8 minute read
COVER STORY
A QUEST FOR LEARNING
Leen Li shares her journey from a small town in rural China to a university in Halifax to Wealthsimple Foundation’s CEO in Toronto
By Rebeca Kuropatwa
Toronto-based Leen Li is the newly appointed CEO of the Wealthsimple Foundation, an initiative of financial services company Wealthsimple, that helps children save for post-secondary education. Li has come a long way from her childhood home in a small, rural, coalmining town in northeast China.
Born as the fifth child in a family with four daughters, Li’s parents and the rest of the small town she came from were convinced that this time the child would be a boy. Li’s parents even picked a boy’s name before she was born—Yong, meaning courage and bravery. Once she was born, they decided to keep her name.
A couple of months after she had moved to Canada though, Li picked the English name “Leen” for herself.
“It’s not exactly like my last name, but it’s connected to my last name... something that reminds me of my heritage,” says Li of her choice.
Li came to Canada as an international student when she was 25 years old, in 2001, with a finance degree and experience working at a bank and was her family’s first hope for a child with a master’s degree.
“When I was working in China at a bank, one of the senior bank executives came back from the U.S. after he had earned a master’s in education,” says Li. “And he really took a different approach in the ways he managed the company. I wanted to be able to learn that myself, to be able to do something different.”
Li opted to go to Halifax to earn her master’s degree, as it made the most sense financially, and the school offered smaller classrooms, enabling her to get more individualized learning from her professor. There too, she found herself to be the only Chinese person, making it so she had to learn English well to be able to communicate effectively. account when I first came to Canada. I wasn’t able to say a lot of the things. My English was not that great. Moving to Halifax kind of forced me to learn English. I think that was a good call.”
For many newcomers, their drive to move to Canada is connected to safety, freedom, and abundant space. For Li, though, she wanted to make the move to satisfy her curiosity and to learn about new things.
“One thing my dad taught me is that people can take anything away from you, but the knowledge in your head, no one can take that away from you,” says Li.
She adds that how to use that knowledge is up to us. You use it in your life, and you can change other people’s lives. The choice is ours to make.
“That was the critical thing for me, that I always wanted to learn more,” says Li. “Even right now when I think of my career in Canada, it’s always about questions I ask myself like: where is the next opportunity so that I can learn more of the things that I don’t know and want to learn?”
Once Li completed her studies in Halifax, she decided to apply for permanent residence and stay in Canada. Li made her way to Toronto, and her first autumn there brought her first Canadian job, working as a junior accountant at a local tech company.
But, being a people person, Li felt the need for more personal interaction in her workplace. She had some interaction with others, but often found that working at a tech company, a lot of the communication was done via screen, with face-to-face communication not quite common. This led her to return to the financial services industry – the sector she used to work in China before she came to Canada. Li took on managing small and larger companies, until the CEO of the tech company offered her a position in a new tech company he was in the process of building.
part of it – being able to learn new things and to make an impact fast,” says Li. “I think my biggest career change probably happened in the last five years when I joined Wealthsimple.”
Li’s decision to seek employment with Wealthsimple stemmed from a personal interest in the area of investing for retirement, with the ability to access an affordable platform as well as her desire to grow in the field with the young company.
“I did this [joined this company] four-and-a-half years ago, when the company was about two years old, when I was working there as the head of finance. I was the first internal finance person. And then, a year after I joined Wealthsimple, I was promoted to be the company CFO.”
“There, I could really see the growth of the business from the product lines and the revenue perspective. And then, my most recent move was transitioning from being the CFO of Wealthsimple to becoming the CEO of the Wealthsimple Foundation.”
When asked what words of wisdom she might have for other newcomers to Canada, she stresses the importance of being mentally prepared. “The first one to three years are going to be hard,” says Li. “Regardless of language skill, or how much money you have, or your education, it’s going to be different and it’s not going to be easy.”
One of the things that Li found helpful was realizing how to utilize her past experience and build on it. She found this path works much better than having to start everything fresh, inventing the wheel each time.
“Leverage your own background and your own culture to your advantage,” says Li.
Li says that another thing to keep in mind is to not let your shortcomings damage your view of your ability to find your footing in your new environment.
“I don’t remember how or when I realized it, but…I now think I was an average person in China,” said Li. “How is it that, when I came to Canada I suddenly became below average smart, below average capable?” This realization pushed Li to work harder to find ways to better herself.
Also, Li highly recommends, “Make friends and ask them questions. Find your community and ask for help.”
Having seen first hand the importance of access to education, Wealthsimple Foundation’s vision and mission resonate with Li and she looks forward to her role in providing tools for all Canadians to be able to access post-secondary education.
One of the things that Li found very helpful was realizing how to best utilize her past experience and build on it. “Leverage your own background and your own culture to your advantage,” says Li.
The automotive industry has a career for you
Learn more at autocareersbc.ca
auto careers ad h.indd 1 2021-01-13 10:44 AM
Gain the skills Canadian employers are looking for. newtocanada.humber.ca
RCIC: Kuldeep Kumar Bansal; R407527
Company Name/ Overseas Career & Consulting Services Limited Location: Surrey, BC Proceedings: Motion to justify the continuation of interim suspension; Cross motion to continue interim suspension Finding: Adjudication of six cases is pending before the Discipline Committee.
The RCIC faces allegations that he: charged the client to obtain an LMO; failed to respond to client communications; failed to provide a refund; charged the client for employment; misled the client about Canadian jobs; failed to render receipts for fees or a Retainer Agreement; and failed to provide services for the fees charged.
On June 17, 2020, a panel of the Discipline Committee ordered the RCIC’s registration be suspended for a period of six months or until a panel lifts, extends or otherwise varies the suspension.
The RCIC brought this motion requiring ICCRC to justify the continuation of the interim suspension, while ICCRC brought a cross-motion to extend the interim suspension. After hearing oral submissions, the Decision Panel found that the alleged misconduct remains serious and there are reasonable grounds to believe that there may be harm to a member of the public, and/or the public’s confidence in the profession of Immigration Consultants may be undermined if the RCIC is allowed to practice without some restriction or conditions.
The Decision Panel found that practice restrictions, rather than suspension, will be sufficient to reduce the risk of harm. Accordingly, the Decision Panel ordered the interim suspension lifted, subject to the following conditions:
1. The RCIC is to be supervised by an RCIC acceptable to the ICCRC’s Compliance Department; 2. Supervision to remain in effect until the discipline hearing has concluded and a final decision is made on both the merits and penalty, if needed; 3. Any costs related to supervision is the sole responsibility of the RCIC; 4. The RCIC will not practice, advertise, or act in any manner relating to bringing foreign workers to Canada; 5. The RCIC will not register any new corporations to carry on immigration-related activities; 6. Advertising on the RCIC’s social media and websites is to be solely related to authorized practice areas and any reference to work permit applications is to be removed within one week; 7. The supervisor will ensure the RCIC’s compliance with Article 6.3.1 of the ICCRC Code of Professional Ethics; 8. The supervisor will regularly report to the ICCRC Compliance Department on the activities of the RCIC’s practice (not less than every two months); and 9. Every retainer agreement is to contain a notice to clients of the RCIC’s pending disciplinary hearings before ICCRC.
ICCRC may bring a motion to review this Order if the conditions are not fulfilled or the hearing of the complaints, penalties and costs are not completed within six months of the date of the Order.
Costs: Each party is responsible for their own costs.
