Uncharted: Juggling dual careers feat. Alice Chu (BA ’18)
Jun 17, 2024
UWaterloo Alumni
After completing her co-op terms at the University of Waterloo, Alice Chu (BA ’18) felt a corporate career was no longer the right fit for her. On this episode of Uncharted, she shares her journey from the Honours Arts and Business program to a thriving career in the food industry, then pursuing a second career in law. Alice opens up about her transformative co-op terms, how an exchange to Singapore ignited her passion for food and how she’s committed to lifelong learning and pursuing new interests.
After completing her co-op terms at the University of Waterloo, Alice Chu (BA ’18) felt a corporate career was no longer the right fit for her. On this episode of Uncharted, she shares her journey from the Honours Arts and Business program to a thriving career in the food industry, then pursuing a second career in law. Alice opens up about her transformative co-op terms, how an exchange to Singapore ignited her passion for food and how she’s committed to lifelong learning and pursuing new interests.
Jennifer Ferguson:
Welcome to Uncharted, a University of Waterloo alumni podcast. I'm your host, J jennifer Ferguson. On Uncharted, we feature awesome alumni who open up about their career journeys, the highs and lows, the twists and turns and anything they've learned along the way. On today's episode, we're welcoming Alice Chu.
Alice Chu:
With co-op. It's the notion that as we progress through more co-op terms, we get closer to our ideal career trajectory and we get closer to finalizing a plan for after graduation. For me it was a little reverse.
Jennifer Ferguson:
Alice Chu, like many others, chose Waterloo for co-op the opportunity to get real world experience and test out some careers. During co-op, Alice learned more about what she doesn't like rather than what she does, and that helped her a lot. Turns out she was destined for entrepreneurship and also law. But we'll get to that. Keep listening. Alice, Welcome to the podcast.
Alice Chu:
Thank you
Jennifer Ferguson:
Alice, you are a graduate of the Honors Arts and Business program at Waterloo and, like many, you chose Waterloo for co-op. What did you learn from doing co-op?
Alice Chu:
I learned, I would say, a lot of transferable skills and life skills, definitely how to be resilient. I learned about the things that I didn't like and through that process I think that's equally important as finding out the things that you do like. So, like I said, even at my first co-op term, I didn't really have a clear direction of what I wanted to do for my career or as a big girl job after graduation. So I just applied to anything that I thought would be of interest. My first co-op, I started off in a startup and I learned so, so, so much. So I would definitely encourage anyone in the co-op program or anyone with the opportunity to just go into a startup if you're not sure about what area of business that you like or you would want to venture into.
Alice Chu:
As the co-op terms progressed, I applied to larger scale organizations and found myself at a global IT consulting company and then eventually at Deloitte for consulting. This was a very pivotal moment in my career and learning because that's when I realized corporate is not really for me. It's not what I envision, and hence why I say it's equally important to know what you dislike relative to what you do like. So that, for me, was pretty pivotal and a transformative time in the direction as a young adult because with co-op it's the notion that as we progress through more co-op terms we get closer to our ideal career trajectory and we get closer to finalizing a plan for after graduation. For me it was a little reverse.
Jennifer Ferguson:
Well, sometimes that's how it goes, and it can be challenging when you try some things and they don't feel like the right fit, but you have to keep persevering and that is what you did, alice. So tell us, what was it like doing an exchange?
Alice Chu:
Yeah. So exchange was a huge, huge leap of faith I would say that I took. At that point in time during undergrad. I came to more or less a standstill in terms of direction and, like I mentioned, that kind of the exchange piece fell in around the same time when I was having all these realizations about my future career, what I didn't like and how I just felt like I didn't really fit into a lot of pieces.
Alice Chu:
So for me and the program I came out of, it was definitely a lot of different opportunities and it's quite an open-ended program I would say. Arts and business is as much and as open as the student wants to make it. But, with that being said, when you have too much open-ended opportunity you can kind of get lost. So for me I felt like, um, I felt like that where I didn't have in terms of the career aspect, I feel like I've really maximized my co-op opportunities, um, but in terms of honing in on my interests and what I really wanted to do, uh, do personally, I felt like I was still at a standstill. So with Waterloo, there was a lot of encouragement to explore other opportunities in the exchange capacity. So Waterloo has so many amazing partnerships and at that point, when I felt like, okay, I don't really know the next step, I feel like really maximized all these co-op opportunities, how else can I enhance this university experience?
Alice Chu:
And I remember going I think it was a Q&A regarding exchange and for me what caught my eye was the National University of Singapore, and that was because it was so far away from where we were in Canada. I wasn't really too familiar with the country, which piqued even more interest For me. It was a very intimidating and scary step forward, but at that point I think I was 20 or 21. You also don't realize the gravity of such a big decision until you're actually there. Hindsight, looking back, I would encourage everyone to do some type of study, exchange or put themselves in a situation or an environment that is different and that can be challenging, because without change there is no growth.
Alice Chu:
So that really just opened my eyes to different cultures and I was traveling a lot. So, with Singapore being such a central area within Southeast Asia and Asia in general, I was able and had the opportunity to fly out on the weekends to go to different cities, go to different countries, and that really sparked a new interest for me. And that's when I started realizing, oh, I feel very passionate about food. I feel very passionate and very alive and very and very excited about learning about new cultures, and it was also a new experience for me in which traveling and trying out new foods from all these different cultures or trying their local foods just gave me this type of joy and happiness. That was just a new awakening, in a sense.
Jennifer Ferguson:
Now we're starting to see the connection now from you discovering your passion for food to ending up in the food industry. So what happens when you come back from your exchange?
Alice Chu:
After Singapore, I just felt like I had a weight off my shoulder, maybe because prior to Singapore, I was struggling with oh, what do I want to do? Who am I in terms? I'm a young adult at this point in time what is I have to make all these big decisions and what is my career going to look like? After going through Singapore and all the challenges, I've had so much growth, where I came back and I felt more confident. So I was excited to be for the future.
Alice Chu:
But at that point in time I was really in the moment, and living in the moment just enhanced the whole experience. And, with that being said, opportunities just came, because I feel like when you let things go and you just have uh, you're able to ground yourself, opportunities eventually come. There's no resistance. So at that point I was considering and juggling between whether I wanted to pursue higher education after and perhaps go to law school, or whether I wanted to um do to go back and pursue consulting, maybe in a different capacity. But an opportunity came when I was nearing the end of my undergrad experience and that's how I landed into food and beverage.
Jennifer Ferguson:
Yeah, so tell us a bit more about this opportunity that came up for you t That really helped launch your career.
Alice Chu:
Yeah. So in my last year of undergrad I was enjoying my university life living in the moment, not too sure, but still dabbling into potential lines that I wanted to go into in terms of a future career and I had an opportunity where I was able to join a franchise that franchised bubble tea and at that point in time, with the support of my family and just this being a business opportunity, I thought it would be a great learning experience. I didn't expect it to catapult into a full-time job, but as I started working with a co-partner to run this bubble tea store, we had a different opportunity where we would be able to bring a brand back from Taiwan and be the master franchise for this brand and develop it through Canada East. So the opportunity came while I was wrapping up and preparing for my convocation and after graduation I was just catapulted into this world of entrepreneurship. So it was definitely a difficult time because, as I said, it wasn't what I expected whatsoever and at that point in time, prior to acquiring this master franchise, right, I wasn't expecting it to be a full-time job or investment. I anticipated oh, we would work, I would work on this part-time, I would, you know, go find a Bay Street job and it would just be a glamorous life.
Alice Chu:
I found myself in a position where I had to choose and compromise some of my planning in order to jump into entrepreneurship because at that point I felt okay, for this to really work and to really grow, I'm going to have to commit a lot of time.
Alice Chu:
So we were working really hard.
Alice Chu:
My team and I were working really hard in that expansion and in after a year of bootstrapping the company and expanding the company, we were comfortable enough to go and look into other brands for food and beverage and for me, this was a very full circle moment because one of my favorite trips from exchange was actually going to Taiwan because of the food culture there, and it was full circle because the brand we brought in was a Taiwanese brand.
Alice Chu:
And it was full circle because the brand we brought in was a Taiwanese brand and we leaned heavily into the Taiwanese market to see what opportunities there were. Still, because I at the same time decided to apply to law school while we were looking for another brand to bring in. So in around 2019, that was when I decided to commit to a different brand that we're going to bring in on a national in a national capacity and that is the bakery brand. And at the same time, while in parallel doing that, doing all the negotiations, pitching and flying in and out of between Toronto and Taiwan, I was applying for law school.
Jennifer Ferguson:
That is a plot twist, if I've ever heard one. So did you end up pursuing law?
Alice Chu:
Yes, so I started law school in the latter part of 2019. At that point, I was also deciding between whether I wanted to stay in Canada for law school or whether I wanted to just completely change the trajectory and move to Australia. Based on this conversation and the way that I do things, I think everyone can kind of already guess which one I picked, kind of already guessed which one I picked. I wanted to seize the moment, seize the opportunity to live in a different country, because at that point you don't really know when that's going to happen again. So I decided to pack up my bags and go to Australia.
Jennifer Ferguson:
Alice was- law school, just something you felt like you needed to try, like why go after that?
Alice Chu:
Yes, so at that point I just felt like because it was a lingering thought that I had before this business opportunity came I wanted to try it. I didn't know if I wanted to practice in the future, I didn't even know what area of law I liked, but I just felt like for me it would be a shame to not tap into these curiosities and passions when I had the bandwidth and capacity to do so. I mean, most people wouldn't say they have capacity or bandwidth to go to law school full-time while also running a business, but when you're young and curious, you make time for it.
Jennifer Ferguson:
So you didn't take a leave from the business, you just did both at the same time, and you know what it's turned out pretty well. I know on the business side of things, you have 13 Hazukido locations across Canada and plans to expand. You passed the bar now. So congratulations, A alice. What is next for you? Maybe an MBA?
Alice Chu:
I think running the business and driving the business was as valuable as going to school for an MBA. So at this point, with all this experience in branding and just driving brands, we have pivoted into brand consulting as well. So I'm working with a couple other brands that are looking to eventually go national and franchise their business and their brand out. So that was also a new business line that I've added to my resume this year and I've been taking it a little slower in terms of expansion and doing the business. In that sense we're really looking to refresh the brand. So I've been working with a lot of different partners and exploring new opportunities to either pivot the brand or different partnerships. So we just did one with Metrolinx and their Presto card. So that's been exciting.
Alice Chu:
And then on the law side, still trying to figure out exactly where I want to drive that part. I was very honored and lucky to have articled with such an amazing law firm that specializes in family law. So you know, dip my toes in that area a little bit and I think that may be the trajectory going forward. So probably doing all these crazy things and also finding and exploring new interests.
Jennifer Ferguson:
I got to say I love your ambition. Before we finish up, let's bring it back to Waterloo. Do you have a favorite memory from your time on campus?
Alice Chu:
I yes, I have so, so, so many. But the first one that came up to came up was um bomber. I remember there were so many good times at bomber with friends with faculty. Um, it was just such a integral part of my undergrad experience and I I believe bomber is no no longer there and had such good food and drinks and a lot of the clubs in the school or faculties. You know we would have social events there and such great music and it was just such a great spot for everyone to de-stress, because most of the time we're coming from DC or we were coming from DP library, so it was just a communal point for everyone to come see their friends from different faculties and just de-stress.
Jennifer Ferguson:
Thank you so much for sharing I think your nostalgic memories of the Bomb Shelter Pub will resonate with many. And thank you so much for sharing I think your nostalgic memories of the Bomb Shelter Pub will resonate with many. And thank you so much for sharing your journey through entrepreneurship and law and well, who knows what's next for you? But we certainly wish you all the best.
Alice Chu:
Thank you so much you.
Jennifer Ferguson:
UWaterloo alumni podcasts are produced and hosted by me, J jennifer Ferguson. Don't forget to follow, like and subscribe wherever you listen and find more alumni content at uwaterloo. ca/ alumni.