EP21 ROBIN LIU :Unraveling Influencer Marketing Incubation & International film industry

Episode 21 :Welcome to another engaging episode of the Trailblazers Experience Podcast - one where we unlock the world of cross-cultural marketing through the eyes of the remarkable Robin Liu , Assistant Marketing Director , Co-Founder at Influencer Hub International Networks , a bespoke media management and consulting service for brands and businesses 

Known for her expertise in press strategies and cultural exchange, Robin takes us on an enlightening journey that merges the worlds of international film, influencer marketing, and personal resilience.

Our exploration begins with Robin’s unique blend of academic achievements and professional experiences. She walks us through her fascinating studies in international film business and her role at Influencer Hub International. Our discussion takes a deeper, more personal turn as Robin shares her inspiring battle with type 1 diabetes. This episode is not just about the glitz and glamour of brand strategy and international media; it also offers a candid glimpse into Robin's grit and determination in managing her chronic illness while navigating a demanding career.

As the episode progresses, we dive into the nitty-gritty of cross-cultural marketing. Robin shares firsthand knowledge about the successes and challenges she faced while launching a movie in a foreign country and the differences in brand consumption between the UK and China. Further on, she shares invaluable wisdom on how brands can thrive in today's digital age.

We wrap up with Robin's outlook on personal growth, career planning, and her aim to create opportunities for young people. Whether you're a brand strategist, a marketing enthusiast, or someone who appreciates stories of resilience, this episode will leave you inspired and informed. Join us for this captivating discussion with Robin Liu.

0:00 Introduction

0:13 Trailblazers Experience Podcast

16:10 Cross-Cultural Marketing and Achievements

21:40  Balancing Work-Life With Chronic Illness

31:53  Unconventional Brand Strategies, Learning From Youth

41:32 Career Planning's Personal Growth and Reflection

45:43 Core Values I live by

53:13 Trailblazer takeaways

57:29  Love and Relationships in Older People

Mentions
Influencer Hub
http://ihinetworks.com/
 
Film My people ,My country
https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2019-10-02/My-Country-My-People-Extra-shows-in-UK-cinemas-amid-soaring-demand--Kt8WNRH0Na/index.html

Informational on Type 1 Diabetes
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/diabetes-the-basics/types-of-diabetes/type-1

Corteiz
https://www.crtz.xyz

Robin Liu
linkedin.com/in/robin-liu-0a7855a6 

Watch Youtube : https://youtu.be/PkHAN_QatWo

Listen : to the audio version Apple Spotify .Amazon Music Google Podcasts
Watch and subscribe to my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@Thetrailblazersexperience
Follow Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/thetrailblazersexperience/

Transcript

The Trailblazers Experience : 0:13

Welcome to the Trailblazers Experience podcast, and today I would love to welcome my lovely guest, Robin Robin. How do I pronounce your surname, Leo? Robin Liu.

Robin Liu : 0:26

Yeah.

The Trailblazers Experience : 0:27

Welcome to the Trailblazers Experience podcast.

Robin Liu : 0:30

Thank you. It's such a great pleasure to be here.

The Trailblazers Experience : 0:33

Really nice to be with you again Of course, of course we've met, obviously, and sat on a panel discussion talking about China, and I'm really excited today to introduce you, reading your profile and having a chat about you and what you've done so far, really interested to understand your journey. So I'll introduce you, robin. Robin describes herself as someone who's based in London, a cultural exchange specialist and press strategy expert, bridging the gap between UK and China, incubating influencers and driving impactful media solutions for UK brands entering the China market. She has had a background in working as an assistant director of marketing and cultural center, the largest Chinese media group in Europe, for seven years, worked with multiple brands having engaged which has over 4 million Chinese audience included in the UK and, yeah, is an expert in social marketing strategy, press relations, international film, business and integrated solutions. I mean, look at that, robin, that's all you.

Robin Liu : 1:50

Oh my god, I feel so shy when people are reading my profiles. Oh my god, thank you so much yeah.

The Trailblazers Experience : 1:59

Let's just start from the beginning in terms of who is Robin? Where's Robin from? You know what? Did you study your background? I think is very interesting, just to sort of set the scene for the audience.

Robin Liu : 2:13

All right, hi, my name is Robin Liu. I'm originally from China. Thank you so much for inviting me, nathola. It was such a lovely and exciting experience that last time we met in panel discussions we talked about lots of things about influencers, business, how to launch a brand in China. That's really exciting, and I just briefly introduced myself, so I originally came from China.

The Trailblazers Experience : 2:43

Where in China, Robin? Where in China?

Robin Liu : 2:45

Hulunan province. If you heard about like a Shaolin temple Gongfu, that's where I'm from, yeah, with a Bachelor in Broadcasting and TV production In 2014,. I went to UK for my Master's degree in University of Exeter and London Film School. It was a joint Master's degree about international film business everything about film but film production. It's about fundraising film business, film festival, film distribution.

The Trailblazers Experience : 3:27

So more about the business of film production versus the active, creative side of it.

Robin Liu : 3:33

Yes, it is so. You work with creative people and manage their budgeting, so it was quite exciting, yeah. So in 2016, I joined this media group. It's called the New Wales the Hope Culture Group, so basically it's one of the largest Chinese media group in Europe. I'm from the UK office, so in 2020, we established the influencer business brand Influencer Hub International. It's mainly deliver the influencer marketing strategy and incubating influencers based on the Chinese social media platforms and TikTok, instagram, the international social media platforms and, for my main job title role, assistant marketing directors and also the culture center. So we basically deliver like an advertisement for our in-house media channels and a PR marketing strategy and solutions film distribution, event and hospitality and influencer business.

The Trailblazers Experience : 4:56

I know it's massive. I mean I was researching, obviously working with China in my role, but China is definitely a global leader in influencer marketing. We know about key opinion leaders is the common term that's used and it is a 41 billion pound industry.

Robin Liu : 5:16

Influencer marketing I mean that is a lot more research.

The Trailblazers Experience : 5:21

Who knew that talking about products and promoting it could be careers for young men and women out there? Talk to me about why you decided to study what you studied, because that's very niche. What drove you to study film?

Robin Liu : 5:38

So that was a really interesting story. So because when I was like six years old, I felt like myself had like a tough one Dalbitics and then my whole family all around me. They want me have a happy and chill like a lifestyle. So they felt like so when they suggest me to choose something like a major or like what kind of like subjects I should learn, they suggest like maybe media or something to make you feel happy.

Robin Liu : 6:19

Yeah, so originally I want to study like a medication, something like that, but they saw like don't give yourself too much pressure. So then I found like I'm really passionate about people, like human beings, like I do love, like to create lots of like exciting campaigns or events, have interaction and engagement with the people and also from the media side, you can basically you can know and meet the people from different industries. Even you have no idea what you need to do for the, for your future career, but at least you can map people and learn from them and see whether you want or not. So that's how I think and start to choose this industry.

The Trailblazers Experience : 7:22

Yeah, I mean, that is such an inspiring story and I can really empathize with where you're coming from, because you know type one day beat is. You're born with it, you know it is and probably there's a stigma, or there was a stigma in the past, about In terms of you know, maybe that you might be limited to certain things, but actually you know, fast forward to 2023, you are a healthy, healthy young lady. You know killing it in your industry and that's what's very thoughtful of your parents to say right, we want her to have a creative sort of career journey to make her life as interesting and as happy as possible While living with type one diabetes. So it's such an inspiring story, I mean, and the fact that you've been vulnerable enough to to share.

The Trailblazers Experience : 8:16

that is is is important too, and it feels like you enjoy your job. You're an expert. Talk to me about influencer hub and why it's been such an interesting journey and what you enjoy about that particular role.

Robin Liu : 8:30

Okay, so, so during the COVID into 2020. At that time it was like a really difficult time for all the industries. So at that time we we start, we start up a is called the influencer incubation compass for the young talent who want to share their life and show the diverse of their lifestyles and try to inspire the people who are, you know, in such a difficult, you know the time. So that's the reason why we start over like the first journey of the influencer hub international. So at that time we create a different theme of the works which give them a education and tutorials, like to share the lead influencers in the industry, how they start their business and how to make a video, how to make a blog, and also we encourage them to find out like a unique, unique part of themselves and share on the platforms.

Robin Liu : 9:47

Because at that time we haven't think about it could be a business. We just try to, you know, to create something, make everybody feel confident and to to share their life and to see the you know the whole difference of work it is. So after that we found a lot of responses started to come to us and to see, like, whether we can work with all the other time we call them like a key OC yeah, key opinion consumers, because they are like a small amount of the, the followers, but they still very powerful in their very niche, like areas. So I don't know.

The Trailblazers Experience : 10:34

Yeah, because so key, key opinion consumers is that, because they've got a small follower base, but it's. I want to say, though I want to use the word authentic. It's authentic because they have a genuine yeah brands that they're talking about.

Robin Liu : 10:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how can I say that? Because we, we are, that's my fault, I would call it as a macro influencers at that time. Yeah, that would be better. Yeah, because right now in a generate generator, like a public file, like they saw, key OC means like a macro influencers. That's my fault, yeah, so, so so we start start the influencer like the kind of like influencer services and business from that and we found like we could work with a people who has already had a quite a lot of experience in their industry and incubate their personal brands and as a influencer and to share their experience and how they thought and their life in the, in the social. So from that, from that time, we start to work with more like industries and help them to incubate their personal brands. Yeah, that's how we start to know. And also we found like the influencers is more like a networking, the circles.

Robin Liu : 12:06

Once you start a first incubate, your first influencers, lots of like other people are in how can I say lots of like a people in this kind of like a market.

Robin Liu : 12:19

They would come to you and wish maybe they could have a chance being incubated or to join your networks when they can have like more opportunities to work with the brands and also they could have some like insights were supposed from your like media group and yeah, we are always like a welcome for the. You know the people from all the industries and the join with us. And in another part, like the brands and family noticed like you are working with so many influencers so they want to you to deliver the company company in that networks. So then we build up a kind of like a business model. So focus on the influencer incubation and the influencer business and help them to create the influencer social solutions based on the social media platforms. Maybe Chinese brand who want to explore the international market, where the UK brand who want to enter China market. So we will help them to work with on the creative brief and the strategy and deliver the whole campaign.

The Trailblazers Experience : 13:34

Yeah, I mean it's it's a genius idea, just the whole idea of incubating influences. You know, helping creatives find their voice and, like you said, building those relevant connections and networks, and you're giving them the expert support, saying, actually, this is how you become a successful creator. And I was just checking the stats as well about you know the different levels of influences and how they're broken down. So a nano influencer has one K to 10 K followers. A micro influencer has 10 K to 100 K followers. Macro influencer has 100 K to a million followers and with all of that there's a price bracket as well for brands.

The Trailblazers Experience : 14:20

So if you're a high end brand, such as you know, gucci, etc. You're probably dealing with macro influencers who you know. You've got the money and the budget to spend. But I mean, I consider myself a nano influencer. My fitness Instagram is less is over 500 K 500 followers. So I'm still in that small demographic. But I suppose with the smaller influences, like you said, the ones that you work with, it's actually better for businesses from a from a return on investments, so they're not spending as much money, but it's authentic because they have a genuine interest in the brand and you can see them grow as they create that content too.

Robin Liu : 15:05

Yeah, yeah. So the project that we worked with CBBC actually is based on these ideas. So we provide like an influencer, like a macro influencers, to get the key OC let's see key OC to do the test with a brand and give them the feedback and how they feel like whether I like the packaging, whether it's okay to do to do the promotion on the Chinese social media platforms, and the worst is the best selling part, because the customer choice is quite different. I mean, compare with, like a tool, markets. I heard a very interesting story. Like you know, the drinks, the valleys, the valleys.

The Trailblazers Experience : 15:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah, so the story I mentioned.

Robin Liu : 15:59

I mentioned oh, that's fine.

The Trailblazers Experience : 16:01

Hey, we're not being sponsored by anyone.

Robin Liu : 16:07

Yeah, so I as I heard. So in UK market majority of the the customers. Actually they are senior female people in the UK market as I heard the research. But actually in China majority like a young generation, they prefer to drink it with the milk and ice cubes. Yeah, because it's a sweet, milky flavors and easy access. You see the whole difference.

The Trailblazers Experience : 16:40

Yeah, that is. That is so interesting. No, I'm just looking here, I've just Google just to find out. So it says here that Baileys, Baileys Irish cream has a sweet spot for a female consumer between 21 to 29 years. You're old, so it feels like they are targeting a specific cohort of customers. But what? In China they drink it with milk ice cubes. So it's like like, like a, like a milkshake, yeah, sort of. We need to try that on the weekend, I mean what's something there?

Robin Liu : 17:15

Yeah. So that's interesting so how does that relate so?

The Trailblazers Experience : 17:18

obviously, if you have influences, that you are, yeah, incubating. It's about how do you create the content that is relevant yeah, about that product in that market, isn't it?

Robin Liu : 17:28

Yeah, so normally we would suggest a brand that, before your official launch your strategy, better to do the task in front, in other words, because how can I say that sometimes the feedback from the key will see will be completely different from, like, a toxic experience, I believe, because you are running the brand like I'm a bridge water, right, so you definitely know, like I believe, that's something will be different, I mean, compared with your, like, original ideas, you're going to deliver, right.

The Trailblazers Experience : 18:04

For each country. Yes, what we found is, I think, as a brand, are unique selling proposition. Our brand is our strength and our story and our product. Yeah, and we should. The main thing is we should continue to make amazing product that people around the world will want to buy.

The Trailblazers Experience : 18:24

The main difference is how that product is used and interpreted in the other markets, and it's respecting that. That's what we've had to learn. So the key, the fundamental, is staying true to the brand, and that's for any brand. Stay to who your brand, your story, your USP, and then how do you respect the cultures that you're going into and how that product is going to be consumed? That that's been a very big learning, yeah, yeah.

Robin Liu : 18:53

Because we also run the social media accounts and newspaper very traditional as well. So, but we had first hand information about how the audience they like I, yeah. So during that journey, like, we found there is a gap, I would say like a gap between the culture understanding. So we thought maybe we can, you know, do something for that and being a bridge for culture and business exchange. So that's how I fell from the beginning of the first years in working in this company and then we slightly Like a focus on that sessions and try to create a more like a campaigns and the and the events to encourage the, you know, the communications between like a two countries.

The Trailblazers Experience : 19:45

Yeah, Wow, that's amazing. So to me, robin, within this role, which you know, it feels like it's grown over time and expanded into these different areas. What are some achievements that you're you're proud of? You know things that you can talk about.

Robin Liu : 20:00

Oh, In Asian culture. Sometimes it's a little bit of a shot to say like I'm a very proud of some works I deliver. So the first one, I would say the first film I distributed in 2019. Because the family. I did something about what I specifically started when I was in my 50th grade.

The Trailblazers Experience : 20:26

Yes, your parents as well to say yes, the degree was worth it.

Robin Liu : 20:33

Yeah, yeah, that was a quite a nice film. It was drawn to with like a few different like stories about, about the China, yeah so, and at that time I saw we got in. This year we, we hit the box office. It's ranking as number eight teams in entire box office in the UK for the of the year.

The Trailblazers Experience : 20:59

Oh, what's the name of the movie? Can I, can I see it? Yeah, yeah.

Robin Liu : 21:07

I was quite proud of it because that's the first film I distributed, and especially in the, you know, in a. For me it's a foreign country, so basically we start to learn from the zero. Even you. You learn quite a lot like the theory from the school, but still for the practical side, yeah, that was a kind of things like we only prepare for two weeks for the film distribution. Yeah, so that's I was quite proud of it. And the second one is a life event. We delivered still in 2019. So, the Portfield Park nearby the Tower bridges, tower bridge yeah, so we hired a whole area and the creative that cat works around like a hundred models for the Hangzhou and the. So we created the cat works as a cultural festival.

Robin Liu : 22:20

Yeah, culture festival and and also we we deliver the pop up dance with a singer and to combine with the ballets and the traditional like a dance, chinese dance dancers, yeah, and also to create a interaction booth. So we got a Chinese very traditional fans and the art, the young artists they draw on, the, the images of maybe the tower, bridge or big band and the giveaway to the all the visitors and the Chinese folk bands and the music to manage the whole things all in two stops, like in our company. So that was quite exciting, like you prepare everything from the zero and you design everything and then you deliver it and you find, like everyone they quite enjoying with it. And we invited, like a local influencers, like you might have them to try the dresses and you know I found a lot of like images and a post on the Instagram. I was quite excited about that.

The Trailblazers Experience : 23:30

Yeah, so really nice to see something go from ideas Ideation stage to concept to actually, you know, running around getting everything sorted. I mean, it's, that's, that's, it, isn't it? Project management. You're going to see the background and then seeing the film live in the in the cinemas or whatever it is, or the particular event that you had. What are some challenges, robin? Surely it's not all rosy, it's not all you know brilliant all the time. What some challenges you faced.

Robin Liu : 24:05

How to balance your work and the life.

The Trailblazers Experience : 24:08

I think tell me about it.

Robin Liu : 24:10

Basically, due to my healthy health conditions, I probably need a large all the time to think about my blood blood sugar levels and whether I can do it, to do the order preparations in advance. So I would spend more time. I mean comparing with the people with the healthy condition. So a data. It was a real challenge for me from the beginning and also because when you face some challenges it could be an excuse, like sometimes for you say, okay, maybe you just don't do that, you cannot compare with them, but in your deep heart there will be another way. It's like say, you need to deliver it perfectly, then you can create more opportunity for the young people like you, give them a space to a chance to have a proper job and work and let people trust them. So in that side I always try to convince myself like hold on, let's do it.

The Trailblazers Experience : 25:31

I mean it's interesting that you've raised that. So do you move with a particular machine, then with yourself or your?

Robin Liu : 25:38

Okay, yeah, so I got an insulin pump. Yes, it's a tubular insulin pump, right?

The Trailblazers Experience : 25:45

now.

Robin Liu : 25:46

I try to show. I don't know whether it's okay to take off the coat, do you know what?

The Trailblazers Experience : 25:52

So for those who are not can't see the visuals, she's basically showing us, yeah.

Robin Liu : 25:58

But you can monitor your sugar levels from your mobile app and here is a insulin pump, tubular insulin pump, which you could have a controller. Yeah, so you, basically you set up a basal and try to simulate, like the people, how they are practiced to generate the insulin and then, before you eat or maybe have you know, like some special occasions, you need to adjust the levels of insulin You're gonna inject or like lower the insulin levels.

The Trailblazers Experience : 26:36

Yeah, yeah, it's a big adjustment, isn't it? Even I was talking to last week a luxury fashion stylist. So, for example, if she had you come into for a styling session, you know you wear lots of blazers, so you probably do that as well. You know you've got really great style, robin, but you're probably doing that as well because you don't want people to see the thing on the side and all these things. There's a lot to think about.

Robin Liu : 27:02

Yeah, so previously I was quite scared with that, but nowadays it's okay. I just thought like it would be just another level of myself. You know, like because I felt like before I start my careers all my full level is a type of diabetic girl. At that time I was like a very like a less confident with that.

The Trailblazers Experience : 27:29

Yeah.

Robin Liu : 27:30

And you were taught by your everybody around you like don't push yourself very hard and, you know, don't do that much challenges. We love you and we don't want you being like a soul so difficult. But once you start your like once I started my university and I leave my own and you work independently and you felt like, oh wow, I can do that, oh, I can do this, I can do that, and you feel more confident to tell your story and share stories, because otherwise it will only be a trauma of yourself. But the time when you can share your story with other people and the in-carriage of the people in your similar situation, at that time you actually you are fixed and you'll be cured by yourself.

The Trailblazers Experience : 28:25

Yeah, so that's how I feel. Oh, Robin, you are such an inspiration. I mean, your illness doesn't define you, but it inspires you, it motivates you and it just shows us that we just need to continue to have a more inclusive society. It doesn't make you any less. It makes you actually. You're still creative, You're still contributing, you still have a flourishing career. But when you talk about work-life balance, it's literally part of the definition. You have to watch what you eat, you need to watch your levels, et cetera. So it's thank you for sharing. It's important, it's inspiring as well. Yeah.

Robin Liu : 29:06

I always really thank to the whole society and the communities Because I know like in my situation, without the development of the science and the technology, I wouldn't have survived that. So the reason why we start to do the influence of things, because we saw that we can make some contribution to this society. Maybe from the technology levels I'm not smart enough to you know with anything about that, but at least we can create lots of like very valuable content and exciting news and or even create or even write on the stories and share the stories with the audience. So yeah, just make some contribution to the society.

The Trailblazers Experience : 29:54

Yeah. So if someone is listening who says you know, I'm really interested in your career, I'm really interested in you know, working in a similar industry, what do you think are some of the soft skills or qualities that are important for young ladies working in your team?

Robin Liu : 30:14

Yeah. So multitask, definitely that's really important Because you might notice like once we want to deliver a project, it means you need a lot of skills. Sometimes you might be asked the works. Your thoughts are not related about you, but actually you can learn from each things that you don't know and maybe one year or two years later you finally realize like all the skills or the knowledge you learn from that make you today, yeah, made you today, yeah. So I would suggest first being curious for everything and accept, you know the suggestions and you can do your own evaluations, but just listen and make your own decisions and just don't know. I'm not interested about that or I'm not interested about this. Just being open-minded to the world. That's really important Because nowadays, whatever economics or technology development, it was so fast the people they have to be open-minded to accept the world, otherwise it will be easier to lay back in this industry. I believe you mustn't know that.

The Trailblazers Experience : 31:45

Oh, you're like singing to me. It's how even just digital itself how it's evolved so quickly. And just I was watching an interview. I don't know if you've heard the brand called Cortez yeah, cortez, and I heard about this brand. My son is the one who told me about it, saying they work in drops. There's, you know, gorilla marketing.

The Trailblazers Experience : 32:06

He's made his every person who's worn his product, whether it's a celebrity or not. They bought it. He's not seeded anything and his strategy was you know, you'd see, if you watch on YouTube, you see kids running around. He put, he posted locations of where he was having drops and then he did the Bolo jacket exchange. Wow.

The Trailblazers Experience : 32:27

Where he basically said bring all your jackets. And you know he had, I think he'd made a production run of his Bolo jacket and said exchange yours and I'll now give you mine. Now, that jacket at the time didn't even have a price point, Wow. Well, people were going with a Noopsy North Face, which retails around 250. You know, some people were going with more higher price jackets and the jackets that were all exchanged. He then obviously donated them. But if you just think how the guy who's created this brand has just been Unconventional yeah, yeah, Speaking to the youth, using digital and social media and that is how brands need to think moving forward, the ones that are going to be successful. You need to listen to the young influences. You need to move with the technology.

The Trailblazers Experience : 33:23

You need to active listening, but also forward thinking as to how is this going to make my brand survive. So you can't be rigid. I think is really important.

Robin Liu : 33:35

Yeah, so I felt like so. When I was young, I always learned, like from mentors, maybe from their experience, but right now.

Robin Liu : 33:44

I had a lot like a young friends because I always got I always be really inspired by them, and they were the generation growing up with the internet. Actually, the information they learned they have received it's I don't know how many times, but I always learn new things from them. That's really really exciting. So another things I would like to recommend is, like a respect to the young people. That's really important. Even you are young, but respect the younger generation and just don't ignore it, so it's not relevant about yourself and always learn from the different group. Yeah, that's really important as well.

The Trailblazers Experience : 34:33

Yeah that's interesting because I talk about mentorship a lot on this platform and we often think as mentors, as you know, elders, those who've walked the path before and have all the wisdom and insights and decades of experience. But actually a younger person, like you said, can also offer an entire different perspective and you, you know that helps you challenge the way you think and just think differently and change your perspective. So we need to look to the old and the young as well in everything that we do. How large is your team?

Robin Liu : 35:15

So okay, so normally it's about like four people, but once we have a project we have our own contractors and freelancers, so it will expand into a very huge group. It really depends on what the project looks like. So we have really close work. We work with a few very close like influencers sorry, freelancers.

The Trailblazers Experience : 35:43

They could deliver nice works because that's how media industry looks like, Of course, yeah, it's a combination of outsourcing in-house freelancers, so there's a lot of networking involved from your part then, robin, isn't it?

Robin Liu : 35:59

Yeah, it is because like a media is kind of like a platform, so you basically share all the information and you receive all the feedbacks from the audience as well, so you know the people from the different industries and which really help me. I felt like every day I'm starting, I'm learning from people. Maybe they are from the financial industry or from the sports industries.

Robin Liu : 36:26

The rules. So we recently signed a how can I say we recently signed a upcoming influencer? So he's a polo athlete, yeah, so he played in professional polo matches. And there's a very young Chinese boy studied physics in Perry College Wow, master degree and everything. Well, that was so exciting and you learn all the things and from them it did give me a kind of like a creative idea or bounce from all the people I know. So that was really, really exciting, yeah yeah, that is so interesting.

The Trailblazers Experience : 37:18

So the guy studied physics and he's playing polo and now is an influencer, I mean that's not easy, you cannot. You can do it all. The practice thing doesn't work out. You can always do something else. Yeah, robin, how you spend your free time. Obviously you've talked about being a type one diabetic, but you know how do you spend your free time. How does Robin and wind All?

Robin Liu : 37:44

right, I did. I didn't separate my life and works that much. So sometimes a working is life, life is a working, especially men services. On my side it's on social media, so sometimes even you just watch the social media is still a lot. Yeah, you still got a lot. Oh, that's a really good one. Next time I'm going to work with them, so yeah, but if I have a free time, I'll always do the preparation. So, for example, if I have a very free Sunday, I will prepare lunch for my next Monday.

The Trailblazers Experience : 38:34

Also, you do prepping for your food. So do you cook? Do you enjoy cooking, then?

Robin Liu : 38:39

Yeah, cooking is. How can I say I want to eat immediately. I just enjoy the whole processing. It's like a man of fullness, like you. Just focus on the focus on the moment. Yes the present and basically you clean your brain and your mind and you cook all things and always cook more than I need. So yeah, give me the courage.

The Trailblazers Experience : 39:10

Yeah, also for you. So do you cook traditional Chinese food or what do you prep? What does meal prepping look like for you?

Robin Liu : 39:17

Purely fusion, so you combine the cheese with maybe Chinese rice. Yeah, sometimes you might do a salad with a Chinese sauce. Oh, I love that.

The Trailblazers Experience : 39:33

So is there a Chinese film? Is there a film playing in the background, or is there music? What's happening when you're cooking? What's?

Robin Liu : 39:39

going on Classic rock music.

The Trailblazers Experience : 39:42

Okay, girl.

Robin Liu : 39:45

Yeah, I played the guitar when I was young, yeah, so I even had a band Just sing for fun, for a couple months. Yeah, so I do enjoy the classic rock music. I still remember the first day when I decided to study in the UK for my master degree so the visa team stuff. They asked me the question like why would you choose study in the UK? I was like, well, I love the Beatles. I do enjoy working in the ring. Okay, fair enough.

The Trailblazers Experience : 40:26

That is so interesting? No, I was going to ask you. So classic rock was these guns and roses, acdc the alec, that's sort of your vibe.

Robin Liu : 40:37

Going on with that, yeah, or sometimes it's about natural sounds, because sometimes during the work I want to focus on something. I need some background sounds. So I always play the wells well, singing in the ocean.

The Trailblazers Experience : 40:55

Right, okay.

Robin Liu : 40:59

They got two hours from the YouTube Well singing in the ocean, so you just feel very inner peace during that.

The Trailblazers Experience : 41:09

Yes, when I'm trying to take afternoon nap, I like to have national geographic playing in the background and, like you said, they're talking about the animals and the Antarctic or all these things, and that just calms me. It's like calming sounds calm, calming sounds in the background to keep you going. Yeah, that's really interesting. So talk to me about where is Robin in five years? Do you have plans to go back to China? Or where do you see your career going? Because obviously you're very young. You're in a sector that's interesting as well. So not just from a film distribution perspective, from the business that you work for, but now the influence of hub. Where do you see yourself going?

Robin Liu : 42:01

Sadly, I don't have a plan. To be honest, until now I just cannot imagine, let's say, like five years ago or 10 years ago, I even didn't know I will be in the UK for such a long time and can deliver so many things like that. I felt like just follow your heart. Just one principle as I mentioned before, did I make a contribution to this society? That's really important, as long as you can create values for everyone around you and make your own contribution to the society and also create more opportunities for the people like me. I can see the young me.

Robin Liu : 42:49

If I know like you can have such nice feature, I would study much more harder when I was young.

The Trailblazers Experience : 42:57

Yeah, You're thinking back.

Robin Liu : 43:01

Oh, I should have paid more attention to that subject matter there. Yeah, I shouldn't always play in the playground or play basketball or like doing lots like I waste so many times, like being like a very, very huckaness they call it is. I'm a boring person because I always make jokes everywhere, so I probably will use my like more time focused on the studies.

The Trailblazers Experience : 43:29

Yeah, it's sort of being very witty and making jokes and playing around, but that's what makes you who you are. You can't be too serious all the time and too rigid, and I felt like a special connection with the UK.

Robin Liu : 43:44

So I felt like during my starting at that time, the UK prime ministers it was a traditional me right At that time. Actually, she is a type of endopithecus. Yeah, I just realized that. I just felt like, oh wow, I got inspiration from her experience Because I wasn't inspired by that. So I felt like maybe I can choose the different directions and make some things and then to show a different path to the young generation with a type 1 endopithecus, because I saw so many of them. They died because they lose the face of themselves. So it's really about something you need to control your body and continue your life, to be confident. That's really important Because once you start to lose control of yourself, you immediately are bearing the harm for yourself and some damages cannot be fixed. So that's the reason why I saw that's really important To plan a seat for their future.

The Trailblazers Experience : 45:09

Yeah, oh, that is so inspirational. I mean, there are so many people, like you said, who are living with type 1 diabetes. I mean Nick Jonas, halle Berry, like you said, theresa May I didn't know that and, like you said, knowing and seeing other people who have similar diseases you have, but they are flourishing in their different industries and sectors. That is already inspirational as it is, and you mentioned a very important point about wanting to contribute to society and leaving a positive impact. It's a good aspiration and a good principle to live by, because it sets the foundation to say this is my core value, this is my belief, and then, whatever direction you're going in terms of your career, it will always be guided by that principle.

Robin Liu : 46:03

Yes, yes, that's really important. The first, the power to take principle for myself.

The Trailblazers Experience : 46:07

Yeah, yeah. Are there any other core values that define you, that guide you, robin?

Robin Liu : 46:14

And also I felt like to know who you are and what you really want is really important, because people they might be lost in directions because they are so miserable when they were young, but I would suggest like they can find their unique part as a source of energy and give them the courage to continue their journey. So I thought like to really understand yourself. Maybe just like every week, just ask yourself a few questions and who are you happy and who do you think you are? And that's really important to decide. So in that part I thought could get the young people to find out what they really are, because sometimes they are clear it was how can I say? It was not there, but people. They innovated and then discovered it and built up as a career. So you cannot do the definition of it or learn from somebody, so you should find your own way. Yeah, so that's the reason why I thought like you definitely need to ask yourself every day who you are. That's really important.

The Trailblazers Experience : 47:44

Yeah, that's a very interesting insight. So, yes, it's interesting. Obviously, the specific I'm trying to think of, because my sister's a doctor and she's not trying, she's going to become a consultant. So she's had a period of looking through the various departments and where does she see herself? Where would she see herself working? Who is she? So even in that industry, you'd still have to define who you are, yes, and then similar if you study marketing or architecture, it's like where do you see yourself? Yes, who are you?

The Trailblazers Experience : 48:19

You constantly have to self-evaluate and ask yourself these questions, because, ultimately, a job is a job, but you still need to think about OK, what does this mean to me, apart from the monetary aspect? So, making the money, what does this really mean to me? And my contribution. You're a wise young lady, robin. Thank you.

Robin Liu : 48:39

Thank you for explaining my idea. Oh no, You're very wise.

The Trailblazers Experience : 48:43

I'm going to have a chat with myself. I'll do it.

Robin Liu : 48:49

Honestly, when I look, I told my friends like it's a very emo, emo vix for me, because I look through all the question lists, I know how you design and what's your idea, how you're going to deliver, and I ask myself all those questions Because I forgot to ask myself for a while. I said, oh my god, yeah, did I follow my principal? And I'm happy. How do I get along with myself when I have a free time? I haven't think about it for a really long time and thank you so much for giving me this chance to solve all the reflections.

The Trailblazers Experience : 49:35

Oh, that is so interesting. No, it's true, I think, even as generous women you talked about multitasking we are just built for doing multiple things and just getting on with stuff and taking the time, like you said, to sit down and reflect about what you've done, what you've accomplished, and it's actually OK to be proud of whatever stage you are in your life, in your career, and whatever stage you're in. It's OK. But are you happy? If that's where you want to remain at that period of time, that's fine. If you're more ambitious and you want to go in a different direction, that's fine.

The Trailblazers Experience : 50:11

I think it's all these things that we'd never take the time to sit down and just have a hard breather moment.

Robin Liu : 50:18

Yes, indeed, and I felt like my suggestions is all based on my experience, because people they have a different personality. They have their favorite foods or favorite music. Everybody is so diverse so I felt like you can learn from a whole different ideas, but just find the way you feel comfortable with that. And health is very important things, because I didn't have it from the beginning, so I know how important it could be. It's kind of like a foundation for all the things, so you first need to look after yourself and then you can look after someone else.

The Trailblazers Experience : 51:03

Yeah, Honestly, you've just hit the nail on the head. I mean health and well-being. That's just the important thing. If you talk about list of priorities, I think they did a survey about high performing or high net worth individuals. One of the things they have at the top of their list is health and wellness. So waking up early, meditating or taking walks or thinking about what they eat, because it's a very big part to have a longevity, to live long, but also just have clarity in terms of mind.

The Trailblazers Experience : 51:40

And then if you had a choice of not having to take insulin, you'd take that in a heartbeat, isn't it? So, it's all these things that we need to think about for sure.

Robin Liu : 51:50

Yeah, because due to my experience, I have to learn the nutrition and everything. So then you'll figure out lots of vitamins will affect your conditions or thinking where you feel energetic or happy or disappointed. Sometimes it's all related about all the macro stuff. So actually people do need to do self-care, and not only for gene, for yoga, maybe, for some body check with your vitamin D levels or take some vitamin B to make sure your brain being energetic or something that's really important. As long as you have a healthy body and very healthy mental conditions and you trust yourself, everything have a result Exactly.

Robin Liu : 52:55

You get what you put in, isn't it? But your attitude? It means everything for yourself.

The Trailblazers Experience : 53:03

Definitely. I mean, I can't agree more. Robin, trailblazer takeaways If they were circling back to a whole conversation. You've shared some really important nuggets and things that I've just written down. I need to also go and reflect for myself, but there were three things you'd share as a trailblazer takeaway tip for a young lady out there. What would it?

Robin Liu : 53:27

be Young ladies, ok, so first you can only deliver a nice work if you believe or you want to. That's very important things for them and maybe you have a difficulty at that moment. Just imagine like you are now, they living in the 10 years later and you look back. Will you be bothered by this problem? So everything will be okay? Yeah, and also always be humble. Do not be that ignorant or whatever, like a subculture or a young generation or older generations, and just like, listen to all the information you got and do your own evaluation and make all the knowledge as your own and it will support you to you know, like whatever, like live better or work longer. Yeah, that's a story tips I would share with the young girls.

The Trailblazers Experience : 54:43

Yeah, I mean I was nodding my head here. I mean, if it's not going to matter in five years, don't spend more than five minutes thinking about it. Yeah, and being humble is a big one, I think, the being humble one. Every day I have to remind myself I'm going to. You know, my dad always says that is a very wise man. He uses the quote of don't argue with a fool or an idiot. So there's no point, because then you also become the fool of the idiot. So not falling back and just being humble and quiet, it's an interesting tactic, but in the moment your brain is like just want to say this, I just want to. But you've shared some really good nuggets of information, robin. This has been really, really good. I mean, I'm looking forward to you sharing the links of your film, I think, because I think it's important for people to maybe watch it and see the work that you put into that.

The Trailblazers Experience : 55:43

But yeah, if people want to find you on the socials, on LinkedIn.

Robin Liu : 55:50

So we can search my Robin Liu in LinkedIn profile. I think you will find that some profile looks like me and you can't come that far. Yeah, so that's. The film we're going to distribute is about love, relationship, about other generation. Yeah, so it will be in we were planning distributed in Chinese Valentine's days. So I thought it's a really impressive film about the ashemo between the like senior lovers and also the fact that the issues they're going to face the ways. So I haven't come up with the strategy, marketing strategy for the younger generation, but I will definitely share you later once I have some ideas with that.

The Trailblazers Experience : 56:46

Oh my God, I'm sure that will be an interesting movie, because the last movie that I will, and I'm sure the movies is much better than this one. But have you ever watched the Pixar movie? Up, up, right up, yeah.

Robin Liu : 57:00

Wow, I think I.

The Trailblazers Experience : 57:02

Watch it. So it's about the older man and his wife and his wife passes away and oh, I've watched it.

Robin Liu : 57:10

I've watched it In Chinese name, sorry about that.

The Trailblazers Experience : 57:13

Yeah, he was so grumpy and then at the end he reads the animation.

Robin Liu : 57:17

right, yeah, the animation. And then the movie.

The Trailblazers Experience : 57:20

He reads the book that she put together with all the things that she was grateful for, and he was chasing the wrong thing. I was just like, oh, I just want someone to love me like this. It's like a thing, yeah.

Robin Liu : 57:36

You see the part of it, how they know each other and they're growing up. They're so sweet.

The Trailblazers Experience : 57:41

Yeah, so I think stories about older people, love and relationships. They're very sweet because they're based on key fundamentals and values that are not materialistic. It's on different principles, so yeah.

Robin Liu : 57:56

I was thinking something like a trust a lover again.

The Trailblazers Experience : 57:59

Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah. Well, robin, thank you so much. This has been amazing. This has been brilliant.

Robin Liu : 58:07

Thank you so much for inviting me, yeah.

The Trailblazers Experience : 58:08

This has been another episode of the Trailblazers Experience podcast and hope to see you soon.

Robin Liu : 58:14

Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much.