career is a career advice podcast that goes behind the scenes of people who have embarked on an alternative career in Asia and the challenges they face in a society where we are often expected to follow a traditional career path.

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